Ginger Beer Cocktails

When you need to cool yourself on a hot summer day, bubbly ginger beer cocktails can give a flavor that can be a welcome addition.

Ginger beer is a fantastic cocktail mixer, full of bubbles and a spicy taste. It adds a fizzy twist to all kinds of mixed drinks and is ideal for mocktails!

Because it is fermented, ginger beer has a more nuanced flavor, flavored with carbonated water with sweetness.

Here are all the best ginger beer cocktails and drinks you can make with this delicious mixer!

The Top 15 Best Ginger Beer Cocktails to Try Out

Any one of these 15 best ginger beer cocktails will help you master the art of mixology quickly. Then get ready because you’ll be the cocktail hour’s dazzling host.

1) El Diablo Cocktail

The El Diablo ginger beer cocktail is a highball drink made with tequila, crème de cassis, lime juice, and effervescent ginger beer.

In “Trader Vic’s Book of Food and Drink,” which he claims to be his recipe, El Diablo was first featured in 1946.

This unique ginger beer cocktail recipe is made directly in the highball glass, while more recent versions advise shaking and straining.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ ounces tequila reposado
• ½ ounce crème de cassis (or substitute Chambord or crème de mûre)
• ¾ ounce lime juice
• 3 ounces ginger beer

2) Easy Mexican Mule

The Mexican mule is a tequila-based variation of the 1940s-era famous beverage, the Moscow mule.

The mule belongs to a group of drinks called bucks, which are made with brandy, ale or ginger beer, and citrus juice.

The Moscow mule has an “official” description because it is a classic and was included in the International Bartender Association’s list of recognized ginger beer cocktails.

While copper mugs aren’t mandatory, it turns icy cold, making the drink taste even better.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces (¼ cup) tequila
• ½ ounce (1 tablespoon) of fresh lime
• 4 ounces (½ cup) ginger beer
• For the garnish: lime zest

3) Horsefeather Cocktail

Despite the strange name, this cocktail is quite wonderful!

Lime, Angostura bitters, spicy ginger beer, and whiskey are all included. Popular aromatic bitter Angostura reduces acidity and improves flavors.

Oh, and if you’re curious about the name, it’s a whiskey mule, as they say in Kansas.

Ingredients:

• Crushed ice
• 2 ounces whiskey
• 4 ounces of ginger beer
• 4 dashes of Angostura bitters
• lemon wheel or lime wedge

4) Classic Shirley Temple

Over time, the Shirley Temple ginger beer cocktail has developed a poor reputation. Mix all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and mix well.

Shirley Temple herself disliked them and complained that they were “too sweet,” yet the original drink was sweet but had a considerably more complex flavor.

This beverage was created in the 1930s and wasn’t initially produced with Sprite before being named after the well-known actress.

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) grenadine (try our homemade version)
• ½ ounce (1 tablespoon) lime juice
• 5 ounces (2/3 cup) ginger beer or ale
• Add ice cubes (try clear ice!)
• For the garnish: cocktail cherry

5) Ginger Beer Blood Orange Cocktail

The addition of blood oranges to a cocktail adds a distinctive touch. With ginger beer included, you have a crowd-pleasing pair.

The blood orange in this cocktail is fully ripe. It uses Sicilian fruit-based Solerno blood orange liqueur and fresh orange juice.

Good ginger beer and a dash of simple syrup are added as the finishing touch. The end product is a refreshing taste that is robust, lemony, and fizzy.

Enjoy a nice Ginger Beer Blood Orange Cocktail with some fresh fruit served inside the drink.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Stoli Ohranj vodka
• 2 oz Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur
• 2 oz fresh blood orange juice
• 1 oz simple syrup (sugar syrup, honey syrup, ginger liqueur)
• 1 oz lime juice
• 8 oz ginger beer
• Orange slice for garnish

6) Apple Cider Mule

The apple cider mule is a Moscow mule with a fall theme.

But consider this: You need just enough cider to appreciate its sweet flavor, but not so much that it dilutes the vodka and ginger beer.

Mix all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and mix well. Pour ginger beer mixture into a copper mug, stainless steel mug, or a rocks glass filled with a few ice cubes.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces (¼ cup) vodka
• 2 ounces (¼ cup) apple cider
• ½ ounce (1 tablespoon) of lime juice
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) ginger beer
• For the garnish: lime wedge, thyme sprig, apple slices, cinnamon stick

7) Foghorn Cocktail

The foghorn is one of the great classic ginger beer cocktails that the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City made famous.

Gin and ginger beer are combined in this extremely straightforward mixed beverage. Pour into a copper mug or a tall glass.

The foghorn, traditionally served in an old-fashioned glass or a wine glass, can also be transformed into a highball by adding other ginger beer to fill the tall glass.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Old Tom or London dry gin
• 1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
• 4 ounces of ginger beer or ale
• Lime wedge for garnish

8) Skeleton Key

This Skeleton Key is simple to construct and is ideal for any Halloween party because of its distinctive features and orange hue.

Additionally, the drink’s name, which suggests the hue of a rusted skeleton key, and its odd combination of ingredients make it appropriate for presenting at Halloween-themed events.

This drink’s creation is attributed to a bartender who worked at Detroit’s Roast, a restaurant owned by Michael Symon.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 ounces bourbon whiskey
• 3/4 ounce St. Germain elderflower liqueur
• 1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 to 5 ounces of ginger beer
• 8 dashes bitters

9) Blueberry Buck Whiskey Cocktail

It’s really simple to make blueberry juice at home. Puree some fresh blueberries in a blender by simply adding them. You’re ready to go once you put the blended juice through a fine strainer.

If you’re in a hurry, you may also get high-quality blueberry juice from Knudson or Lakewood Organic.

This easy Blueberry Whiskey Buck Cocktail features premium whiskey, fresh blueberries, lemon juice, blueberry juice, ginger beer, and mint.

You may use fresh or frozen berries for making a Blueberry Buck outside of July and August (if you yearn for summer sunshine in the dead of winter, we can empathize!).

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Blueberry Juice
• 0.5 oz Lemon Juice
• 4 Fresh Blueberries
• 2 oz Whiskey
• 3 oz Ginger Beer
• Fresh Mint Sprig, Lemon Slice, Blueberries Garnish

10) Classic Moscow Mule

It’s bubbly and tangy, looks impressive and is easy to drink. Meet the classic Moscow Mule! This classic cocktail was created in the 1940s but is currently popular.

It only has three ingredients and takes three minutes to prepare, making it ideal for parties or a lazy evening on the patio.

A Moscow mule is a traditional cocktail made with vodka and ginger beer that dates back to the 1940s. Mix this up in a copper mug or a tall glass, and add a wedge of lime.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces (¼ cup) vodka
• ½ ounce (1 tablespoon) of lime juice
• 4 ounces (½ cup) ginger beer
• For the garnish: lime wheel or wedge, fresh mint (if desired)
• Add ice

11) Floradora

The Floradora cocktail, a highball beverage from the early 1900s, features raspberry syrup, gin, and ginger beer.

The Florodora Broadway production, which premiered in London in 1899 and on American Broadway in 1900, served as the inspiration for the concoction.

The “Florodora girls,” six chorus girls who carried parasols and wore fluffy pink skirts, were the main attraction of the performance.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces gin
• ½ ounce raspberry syrup or Chambord liqueur 
• ½ ounce lime juice
• 3 ounces of ginger beer
• Add ice for serving (try clear ice!)
• For the garnish: Lime wedge, raspberry, and cucumber slices (optional)

12) Best Irish Mule

The Moscow mule, a well-known drink created in the 1940s, is the inspiration for the Irish mule, a whiskey-based variation.

This beverage may have been created as a gimmick to sell vodka cocktails. A mule is a group of drinks known as bucks; add ginger beer or ale, citrus juice, and Irish whiskey.

It is similar to the Kentucky mule but specifically calls for Irish whiskey. Mix this up in a copper mug or a tall glass, and add some garnish.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces (¼ cup) of Irish whiskey
• ½ ounce (1 tablespoon) of lime
• 4 ounces (½ cup) ginger beer
• For serving: Add ice, lime wedges, fresh mint

NOTE: Technically, if you pour ginger ale, you’re making a vodka buck. It’s a vodka press with lemon-lime and club sodas, and club soda alone makes it a vodka soda.

13) Dark and Stormy Cocktail

Like a rum Moscow Mule, the classic Dark and Stormy is a highball cocktail mixed with dark rum and ginger beer.

According to legend, the beverage was created in Bermuda shortly after World War I, maybe in 1918.

In a brilliant idea, British naval officers who had been making ginger beer to combat seasickness mixed it with Goslings Dark Rum.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces (½ cup) ginger beer
• 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) dark rum, traditionally Gosling’s Black Seal rum
• 1 lime wedge
• Add ice for serving (try clear ice!)

NOTE: Whether it’s light rum, dark rum, or spiced rum, the rich taste of rum gives an added depth of flavor to our zingy Ginger Beer.

14) Ginger Rickey 

It is a fun twist on the traditional Gin Rickey. Fresh cranberry juice and gin are combined, and ginger beer is poured on top.

It combines flavors of fruit, flowers, tang, and fizz in one tall glass or normal glass. You could serve this as a sophisticated Christmas drink either individually or in a pitcher.

Pour into the prepared glass and top off with the desired amount of ginger beer. Even better, try substituting pomegranate or pear juice for cranberry juice.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces gin
• 1 1/2 ounces cranberry juice (not cranberry juice cocktail)
• ginger beer to float
• Add ice for serving

15) Ginger Beer Paloma

A traditional Paloma drink is fairly easy to make. Lime, tequila, and grapefruit juice. It’s easy to make and extremely to revive when served in a highball.

For a sweet mocktail, if you’re making it for a family dinner, leave off the tequila. This level of simplicity, my darlings, makes a terrific dish!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoons agave syrup
• 1/4 cup mescal or tequila
• 1/4 cup ginger beer
• salt for the rim
• grapefruit/ lime slices for garnishing
• Add ice cubes

What Differentiates Ginger Beer From Ginger Ale?

While ginger beer and ginger ale are fizzy beverages made with ginger, their flavors and applications differ. Here is an explanation:

• Strong ginger flavor and a peppery aftertaste characterize ginger beer, which is quite bubbly. Brew and fermentation take place. Today’s ginger beer is non-alcoholic, unlike when it was an alcoholic brew years ago.
• Ginger ale is sweeter than ginger beer and has a soft, mellow flavor. It is essentially a non-alcoholic ginger-flavored soft drink. It can also substitute ginger beer.

What Makes Ginger Beer Cocktails Stand Out?

Due to its boldness, ginger beer stands out when combined with different liqueurs, which is why it is a common ingredient in many beverages.

Despite its evolution, the drink’s essential qualities and general popularity haven’t changed much.

The characteristics that made ginger beer so popular when it first appeared more than 300 years ago are still present in modern ginger beer.

It makes an excellent mix-in or chaser since it has a lovely sweetness, perfect fizz, and a fiery afterburn.

What Are Some of the Top Brands of Ginger Beer Cocktails?

There are many different brands of ginger beer available nowadays. The best brands to try for these spicy ginger beer drinks are listed below with a few notes:

• Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer
• Maine Root Ginger Brew
• Barritt’s Original Ginger Beer
• Bundaberg Ginger Beer
• Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew
• Rachel’s Ginger Beer
• Q Ginger Beer

Can You Put Lime Juice in Any Beer?

Lime can be added as a garnish to any beer, including ginger beer cocktails, but they go best with light lagers and poorly with darker, maltier brews.

However, avoid using lime in direct sunlight as some people may experience lime burn. Lime was traditionally added to beer to clean the bottles and mask bad flavors.

Conclusion

Do you know which is the best ginger beer cocktail? Some claim that the Moscow Mule is the best beverage because it has been around the longest, but is this the case?

No, there are not enough excellent ginger beer cocktails in the world to fill your head to the brim.

Here are some more Beer Cocktail Recipes that you might want to check out, here is how to make your own ginger beer at home!

Please note your preferred ginger beer cocktail recipes from the list above, so you don’t have to look them up and can start drinking immediately!