Review: King’s Ginger Liqueur
Whatever you think of the monarchy, the royal family certainly has it’s fair share of interesting characters. One such individual was King Edward VII who, whilst heir to the throne was largely excluded from political influence due to his behaviours that earned him the nickname of ‘Edward the Caresser’. In addition to the company of women, he also enjoyed a variety of outdoor pursuits which led his physician to conclude that he was in need of a liqueur to “warm and revify” his Majesty. The wine and spirit merchants Berry Bros were commissioned to solve the problem, and The King’s Ginger was the result.
The King’s Ginger is produced simply by macerating root ginger in alcohol, then adding a dash of lemon oil and the necessary sugar. It is unusually high strength for a liqueur, weighing in at 41%. It would appear that King Edward did indeed like to be warmed!
Nose – Unsurprisingly, gingery! More stem ginger than fresh, but then it is a liqueur and that is no bad thing. There is a nice warm citrus edge to it and an understated attitude rather than full-on spicy ginger. It’s a pretty ‘simple’ aroma, but one that entices you in to taste.
Neat – Immediately I’m struck by how the palate is much more interesting than the nose. The ginger is more sophisticated in profile than might be found in ginger wine for example, and mellow rather than spicy. Like a hug in front of a fire. The lemon oil is perfectly balanced and lifts the palate to another level. There is also an excellent depth of flavour; you could easily be fooled into thinking there was a cognac base here. The finish is nice and clean, leaving a tingle of ginger lingering until the next sip. And another sip there will most certainly, this is delicious.
Mixing – The citrus edge to this liqueur led me initially to make the mistake of using it as a replacement for Triple Sec in a range of classic cocktails initially. Whilst the resulting drinks were on the whole very tasty, the ginger was often lost a little in the mix, which seemed a shame considering how delicious it is neat. Gradually I moved into simpler and simpler cocktails and whilst a tequila old fashioned came close, it was not until I tried a 50:50 mix of The King’s Ginger and Scotch (The Balvenie Signature in this case) that I hit the jackpot; and what jackpot it was! The honeyed Balvenie and mellow ginger were a match made in heaven, resulting in a cockle-warming and smooth libation that was quite simply delicious. Playing around with different whiskys’ was very successful, with each combination showcasing the best of each product. Keeping it simple is definitely the way to go with The King’s Ginger, as I was equally rewarded when trying a ‘ginger royal’; simply The King’sGinger topped with champagne and a lemon zest. For those occasions not suited to Champagne (are there any?!), mixing with tonic or bitter lemon also works well.
Signature Cocktail: The King’s Mac
30ml The King’s Ginger
30ml Scotch Whisky
Pour over ice into a rocks glass, stir briefly
The King’s Ginger is a delightfully cockle-warming high strength ginger liqueur that you would have to be mad not to like. Delicious on it’s own, it shines in simple cocktails where its sophisticated taste can do the talking.
Rating: ★★★★
The King’s Ginger is available to buy from Master of Malt.
★: Terrible, only drink for a dare.
★★: Meh, not undrinkable but best left alone.
★★★: Reasonable, middle of the road.
★★★★: Tasty stuff, well worth seeking out.
★★★★★: Incredible, booze doesn’t get better than this. You need a bottle in your life.
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This undated review by an unnamed person would be more useful if it COMPARED this ginger liqueur with another, such as with Domaine de Canton or Old Liquor Store Ginger Liqueur.
For a review that does compare (by a named person, dated 2011-April), see the following Http URL (first, remove added spaces)….
(link redacted)
By the way, I have no dog in this fight. I just want to read the most helpful reviews.
Thanks. oboy76
Hi Oboy76,
Thanks for taking the time to comment, and I’m sorry you didn’t find the review as helpful as you would have hoped.
To clear up two of your points, I don’t post a date of the review simply because I consider it an unnecessary inclusion. All reviews are written by me, Mark, so I also don’t include my name specifically.
The issue of whether reviews should be comparative is an interesting one. I can see the benefit of such an approach, but I believe these is also value in reviewing the product in isolation. Comparative tastings are much more time-consuming and one hits upon a problem when trying to conduct them with products that have more than a couple of direct comparators. This makes it practically impossible to take such an approach for all reviews and I consider it important to have consistency in the style of review.
Cheers
M
i found your review very helpful. my dad loves ginger so i was seeking out an alcoholic drink for his birthday. I wondered what it would actually taste like, in laymans terms 🙂 i didn’t want a comparative opinion as i was just looking to see what it tastes like, not which ginger drink is better. so thank u 🙂
I tried this drink and really loved it. Would be great on a freezing day to heat you up. It is very strong and wakes you up. Worth buying for anyone who like me,. loves ginger.
MY REVIEW OF THE KING’S GINGER LIQUEUR
Seriously?
Seriously?, you really want to know how this ginger liqueur tastes?
I’ll tell ya!
Its bloody great!
I won’t go on with a bunch of self-absorbed, arrogant and pretentious garbage like “it pairs with this” or “it pairs with that” or it has “subtle notes of this and that”, or smells like a whore’s drawers, quite simply, its just a goddamned good unique, delicious liqueur. Period.
In fact, its a great phucking liqueur if you can afford it, and I can!!!!!
And more than that, it stimulates the creative senses and inflames the genitals and makes you want to rob banks and put the top down and go for drives in the countryside with law enforcement and gunfire!!!!
It’s best enjoyed in the company of real men.
Like you and a bunch of yer friends gathered on a glacier, surrounded by wolves or on the top of some really big goddamned mountain you climbed just for the hell of it in the midst of a blinding godamned blizzard, and there you are, just a bunch of cold crazed bastards, pouring each other a few shots to celebrate your manliness all while you sing Viking war songs.
Or with that same group of real men, not flimsy fabulous flamboyant downtown fudgepackers, but really really real men with beards and scars and tattoos who smell like gunpowder and honest sweat, some of whom really have robbed banks and plotted coup d’etat’s and stuff and done prison time, and some of the others have killed bears and mountain lions and shit, and there you are just you and the men, sitting around a roaring campfire or a living-room filled with books and leather furniture and paintings of naked pouting big bosomed women and stuff and talking about war and global conquest and trapping wolverines or that spectacular woman whose vagina you set on fire with the furious friction of your massive, manly, magnificent, mesmerizing man-meat and how, after you set her vagina aflame, you used those same dancing flames of purple-hued passion to spark up your Cohiba Robusto Fino Cameroon….and then watched her as she, still mesmerized by your manliness, cooked you up a blood soaked filet Mignon all the while, clad in her skimpy panties, she kept refilling your liqueur glass whilst she vacuumed the house, did the dishes, made you a samich for later and then she wrote a haiku poem dedicated to your magnificent, manly, massive man-meat. And then you cracked open another bottle of this gift from the Gods, tossed the cork to Lucifer, grabbed this domesticated vixen, this naughty maid, threw her heels up around her ears and, until the sun crossed the eastern horizon, banged her till she was cross-eyed, limping and speaking Swahili !!!!
Oh yeah…..so where was I?
Oh right, The King’s Ginger ??…..its a bloody good liqueur, a little pricey, but worth it if you can afford it……..and best of all, Metrosexual Hipster Mangina’s hate it.
All the bovine scatology aside, I’ve had a few bottles of this stuff and its bloody good!!!
Go buy a quart of it now!!!!
I’ll expect a full report later.
Signed……
The Bastard!!!!!!
On the lam…..somewhere in Alberta.
(That’s in Canada you schmucks!!!!)
Please do more reviews! I would love to drink with you and you are welcome at my next dinner party.