[BrewHalla]

I have been searching for a decent clone recipe for Crabbie's. Anyone had success making a recipe or using one that they would like to share?

[dmtaylor]

Crabbie's is not really beer, it's really a soda pop with alcohol.  You would have to treat this like homemade soda pop.  You can purchase one of those home root beer kits that comes with the special CO2 relief caps to allow natural carbonation -- mix up a ginger ale soda pop recipe, add a little vodka and yeast, then refrigerate as soon as carbonated to halt fermentation.  Or you could do the same but skip the yeast and special caps, and just force carbonate in a keg.

Bottom line is, you can make this at home, but it is NOT beer, it is soda with vodka.  Seriously.  I'm not kidding.  No joke.  Good luck.  I might even want to give this a try myself as I do own a root beer kit as described above (which makes AWESOME root beer, by the way, hard or soft).

[BrewHalla]

I though it was a FDA regulation they had to list the ingredients of a "cocktail in a can" if it uses hard liquor? i.e. if you have rum and cola it has to list it on the labeling and like the limerita and Smirnoff ice has to  list its malt beverage with natural flavors?

[Phil_M]

I thought it was a "malt beverage" aka malt based, but with as little malt/beer flavor as possible.

I'd start with a light American lager recipe, use as much rice as possible and basically brew it like a lager.

[morticaixavier]

I thought it was a "malt beverage" aka malt based, but with as little malt/beer flavor as possible.

I'd start with a light American lager recipe, use as much rice as possible and basically brew it like a lager.

malt beverages are based on malt sugar derived alcohol but to describe it in any way as beer (as in having hops, or really any bitterness) is wrong.

[BrewHalla]

This may be a little deep and getting off the original question but I thought ginger, like lemon grass, has a preservative quality (which is why hops were first used not for the bittering quality) which could be used in place of hops which would still qualify as the definition of beer.

[pete b]

This may be a little deep and getting off the original question but I thought ginger, like lemon grass, has a preservative quality (which is why hops were first used not for the bittering quality) which could be used in place of hops which would still qualify as the definition of beer.

Well there is beer and there is beer. The term beer can be used in root beer and ginger beer and it seems like it kinda means "like a beer". Also herbal beers have been made with sugar as the fermentable and bitter herbs to make it not cloying and/or medicinal. I think that most of us when we think beer think of a beverage made with malted grains, almost always but not always at least part barley and bittered with almost always hops. So if someone offers me a beer I expect a malted grain beverage with hops. If they were giving me a ginger beer or nettle beer I expect them to include the modifier in the title because its not what we expect for a beer.
If someone said they were bringing cake to a party you would be surprised if they showed with pancakes or crab cakes, right?

[BrewHalla]

I can agree with that to a point. All depends on the company. If I ask for a beer and they handed me a flanders style some people I would be stunned and others not so much. Either way just wondering if there was a good crabbies recipe out there.

[pete b]

I can agree with that to a point. All depends on the company. If I ask for a beer and they handed me a flanders style some people I would be stunned and others not so much. Either way just wondering if there was a good crabbies recipe out there.

I have never had a Crabbie's but have made alcoholic ginger beer. I would search for a recipe for alcoholic ginger beer. As I recall I boiled a lot of chopped fresh ginger in water, added enough turbinado sugar to get to probably 4-5% potential alcohol and pitched a clean yeast. A little lemon is nice. The sugar will ferment 100% so maybe add something to give just a little residual sweetness/mouthfeel. maybe steep some crystal malt. Sorry I'm not more specific I don't think I have notes and it was 5-6 years ago.

[morticaixavier]

I didn't mean to sound snobbish. I'm sure this is a tasty beverage. I like cider, and have even had an alcholic lemonade or two that were pretty good. Ginger is a great flavor in beer as well.

[dmtaylor]

I should have mentioned earlier... I LOVE Crabbie's.  I have several bottles in my fridge right now, both the regular ginger kind and the orange flavor.  As a delicious beverage, there is nothing wrong with it at all.  It is very very tasty.  But it's not beer.  You're not going to be able to homebrew this like a beer.  Sorry, not possible.  But you can make a soda version as I stated previously.

[pete b]

I didn't mean to sound snobbish. I'm sure this is a tasty beverage. I like cider, and have even had an alcholic lemonade or two that were pretty good. Ginger is a great flavor in beer as well.

I did mean to sound snobbish, but in a fun, friendly kind of a way.

[Phil_M]

I didn't mean to sound snobbish. I'm sure this is a tasty beverage. I like cider, and have even had an alcholic lemonade or two that were pretty good. Ginger is a great flavor in beer as well.

I didn't take it that way. I was only implying that it was "beer" because the fermentables come from a grain, much the same way sake is sometimes considered a type of beer as it's make from a grain. (rice)

That being said, although I love ginger beer I'm not a huge fan of Crabbie's...it's just not gingery enough for me. Best ginger beer I've had so far has been Regatta, enough ginger that it tastes pretty hot. Makes an awesome dark and stormy.