Ginger is a spice well known for its benefits to digestive health and for its anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also a go-to for nausea relief. As a spice, it adds a fragrant zest to food and drinks alike, adding a nice balance to sweet ingredients like fruits. There are a few common ways you’ll find ginger worked into cocktail recipes, and that’s typically in the form of a ginger syrup, a ginger beer or ginger ale. 

At Mad River Distillers, we more commonly utilize ginger syrup or ginger beer in our craft cocktail recipes. Ginger beer works as a great topper for warm season sippers, usually served in a tall glass with ice. Ginger syrup is great for adding a punch of concentrated flavor that pairs incredibly well with lemon (especially during the cold season). 

Here, we share a variety of our recipes incorporating ginger into cocktails through both the warm and cold seasons.

GINGER BEER COCKTAILS

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients. Shake and strain over ice into a highball glass. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Instructions:
Add the bourbon, lime juice and maple syrup to a shaker with ice. Shake and serve over ice in a rocks glass. Top with ginger beer and 1 dropper of Lindsay bitters. Add a lime wheel as garnish.

Instructions:
Add rum, lime and ginger beer to a highball glass with ice, and stir. Add a lime wheel & bitters for garnish.

Instructions:
In a highball glass, add 3-4 scoops of the sorbet. Pour in the RUM 44. Fill the glass to the top with ginger beer. Add a mint sprig for garnish.

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Instructions:
Shake all ingredients. Strain over ice into a rocks glass. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with a sliced strawberry.

Instructions:
Fill pint glass with ice. Add 1.5 oz. Maple Cask Rum. Top off with ginger beer. Garnish with lime wedge.

Instructions:
Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake briefly. Strain contents into stemmed glassware over ice. Top off with ginger beer.

GINGER SYRUP COCKTAILS

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake, then strain contents over a large ice cube. Garnish with candied ginger.

Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake for 15 seconds, then strain into a Collins glass over ice. Top with ginger ale, leaving 1 inch at the top of the glass. Garnish with a floater of Fernet Branca.

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into a small stem glass. Top the rim with a gingerbread cookie garnish and enjoy!

Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake for about 30 seconds. Add a large ice cube to a rocks glass. Strain over the large ice cube into the glass. Express a lemon peel over the top, then add as a garnish.

Instructions:
Combine ingredients in your favorite mug. Top off with hot water. Stir and garnish with candied ginger and a lemon peel.

We use a ginger-honey syrup in several of the recipes above, which you can make right at home by following the instructions in our cocktail syrups blog post. Most grocery stores carry ginger beer, but ginger syrup isn’t always easy to find. At our Burlington Tasting Room, we carry a variety of syrups, including King Floyds Ginger Syrup and El Guapo Ginger Syrup (or you can find them online). Ginger beer, as well as other mixers, bitters, and bottles of our spirits are all available from our retail section. Happy mixing!

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Written and published by Brianne Lucas on May 23, 2025.