Michael Today's youth hardly drinks beer anymore. Beverage manufacturers have adapted and now offer all sorts of stimulating energy drinks without sugar. I might still occasionally drink the Indian tea Yerba Mate, but that's about it. I can't fathom how anyone can drink Gatorade or Red Bull, except maybe in the last miles of a marathon just before a complete physical breakdown. I feel similarly about root beer, which doesn't taste like beer at all but rather like liquid Bazooka bubble gum, and the recently appearing "Birch Beer" in hipster supermarkets is just the same junk.

However, I must say that the also trendy ginger beer actually tastes good. It quenches thirst like lemonade but has a very intense ginger flavor that lingers for a while. One of the best ginger beers I've tried comes from Australia, called "Bundaberg," and is supposedly based on an ancient family recipe. As a thirst-quencher, the carbonation lightly burns in the throat, followed by a ginger kick similar to that of ouzo schnapps. It packs about 100 calories per 0.33l bottle, making it not quite as filling as a 0.33l bottle of real branded beer.

Bundaberg is available on the shelves of regular supermarkets in Hawaii. Here in the Bay Area, I've seen it at World Market, even as bulk priced 10-pack. Recently, in Los Angeles, I noticed another ginger beer brand called "Cock Bull," which I also enjoyed. It has an even spicier finish and briefly burns as if there were hot chili peppers in the bottle, but the initial impression quickly dissolves into a pleasant ginger flavor. Highly recommended.

Our mega supermarket Costco has recently started selling a ginger beer from the brand "Fever Tree," and I have to say, this drink really packs a punch; it's so spicy compared to the other ginger beers we tested this time. It burns in the throat, and in direct comparison, the other brands taste like downright bland water. Definitely not for beginners, and the twelve-pack costs $14.99 at Costco, which apparently only has the drink in stock on a trial basis. Grab it while supplies last!

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