Organic Ginger Switchel 330ml | Zingi Bear

Pressed ginger root, acacia honey, Sicilian lemon and unfiltered cider vinegar. Sharp, fiery and lightly sparkling - the grown-up end of the ginger beer shelf.

A switchel is an old harvest drink: vinegar, ginger and something sweet, mixed to rehydrate farmers working through the heat. Laurie Freeman, a cheesemaker and brewer in the Lake District, rebuilt it with organic ingredients after deciding that soft drinks had not kept up with what was happening in beer.

The cider vinegar is what makes it work. It gives an acidity that sugar-led ginger beers never have, so the drink stays tart and cuts through food instead of coating your mouth. No refined sugar, no preservatives, no flavourings - not even the citric or ascorbic acid nearly everything else uses.

Drink it over ice with a wedge of lemon, or use it as a mixer. It makes an excellent Moscow Mule and it is very good with a decent bourbon.

• Made in small batches in the Lake District
• Style: Lightly sparkling switchel
• Flavour: Fiery ginger, sharp cider vinegar, honeyed lemon finish
• Format: 330ml glass bottle
• Dietary: Organic, gluten-free, contains honey so not vegan
• 102 calories per bottle, no refined sugar

Ingredients

Sparkling filtered water, organic pressed ginger root (5.9%), organic lemon juice, organic apple cider vinegar (with mother), organic acacia honey, organic acerola cherry, Cornish sea salt.

FAQs

What is a switchel?
A vinegar-and-ginger drink that goes back to the Caribbean and was later drunk by American farmers at harvest - an elixir by day, a mixer for spirits by night. It predates commercial ginger beer by a long way.

Does it taste of vinegar?
You notice it as sharpness rather than as vinegar. It sits behind the ginger and lemon and stops the honey making things sweet.

Is it vegan?
No - it is sweetened with organic acacia honey. It is gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians.

Why is there salt in it?
A pinch of Cornish sea salt seasons the drink in the same way salt seasons food, lifting the ginger and the citrus. It is also what a switchel was originally for, replacing what you sweat out.

Zingi Bear is made in the Lake District and pours in kitchens and Michelin-starred dining rooms alike - Simon Rogan has served it at L'Enclume since the beginning.