The story behind Farmer Willie's alcoholic ginger beer, which just hit the market today, is an entertaining one: "What happens when you combine a Cape Cod goat farmer with an irresistible ginger beer recipe and two college kids with a love for beer?"
"A damn good drink with a fun and quirky charm."
As the company explains it, you get Ginger with Soul.
Farmer Willie's is the boozy version of that hard-to-put-a-finger-on mixer you likely remember from the Dark 'N' Stormy cocktails your mom loves to whip up on the porch when the weather is nice. The ginger beer you know is tart and bitter and non-alcoholic. It's tasty and sort of weird, the type of thing you're not sure about but end up drinking a bunch of anyway.
This one is different. With 4.5 percent ABV – the equivalent of a Bud Light – and a mellower undertone of ginger and lemon, it's similarly intriguing but without as much bite, combining cold-pressed ginger, cane sugar, fresh lemon juice, molasses and nutmeg.
The company did a "wildly successful" test run last summer and today announced a broader availability and distribution across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
“After my first sip of Farmer Willie’s home brewed ginger beer a few summers back, I was totally hooked,” said Farmer Willie's Co-founder Nico Enriquez. “We knew Willie’s recipe was a showstopper, so we ventured to bring a taste of our epic Cape Cod summers to beer and cider drinkers beyond the area. With this launch, we’re looking forward to introducing a damn good drink with a fun and quirky charm to the masses.”
Farmer Willie's, according to a release, is the first-ever U.S brewed beverage to be Carbon Neutral certified. It has also committed to donating 1 percent of all sales to environmental causes. You can find it starting today in select bars, restaurants and liquor stores throughout Metro Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, the South Shore of Massachusetts, Providence and Newport, Rhode Island. It'll sell for $8.99 per 4-pack of 12-oz. cans.
After sharing a few samples around the BostInno office, the reviews were largely positive, with a few purists saying they missed the edge of its non-alcoholic counterpart.
One question dominated, though: Wonder how this would taste in a Dark 'N' Stormy?
