We brew our classic Dry Ginger Beer and our more zingy Lime & Chilli Ginger Beer with our own ‘bug’.

That’s how Rebekah was taught to make it as a child. The only thing we do differently now is we give the bottled brew a gentle hot-water bath so it stops fermenting. This means Hakanoa ginger beers won’t explode or develop too much alcohol like the old home-made stuff was inclined to do.

Our ‘bug’ is a culture of wild yeast and lacto bacilli.

Just the like the difference between a loaf of white sliced bread and a crusty sourdough baguette, our culture makes it’s own food acids that create tanginess and reveal the array of flavours in our mature Fijian ginger.

Just like a craft beer,

we make a mash of plant materials and add lots of water then our culture. We ferment the entire amount of liquid that we intend to bottle, slowly over several weeks. Once the ferment is complete, we transfer the brewed liquid into a big pressurised temperature controlled tank, leaving the mash behind. We make sure we have our signature flavour balance by adding a final touch of sugar & citrus juice, then the brew is chilled and extra carbonation added. It’s bottled and every bottle is given a hot-water bath so it stays stable and delicious for at least 18 months.

If your bottle of ginger fizz lists the first ingredient as carbonated water, you are actually drinking a flavoured soda. It might be flavoured with brewed ginger extract, even yeast. But it is compiled in a tank just a few hours before bottling and is a whole lot easier to make than ours.