Whisky & Ginger Beer
Whisky and ginger beer is 150ml ginger beer over 50ml blended Scotch, built over ice in a tall highball, with an orange slice. This is Fever-Tree’s published serve, which names their Refreshingly Light Ginger Beer. Pour the whisky first, then the ginger beer, and stir once. Ginger beer is heavier, hotter and cloudier than ginger ale, so this drink is louder than a whisky and ginger ale and needs a whisky with some weight. A blend works because its grain whisky is gentle and its malt gives a cereal note for the ginger to push against. Its best-known ancestor is the Mamie Taylor of 1899: Scotch, lime and ginger ale. A squeeze of lime takes this drink back towards it. One glass comes to about 2.0 UK units.
Glassware: Highball Glass
Garnish: Orange slice
Ingredients
150ml
The serve names Fever-Tree’s Refreshingly Light version, which has less sugar and keeps the heat. Whichever you use, it should taste strongly of ginger on its own; a mild ginger beer leaves the Scotch with nothing to lean on.
50ml
A blended Scotch at 40% ABV. The grain whisky softens the ginger heat and the malt adds a cereal dryness. A heavily peated malt fights the ginger and muddies the drink.
Fill the glass
Cubed, filling the glass. Ginger beer is sweeter and heavier than ginger ale and turns syrupy as it warms, so plenty of ice matters more here.
Instructions
Fill a highball glass to the top with cubed ice.
Pour in the Scotch.
Top with the chilled ginger beer, poured gently down the inside of the glass.
Stir once, gently, from the bottom.
Garnish with a slice of orange.
Source: the producer's own published serve (Fever-Tree). Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Choose the ginger beer before the whisky. A fierce, properly gingery one gives the Scotch something to lean on; a mild, sweet one turns the drink into fizzy sugar with whisky in it, and no change to the measures will fix that. Whisky goes in first; then pour the ginger beer down the side of the glass. Being denser, the ginger beer mixes as it goes in, so one gentle stir is enough and the bubbles survive. If the drink tastes heavy, add a squeeze of lime, a quarter of a fruit at most. Ginger beer brings heat and sugar but no acid.
Behind the Whisky & Ginger Beer
Flavour Profile
The Mamie Taylor
Scotch and ginger has a named ancestor. The Mamie Taylor was mixed, by most accounts in 1899, at Ontario Beach near Rochester, New York, for the singer Mayme Taylor, who had asked for something long and not too strong after an afternoon on the lake. A local bartender, Bill Sterritt, is usually credited. It was Scotch, lime and ginger ale.
It was widely ordered in the United States from 1900 until Prohibition, then faded. What most bars pour now is Scotch and ginger without the lime, and without the name.
Ginger Beer, Not Ginger Ale
Ginger ale is a flavoured soft drink. Ginger beer is brewed, or made to taste brewed, with far more ginger. It brings more heat, more sugar and more body, and it pours cloudy.
That changes what the whisky has to do. A Scotch that shows clearly through ginger ale can vanish under ginger beer, so this is the place for a blend with some weight. For the lighter drink, see whisky and ginger ale.
Fever-Tree’s Serve
Scotch and ginger, three ways
Whisky and ginger beer (Fever-Tree serve, and ours)
- Whisky
- 50ml blended Scotch
- Mixer
- 150ml ginger beer
- Citrus
- None; orange slice
Whisky and ginger ale (ours)
- Whisky
- 50ml blended Scotch
- Mixer
- 150ml ginger ale
- Citrus
- None; orange slice
Mamie Taylor (1899)
- Whisky
- Scotch
- Mixer
- Ginger ale
- Citrus
- Lime
| Drink | Whisky | Mixer | Citrus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whisky and ginger beer (Fever-Tree serve, and ours) | 50ml blended Scotch | 150ml ginger beer | None; orange slice |
| Whisky and ginger ale (ours) | 50ml blended Scotch | 150ml ginger ale | None; orange slice |
| Mamie Taylor (1899) | Scotch | Ginger ale | Lime |
One to three keeps the Scotch clear without letting the ginger beer take over. Pour the whisky first and the ginger beer gently over it; the heavier mixer does the mixing.
Fever-Tree publish it for their Refreshingly Light ginger beer, which carries less sugar than their standard bottle and keeps the heat. A sweeter ginger beer at the same measures tastes noticeably heavier, and that is where the lime earns a place.
What the Lime Was For
Ginger beer has heat and sugar but almost no acid, and heat without acid tastes thick. That is why this drink can feel like hard work where the Mamie Taylor did not.
A squeeze of lime, a quarter of a fruit at most, brings it back into focus. With a very dry ginger beer it is not needed.
How Strong It Is
Fifty millilitres of Scotch at 40% ABV puts about 2.0 UK units in the glass. The ginger beer’s sugar and heat hide the alcohol well.
Make it at home
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
How much ginger beer to whisky?
How strong is whisky and ginger beer?
How does it compare with a Moscow Mule?
Is whisky and ginger beer the same as a Mamie Taylor?
Ginger beer or ginger ale with whisky?
Can I use bourbon instead of Scotch?
Why orange rather than lime?
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Whisky & Ginger Ale
Whisky and ginger ale is one part whisky to three of ginger ale: 50ml blended Scotch and 150ml ginger ale, built over a full glass of ice in a highball, stirred once and finished with a slice of orange. The measures follow Fever-Tree’s published serve for their ginger ale. The ginger ale is 150ml of a 200ml drink, so it decides the result. A dry one with real ginger heat lets the whisky show; a sweet one makes the drink taste like soda with something in it. Blended Scotch suits it because the grain whisky is soft and light, and bourbon makes a rounder, sweeter version. A glass holds about 2.0 UK units. Pour the whisky in first and the ginger ale over it, then stir once: every extra stir costs bubbles.
Moscow Mule
A Moscow Mule is 45ml of vodka and 10ml of fresh lime juice over ice in a copper mug, topped with 120ml of cold ginger beer and stirred once, with a lime wedge. Those are the IBA’s measures. About 1.8 UK units, all from the vodka. It is usually dated to 1941 and credited to John G. Martin, who was trying to sell Smirnoff vodka to Americans who did not drink it, and Jack Morgan of the Cock ’n’ Bull in Los Angeles, who had ginger beer he could not shift. Other accounts put the first one in a New York hotel bar, or credit the Cock ’n’ Bull’s bartender. The ginger beer decides the drink. At 120ml it is two thirds of the glass, so a soft, sugary one gives a soft, sugary Mule. Use the fieriest you can find, and keep the lime short: good ginger beer brings its own bite.
Dark ’n’ Stormy
A Dark ’n’ Stormy is 60ml of Gosling’s Black Seal rum floated over 100ml of ginger beer in a highball full of ice, with a lime wedge. About 2.4 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures, and the name is a Gosling Brothers trade mark tied to Black Seal. Gosling Brothers say the drink was first mixed in Bermuda just after the First World War. The usual story puts ginger beer from a Royal Navy officers’ club with the local black rum, and a sailor is said to have called the colour that of a cloud only a fool or a dead man would sail under. Gosling’s has held a US registration on the name since 1991 and uses it to stop the drink being sold under that name with any other rum. The same build with another dark rum is a rum and ginger beer, and a sound one.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Dan Freeman · Updated 12 October 2026