Wine & Champagne

Green Ginger Wine

Green ginger wine is a sweet British drink fermented from a raisin base and flavoured with ginger; Stone's Original, the bottle most recipes mean, is 13.5% ABV. At that strength it is not a fortified wine in law, which needs at least 15%, and a raisin base keeps it outside the legal definition of wine as well. It pours amber, not green, and it is the second bottle in a Whisky Mac.

Quick Facts

ABV13.5% ABVStone's Original is 13.5%; Stone's Special Reserve is 18%.

Legal categoryAt 13.5% it is under the 15% minimum for a fortified (liqueur) wine, and its raisin base is not wine in law

OriginBritain, since the 1700s

Flavour Strengthstrong

Our keeping timeAbout three or four weeks in the fridge once opened.

Storage

Cool and dark unopened. Refrigerate once opened and finish within three or four weeks; it fades rather than spoils.

Allergens

Contains: sulphites. Stone's declares sulphites; check the bottle.

The ingredient

About Green Ginger Wine

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

Ginger FireRaisinWarm

Tasting Notes

Fermented ginger heat over raisin-wine sweetness: warming, direct and unmistakably British, the hot water bottle of the wine world.

Ginger wine is made from raisins, not fresh grapes

Stone's, the bottle most recipes mean, starts from raisins: its makers combine a gingered raisin base with an ungingered one and name Australian ground ginger on the label. The recipe dates itself to 1740 and the Finsbury Distilling Company in London; the Stone's name came from Joseph Stone, a grocer who sold it. The result is sweet, warming and amber.

The green in the name is old usage. Green ginger meant young or undried root, and nothing in the glass is green.

At 13.5% it is not a fortified wine

Ginger wine is shelved and often described as a fortified wine, but the law draws the line elsewhere. In GB, retained EU wine rules define a liqueur wine, the legal fortified wine, as 15% to 22% and made from grape must or wine; wine itself must come from fresh grapes or grape must. Stone's Original is 13.5% and made from raisins, so it sits outside both.

Ginger wine against the bottles it is shelved with

Stone's Original Green Ginger Wine

Strength: 13.5%
Made from: Raisin base with ginger
Legal category in GB: Neither wine nor fortified wine
Once opened: Three or four weeks in the fridge

Stone's Special Reserve

Strength: 18%
Made from: The same raisin bases, more concentrated
Legal category in GB: Not checked
Once opened: Three or four weeks in the fridge

Port

Strength: About 20%
Made from: Grape wine fortified with grape spirit
Legal category in GB: Fortified (liqueur) wine
Once opened: Weeks for ruby, months for tawny

Sweet vermouth

Strength: About 16%
Made from: Wine aromatised with herbs and spices
Legal category in GB: Aromatised wine
Once opened: Three or four weeks in the fridge

Drink	Strength	Made from	Legal category in GB	Once opened
Stone's Original Green Ginger Wine	13.5%	Raisin base with ginger	Neither wine nor fortified wine	Three or four weeks in the fridge
Stone's Special Reserve	18%	The same raisin bases, more concentrated	Not checked	Three or four weeks in the fridge
Port	About 20%	Grape wine fortified with grape spirit	Fortified (liqueur) wine	Weeks for ruby, months for tawny
Sweet vermouth	About 16%	Wine aromatised with herbs and spices	Aromatised wine	Three or four weeks in the fridge

The Whisky Mac is two parts Scotch to one

Our Whisky Mac stirs 25ml of ginger wine into 50ml of Scotch in a rocks glass, neat or on one big cube. Other versions vary the balance, and the whisky decides it: smoke needs less ginger wine, a soft blend takes more. The name is generally attributed to a Colonel Hector MacDonald in British India.

Keep it cold once open

Unopened, a bottle keeps in a cool, dark cupboard. Once open it belongs in the fridge, like a vermouth, and wants finishing inside three or four weeks. Nothing obvious goes wrong; the ginger simply fades, and the drink it makes goes sweet and flat without anything tasting wrong.

Using it

Using Green Ginger Wine

Usage

Our Whisky Mac stirs 25ml into twice as much Scotch, served neat or on one big cube. On its own it is served cold or over ice and sipped like a sweet wine, which at 13.5% is what it is closest to.

Pro Tip

A Whisky Mac that tastes flat usually has an old bottle of ginger wine in it, not the wrong whisky. Opened ginger wine loses its heat in the fridge over a few weeks; a fresh bottle at the same 25ml brings the drink back.

Top Tips

Adjust a Whisky Mac to the whisky: a little less ginger wine with a smoky malt, a little more with a soft blend.
Refrigerate an opened bottle and finish it within three or four weeks. The ginger fades before anything spoils.
Read the strength on the label. Stone's Original is 13.5%; Stone's Special Reserve is 18%, sweeter and with more ginger.
Try it cold on its own before treating it as a mixer. It is a dessert-wine strength drink with real ginger heat.

Possible Substitutions

Ginger liqueur: sweeter and spirit-based, a different chassis
A strong ginger syrup in half measure: the emergency sketch, fire without wine

Production Method

A raisin base fermented with ginger: Stone's combines gingered and ungingered raisin bases and names Australian ground ginger, bottling the Original at 13.5%. That is under the 15% legal minimum for a fortified wine, so it is sold as neither wine nor fortified wine.

History & Context

Stone's dates its recipe to 1740 and the Finsbury Distilling Company in London. The Stone's name came later, from Joseph Stone, a London grocer who sold the Finsbury ginger wine, and 19th-century sales were helped by a widely held belief that ginger protected against cholera.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is green ginger wine?

A sweet, amber British drink made by fermenting a raisin base and flavouring it with ginger. Stone's Original, the familiar bottle, is 13.5% ABV and names raisins and Australian ground ginger among its ingredients. It is drunk cold on its own or mixed with Scotch in a Whisky Mac.

Is ginger wine a fortified wine?

Not in law, though it is often called one and shelved beside port and sherry. In GB a fortified wine, legally a liqueur wine, must be 15% to 22% and made from grape must or wine. Stone's Original is 13.5% and made from raisins, so it is neither a fortified wine nor, strictly, a wine.

How strong is ginger wine?

Stone's Original is 13.5% ABV, about the strength of a full-bodied table wine. Stone's Special Reserve is stronger at 18%. In our Whisky Mac, 25ml of the Original with 50ml of Scotch at 40% comes to about 2.3 UK units, almost all of it from the whisky.

Why is it called green ginger wine?

Green ginger is an old name for young, fresh or undried ginger root, so the green describes the ginger rather than the colour. The drink itself pours amber-gold. The name has outlasted the usage: Stone's now names Australian ground ginger, which is dried, among its ingredients.

What is a Whisky Mac?

Scotch and green ginger wine, stirred together without ice or over one large cube. Our recipe is 50ml of Scotch to 25ml of ginger wine, two to one; published versions range between equal parts and three to two. The name is generally attributed to a Colonel Hector MacDonald in British India.

How long does ginger wine last once opened?

Three or four weeks, stoppered and refrigerated. It will not turn unpleasant quickly; it fades, losing the ginger heat a Whisky Mac depends on, so a bottle opened last winter makes a sweet, dull drink. Unopened, keep it somewhere cool and dark.

What can I use instead of ginger wine?

Nothing does quite the same job. A ginger liqueur is spirit-based, stronger and usually sweeter, so use about half as much. A ginger syrup gives the heat without the wine, so add a little more whisky. Either makes a different drink from a Whisky Mac, which is worth knowing before you serve it.

Make something

Made with Green Ginger Wine

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Whisky Mac

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Updated 11 October 2026

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