dare I ask...diet ginger beer?

[purple bot]

I'm making an effort to cut soda out of my diet, but one thing I really can't resist: I love a good "dark and stormy" (or 2 or 3). Is there such a thing as diet ginger beer? I know, it kind of makes me cringe too, but not as much as downing all those empty calories does. Summer is coming (supposedly) and this is one of my preferred hot weather beverages.

[Guinness02122]

Goslings diet ginger beer is at Stop & Shop on Newport Ave in North Quincy.

[ruthless2]

Are you still looking for DIET Ginger Beer for a Dark and Stormy? I just found one.....Barritts Bermuda Stone Diet Ginger Beer. ZERO Calories, Sugar Free, only 24 mg of Sodium in a 12 oz bottle. Featured on Gosling's Rum website. Perfect for mixing with their Black Seal Rum. I bough a 4-pack at Total Wine in Miami-about 15 miles away, but looking for a source close to my home in Miami Beach.

[catsmeow]

I ordered a case of Barretts diet in bottles online.

[Matt H]

Tropical Foods in Roxbury carries D&G Light Ginger Beer.

Also Pepper Pot Jamaican restaurant makes an incredible home made Ginger Beer with "good sugars". If you call ahead they can make you a case to pick up.

[djr222]

I have also seen the diet ginger beer, at the UK food shop in Sargus south on route 1

[almansa]

I just returned from there and scared the owner half to death (they're closed Mondays). They don't sell it, if you mean Union Jack in Danvers. The quest continues.

[tysonmcneely]

Thanks for the tip, I will definitely have to try them out. Does the pepper pot kind have less sugar, or they just use fructose or what?

I also heard that the D&G is a Jamaican style ginger beer which is spicier than the Bermuda kind like Barritt's. I have heard mixed reviews whether it is suitable for making Dark & Stormy's. Anyone have any experience with this?

[SaraASR]

I think this is an amazing question because I have been wondering the same thing for months! Purple_bot, you're awesome.

[catsmeow]

A year or 2 ago, I got it at a "farm stand" type place called The Country Gourmet. It's in Southborough about 5 minutes from the Framingham/Southborough exit off the MA Pike.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

I've seen diet ginger ALES (Polar makes one), but not diet ginger beers, and a good DnS really wants the bite of a ginger beer rather than a ginger ale. So...I'm afraid you're not in luck.

On the other hand, the average can of soda has 150 or so calories, so a good sugar-based ginger beer isn't THAT much of an indulgence, especially since the shot of Gosling's Black Seal adds another 100 calories by itself. If you must, limit yourself to one and enjoy it, rather than having two or three of something that isn't as tasty.

[sinned61]

For the record, the POLAR DIET Ginger Ale is the BEST Diet Ginger Ale out there....bar none! Actually HAS FLAVOR!

[purple bot]

You make an excellent point, BFP (btw, my all-time favorite hound name), except, the problem is that a real one tastes so damn good, I'm powerless to refuse a second. So I just figured...

[almansa]

As I have in the past, I wholeheartedly second Polar Diet Ginger Ale. It doesn't have all the bite of ginger beer, but it's as close as you're likely going to get without going online. And @BFP, not everybody can have sugar, and calories might not be the issue. Yay Polar!

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

I'm well aware of that. But given that the original poster was specifically asking about diet ginger beers BECAUSE calories were the issue, what's your point?

[almansa]

Because simple sugars are empty calories while ethanol doesn't necessarily qualify as it doesn't cause your insulin to spike.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

The original poster said nothing about diabetes, insulin, or anything related.

[tysonmcneely]

I think the OP has a great question. And you basically answered why someone would ask this in your own post. If you could take out over half the calories why wouldn't you? 100 calories is less than a light beer, whereas 250 calories per drink is on the higher end. Most people would rather drink 2 diet dark and stormy's than 1 regular (or 10 instead 5 in my case). Remember: you can't have fun if you stop at one.

[ac106]

i searched high and low a few months ago. Regatta makes one but I have not found it locally. Stop and Shop and Kappys among others carry it so they could conceivebly order the diet but i never got around to asking.

Other that are made but that i have not seen locally:

Blenheims
Barritts
D&G

Check out my thread from a while back