Last week we went “live” in the Facebook group to test out yet another “no sugar” adaptation of a common cocktail. If you recall our tasting a few weeks ago, we’d established that Xylitol made the best “no sugar” simple syrup. But we were curious how far it could go. Could we use Xylitol to make a pseudo “Ginger Beer”? If so, we could then make one of my favorite cocktails, but “low carb”. So today we’re going to try to use Xylitol to make a Skinny Moscow Mule.
Watch Now to see how it goes!
How to Make Sugar Free “Ginger Beer”
As we mentioned in the video, we’re kind of cheating a bit on our “Ginger Beer” – instead of adding ginger beer per se, we’re splitting it into its three components: ginger juice, simple syrup, and sparkling water. This gives us a lot more flexibility to figure out just the right amount of each!
Step 1: Juice your Ginger
Use the blunt side of a butter knife or the edge of a spoon to scrape the ginger peel off. (Or if you like it spicy, leave it on!) Warning: if your ginger is fresh you might get sprayed in your eye (we learned that lesson here around 16:10…)
Then chop the ginger and toss it into a food processor with a little bit of water. The less water you can get away with, the better. But we needed water to make the food processor work. If you have a juicer, do that instead!. For the record, our mini smoothie maker did a terrible job of this! (Proof at 14:22)
Last but not least, strain your ginger slurry through a fine strainer with a coffee filter in it (our fine strainer is, ahem, perfect for this). The result will be a super spicy ginger juice that you can use to make your ginger beer.
Step 2: Make your Xylitol Simple Syrup
This one’s super easy. Start with Xylitol (we recommend the fine granule version, which I am pretty sure this one is) and add equal parts Xylitol and water. Stir well until the xylitol dissolves. Done!
Step 3: Mix them together.
Start by mixing your simple syrup and ginger juice to taste. Then add the sparkling water until you reach the desired intensity. If you’d like it more gingery, add more ginger juice. More sweet? Add Xylitol simple. Simply calibrate until you find the ratio you like.
How to make a “Skinny” Moscow Mule
We made our Moscow Mule a little differently – instead of creating the Ginger Beer first, we added the individual components to the drink to get the right balance. But you can create it either way. To make the ginger simple syrup below, simply follow the recipe above but don’t add any soda water yet.
In a copper mug add:
- 2.0 oz vodka
- 1.0 oz ginger syrup (see instructions below)
- .50 oz lime juice – (optional, but I find it does wonders for the drink!)
- Fill with ice and top with soda water.
Why stop there?
This is just one example of ingredients that you can make a low calorie sweetener from, but I’m sure there are a ton of other options. I think after this video I’m going to make a Penicillin and see how it tastes!
Meanwhile, why not experiment with other sugar free syrups? Tea syrup? Xylitol Oleo Saccharum? The possiblities are endless. I’m going to continue experimenting and reporting back!
