The Enid Blyton Society

Is there any ginger beer on sale today comparable to that which Blyton's characters would have drunk?

The ginger beer you can buy in supermarkets today is always carbonated which I assume is a more recent phenomenon?

Oh my. The ginger beer of the 40s and 50s was not carbonated?
Sometimes I wonder how I function being so daft!

The two sorts I sell are Fentimans and organic Belvoir, and both are available in supermarkets. Both are properly brewed, and therefore very slightly alcoholic (under 0.5%). I gave up selling the third one, because although it was "made" in Dorset, it was from a concentrate, and then trundled up to Gloucester and back to be bottled

http://www.fentimans.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/page/belvoir-presses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Should all go well with my new venture, it would be fun to make my own brand of GB next year!

Viv

As a young 'un, we used to drink Schweppes Ginger Beer, and it was carbonated. I have never heard of 'flat' ginger beer, and would think that would be quite disgusting!

Note: I have just Googled 'Ginger Beer' and at the top is "Ginger Beer - Gingerbeer provides up-to-date information on London's women-only events, lesbian clubs, dyke bars, queer shops and gay restaurants."

I'm glad I didn't write that.

I never tried ginger beer as a child, but love it now as an adult. The thought of non-carbonated ginger beer sounds rather horrid though.

Does anyone like ginger ale? I think it's horrible in comparison - but I recall someone giving me some at a wedding reception when I was about seven. Even though I didn't like the taste, it was my first example of the childhood showing off ritual of "Look at me everyone, I'm drinking alcohol like a grown-up!"

Moonraker wrote:Note: I have just Googled 'Ginger Beer' and at the top is "Ginger Beer - Gingerbeer provides up-to-date information on London's women-only events, lesbian clubs, dyke bars, queer shops and gay restaurants."

I didn't know about this alternative meaning until after I'd named the shop Ginger Pop!

Viv

Talking about making one’s Ginger Beer as Viv has suggested, how about making Ginger Beer
with Enid Blyton’s signature logo on a specific brand of Ginger Beer determined to be the one
Enid Blyton talked about in her books on each relevant bottle for sale? However that may mean
getting into painful negotiations with Chorion which legally owns this logo. Although that could
mean commercializing Enid Blyton, this could be one of the easiest ways of introducing Enid
Blyton to countries such as the U.S. where Enid Blyton is still an unknown quantity. Such logos
have successfully been used to market franchises like James Bond, Harry Potter and others across
the world

Bundaberg ginger beer is brilliant! I don't know if it's 'as drunk by the Famous Five', but it's the best I've ever encountered.

Viv of Ginger Pop wrote:

Moonraker wrote:Note: I have just Googled 'Ginger Beer' and at the top is "Ginger Beer - Gingerbeer provides up-to-date information on London's women-only events, lesbian clubs, dyke bars, queer shops and gay restaurants."

I didn't know about this alternative meaning until after I'd named the shop Ginger Pop!

Just as well, eh? Although, you may well have put Corfe Castle on the Brighton Line.....

Viv of Ginger Pop wrote:The two sorts I sell are Fentimans and organic Belvoir, and both are available in supermarkets. Both are properly brewed, and therefore very slightly alcoholic (under 0.5%). I gave up selling the third one, because although it was "made" in Dorset, it was from a concentrate, and then trundled up to Gloucester and back to be bottled

http://www.fentimans.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/page/belvoir-presses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Should all go well with my new venture, it would be fun to make my own brand of GB next year!

Viv

I've tried Fentimans - it was carbonated! I thought that was a recent phenomenon, or are you saying that Blyton's characters would have drunk carbonated ginger beer?

I thought Fentimans had been in business for ages - or maybe I'm confused with another brand.

black labrador wrote: I've tried Fentimans - it was carbonated! I thought that was a recent phenomenon, or are you saying that Blyton's characters would have drunk carbonated ginger beer?

It was (as it still is) certainly fizzy! Think of lemonade, a similar drink but without the ginger!

Does this mean that yet another change will have to be made to Enid's books in the future? Can't have children being seen to drink something so unhealthy - that's assuming that with the new sugar tax, they'd be able to afford to buy it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35831125" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Lashings" of Diet Coke, anyone??

Courtenay wrote:"Lashings" of Diet Coke, anyone??

Even more unhealthy!

Mineral water maybe?