Ginger Beer is not technically a beer at all, but an alcoholic drink invented by the British in the mid-18th century using ginger root and sugar grown in the West Indies. It became popular in various parts of what was then the British Empire as well as in the United States. Today, most genuine ginger beer is made from grated fresh ginger roots, acidified with lemon juice and zest, and sweetened with sugar. Traditionally, this mixture was fermented with a gelatinous substance called “ginger beer plant,” a type of starter made from lemon, sugar, and ginger. This blend was left exposed to the ambient air for about a week for spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts and lactobacilli. The organisms involved were originally identified by the British botanist Harry Marshall Ward in 1887. Some of the ginger beer plant would be added to the main ferment, much like a sourdough mother supplies the leavening for sourdough bread. The volume of alcohol in the brew was, of course, dependent on the amount of sugar and the degree to which it fermented out. Today, ginger is a popular flavoring for craft-brewed beers in the United States and the UK and also among homebrewers. Peeled ginger is usually added to hopped wort in the kettle, and in sufficient amounts it gives not only flavor but also a form of spicy heat. This strong flavor characterizes the ginger beers still widely available in the UK and the Caribbean, but these are now simply soft drinks. Most Americans and Canadians are familiar with a much milder-tasting soft drink variant called dry ginger ale, which became popular in the 1930s and quickly eclipsed the older, more robust versions of the drink.