Answers.Body: <p>The term "cider" is generally reserved for apples.  There are 'pear ciders' such as Woodchuck that use the name, but as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider">Wikipedia</a> points out, "A similar product made from pears is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry">perry</a> but sometimes (incorrectly) called Pear Cider in the marketing of some producers' products".  I personally can forgive this, since pears are closely related to apples, and the result is quite tasty.</p>
  
  <p>The "beer" part of ginger beer is due to the fermentation process involved in its creation.  In this way, it is more similar to "root beer", since ginger is a root, like the sassafras root used in root beer and birch roots used in birch beer.  The website todayifoundout.com has a well referenced article for <a href="http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/07/why-root-beer-is-called-that/">Why Root Beer is Called That</a> covering the naming of root beer.  If the ginger based version isn't fermented, but is instead ginger flavouring added to carbonated water, it would be "ginger ale"; I have no idea why, since an India Pale Ale is certainly fermented.  Even with ginger products, the differentiation is not really all that terribly strict, as noted by this <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/20/ginger-ale-vs-ginger-beer_n_1438420.html">Huffington Post article</a>.  Initially, ginger beer, root beer, birch beer, etc, were frequently alcoholic, but Prohibition ruined that for the U.S.</p>
  
  <p>As a bit of a side note, the alcoholic versions are making a wonderful comeback (in my personal opinion) with <a href="https://www.sprecherbrewery.com/hrb.php">Sprecher's</a> and <a href="http://smalltownbrewery.com/?page_id=11">Small Town Brewery</a> for root beer.  I personally have not seen as much alcoholic ginger beer, but <a href="http://www.crabbiesgingerbeer.co.uk/">Crabbies</a> from the U.K. is quite good.  Although I personally do not like <a href="http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/697/24751/">Kuchi's ginger beer</a>, I have several friends who absolutely love it.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-07-30T01:33:31.363Z
Answers.Text: Crabbies is my personal favorite at the moment.  I'll keep sampling to research this tasty beverage.  8-)
Answers.UserDisplayName: rickhg12hs
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-06-30T09:19:16.120Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-06-30T09:19:16.120Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Falsenames
Answers.Body: <p>According to google:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>ci·der
    noun
    1.
    an unfermented drink made by crushing fruit, typically apples.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>No fruit in ginger beer.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-30T00:57:43.977Z
Answers.Text: That definition of cider doesn't sound quite right: without fermentation, don't you just have apple juice?
Answers.UserDisplayName: James Henstridge
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-30T03:12:44.473Z
Answers.Text: I thought we were supposed to just use Google to look up medical symptoms for self treatment.  8-)
Answers.UserDisplayName: rickhg12hs
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-30T13:17:04.517Z
Answers.Text: @JamesHenstridge Cider is not necessarily alcoholic.  Juice v Cider is basically filtered&pasteurized vs not.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Bryan Cain
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-05-02T01:24:52.353Z
Answers.Text: We'd still refer to filtered and pasteurised apple juice as apple juice here.  Cider generally refers to a fermented drink (whether or not it has a noticeable quantity of alcohol).
Answers.UserDisplayName: James Henstridge
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-05-18T14:23:12.333Z
Answers.Text: @BryanCain Isn't that a US definition - I have not seen non alcoholic cider in the UK or Europe
Answers.UserDisplayName: mmmmmm
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-05-21T14:01:02.670Z
Answers.Text: @Mark I guess it could be - I haven't made it to Europe yet, but I've seen non-alcoholic cider here.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Bryan Cain
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-29T14:34:30.163Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-04-29T14:34:30.163Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Bryan Cain
Answers.Body: <p>Beer (malt, wheat and ginger etc.) is brewed and fermented, cider (apples) is pressed and fermented.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-05-28T14:04:55.390Z
Answers.Text: I think the actual distinctions here are much more complicated, and a lot of it is probably tradition rather than technical definition.  For example:  There is rice wine that is not sake.  Sake is made from converted grain starches, like beer, but is usually considered to be wine like.  Wine is made from pressed grapes but is not cider.  There is no grape cider.  Dandelion wine is made from flowers, with straight sugar added.  Ginger root has the hell grated out of and steeped in water, usually with straight sugar.  By process, I don't know what you can classify that as.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sloloem
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-04-08T15:14:45.150Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-04-08T15:14:45.150Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ray
Answers.Body: <p>Ginger beer is not just water, sugar, crushed ginger and  yeast. I make it with some spices boilled in water to flavour it, some of it to kill off the yeast if I want it to. KIlling off the yeast makes it an ale ; and cider must have apples or apple juice in it.  That's my opinion.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-10T19:08:17.353Z
Answers.Text: I think you're right about cider requiring some apple product.  Aren't ales, versus other beer styles, classified by the [type of yeast](http://beer.stackexchange.com/questions/8/what-is-the-difference-between-an-ale-and-a-lager) used?
Answers.UserDisplayName: rickhg12hs
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-11T03:00:59.923Z
Answers.Text: @rickhg12hs Cider does not actually require apples.  Take, for instance, pear cider.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Xander
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-11T05:50:02.303Z
Answers.Text: @Xander  Good point ... There are some quite tasty ones as well.  There does seem to be a fair amount of controversy about the name ["pear cider"](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry) though.
Answers.UserDisplayName: rickhg12hs
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-11T12:51:50.657Z
Answers.Text: @rickhg12hs Interesting!  I hadn't realized there was a controversy over the name.  Thanks for the link.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Xander
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-10T14:04:46.120Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-04-10T14:04:46.120Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Darren Drapkin
Body: <p>It seems that <em>Ginger Beer</em> has no barley, no hops, no wort, no malted anything; so why is it a "beer"?  Seems like it is closer to a cider.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-04-01T22:38:52.210Z
Comments.Text: I think it's a misnomer, and the words "beer" and "ale" where and 18th Century marketing technique. It's just become a tradition over time.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Anthony
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-09-23T11:37:48.517Z
Comments.Text: And why is it called Rice Wine, if rice is a grain. it should be Rice Beer! :)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Atron Seige
Tags: <history><flavor><terminology><additives>
Title: Why is it a Ginger "Beer" and not a Ginger "Cider"?
UserDisplayName: rickhg12hs
ThreadText: # Why is it a Ginger "Beer" and not a Ginger "Cider"?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-04-01)
  
  It seems that *Ginger Beer* has no barley, no hops, no wort, no malted anything; so why is it a "beer"? Seems like it is closer to a cider.
  
  **Tags:** history, flavor, terminology, additives
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I think it's a misnomer, and the words "beer" and "ale" where and 18th Century marketing technique. It's just become a tradition over time.  
  > **username_2**: And why is it called Rice Wine, if rice is a grain. it should be Rice Beer! :)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 4 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2014-06-30. Score: 9 | Accepted answer
  
  The term "cider" is generally reserved for apples. There are 'pear ciders' such as Woodchuck that use the name, but as [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider) points out, "A similar product made from pears is called [perry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry) but sometimes (incorrectly) called Pear Cider in the marketing of some producers' products". I personally can forgive this, since pears are closely related to apples, and the result is quite tasty.
  
  The "beer" part of ginger beer is due to the fermentation process involved in its creation. In this way, it is more similar to "root beer", since ginger is a root, like the sassafras root used in root beer and birch roots used in birch beer. The website todayifoundout.com has a well referenced article for [Why Root Beer is Called That](http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/07/why-root-beer-is-called-that/) covering the naming of root beer. If the ginger based version isn't fermented, but is instead ginger flavouring added to carbonated water, it would be "ginger ale"; I have no idea why, since an India Pale Ale is certainly fermented. Even with ginger products, the differentiation is not really all that terribly strict, as noted by this [Huffington Post article](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/20/ginger-ale-vs-ginger-beer_n_1438420.html). Initially, ginger beer, root beer, birch beer, etc, were frequently alcoholic, but Prohibition ruined that for the U.S.
  
  As a bit of a side note, the alcoholic versions are making a wonderful comeback (in my personal opinion) with [Sprecher's](https://www.sprecherbrewery.com/hrb.php) and [Small Town Brewery](http://smalltownbrewery.com/?page_id=11) for root beer. I personally have not seen as much alcoholic ginger beer, but [Crabbies](http://www.crabbiesgingerbeer.co.uk/) from the U.K. is quite good. Although I personally do not like [Kuchi's ginger beer](http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/697/24751/), I have several friends who absolutely love it.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Crabbies is my personal favorite at the moment.  I'll keep sampling to research this tasty beverage.  8-)  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2014-04-29. Score: 3
  
  According to google:
  
  > ci·der
  > noun
  > 1.
  > an unfermented drink made by crushing fruit, typically apples.
  
  No fruit in ginger beer.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_5**: That definition of cider doesn't sound quite right: without fermentation, don't you just have apple juice?  
  > **username_0**: I thought we were supposed to just use Google to look up medical symptoms for self treatment.  8-)  
  > **username_4**: @JamesHenstridge Cider is not necessarily alcoholic.  Juice v Cider is basically filtered&pasteurized vs not.  
  > **username_5**: We'd still refer to filtered and pasteurised apple juice as apple juice here.  Cider generally refers to a fermented drink (whether or not it has a noticeable quantity of alcohol).  
  > **username_6**: @BryanCain Isn't that a US definition - I have not seen non alcoholic cider in the UK or Europe  
  > **username_4**: @Mark I guess it could be - I haven't made it to Europe yet, but I've seen non-alcoholic cider here.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2015-04-08. Score: 0
  
  Beer (malt, wheat and ginger etc.) is brewed and fermented, cider (apples) is pressed and fermented.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_8**: I think the actual distinctions here are much more complicated, and a lot of it is probably tradition rather than technical definition.  For example:  There is rice wine that is not sake.  Sake is made from converted grain starches, like beer, but is usually considered to be wine like.  Wine is made from pressed grapes but is not cider.  There is no grape cider.  Dandelion wine is made from flowers, with straight sugar added.  Ginger root has the hell grated out of and steeped in water, usually with straight sugar.  By process, I don't know what you can classify that as.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_9 on 2014-04-10. Score: 0
  
  Ginger beer is not just water, sugar, crushed ginger and yeast. I make it with some spices boilled in water to flavour it, some of it to kill off the yeast if I want it to. KIlling off the yeast makes it an ale ; and cider must have apples or apple juice in it. That's my opinion.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I think you're right about cider requiring some apple product.  Aren't ales, versus other beer styles, classified by the [type of yeast](http://beer.stackexchange.com/questions/8/what-is-the-difference-between-an-ale-and-a-lager) used?  
  > **username_10**: @username_0 Cider does not actually require apples.  Take, for instance, pear cider.  
  > **username_0**: @username_10  Good point ... There are some quite tasty ones as well.  There does seem to be a fair amount of controversy about the name ["pear cider"](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry) though.  
  > **username_10**: @username_0 Interesting!  I hadn't realized there was a controversy over the name.  Thanks for the link.  
  
  ---
  
  