Ginger beer is a carbonated soft drink that is flavored primarily with ginger, lemon, and sugar. It is rarely produced as an alcoholic beverage. It originated in England in the mid-1700s and reached its peak of popularity in the early 1900s.

The original recipe requires only ginger, sugar, and water, to which is added a gelatinous substance called "ginger beer plant" (see below). Fermentation over a few days turns the mixture into ginger beer. Lemon may be added.

A simple version of this recipe can be made at home today in which the following is bottled in a 2 litre bottle: grated fresh ginger, sugar, a small amount of baker's yeast, and (optionally) lemon juice. It is sealed at room temperature for a day or two before refrigerating. Instead of using the ginger beer plant, other forms of live cultures can produce the fermented ginger beer.

Brewers or Baker's yeast can be used to do this. Other ways include a culture of lactic acid bacteria, kefir grains, or tibicos. Ginger beer is fizzy due to carbon dioxide.

The alcohol content when produced by the traditional process can be high, up to 11%, although it is possible to ferment ginger beer in such a way as to produce little alcohol. Ginger beer may be mixed with beer (usually a British ale of some sort) to make one type of shandy, and with Gosling's Black Seal rum to make a drink, originally from Bermuda, called a Dark 'N' Stormy. The soda version of ginger beer is the main ingredient in the Moscow Mule cocktail.

The beverage produced industrially today is often not brewed (fermented). Such ginger beer is carbonated with pressurized carbon dioxide, does not contain alcohol, and is sold as a soft drink. Ginger beer is similar to ginger ale except that it has a significantly stronger ginger taste, often being described as ginger ale with a kick to it.

Its other distinctive properties include its traditional cloudy appearance, its predominately citrus sour taste base and its spicy ginger bite.

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