Ginger Liqueur substitute

Best substitute

Ginger syrup plus brandy, cognac or vodka

Per 1 oz of ginger liqueur: ½ oz ginger syrup plus ½ oz spirit

Best for tiki drinks

Close match

The closest match by a wide margin, because it rebuilds the liqueur from its parts. Use cognac or brandy to match Domaine de Canton, which is cognac-based and consequently softer and fruitier, or vodka for a cleaner, hotter result closer to The King's Ginger.

Other ginger liqueur substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Ginger syrup alone, with the base spirit increased
Close match
Per 1 oz of liqueur: ¾ oz ginger syrup, plus ¼ oz extra of the drink's base spirit
Simpler if you only have one bottle of ginger syrup and no brandy.
What changes
It delivers the ginger and the sugar accurately, and topping up the base spirit keeps the alcohol and volume where the recipe expected them.
Best for
sours and shaken drinks, highballs, mocktails, if you skip the spirit
Ginger syrup is usually sweeter per ounce than ginger liqueur, since the liqueur is diluted by alcohol. Reduce the recipe's other syrup by about a quarter ounce or the drink will read sugary.
3Spicy ginger beer
Different texture
Use the same amount
A properly hot ginger beer, the cloudy kind that makes you cough rather than the mild pale kind, carries real ginger heat and some sugar.
What changes
It is much thinner and less sweet than a liqueur and brings carbonation, so a shaken drink loses fizz and comes out lighter-bodied and less rich.
Best for
highballs, mules, punches, long drinks
You can concentrate it: simmer half a cup of ginger beer down to a couple of tablespoons and it becomes a decent ginger syrup, no longer fizzy and much more intense. Ginger ale is far too mild for this and will not register.
4Velvet Falernum
Different taste
Use the same amount
A Barbadian liqueur built on lime, clove, almond and ginger, at a similar strength and sweetness to ginger liqueur.
What changes
It keeps the drink balanced without any adjustment, but the ginger is much quieter and you gain a distinct lime and clove character.
Best for
tiki drinks, rum cocktails, swizzles
The most convenient swap if you already own a bottle, since no maths is needed. If you want the missing heat back, add one very small pinch of cayenne or a couple of drops of ginger juice per drink.
5Allspice dram, also sold as pimento dram
Different taste
Use the same amount or ¾ if your bottle is a strongly spiced one
Fills the same slot: a sweet, spirit-based, warm-spice liqueur.
What changes
The spice character is clove and allspice rather than ginger, so a tiki drink stays structurally correct and tastes more like Christmas baking and less bright and pungent.
Best for
tiki drinks, dark rum cocktails, hot drinks, autumn and winter drinks
Allspice dram is potent and some bottles are far stronger than others, so start at three quarters and taste. It will not fool anyone into thinking it is ginger, but it makes a coherent, good drink.
6Ginger wine
Close match
Use the same amount with a quarter ounce more of the base spirit
A low-strength fortified ginger drink of the Stone's type, around 13 to 15 percent.
What changes
It has genuine ginger warmth and plenty of sugar, but is far weaker than a liqueur, so the drink comes out lighter and less spirit-forward unless you top up.
Best for
punches, whisky mac style drinks, hot drinks, baking
Perfectly good in a large punch where the alcohol difference gets lost. Noticeably weak in a small stirred cocktail, where the missing alcohol makes the drink taste flabby.

What is Ginger Liqueur?

Ginger Liqueur is a sweetened spirit infused with fresh ginger, sold most widely as Domaine de Canton, which is cognac-based and about 28 percent alcohol, and The King's Ginger, which is stronger and hotter at around 41 percent, and in a drink it is doing three jobs at once - ginger heat and aroma, a substantial amount of sugar, and alcohol and volume.

Cooking tips

The two well-known bottles are not interchangeable without thought. Domaine de Canton is cognac-based, around 28 percent, and comparatively soft and sweet. The King's Ginger is around 41 percent and much hotter. If a recipe names one specifically, match your substitute's intensity to that one rather than to ginger in general.
Ginger's heat comes from gingerol, which breaks down with prolonged heat. If you are steeping ginger for syrup, take the syrup off the heat first and steep off the flame, and if you are adding ginger to a hot drink, add it near the end. A syrup that was boiled with ginger for twenty minutes tastes sweet and vaguely aromatic rather than hot.
Grate rather than slice for syrups. Grated ginger exposes far more surface, so a twenty-minute steep gives you what sliced coins would need an hour to deliver.
If your substitute lacks bite, a single very small pinch of cayenne per drink restores the sensation of heat without tasting of chilli. Do this at the end and taste, because the difference between a pinch and slightly too much is the difference between warm and unpleasant.
Once opened, keep ginger liqueur and any homemade ginger syrup in the fridge. The liqueur is low in alcohol and high in sugar, so it does slowly deteriorate at room temperature, and fresh ginger syrup will only last a couple of weeks.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use ground ginger instead of ginger liqueur?

Not directly, and it is the worst of the common attempts. Ground ginger does not dissolve, so it leaves a gritty sediment and a dusty, muted flavour quite unlike fresh ginger. If it is genuinely all you have, bloom about an eighth of a teaspoon in warm simple syrup for ten minutes, then strain it through a coffee filter and use that as a poor ginger syrup.

Is ginger liqueur the same as ginger beer?

No. Ginger liqueur is a sweetened spirit at 28 to 41 percent alcohol, and a recipe usually calls for half an ounce to an ounce of it. Ginger beer is a carbonated soft drink, mostly water, used in three or four ounce pours. Swapping one for the other measure for measure changes both the strength and the body of the drink substantially.

Can I leave it out?

It depends on how much the recipe uses. If it is a quarter ounce accent in a tiki drink with eight ingredients, leaving it out gives you a slightly less complex but perfectly drinkable cocktail. If it is a full ounce, you have removed a chunk of the sweetness and the alcohol at once, and the drink will taste sour and thin. Replace at minimum with a quarter ounce of syrup and a quarter ounce of the base spirit.

Is there a non-alcoholic substitute?

Yes, and a good one. Use half an ounce of ginger syrup plus half an ounce of water in place of each ounce of liqueur, which gives you the ginger, the sugar and the volume without the spirit. For extra depth, use strongly brewed ginger tea instead of the water. The drink will be lighter without the alcohol, so keep it short and cold.

What about ginger ale?

Too mild to substitute for ginger liqueur in flavour, and too weak in alcohol and sugar concentration to substitute in structure. Most ginger ale is a lightly flavoured sweet soda with very little real ginger. Use ginger beer if you are going down the soda route, and expect to add syrup.

Related substitutes

More liquor substitutes

Ginger Liqueur substitute

Other ginger liqueur substitutes

2Ginger syrup alone, with the base spirit increased

3Spicy ginger beer

4Velvet Falernum

5Allspice dram, also sold as pimento dram

6Ginger wine