Ask any bartender and he’ll tell you: People love ginger in their cocktails. But ginger can be tricky. It’s an intense flavor that can easily overwhelm other ingredients. And while most mixologists use fresh ginger juice in their drinks, it’s a total pain to make — logical to prep ahead of time in a bar setting, but are you really gonna pull out the juicer for half an ounce?
Here to the rescue for home bartenders is Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur, made, perhaps unsurprisingly, in Brooklyn. Now available across the country, it’s a reasonably low-proof liqueur (22% ABV) that packs a powerful, sinus clearing, wow-that’s-gingery punch, with enough sweetness to balance it out. It’s a great bottle to have on hand when you want to ginger-up your favorite cocktail without too much effort. Here are three of our favorite ways to use it.