Ginger Beer ABV Question

First off, this is my first time posting so hello to everyone here.

What I'm wondering is, if anyone has any opinions or knowledge regarding the claim made on Wikipedia which I've seen repeated on several websites that traditional ginger beer made in the 1800's might have had as high as 11% abv. Unless these recipes disappeared off the face of the earth, it stands to reason that they'd be floating around somewhere, but a search has revealed any number of methods for making ginger beer all within the .25-2% range.

Any opinions on this? I've brewed mead before, and if my search ends badly I may settle for a batch of mead flavored with ginger. If anyone has recipes or notions for some kind of hybrid ginger mead (ie, ginger and honey both being used in the fermentation process, if that even makes sense. I'm still new at this stuff) that seems like it could be pretty fun.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any advice and hopefully if the brewing goes well this won't be the last you guys see of me.

Off hand, I would guess a large amount of sugar is added, preferably turbinado. The cidery flavor would probably compliment a ginger beer.

I have never made ginger beer before, but I can tell you when I used ginger to flavor a mead many years ago, it took years for it to mellow and be drinkable. Maybe I should clean out my hiding stashes to see if I still have a bottle some place.

I am new (just signed up) and am bottling my 3rd batch of alcoholic ginger beer tomorrow.I welcome any thoughts about my recipe as I am self-taught with plenty to learn. Recipe is...

1.6kg Fresh grated ginger
30gm dried ginger
7 Lemons juice
1 tblspn Cinnamon (plus hand full of cinnamon sticks)
1 tblspn Nutmeg
500gm Airbourne honey (Vipers Bugloss)
1.5kg Black Rock Malt Extract (Amber)
1kg Brewblend No. 15 (Dextrose, Malt Extract, Corn Syrup)
500gm Lactose
5gm Yeast nutrient
1 sachet SAF S23 Lager yeast

1. Boil ginger, lemon juice, and spices for at least 1hr.
2. Turn off heat and add honey, Malt, Brewblend, and lactose – mixing well.
3. Cool to less than 25 degrees.
4. Add yeast nutrient and yeast.
OG = 1.061 (4 Nov)
FG = 1.022 (21 Dec)
Approx 5.2 ABV

Seems to be a pretty solid recipe. You'll have to let us know how it works out.