Ginger ale deserves to be in the same category as Coke and root beer.
By Bryce Lawson
From a young age, my mom used to tell me, “Drink some ginger ale; you will feel better.”
In many establishments across the nation, ginger ale is used predominantly as a mixer for alcoholic drinks, yet it’s often not even included with Coke and root beer as a soft drink option on a restaurant’s drink menu.
This got me thinking: Why isn’t this magical elixir of the gods more popular?
Alongside root beer, sarsaparilla and the underrated Moxie, ginger ale is one of the first sodas created. I can picture an old tonic salesman selling the drink as a cure-all back in the day.
There are two main types of ginger soft drink: a golden style, created by the Irish doctor Thomas Joseph Cantrell, and the more well-known dry style that features a much lighter ginger flavor created in Canada by John McLaughlin.
A standard brand that features the golden ale, Vernors, is also my personal favorite. It brings hints of cream soda that puts it a step above the prominent dry flavor. Another company I’m very fond of is Red Rock, which is based out of Atlanta. It makes a ginger ale that has bite and hits your palate with a spicy ginger taste – a favorite companion to whiskey gingers.
In some areas, a mint ginger ale is sold with an artificial green color added. In order to switch up the flavors, brands like Canada Dry have been experimenting with mixing ginger ale to lemonade and iced tea, adding to the already lemon-and-lime-inspired ginger drink.
Ginger ale has been used as a home remedy to fight indigestion and other stomach issues since its creation. The ginger found in the drink works great at soothing the stomach, especially if you’re not a fan of the spicy taste that pure ginger can have.
Ginger ale is also paired with mixed drinks and punches to give it a little bit of that bubbly, euphoric taste. Many Jamaicans mix the drink with Red Stripe beer to create Shandy Gaff.
It’s easy to confuse ginger beer for ginger ale, but the differences are pretty upfront. Ginger beer has a more murky look, due to the fermentation in the brewing process that originated in England back in the 1800s. Ginger beer also contains a spicier ginger taste that differs from the general dry ginger ale.
With Coke Freestyle machines adding various flavor options with their Seagram’s and exotic pops becoming all the rage, ginger ale is slowly making a comeback into the mainstream.
Regardless of its status as a soft drink, moms across the nation will always recommend it for an upset tummy.
