History
Dr. Thomas Cantrell, an American apothecary and surgeon, claimed to have invented ginger ale and marketed it with beverage manufacturer Grattan and Company. Grattan embossed the slogan "The Original Makers of Ginger Ale" on its bottles. This was the Golden ginger ale, dark coloured, generally sweet to taste, with a strong ginger spice flavour. It is the older style and there is little or no difference between this and non-alcoholic versions of ginger beer. Golden ginger ale, like ginger beer, is mainly consumed as a carbonated type drink and not a soda in its own right.
Dry ginger ale is recognized as a Canadian creation by John McLaughlin, a chemist and pharmacist. Having established a soda water bottling plant in Toronto in 1890, McLaughlin began developing flavour extracts to add to the water in 1904. That year, he introduced "Pale Dry Ginger Ale," the bubbly libation that would be patented in 1907 as "Canada Dry Ginger Ale." An instant success, Canada Dry products were accepted by appointment to the Royal Household of the governor general. The dry-style also became popular in the United States during the Prohibition era, when it was used as a mixer for alcoholic beverages. Dry ginger ale quickly surpassed golden ginger ale in popularity, and today, golden ginger ale is an uncommon, and usually regional, drink. By contrast, dry ginger ale is produced on a vast scale internationally.
Dry ginger ale, as a mixer for alcoholic beverages, is a staple on supermarket shelves, in bars, and on airlines. Ginger ale is less commonly sold through vending machines or soda fountains alongside other carbonated soft drinks, but is still popular in some countries such as Canada.
Read more about this topic: Ginger Ale
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“In history as in human life, regret does not bring back a lost moment and a thousand years will not recover something lost in a single hour.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)