It’s true - at least in my nonscientific personal experience. Every time I go to Seattle I try and order a ginger ale in a restaurant/pub/bar, and they look at me like I’ve asked for a bowl of Qyxylix… Several times wait staff have offered to mix Sprite and Coke together to give me some sort of ersatz version. I have declined. A few have asked if I’m from the East coast, but I’m only from about a hundred miles north, in Vancouver.
Now I’ve had it on other jaunts to the US - California, New York, Connecticut even. So why Seattle?? Shouldn’t Canada Dry look into this?
would you believe that this issue was the subject of one of my very first posts??
Here in So Cal they don’t even say anything when I order ginger ale; they just bring me that noxious phony coke-and-sprite deal and pretend it’s what I ordered. I’ve had the same problem in Vegas.
Other Dopers said it is easy to obtain in the southern and eastern states, but we’ve got ourselves a problem here in the West and north. What gives???
Does coke-and-sprite even come close to tasting like ginger ale or are they just working off “Oh, my father’s cousin’s garbageman had ginger ale and he said it tasted like this”?
I hate ginger ale so I don’t usually try to order it, but one of my friends always orders it when we go to the Outback Steakhouse here in Seattle, and it’s never a problem. Maybe you’re just frequenting the wrong places. Or maybe the Outback, being a chain franchise, doesn’t cater to local tastes and therefore sells it even though there’s no Seattle ginger ale demand.
I see ginger ale all over the place in grocery stores, though. If you go to Whole Foods you can even choose from a variety of different specialty ginger ales and ginger beers.
Well, Larry’s Markets carry all kinds, including Cock and Bull, Jamacian ginger beer, and the rare VERNOR’S, the worlds best ginger ale. The Ballard Market does too.
Hey, I recall hearing about a small bottling company in Kentucky which makes ginger ale which is so strong it will take the skin off your tongue. Any conniseurs familar with it (if it even still exists?)
Oh, and if you’re up New England way, get a bottle of Moxie cola. I guess it was popular back when snake oil salesmen were converting over to soft drinks. Once you get used to it, it’s great for dosing unsuspecting victims. It’s a bit like “listerine cola.”
I understand that ginger ale used to be quite popular in the US but was used mostly as a mixer and ended up dying out in prohibition. There are plenty of small manufacturers in the US but it probably just isn’t quite popular enough to stock in most bars and restaurants.
Maybe the question is phrased the wrong way and should be why is it so much more popular in Canada. I think that is due almost entirely to an extremely effective canada dry advertising campaign portraying it as a sophisticated drink along with the catch phrase “the champagne of ginger ales”. I had to try it several times as a kid to confirm my sense that it was noxious yet the idea that it is elegant still survives in my mind. One of the best ad campaigns ever designed.
Another odd one is clamato juice which american bars and restaurants never seem to carry though it is made by an american company. Here they all carry it for a popular variation on the bloody mary called a caesar. I think the popularity is almost entirely due to one franchise restaurant making it a signature drink.
I live in Massachusetts and grew up in Louisiana, and as far as I knew until just reading these posts, ginger ale is ubiquitous.
Canada Dry Ginger Ale is everywhere, as is Polar (which may be a Northeast brand), but it never occurred to me that ginger ale would be any more rare than orange soda or root beer. As a kid I didn’t like Coke, and drank ginger ale almost exclusively as my soda of choice.
How strange to think that there are places in this country where you can’t get it. My morning has now taken a very strange turn.
There’s a whole topic this could lead to, but it’s probably been discussed, about odd things you can get in Canada but not so easily in the US (smarties, Clamato, a Rye & Ginger Ale, canned lentils (well, a Seattle friend constantly complains about not being able to buy these)). But I do distinctly remember seeing lots of Canada Dry ginger ale in Florida on a vacation, as well as in various East coast locales. So it definitely seems to be a Northern/Western thing.
Interesting that the Outback carries it, as well as some grocery stores. I don’t have a clue where the Coke/Sprite combo comes from; it doesn’t taste even a little close, just like Coke and Sprite. Maybe because the colour is similar?
Just one of the mysteries of life, I suppose. Thanks all for the confirmations that it’s not just me…
Instead of the yuck sounding Coke/Sprite combo, a much better substitute is Sprite and brandy (made just like a rum Coke)- looks, smells, tastes like ginger ale.
smarties are hard to find in the US? huh, coulda fooled me. 'course, i live about two feet from the border, so that might explain things.
like Morgainelf, i thought ginger ale was everywhere. i’m in the northernish midwest (metro detroit), and almost everywhere i go has vernors or canada dry. i don’t much care for ginger ale, though. it was what your [it’s not just mine] mom/grandma gave you when you had the stomach flu (so all i think of is being naseous when i see it :eek:)
I’d say it’s still popular. Are you thinking of ginger beer? That’s just about nonexistent now, though it was a staple in the 1800s.
Ginger ale is extremely avail. at stores, as people have mentioned, though I think it’s probably hit-or-miss at bars/restaurants. Probably, your odds of finding it at one is equal to your odds of finding root beer there.
I can easily find ginger ale in the grocery stores here. I just can’t obtain it in restaurants or bars in So Cal or Vegas. I just recalled that I could not get it in San Diego either. I was at a restaurant downtown and they served that vile coke n’ sprite thing again after I asked for ginger ale.
Maybe I should just sneak in my own ginger ale from the store if I want it with a meal.
Blenheim Simply the best Ginger Ale ever made. But, as you can see in the link, it is bottled in South Carolina, not Kentucky (or Georgia) . The link also has an 800 number for ordering from the bottler, and links to a couple of on-line sources.
Oooh, I forgot about Blenheim! When I lived in South Carolina, I just couldn’t get enough of the stuff.
Ginger beer is still available, but I’ve only found it in places like Trader Joe’s. There is a chain of restaurants in Massachusetts called Not Your Average Joe’s that bottles its own ginger beer. It is absolutely awesome and very hot.
Northern Neck Ginger Ale, brewed and bottled in Montross, VA, beats all others I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, if you don’t live within the area you’re taste buds will never know what they’re missing.
