Ginger ale a regional mixer?

[haresfur]

Is ginger ale as a mixer an East Coast thing?

I went to the Issaquah Brewhouse and distillery last week. They are owned by Rogue and the distillery part is pretty new. At the suggestion of the waiter I decided to try the hazelnut rum. Asked if I could get a dark and stormy and had to explain it used ginger beer. He said they didn't have ginger beer and didn't even have ginger ale - he found this strange being from the east coast. He suggested a rum and Coke. I negotiated up to getting a lime wedge with it.

So, without getting into the wisdom of trying to sell designer spirits without having more than a basic bar, is ginger ale not typically found in west coast bars? What about other areas?

The first time I had rum and ginger ale was hitch hiking on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia where it involved passing a rum bottle followed by a can of ginger ale, but I don't have much experience with mixed drinks in west coast bars because, in the Pacific Northwest, even the most dive bars tend to have decent microbeer.

With hindsight, I would have done best with a shot and an ale chaser.

[Alchemist]

They have ginger ale on the west coast. If someone orders a shot of Fernet with a ginger ale back, you know they are from SF.

And here on the East coast ginger ale is often sprite with a splash of coke for color.

Toby

[eje]

Plenty of dark and stormies here in San Francisco and I've had some very good house made ginger beers in bars in Portland.

At least at the Rogue Ale House here in San Francisco, the spirits selection and drink menu is pretty limited. It's probably just that they concentrate more on the beer at Rogue than the cocktails.

[elfin]

Jack and gingers are common in the midwest.

[haresfur]

... And here on the East coast ginger ale is often sprite with a splash of coke for color.

Toby

←

That's just wrong!

I'd rather a place just admitted they don't have ginger ale. I guess I'll just stick to beer next time I'm there.

[eje]

It is kind of odd that a brewery wouldn't have a house brewed ginger ale/beer...

A lot of them make Ginger Ale and/or Root Beer to have around for kids and non-drinkers. Seems like a sensible thing to me.

[Alchemist]

... And here on the East coast ginger ale is often sprite with a splash of coke for color.

Toby

←

That's just wrong!

I'd rather a place just admitted they don't have ginger ale. I guess I'll just stick to beer next time I'm there.

←

In the places I'm talking about, clubs/dives you should always order beer from a bottle, and wipe the top. And chase it with a shot of whisky, for antibiotic effect.

Toby

[MaxH]

... is ginger ale not typically found in west coast bars?

I think the issue is time, more than space. I remember ginger ale as very common in the western US in the 1960s, and "rye and ginger" or whiskey and ginger as common bar or restaurant drinks. Rye and ginger seemed also popular in Canada. Ginger ale also was common as a soft drink. Canada Dry was a typical west-coast brand, also Schweppes. Ginger beer, more a British habit, was less familiar in the US (compared either to now, or to Canadian friends back then, who I think first introduced me to ginger beer in the 1960s*).

What happened is not so much that ginger ale died out as that cocktails did. Older readers remember this very well -- traditional mixed drinks becoming unhip around the 1980s to early 1990s. Followed by their rediscovery by a new generation (some of whose writers are unaware that it was a re-discovery).

* Point of possible interest: In traditional recipes I have -- in printed form, from pre-Internet days -- the main difference between ginger ale and ginger beer was not so much a stronger ginger component in the "beer," though that also appears, as the addition of capsicum (red pepper), giving ginger beer more bite.

[Mike S.]

They have ginger ale on the west coast.  If someone orders a shot of Fernet with a ginger ale back, you know they are from SF.

And here on the East coast ginger ale is often sprite with a splash of coke for color.

Toby

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Boy, does that bring me back to my days in Connecticut! I can still see it -- you ask the waiter (I was a kid then, not much interaction with bartenders [that I'll admit to]) if they have ginger ale and...there's...kind of a...pause...followed by a half-hearted "yeah, I think we have that". Guaranteed, you're getting Sprite with a splash of Coke (and often a cherry). You know the funny thing though? It's actually not half bad, and I've been known to mix it myself at fast-food joints with a self-serve soda fountain. My kids actually love it. Interesting mixological note: The amount of Coke added to the Sprite is tiny, really no more than a super-short hit from the Coke jet, just enough to tint the Sprite a sort of golden color -- but it absolutely does not work with Pepsi (or 7Up for that matter).

All that said, Fever-Tree is infintely better.

[thirtyoneknots]

A very short dash of Angostura into the Sprite/Coke mix will add a subtle but important ginger note, as well as cutting the sweetness a tad.

[catscandal]

West coast here, and I can most certainly say that we use ginger ale (or, more frequently, ginger beer) as a mixer pretty frequently. I drink gin and gingers with friends as often as G&Ts, and dark and stormies are part of my regular rum rotation along with mojitos and daiquiris. We also drink El Diablos on occasion, though not as often as other tequila drinks.

Many of my friends drink strong ginger beer anyway with food or when having stomach troubles, so pouring it on top of some liquor is pretty much a no-brainer.