Is ginger ale considered a soft drink?

Ginger ale. That fizzy, gingery elixir that has the power to soothe an upset stomach and lift your spirits (pun intended). But have you ever found yourself questioning whether ginger ale should be classified as a soft drink? Fear not, my inquisitive friend, because we are here to dissect this very query.

What is a soft drink?

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of ginger ale’s classification, let us first establish what exactly constitutes as a soft drink.

Simply put, it refers to any non-alcoholic beverage that contains carbonated water (soda water) and typically some form of sweetener (sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc.). The term ‘soft’ indicates its lack of alcohol content – it differs from hard drinks like beer and whiskey.

Is ginger ale made with soda water?

One key aspect of being labelled as a soft drink is containing carbonated water. So naturally, we must ask ourselves – does ginger ale contain soda water?

The answer would be both yes and no. Allow me to explain: Traditional recipes for homemade ginger ale involve fermenting grated raw ginger with sugar over several days. This creates “ginger bug” which acts as natural yeast – giving the brew its signature fizziness rather than adding artificial CO2 via soda streams or other methods.

That being said most commercial versions source their bubbles from added synthetic carbon dioxide so they can gas themselves up quickly & cheaply.

Does having soda in its name make it automatically count as one?

By now you may be thinking: “But wait! Ginger aleu has ‘ale’ right there in its name! Surely that must mean something!”

Unfortunately dear reader, I hate to break it to you but just because it has ‘ale‘ doesn’t mean it’s automatically considered one. In fact, ginger ale was originally named as such because it was made like a beer (ale) with the process of fermentation.

Although this sounds promising for those classifying ginger ale as ‘soft drink’ detractors, bear in mind that today’s commercial formula skips fermenting all together- therefore keeping us back to square one: Does Ginger Ale contain soda water?

Pros Cons
– Uses traditional fermented recipe. – Commercial formulas skip fermentation opting for artificial carbon dioxide gas.

Sweeteners? Check!

As previously stated any soft drink “typically” contains some sort of sweetener and although there are unsweetened versions of Ginger Ale on market, traditionally sugar & or corn syrup is added in preparation.

So what IS the verdict?

As we near our conclusion here we’ll have to consider whether the majority consensus accepts ginger ale as a soft drink if dissected using correct methods.

Assuming you go by popular definitions and major identifications set throughout years yes – Ginger Ale can be classified under Soft Drink category since all most ingredients match same template when compared to other sodas out there but…..

As discussed earlier though, popular ready-made Ginger Ales hardly keep olden techniques and rely solely on adding C02 artificially which disqualifies them from being completely authentic according to old school requirements thus leading to confusion amongst ingredient-based dictations for categorization purposes.

In simpler terms I guess you could say It depends largely on how meticulous consumers/companies get about their definition reconnaissance.

So hold onto your Mule cups,we might just finally clear up definition theories yet given more backing research!

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