Ginger Snap



Being a Ginger, I am asked at least once a week how Gilligan is doing, or what Fred is up to these days, or alternatively, where nutmeg and cinnamon are. I don’t get too annoyed by this tired routine since there are entertaining pay-offs to being a Ginger as well. For instance, while playing tag, I can run around singing “can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread (wo-)man!” And I can smile coyly when people announce that sushi is simply not as good without ginger. “Nothing is,” I say. My favorite trick is to snap my fingers. Get it? It’s a Ginger snap. And this leads me to an exciting new discovery: Ginger Snap, the beverage.

I came across the Ginger Snap in a magazine ad for Stoli Vanil. Immediately, I was tantalized by the prospect of liquid vanilla and ginger and I knew at once that I had to try it. It did not disappoint. It’s prickly and smooth, spicy and sweet, and above all, as creamy as a cream soda. In fact, if you like cream soda, you should give the Ginger Snap a shot. Just fill a glass with ice, add a splash or two of vanilla-flavored vodka, and top it off with ginger ale. I don’t see why you couldn’t also use plain vodka and add a splash of vanilla extract. Or – oooh – how about using a vanilla bean as a stirrer! I’m going to have to try that myself.

The Ginger Snap is the latest in a long line of alcoholic beverages made with ginger ale. From the 1860’s, when ginger ale was first manufactured in America, up until the 1920’s, ginger ale was the nation’s #1 selling soda – and while it’s popularity may have had a little something to do with kids bellying up to the soda fountains at the corner drug store, it was driven mainly by the fact that dry ginger ale was the country’s preferred mixer. Some might have called it the ONLY mixer. The early twentieth century was the golden age of ginger ale: cocktails and speakeasies were the thing, and ginger ale was an essential part of the mix.

Then prohibition happened, and ginger ale crashed. It was so closely linked in people’s minds with liquor that it plummeted into a long dark age from which it is only now emerging. For many, many years, ginger ale has been relegated to sick rooms and kiddy cups.

But not for long. Apparently, ginger ale is making a comeback with the over-21 crowd. According to one source, demand has increased by over 300% during the last three decades, and I think I have some idea of where all that ale is going. Webtender.com lists ginger ale as a key ingredient in 161 drinks, and Drinksmixer.com lists 234, including, notably, Amor de Cosmos, Superfly, Flaming Ale, White Trash, the Dancing Leprechaun, the Suffering Bastard (a perennial favorite at Chan’s), as well as George & Ginger, Jack & Ginger, Jim & Ginger, and Frisky Steve. I foresee smooth sailing for ginger ale in the coming years. Good thing we have the twenty-first amendment to protect it.

Posted: Fri - September 24, 2004 at 04:37 PM      

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