Make Your Own Vernors!

Are you kidding?  No way anyone can duplicate that amazing gingery, spicy flavor!  I just wanted to make sure you were still there.  The closest I came to making my own Vernors, was heading to 7-11, putting on that domed lid and filling the cup to the brim with a soft frozen version of the delightful beverage.  I am hardly a purist on anything so I had to try it.  It was either that or a Boston Cooler (Vernors mixed with ice cream), which incidentally has its roots based in Detroit.   However, I would definitely miss the boat if I didn't take the drink in its original form.  So yes, I chased my Slurpee with a nice cold bottle of Vernors.  Just a good sugar rush and "Deliciously Different."

Growing up, for me, Vernors was the go to ginger ale when feeling down and out.  Cold, hot or room temperature even the slightest sip would give the pick up needed to make a sick person well.  Ha, I love the dramatization.   

Vernors has the distinction of being the oldest surviving ginger ale and is tied with Hires Root Beer as the oldest surviving soft drink.  Thank you Wikipedia.  The namesake of pharmacist James Vernor.  As legend has it, Mr. Vernor tried to duplicate a ginger ale he enjoyed in Dublin, Ireland.  However, in his experimentation he was called off to war in 1862.  He stored the secret mixture in an oak cask in his pharmacy. After returning from battle four years later, he opened his secret keg and found the drink inside had been transformed by the aging process in the wood.  Ta da, we have Vernors!  A taste that simply hasn't been duplicated for 144 years.