The Tragic Life and Times of Ginger Beer

I just found out (from Wikipedia) that one of my favorite soft drinks (ginger beer) is the rightful heir to a throne long usurped (uslurped?  no?  moving on...) by ginger ale.  Bah!

At the turn of the previous century, there were two gingery brothers - golden ginger ale, aka ginger beer, and dry ginger ale.  (These two, by the way, appeared to have crazy alcoholic cousins, but that's another story.)  Golden ginger ale was dark, strong, and spicy; Mr. Dry, on the other hand, was rather sweeter - although never let it be said that Golden was horribly bitter - mild-mannered, and, well, generally quite bland.  The former (the golden child, if you will) was destined for greatness, while the latter took a backseat as a mixer for cocktails and alcoholic beverages.

Then Prohibition came and went.  Oh, the horror!  After a decade of distorted drinking, dry ginger ale rapidly gained ground that never should have been trodden by this bland - bland! - and boring carbonated beverage, and the place that was rightfully destined for golden ginger ale was snatched from those fizzy ginger fingers.  (Wow, I know.  Never attempt this again.)  And the balance has never been restored.

Now, when one enters a supermarket, the soda aisles are lined with pale ale pretenders, while golden ginger ale, my (non-alcoholic) beer of choice, has been relegated to regional distributors and specialty shops.  To add insult to injury, dry ginger ale isn't even made with cane sugar anymore.  It's high fructose corn syrup and the barest gingery ghost, and we're just supposed to swallow it down.  It's a shame, a real shame.