Originally Posted by
highjinx
I read the comments on this page in concerns to Vernors Ginger Ale.
Now two things I must call to your attention those who grew up in Detroit, and drank Vernors Ginger Ale.
1) Vernors before it was hijacked as one person put it, was made with real fresh grated ginger root and cane sugar.
2) It came in Glass bottles sealed with pressed on bottle caps; or heavy cans that had to be open with a can opener.
Being of the baby boomer age, both of these are the sources of Vernors that were available to me in my youth.
Vernors is no longer made by Vernors on Woodward Ave. in Detroit Michigan; [in fact, the building is gone and a newer apartment building is in it's place] though the may be an address in Detroit for those who hold the trademark and recipe pattens, so technically, it would still be currently considered to be in Detroit.
Pepsi Cola is the company who is licensed to make and distribute Vernors, a former adversary in the soft drink war.
Vernors is no longer sold in glass bottles with pressed on caps; nor in heavy metal cans that require a can opener [church key] to open both types of containers.
Since the transition to Pepsi, things have changed to make Vernors a more profitable product at lower production costs.
Cane sugar has been replaced with corn syrup; pure ginger root has been subsidized with artificial flavors.
That under the current means of aluminum canning or plastic bottling, the amount of carbonation pressure is less to accommodate the modern weaker storage vessels of aluminum and plastic.
Also, next time you tip a can, or pour from a plastic bottle, read the front logo label, it no longer states "Vernors Ginger Ale"; because of all the substitutes and changes made, it is now called: "Vernors Ginger Soda"; and there is a big difference in an Ale and Soda soft drink process; Ale is natural process with higher carbonation; soda is man made mass production with tons of additives to increase shelf life.
Now you know why, the Vernors Ginger Ale you recall as a kid, is different from the Vernors Ginger Soda you drink these days; it not time passing by and memories expanding the truth, it's like all things, greed for profit that kills quality.
Thank God Faygo stayed Faygo and in Michigan; and Hires still taste the way I recall it tasting over 40 years ago.