Ginger things, part one

I'm ginger. I like beer. Beer is almost like ale. So surely that means that ginger ale is one of the best things in the world. At least it would be, if it had any alcohol in it. But that doesn't stop you from using it as a mixer. Now anything can be made to be that little bit ginger. But where does it come from? Who was the evil genius (or gingerous as I like to call him) that allowed us to spread the ginger quite so easily? Let's find out, shall we?

Apparently the first ginger ales were made in Ireland, in the 1850s. That's, like, a long time ago. It's worth noting here that there are proportionally more ginger people in Ireland than in any other part of the world - except maybe Middlesbrough. I think that I would like Ireland. Maybe I should move there someday.

However, the 'modern' version of ginger ale was invented by a Canadian pharmacist called Jon McLaughlin in 1890. I don't think that there are that many ginger people in Canada, so he was probably treated like a king back in the day - even before he started to brew his godly elixir, which he called McLaughlin Belfast Style Ginger Ale. That sounds good, doesn't it?

However, once he was a success, McLaughlin tried to shun the very ginger that he had once loved. In 1907 he found a way to lighten the colour of his ale (making it, boo hiss, less ginger) in order to sell it to people who were scared on becoming ginger should they take as little as a sip of the drink. This drink was patented as Canada Dry Pale Dry Ginger Ale, and explains to this day why so many ginger people also have very pale skin.