Ginger Ale Cocktails: The Soft Drink Mixer With Bite

Are you a fan of all things Ginger Ale? Most of us associate it with being a kid, sick in bed, and sipping it alongside saltine crackers and chicken noodle soup. You don’t have to be sick to enjoy Ginger Ale with these recipes (and definitely don’t give them to a kid, sick or not).

The Best Cocktails With Ginger Ale

Anything mixed with Ginger Ale is a sure winner as far as good cocktails go. Some of the drinks on this list are complicated mixed drinks with lots of ingredients but worth the extra effort. But many of the recipes are simple, two ingredient highball cocktails.

What is a Highball?

A highball cocktail is the fancy name for when you pair a shot of liquor with a larger amount of a non-alcoholic mixer. So, things like Jack & Coke, Vodka & Sprite, Tequila & Root Beer, etc would qualify as highballs. Soda is not the only highball option. Fruit juice is also pretty common. So things like a Screwdriver, and both a Vodka Greyhound, and classic Gin Greyhound.

However, for today we are going to focus purely on Ginger Ale highballs and other cocktails with Ginger Ale.

Ginger Ale as a Highball Mixer

Ginger Ale, similar to Sprite, is a fantastic mixer with so many different liquors. In fact, we can’t think of a single major liquor that would taste bad with it. The combination bite of both the ginger flavor and carbonated fizz packs a refreshing punch.

When paired with a lemon or lime wedge, the results are out of this world.

What’s the best Ginger Ale for cocktails?

You can look around online and probably find the same recipe written multiple ways using different types of ginger ale. Some will swear by a specific brand and say that is the ONLY way to make a particular recipe. We don’t feel that way.

Yes, each ginger ale has it’s own qualities. Some have more bite than others. But we don’t really worry if Canadian Dry is better than Schweppes. We focus on if the ginger ale will taste good with vodka, or is it good with whiskey, etc. You get the idea.

We prefer Canadian Dry and will be using that for these cocktails and highballs. But you can easily swap it out for your favorite ginger ale.

Simple Classics

One of the questions we asked above is whether or not ginger ale is good with whiskey. It is a resounding YES! In fact, the whiskey highball is the inspiration behind this post.

If you are interested in more of a sophisticated highball with ginger ale, the cognac and ginger ale may be right up your alley. We prefer Courvoisier but you can use your favorite like Remy Martin or Hennessey.

A vodka and ginger ale is perfect if you really want the flavor of ginger ale with bit more of a bite.

The Gin Buck is not technically a highball. It uses both ginger ale and fruit juice, lime juice in particular. It gets it’s name because it has a kick like a bucking horse.

A tequila and ginger ale is a simple two ingredient ginger ale cocktail that has a refreshing, fizzy taste. Perfect for any spring or summer occassion.

A jager and ginger ale is a fizzy and spicy highball cocktail. It can be mixed up in under 3 minutes with just two easy ingredients.

A rum and ginger ale is a sweet, slightly spicy yet refreshing cocktail. Again, with only two ingredients you can mix this one up super fast.

Wrap Up!

As you can see (or taste) Ginger Ale can make any number of delicious drinks and you don’t always need a ton of different ingredients. Try out some of these cocktails or make up your own!

For more great drinks…