Cocktails with Ginger ale
Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavored with ginger and sugar, lighter and milder than ginger beer.
How it's used
It tops a built drink over ice, adding fizz and length: the standard finish for a whiskey highball. About 50 ml seasons a mixed drink; 120 ml makes it the length of the drink and its main sweetener. Its mildness is the point: it lengthens a drink without the ginger taking over.
Substitutes for Ginger ale
Works in the same amount but is much spicier. To soften it, swap a quarter to a third of it for soda water.
Soda water with ginger syrup
A last resort. Add the syrup a little at a time, tasting as you go.
Lemon-lime soda
Keeps the sweetness and fizz but loses the ginger.
Storage
An unopened bottle keeps for months. Once opened it goes flat within a day or two whatever you do, so a highball wants a freshly opened bottle.
