I’m a bit confused that that article says ginger beer and ginger ale are basically the same thing. They’re very different. I wouldn’t recommend putting ginger beer in a Whisky Mac or ginger ale in a ‘ginger beer shandy’. Hmmm, now I want a ginger beer shandy, I knew I should’ve bought that Guinness in Carrefour today.
Quote:
“Ginger ale and ginger beer are both basically the same thing. It’s easy and inexpensive to make old-fashioned ginger beer at home, and you get more of a gingery taste than you do from the store-bought stuff. A bit of fermentation is involved, which produces a very slight alcohol content (not noticeable, but important to point out for those sensitive to alcohol). Some manufacturers ferment the mixture longer and make other adjustments to increase the alcohol content, but for our purposes this ginger beer is more akin to ginger ale. If you’re concerned, make the ginger syrup as noted below, but skip the fermentation process and mix it with seltzer water instead to produce a fermentation-free beverage.”
Seems to me it all depends on how you decide to make it at home…
you can end up with “beer” or the less/non alcoholic “ale”
Mum made ginger beer… as did all the families in our street.
I don’t recall anyone getting “drunk”… so it can’t have had a very strong alcohol content.
I went to IM instead of Super U today as I am on the hunt for the ONLY toothpaste my 6 year old will use and it appears to have disappeared 
!
I did a detour to the soft drink aisle and sure enough there was Swhepps ginger beer and ginger ale (which was white and cloudy so I left it!) so very happy to have some in my fridge! Admittedly I rarely venture into this area we don’t generally drink soft drinks other than fizzy water which is perhaps why I’d never seen it!
I’m still going to try making it too!
I know when I was making kombucha they said it would normally at around 1-2% and if you try hard you can get it up to 4.5 or 5%.
nothing so strong passed our lips… not in those far off days… it was just fizzy, gingery stuff…
But I do recall my Gran being outraged when she discovered that Cider had (2%?) alcohol… and she had been happily giving me some as a treat.
When I was 10, I lived with her for 6 months and she was fabulous… so many happy memories… but not so happy when she stopped buying our Saturday cider… 
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So did the Gripe water of old.
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I recall a Christmas treat…
Dad would pour a little ginger wine (Stones?) into one of those (now old-fashioned) really small liqueur glasses … and this would be handed to my elder sister for a tiny sip… and no more than a sip… then hand it on… to us lesser mortals !!
My Mum made ginger beer, too, but we mostly had shop bought. The ginger beer and ginger ale we had were not alike, I wish I could explain the difference. Ginger ale is cleaner and sharper and ginger beer is sticky and sweet. Ginger ale is more of a mixer (although I used to drink it as it was when I was a kid over 40 years ago). Neither of them were alcoholic either. I think mass production by companies like Schweppes may have altered how they ought to be.
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Homemade stuff is often very different from a major manufacturer… and words can mean different things to different people, depending on country and/or region.
The non-alcoholic “mixer” Schweppes Canada Dry (chilled, but no ice) used to be a pleasant drink on its own… no need to mix it with anything alcoholic as far as I am concerned.
I’m never really sure whether it’s my taste buds… or whether manufacturers really are messing the original recipes about a bit… but I often find that a well-remembered product doesn’t seem so nice if I find some now, in the modern day… and that goes for a wide variety of food/drink.
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I’m sure you’re right about the different interpretations in different countries.
I must admit I haven’t had ginger ale for years. I loved it when I was young but went off it a bit, maybe the recipe had changed. I managed to find a can for a friend’s visit, as she hadn’t been able to get it in France, but she was ill and then Covid hit. I suspect it’s a bit past it’s best now, I’ll have to go on the hunt for some more. I’d found some Fentemans ginger beer a year or so ago but haven’t seen that for a while now. One of the supermarkets used to have it next to the dandelion and burdock but I can’t remember which one. Lovely stuff.
Super-U
Nigel, thank you. I haven’t been there for a while so that explains it. I feel a visit may be in order.