Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink (not an ale) flavoured with ginger. It is consumed on its own or used as a mixer, often with spirit-based drinks. There are two main types of ginger ale. The golden style is credited to the Irish doctor Thomas Joseph Cantrell. The dry style (also called the pale style), a paler drink with a much milder ginger flavour, was created by Canadian John McLaughlin.

Ginger ale is transparent, whereas ginger beer, a stronger tasting product, is often cloudy due to the residues of brewing. Thomas Joseph Cantrell, an Irish apothecary and surgeon, manufactured the first ginger ale in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the 1850s. He set out to create a soft drink. This was the older "golden style" fermented ginger ale, dark coloured, generally sweet to taste, with a strong ginger spice flavour,^{[clarification needed]} which he marketed through local beverage manufacturer Grattan and Company. Grattan embossed the slogan "The Original Makers of Ginger Ale" on its bottles.

Dry ginger ale was created by Canadian John J. McLaughlin, a chemist and pharmacist. Having established a soda water bottling plant in 1890, McLaughlin began developing flavour extracts to add to the water in 1904. That year, he introduced "Pale Dry" Ginger Ale, the bubbly drink that would be patented in 1907 as Canada Dry Ginger Ale. A success, Canada Dry products were accepted by appointment to the Vice-Regal Household of the Governor General of Canada. The dry-style also became popular in the United States during the Prohibition era, when it was used as a mixer for alcoholic beverages.

Traditional ginger ale is fermented from a microbial starter culture (yeast or ginger bug), sugar, fresh ginger root, other flavourings and water. Ginger bug can be derived from ginger beer plant containing Saccharomyces florentinus and Lactobacillus hilgardii or fresh ginger root containing Lactobacillus bacteria and wild yeast. The carbonation comes from the yeast fermentation as opposed to carbonating the finished product. Ethanol, as a byproduct of fermentation, will be present in the ginger ale but can be controlled by modifying fermentation time.

Commercial ginger ale commonly contains carbonated water, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial or natural ginger-flavour. Ginger content is often listed on labels in a general "natural aroma" or "natural flavouring" statement, to preserve secrecy of the complex proprietary mix of spices, fruits and other flavours used;^{[citation needed]} lemon, lime, and cane sugar are the most common ingredients.^{[citation needed]} Pineapple and honey are also occasionally used.^{[citation needed]}

Traditional ginger ale is fermented using ginger, yeast, water, sugar, and possibly other flavourings. A ginger bug – a slurry of ginger and sugar used to propagate the yeast and bacteria found on the ginger skin – may be used in place of commercial yeast.

Rather than ferment their product, most commercial ginger ale bottlers will carbonate their soda by chilling the water to a low temperature to allow more carbon dioxide to be dissolved. Then, alkaline compounds such as sodium bicarbonate may be added to reduce acidity. Lastly, carbon dioxide is added and slightly over-pressurized to facilitate movement into storage and the filling machine.

Ginger ale is consumed as a soft drink and a mixer in cocktails and punch. It is sometimes used by non-drinkers or in the performing arts as a non-alcoholic substitute for Champagne/sparkling wine or beer, since the beverages resemble each other in appearance. Ginger ale is also added to beer to make shandy.^{[citation needed]}