During my travels on this weird orb in space, a pleasure of mine is discovering things you can't really get anywhere else. One of the category of things I enjoy finding is soda pop and other carbonated soft drinks. Today's drink, Ale 8 1 (which is wordplay on "a late one") is a drink introduced to me around 2010 when requested by a Kentucky boy far from home to bring him a case or two of this stuff. Naturally, had to try some myself.
Ale 8 1 is a unique Ginger Ale that has a citrus twist to it as well. It's lighter tasting than your average soda pop, tasting more of its flavors and less like sugar syrup that things such as Vernors and other popular brands tend to, it's a refreshing drink after a long day. The stuff, sadly, is only really made and sold in Kentucky of the USA and some parts of its surrounding states, and if you want to buy it online, it's going to cost you an arm and a leg to ship it, so I only get it if I happen to graze by the area in my adventures, and I always buy in bulk when I do. It's about $4 USD give or take for a six-pack of glass bottles of it, but it does come in a canned variety as well that seems to have a slightly different taste to it. Up until this year (2017) they had the year the stuff was first concocted (1926) and the year the current bottle was produced stamped into the bottle, but now it's just 1926 on it. Bit of a shame, really. I had been collecting the bottles since 2010.
So, even if you don't like Ginger Ale, you should try to give Ale 8 1 a shot if you spot a bottle of it. I can't guarantee you'll like it, but I know I certainly do.
(P.S. — Other changes to Ale 8 1: the sodium content has increased slightly over the years, but still remains within 1% of the US daily recommended value. And I think starting with 2016, the bottle caps are now silver colored instead of brassish)
