A Boston cooler is Vernors ginger ale poured over vanilla ice cream and stirred into a thick float, often served in a chilled glass with a long spoon.

Dr. James Vernor, Michigan's first licensed pharmacist, began aging his ginger ale base in oak barrels in 1862 before being drafted into the Civil War; he came back to find it deliciously different and opened his Woodward Avenue soda fountain in 1866. The Boston cooler emerged from Detroit soda fountains in the early 1900s and is now the canonical Michigan summer drink; ginger ale and vanilla ice cream, never sarsaparilla. Vernors trademarked the term in 1967.

Where to eat Boston cooler in Detroit

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Make it at home

Serves 13 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 200g vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
  • 300ml Vernors ginger ale (or another sharp ginger ale)
  • Long spoon

Method

  1. Chill a tall glass for 5 minutes before mixing.
  2. Scoop the ice cream into the glass.
  3. Pour the Vernors slowly over the ice cream; it will foam dramatically.
  4. Stir gently with the long spoon until the ice cream is half-melted into the soda, leaving small chunks intact.
  5. Drink immediately with the spoon for the chunks.

Editor tip. Vernors is sharp and very gingery; substitute another sharp ginger ale, not a sweet one. The proportion is 60 percent soda to 40 percent ice cream.

Common allergens: Dairy.