This is a surprisingly complex question. Read this article: http://www.fohbc.com/BandE_Article4.html

"The best informed historians attribute the invention of ginger ale to the Irish in the 1850s. However, as with most of history, there is another point of view: Robert Robinson of New York City claimed he was the first one to make ginger ale in the U.S. in the 1840s, calling it ginger soda. By all accounts it was more like the "gingerades" being made in England at that time, rather than the ginger ale "flavor" produced in Ireland. Nobody really knows, but it is likely that Dr. Cantrell in Belfast was the first inventor of ginger ale- perhaps with Grattan & Company, also of Belfast as a party to the earliest production of the beverage. Grattan proudly claimed the rights by embossing a slogan on its bottles: "The Original Makers of Ginger Ale." Possible, but not provable." Source and further information: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/assets/pdfs/bottles-and-extras/ginger-ales-irish-roots.pdf Further information: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blginger_al.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_ale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_beer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernors

Around 1851, the first ginger ales were created in Ireland. John McLaughlin invented the modern Canada Dry version of Ginger Ale in 1907. Canadian, John McLaughlin graduated from the University of Toronto in 1885 with a Gold Medal in Pharmacy. By 1890, John McLaughlin had started in the soda pop business by opening a carbonated water plant in Toronto, Canada. He sold his product to local drugstores that used the carbonated water to mix with fruit juices and flavoring to create delicious sodas to sell to their soda fountain customers. John McLaughlin began making his own soda drink recipes and created McLaughlin Belfast Style Ginger Ale in 1890. McLaughlin also developed a method of mass bottling his Ginger Ale leading to successful sales. Each bottle of McLaughlin Belfast Style Ginger Ale had a map of Canada and a picture of a beaver (the national animal of Canada) on the label. By 1907, John McLauglin had refined his recipe by lightening the dark color and improving the sharp taste of his first Ginger Ale. The result was Canada Dry Pale Dry Ginger Ale which John McLaughlin patented. On May 16, 1922, "Canada Dry" Pale Ginger Ale was trademark registered. "The Champagne of Ginger Ales" is another famous Canada Dry trademark. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blginger_al.htm