We Tasted And Ranked 10 Canada Dry Ginger Ale Flavors

Ginger Ale has been around since the mid-19th century, and Canadian Chemist John J. McLaughlin struck liquid gold in 1904 with his own concoction that he introduced as Canada Dry Ginger Ale. During prohibition, the United States went dry, and in 1921, Canada Dry headed south to whet many Americans' whistles. It became known as the "Champagne of ginger ales," and was employed as a solid mixer for alcohol. As the 20th century was coming to a close, Canada Dry Ginger Ale started to experiment with new flavors. With so many options now available though, which one is the best?

To get the bottom of things, I assumed the role of taste tester and tried every ginger ale the company sells to see how they stack up. Below is the definitive ranking of the current flavors of Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

One of the newest additions to the Canada Dry Ginger Ale family turned out to be one of the least desirable of the bunch: Fruit Splash Zero Sugar Ginger Ale. Cherry flavoring usually a home run for a diet drink, but sadly, Canada Dry's first cherry drink didn't make quite the splash it intended. This opinion was unanimous in my taste testing group. 

The Zero Sugar version of Fruit Splash Ginger Ale tried its best to replicate the regular version. The pink color is a little lighter in hue, but the cherry flavoring was amped up in both smell and taste. That sounds like it would be a good thing, but even though actual concentrates of cherry juice was used in its composition, it didn't seem to add any dose of reality to this artificially sweetened affair. Lime juice concentrate was also included in this mix, but didn't seem to make any added splash to the existing "splash." That's probably why it wasn't included in the regular version's formula.

You would be hard pressed to tell the differences between Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale and Canada Dry Cranberry Zero Sugar Ginger Ale just by looks alone. The Zero Splash has a slightly darker shade of pink than the normal version possessed, but both had an off-putting vibe about them that didn't exactly scream "drink me."

Cranberry Zero Sugar Ginger Ale's odor seemed to reveal that this drink kicked up its level of cranberry flavoring as well. Just like with Fruit Splash Zero Sugar Ginger Ale, the Zero Sugar Cranberry has one believing the actual fruit will be ever present in taste, but then ultimately didn't deliver the goods when it was time to have a sip. Zero Sugar Cranberry was actually a hair better than the Fruit Splash, as its artifice is a little easier for the mouth to stomach. It was like a weak cranberry-flavored seltzer that is passable, but not all that pleasurable.

This diet drink has been around in some form since at least 1992. Three decades strong on shelves proves it has staying power, but who exactly is its audience? As a diet drink for the winter holidays, I can see it having a welcome place by a cozy fire. What of the rest of the year? I only see it as a colorful way to put out fires.

Canada Dry Ginger Ale and Lemonade sounds like a bottled match made in heaven. If lemonade can be mixed into iced tea to make a sensational third drink, thanks to famed mixologist Arnold Palmer, why can't the same be true with ginger ale? Turns out the answer Canada Dry provided, starting in 2018, is a bit muddled. The drink's appearance is a bit muddled too, as it looks like it was brewed in a lake. It had the smell of lemon cleaning product supplies, which wasn't a good first impression with this drink. 

Luckily, this drink didn't taste like a Lysol product. There was certainly something mildly appealing about it, but I couldn't come to fully embrace it. The lemon taste itself didn't exactly conjure up the perceived and expected lemonade flavor. While a good lemonade drink is tart, it is perfectly counterbalanced by being super sweet. This drink seemed to borrow the bitterness from the oils of lemon zest, but skipped out on the vibrancy one would get from actual lemon juice.

There has been a diet version of Canada Dry Ginger Ale available as far back as 1953.Following the industry trend in 2021, the diet flavor was renamed "Zero Sugar."  

A few of the taste testers in our panel were non-soda drinkers and remarked how Zero Canada Dry simply tastes like the artificial sweetener it contains: aspartame. As a self-avowed diet soda drinker myself, I've always been impressed with the diet version of Canada Dry Ginger Ale, as many other diet drinks veer far from the original flavoring. Sure, the ginger taste isn't as strong as it is with the regular version, but it still has a bit of snap to it. Plain and simple, for those who seek the great taste of regular Canada Ginger Ale, but with none of the calories, fat, or sugar, the Zero Sugar version is just the guilt-free ticket. It's even one of the better zero sugar drinks available on the market at large. From here on up in the rankings, everything is worthy of buying, but of course depends on your own tastes and desires. 

Canada Dry introduced Cherry Ginger Ale around 1988. While that first try didn't last long, in 2024, the company tried again with Fruit Splash Ginger Ale. With an attractive can featuring a wave of red, dreams of a Shirley Temple raced through my head, for a very cherry good time.

A pour of Fruit Splash Ginger Ale into a glass revealed that it was not as vibrantly red as I had hoped it would. It looked like water left behind after washing a giant bowl of cherries. This light pink color wasn't really selling the drink all that well. It did, at least, have an inviting smell, almost like a Jolly Rancher candy, leading me to believe this was going to be awesome. While it was an enjoyable refresher for sure, I wish it had way more splashes of the cherry juice concentrate ingredient in its make-up to create more of a tidal wave of flavor.

Around 2008, Canada Dry made an interesting flavor move by introducing Green Tea Ginger Ale. This drink looks pretty identical to the standard Ginger Ale, with a greenish-brown tint. A whiff revealed it to have a light tea and lemon smell.

I was surprised by how smooth it tasted, as it seemed to be less carbonated than its brethren ginger ales. The flavor began with a very small hint of ginger before turning to its tea profile; it finished off with a pleasing aftertaste. It reminded me more of a Green Tea Lemonade from Starbucks than that of a ginger ale. For the taste test group, it proved to be one of the more unique flavors we tried out of the 10. On top of being a stimulating drink, it has the added bonus of containing 65 milligrams of antioxidants in each serving.

By being such a revelatory drink for a first timer, I instantly held it in high esteem, ready to crown it one of the best. However, after subsequent tastings, the novelty wore off a bit, shifting the focus to the strengths of the other flavors. Still, major kudos to Canada Dry for offering such a flavor to mix things up within its catalog.

A blackberry teeters neatly somewhere between sweet and tart, and makes for a great pie ingredient. While there are many seltzers with blackberry flavoring, there aren't many ginger ales on the market utilizing this berry's unique taste. Canada Dry Blackberry Ginger Ale has a little air of mystery to it, and luckily turned out to be a really cool customer. 

Everything about Canada Dry Blackberry Ginger Ale had a lightness to it. It was a soft purple, as if someone added too much water to a packet of Kool-Aid's old school Purplesaurus Rex powder, and had a slight berry smell that couldn't exactly be placed. While adjectives like flowery and perfumy don't sound like they would be applied to a winning drink, I couldn't find better ones to describe this special flavor. It isn't overly pungent, and comes off as a less punchy grape drink. Its flavoring doesn't seem to linger or end with a strong aftertaste, like many other ginger ales do.

Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale was launched sometime around 1992as a winter drink. Cranberry drinks were a hot commodity for cold drinks at the time, and this Canada Dry version was eventually elevated to a year-round flavor.

With a curious ruby red color, Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale shined like Santa Claus' rosy cheeks, bringing Christmas cheer even in summer. Its aroma contained a mild trace of cranberry juice, which could also pass for watermelon juice. Like the Fruit Splash Ginger Ale flavor, this could work as a substitute for a Shirley Temple, although this drink has a lovely lean taste with no trace of bitterness. Cranberries in general have a very strong taste to them, and luckily it wasn't over-employed in the making of this drink. There's enough of a cranberry nuance to give you a taste of the goods, but it lends itself to being enjoyed by a much wider audience. It runs neck and neck with Blackberry as a smooth and special Canada Dry Ginger Ale, but edged it out with its slightly cleaner taste. For a bubbly change of pace, it can be used as the main mixer in a Sparkling Cranberry Spritzer.

The famous Latin phrase "audentes fortuna juvat" translates to "fortune favors the bold," and for the Canada Dry Ginger Ale flavor with the latter word, fortune favors those who drink it. Canada Dry Bold Ginger Ale has a vibrant, amber-gold color that lets you know it means serious business.

The cans' and bottles' labels don't describe what actually makes Bold bold, leaving me to figure it out for myself. Luckily, its boldness became very much apparent with a first sip. For those who have ever had the pleasure of drinking ginger ale's spicier cousin ginger beer, this is Canada Dry's long overdue answer to it. With a really sharp and crisp taste, it announced itself as almost a top shelf take on standard Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Alas, this Bold take is not for everyone. It can leave the back of your throat with a burning sensation, and even induce coughing spells just by drinking it. For me, I relish such cautionary issues when drinking ginger-based drinks.

Also, out of all the flavors, this one was the most perfect pairing for alcohol. I matched it up with bourbon, and its strong profile practically shielded my mouth from the liquor's alcohol aftertaste. Cheers to that!

Every Canada Dry Ginger Ale in this taste test received a fair chance to shine, and many did. It was a diverse lot, featuring fun fruity flavors, sharp aftertastes, and diet drinks that sometimes screamed for the sugar it had zeroed out. However, when it was time to crown a champ, nothing could top the classic flavor of good ol' Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Without the greatness of Canada Dry's Ginger Ale there would have never been all the offshoot flavors that followed. What makes the company's standard Ginger Ale such a beloved drink is its crispness, purity, and wholly refreshing nature.

Everyone has a go-to drink to order from an airplane's beverage cart, and mine has always been ginger ale. When I see that Canada Dry logo on the can, hear its top popped, and then poured into a cup with a handful of ice, I know my flight is about to have a momentary break for calming awesomeness. Also, it not only solves indigestion, but has long been an excellent mixer for spirits. Who knew a singular soda could do all this? Canada Dry did, and so do all of its devoted drinkers. This is not just the best of the Canada Dry drinks, but one of the best effervescent sodas found on this planet.

For this taste test, we included all flavors currently available. Half of the drinks were supplied by the manufacturer, and I procured the rest from grocery stores.

All the drinks were refrigerated before being tasted, and no ice was added. I assembled a team of seven taste testers, which ranged from 4 to 56 years in age. The drinks were tasted as a group, in a random order, and then the testers revealed their favorites, followed by their least favorites. I took all of those opinions into consideration, but ultimately picked the final rankings based on my own criteria and further testing after the initial taste test. That criteria included taste, sense of ginger ale-ness, palatability, uniqueness, and overall lovability.