Blenheim Ginger Ale

Lore & Background

According to the story, in 1781, Patriot James Spears was fleeing the British during the Revolutionary War when his shoe got stuck in the mud of a natural spring. He left it, returned later, and noticed the water in the depression. Tasting it, he found a strong mineral content. Word spread, and by the late 1800s a small town was established around the spring. In the late 1890s, Dr. C. R. May began prescribing the mineral spring water to patients with stomach troubles. Because patients disliked the strong iron-like taste, he added Jamaican ginger and sugar, creating a popular concoction. He partnered with A. J. Matheson to open the Blenheim Bottling Company in 1903. A plant was built next to the mineral springs in 1920, with production volumes changing over time rather than remaining at a fixed daily rate.

Reader's Guide

Blenheim Ginger Ale holds significance as a regional beverage that has maintained its original recipe for over 110 years. Despite limited distribution—primarily in the Carolinas, though it now ships to 44 states and three international distributors—it has developed a cult following among food and wine aficionados. Its spicy character was described by New York Times journalist Bill Grimes in 1998 as causing sneezing and a throbbing sensation. The company was bought in 1993 by Alan Schafer, owner of South of the Border, who moved bottling to a new plant near that attraction. The brand offers three varieties: #3 Hot (pink cap), #5 Not As Hot (gold cap), and #9 Diet (white cap). Its legacy is tied to the mineral spring discovered in 1781 and the local doctor who made the water palatable, preserving a piece of South Carolina's Pee Dee region history.

Did You Know?

• The mineral spring was discovered in 1781 when Patriot James Spears got his shoe stuck in the mud while fleeing the British.
• Dr. C. R. May originally prescribed the mineral water for stomach troubles before adding ginger and sugar to mask the iron-like taste.
• The Blenheim Bottling Company plant built in 1920 produced as few as 18 to 20 cases a day for 90 years.
• Penn Jillette wore a Blenheim shirt on the cover of Wired Magazine.

The Golden Style Heritage

Blenheim Ginger Ale belongs to the golden style of ginger ale, a tradition that traces back to the 1850s in Belfast, Ireland. The style is credited to Thomas Joseph Cantrell, an Irish apothecary and surgeon who set out to create a soft drink. His original product was a fermented beverage, dark in colour, with a generally sweet taste and a pronounced ginger spice flavour. Cantrell marketed his creation through local beverage manufacturer Grattan and Company, whose bottles carried the embossed slogan "The Original Makers of Ginger Ale." This golden style represents the older, more traditional approach to ginger ale, distinguished by its fermentation process and bolder flavour profile compared to the paler, milder dry style that would later emerge. Blenheim carries forward this heritage as one of the brands producing golden ginger ale in the modern market.

Among the Golden Brands

In the landscape of American ginger ale, Blenheim occupies a specific niche as a producer of the golden style. It shares this classification with a distinguished group of brands including Vernors, A-Treat, Bull's Head, Chelmsford, Buffalo Rock, Sussex, and Red Rock. This golden category stands apart from the dry-style brands such as Canada Dry, Seagram's, and Schweppes, which represent a different flavour philosophy. The American market hosts a wide array of ginger ale producers, with brands ranging from Canfield's and Hansen Natural to Shasta, Boylan Bottling Company, Polar Beverages, Ale-8-One, Foxon Park, Fitz's, Sprecher, Market Basket, Reed's Ginger Brew, and Chek. Blenheim's position among the golden-style makers places it in the tradition of the stronger, sweeter, more spiced ginger ale rather than the milder, paler dry variety.

The Ginger Ale Category

Ginger ale, despite its name, is not an ale at all but a carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger. It is consumed on its own as a refreshing beverage or employed as a mixer, frequently paired with spirit-based drinks. In the performing arts and among non-drinkers, ginger ale sometimes serves as a non-alcoholic stand-in for champagne, sparkling wine, or beer, owing to the visual resemblance between the beverages. It is also added to beer to create a shandy. Beyond its role as a drink, ginger ale has a long history as a traditional home remedy, particularly for easing indigestion and nausea. Nutritionally, it is generally acceptable for those on a clear liquid diet, though commercial varieties tend to be high in sugar, containing roughly 10 grams per 100 millilitres. Blenheim, as a member of this category, participates in all of these uses and traditions.

Golden Versus Dry

The ginger ale world is divided into two principal styles, and Blenheim sits firmly on the golden side. The golden style, originating with Cantrell's 1850s Belfast product, is characterised by its dark colour, sweet taste, and strong ginger spice flavour, typically produced through fermentation. In contrast, the dry style—also called the pale style—was created by Canadian chemist and pharmacist John J. McLaughlin, who introduced his "Pale Dry" Ginger Ale in 1904 and patented it as Canada Dry Ginger Ale in 1907. This paler drink carries a much milder ginger flavour. The dry style found particular popularity in the United States during the Prohibition era, when it was widely used as a mixer for alcoholic beverages. The distinction between these two styles—golden's bold, fermented character versus dry's lighter, carbonated approach—represents the fundamental divide in how ginger ale is made and experienced, with Blenheim embodying the former tradition.