Detroits favorite ginger ale is Vernors! The story of Vernors begins with James Vernors who worked in Detroit in a drug store. He then inlisted in the civil war and was away for 4 years as his ginger ale was aging. When he returned from war he opened his own drug store and finally opened his barrel of ginger ale extract. Wunderlich says Vernors is a soft drink that is meant to be drank by itself unlike other ginger ales that are meant to be mixers.