Hard soda, also referred to as flavored beer, adult soda, fermented soda, mature soda and alcohol soda, is a type of alcoholic beverage and craft beer that is manufactured in the style of a soft drink. It has gained recent prominence in the United States after the success of the Not Your Father's Root Beer brand manufactured by Small Town Brewery. As of late May 2016, at least 39 hard soda brands exist in the United States.
The first hard soda was modeled after the beverage pictured here, root beer. According to Not Your Father's Root Beer, it is an ale that contains sarsaparilla, wintergreen, anise and vanilla.
Ginger ale is another popular flavor chosen for hard soda formulations. As seen in this photo, the history of ginger ale's relationship with breweries is quite old.
A soft drink is any water-based flavored drink, usually but not necessarily carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used can be natural or artificial. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a sugar substitute, or some combination of these. Soft drinks may also contain caffeine, colorings, preservatives and other ingredients.
A glass of cola served with ice cubes
Soft drink vending machine in Japan
Bubbles of carbon dioxide float to the surface of a carbonated soft drink.
Equipment used by Joseph Priestley in his experiments on gases and the carbonation of water
