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
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. Milwaukee Club pale dry ginger ale, The Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco, 1895-1935