Shasta (soft drink) produced its first soft drink, a ginger ale. Until the 1950s, the company's products were mainly mixers for alcoholic drinks: mineral water, club soda, and ginger ale. Shasta introduced new marketing strategies in the 1950s, which became industry standards: the packaging of soft drinks in cans, the introduction of low calorie soft drinks, and the distribution of cans and bottles directly to grocers through wholesale channels. By 1960, Shasta was a well-known brand in the western United States. During the 1960s, under the ownership of Luke Wienecke, Shasta was sold to Consolidated Foods (later known as Sara Lee) and was
Ginger ale Canada Dry, Canfield's, Hansen Natural, Vernors, Seagram's, Schweppes, Sussex, Buffalo Rock, Boylan Bottling Company, Polar Beverages, Ale-8-One, Blenheim, Foxon Park, Fitz's, Sprecher, Market Basket/Chelmsford, Red Rock, Reed's Ginger Brew, Chek (River of Dreams), Shasta, and Sussex Golden Ginger Ale. Vernors is a flavoured golden ginger ale aged for three years in oak barrels before bottling. It was the first U.S. soft drink, originating in 1866, although it was modelled on imported Irish ginger beers. In Detroit, Michigan, a drink made with vanilla ice cream and Vernors ginger ale is called a Boston cooler. Blenheim is a golden ginger ale made