The Boston Cooler: Created in Detroit or Not?

Did the Boston Cooler originate in Detroit or not?

A Boston Cooler is made with vanilla ice cream and basically any type of soda pop – in other words, it's a float. The most popular ones are made with root beer (a/k/a a root beer float) or Vernors Ginger Ale. Some purists claim a Vernors Boston Cooler is not a float. Well, that is total bulls**t. OF COURSE it's a float. So these definitions point to the fact that any confectionary made with vanilla ice cream and pop can be called either a Boston Cooler OR a float. I'm sure this will rile some people.

So where did it originate? Detroit, like some claim, or not?

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The one with Vernors did indeed come from Detroit, and supposedly got its 'Boston' name from either Boston Boulevard – which was just down the road from the old Vernors Pharmacy – or Detroit's Boston-Edison district.

The Vernors Boston Cooler has been called “Detroit’s most famous and unique confectionary product ever created” - maybe so, maybe not.

The only original thing about it was the addition of Vernors Ginger Ale.

Early newspaper ads from Philadelphia show a drink made with Hires Root Beer and vanilla ice cream came before the Vernors version. Plus other fountain drinks that were similar came before that. Vernors did, however, copyright an ice cream bar made of vanilla ice cream and Vernors Ginger Ale in 1967.

So, even though a question or two may have been answered, the main ones remain open. Did the name 'Boston Cooler' come from Detroit? Can it be called a 'float' or not? (I say yes.) What came first: the root beer or ginger ale version?

I feel the name indeed came from Detroit, and the Vernors Boston Cooler was obviously created there as well. As for other floats and coolers, their origins are up for grabs if anyone wants to tackle it.

BOTTOM LINE: A TRUE DETROIT BOSTON COOLER IS MADE WITH VERNORS.

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