Drinking expired ginger ale is unlikely to make you sick. The combination of carbonation, low pH, and preservatives makes commercially sealed soft drinks inhospitable to dangerous pathogens well past their printed dates. What you will notice, though, is that the drink tastes progressively worse the longer it sits, and depending on how it was stored and what it was packaged in, there are some less obvious chemical changes worth knowing about.
What “Expired” Actually Means on a Ginger Ale Label
The date stamped on a can or bottle of ginger ale is almost always a “best by” or “best before” date, not a safety expiration. For shelf-stable products like carbonated soft drinks, these dates indicate when the manufacturer expects peak flavor and fizz, not the point at which the drink becomes dangerous. There is no federal requirement in the United States mandating expiration dates on soft drinks, and the dates that appear are set voluntarily by beverage companies based on their own quality-control testing. Most manufacturers suggest consuming ginger ale within about nine months of production, though the drink does not suddenly transform on that date.
This matters because people routinely find forgotten cans in the back of a pantry months or even years past the printed date and wonder if they need to throw them out. If the container is still sealed, not bulging, and was stored in reasonable conditions, the contents are almost certainly safe. They just won’t taste as good.
Why Ginger Ale Is Hostile to Harmful Bacteria
Soft drinks in general are poor environments for pathogenic microorganisms, and ginger ale is no exception. Three factors work together to keep it that way. First, ginger ale has a low pH, typically falling between 2.5 and 4.0 depending on the brand. Citric acid, which is added to many non-cola soft drinks as both a flavoring agent and preservative, functions to reduce microbial growth in these beverages.1PubMed Central. The pH of beverages available to the American consumer Most foodborne pathogens cannot survive at pH levels that low.
Second, dissolved carbon dioxide creates carbonic acid in solution, which further suppresses microbial activity. Third, the sugar concentration in regular ginger ale creates an environment with high osmotic pressure, which dehydrates bacterial cells. Together, these features mean that even if a sealed can of ginger ale sits for a year or two past its date, dangerous bacteria like Salmonella or E. coli are not going to colonize it.
That said, the picture is not quite as simple as “nothing can grow in soda.” Yeasts and certain acid-tolerant bacteria can survive and even proliferate in acidic, carbonated environments.2Food Research International. An overview of microorganisms and factors contributing for the microbial stability of carbonated soft drinks These organisms are responsible for spoilage rather than illness. If they get established in a container, the result is usually visible changes, including cloudiness, unusual sediment, or a foul smell. A sealed, properly manufactured container typically prevents this because the product was pasteurized or filtered before sealing. But if you pop open a long-expired ginger ale and something looks or smells off, those acid-tolerant spoilage organisms are the likely culprits.
The Flavor Problem
Safety aside, the real consequence of drinking expired ginger ale is that it tastes flat, stale, or just wrong. Carbonation gradually escapes through the container walls and seals, especially in plastic bottles, which are more permeable to COâ‚‚ than aluminum cans. A ginger ale that has been sitting for six months past its date in a PET bottle may have noticeably less fizz than a fresh one. A can holds carbonation better, but even cans are not perfectly airtight over very long periods.
Beyond the fizz, the flavor compounds in ginger ale degrade. The light ginger character in most commercial ginger ales comes from a small amount of ginger flavoring or extract, and these volatile aromatic compounds break down over time. Sweeteners also change. High-fructose corn syrup can develop slightly off flavors after extended storage, and artificial sweeteners in diet ginger ale can lose their sweetness or develop a bitter edge. The drink won’t taste spoiled in a dangerous way. It will just taste disappointingly flat and slightly chemical.
What Happens Inside the Can Over Time
This is where expired ginger ale gets more interesting than you might expect. Aluminum beverage cans are lined with a thin organic coating, essentially a food-grade polymer, that prevents the acidic drink from directly contacting the metal. That internal coating is critical from a corrosion standpoint.3PubMed Central. Corrosion Behavior of Aluminium-Coated Cans But it is not indestructible. The high-impact forces involved in stamping, shaping, and sealing cans during manufacturing can create micro-defects in the coating, and over time the corrosive nature of the beverage inside can degrade it further.4Food Packaging and Shelf Life. A platform for continuous monitoring of the degradation of aluminum beverage can lid lids in realistic conditions through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
Once that protective layer starts breaking down, the acidic drink can react with the aluminum underneath. Research on canned soft drinks has documented a clear and significant rise in aluminum content over storage time, pointing to gradual dissolution from the packaging material.5ScienceDirect. Metal content in soft drinks depending on packaging and storage time In practical terms, a can of ginger ale stored for a few months past its best-by date is unlikely to have worrying aluminum levels. But a can that has been sitting in a hot garage for three years is a different story. Heat accelerates both the coating breakdown and the metal dissolution. You might not taste the aluminum, but it is measurable at that point.
If you have ever opened a very old can of soda and noticed a slightly metallic taste, you were not imagining it. That is likely aluminum or trace metals from the can that dissolved into the drink after the protective lining was compromised.
Plastic Bottles and Heat Exposure
Ginger ale sold in PET plastic bottles faces a different set of chemical concerns. PET plastic contains antimony as a catalyst residue from manufacturing. Under normal storage conditions at room temperature, the amount of antimony that leaches into the liquid is tiny and well below safety thresholds.6PubMed. Antimony leaching from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic used for bottled drinking water
The issue arises with heat and time. When PET-bottled beverages are stored at elevated temperatures, antimony leaching increases substantially. Research incubating beverages at 60°C for seven days found antimony concentrations one to nearly eleven times greater than pre-incubation levels.7PubMed. Leaching and In Vivo Bioavailability of Antimony in PET Bottled Beverages Ginger ale makes this worse than plain water would, because the same study found that lower-pH beverages like carbonated drinks exhibited higher antimony concentrations. The acidity of ginger ale essentially helps dissolve more of the contaminant from the bottle walls.
Sixty degrees Celsius (140°F) is not some extreme laboratory temperature. The interior of a car parked in the sun in summer can easily reach that range. So while a PET bottle of ginger ale stored in a cool pantry for a few months past its date is fine, one that spent the summer in a hot trunk is worth discarding even if it is still within the printed date range. Storage conditions matter as much as, or more than, the date on the label.
Diet Versus Regular Ginger Ale
There is a practical difference in how diet and regular ginger ale age. Regular ginger ale’s high sugar content gives it a slightly more stable flavor profile over time, because sugar acts as a mild preservative and the sweet taste can mask subtle off-flavors that develop during storage. The main thing you lose is carbonation and brightness.
Diet ginger ale, sweetened with aspartame, acesulfame potassium, or sucralose, tends to degrade more noticeably. Aspartame in particular breaks down over time, especially at higher temperatures, into its constituent amino acids and eventually into compounds that taste flat or bitter. A diet ginger ale that is a year past its date will often taste distinctly worse than its regular counterpart of the same age. The sweetness may have largely vanished, replaced by a vaguely chemical aftertaste. This is not dangerous in the amounts you would encounter from a single bottle, but it makes the drinking experience unpleasant enough that most people will not want to finish it.
Opened Versus Unopened
Everything discussed so far applies to sealed containers. Once you crack open a can or bottle, the rules change entirely. Opened ginger ale loses its carbonation within hours and, without the protective blanket of dissolved COâ‚‚, becomes a much friendlier environment for microorganisms. Molds, yeasts, and bacteria from your mouth or the surrounding air can colonize an open container of ginger ale, especially if it is left at room temperature.
In the refrigerator, an opened bottle of ginger ale is generally fine for two to three days, though it will be progressively flatter. Left on the counter, you should treat it like any open sugary liquid and discard it within a day. The sugary, acidic mixture becomes an effective growth medium once the carbonation dissipates and airborne organisms gain entry. If you find a half-finished glass of ginger ale you left out overnight, the odds of it making you seriously ill are low, but the odds of an upset stomach rise with each additional hour it sits.
Does Ginger Ale Lose Its Stomach-Settling Properties?
Many people reach for ginger ale specifically because they feel nauseated, based on the long tradition of using ginger to settle the stomach. A reasonable question is whether expired ginger ale has lost whatever therapeutic value it had. The answer depends on what you mean by “therapeutic.”
Most commercial ginger ales contain very little actual ginger. The “ginger” flavor often comes from natural or artificial flavoring rather than from a meaningful quantity of ginger root or extract. For these products, the anti-nausea benefit was always marginal at best, and the passage of the best-by date does not change much.
Interestingly, research on ginger supplements has found that the major active anti-emetic compounds in ginger, the gingerols and shogaols, remain stable even past the supplement’s expiration date.8European Journal of Integrative Medicine. Determination of the concentration of major active anti-emetic constituents within commercial ginger food products and dietary supplements So for the minority of ginger ales that do contain real ginger extract in meaningful amounts, the ginger compounds themselves are likely still intact past the date. The catch is that most mainstream ginger ale brands contain so little real ginger that this stability is beside the point. If you want actual anti-nausea benefits from ginger, a ginger supplement or ginger tea made from fresh root is a far more reliable choice than ginger ale of any age.
Signs You Should Throw It Out
While drinking expired ginger ale from a sealed container stored in reasonable conditions is generally safe, there are a few clear warning signs that a particular can or bottle has gone bad:
- Bulging can or bottle: This suggests internal gas production from microbial activity, which means something is growing in there that should not be. Discard it without opening.
- Hissing or spraying on opening: A normal amount of carbonation release is expected, but excessive pressure is a red flag. Combined with any visual or olfactory abnormality, throw it away.
- Cloudiness or particles: Clear ginger ale that has become hazy or developed floating sediment has likely been colonized by spoilage organisms.
- Off smell: A vinegary, musty, or otherwise unusual odor on opening means microbial metabolic byproducts are present.
- Damaged container: Dents along the seam of a can, cracks in a plastic bottle, or a broken seal on a cap all compromise the sterile environment inside and make contamination far more likely.
None of these signs guarantee that drinking the product would land you in the hospital. But they indicate that the normal protective barriers have been breached, and the risk-benefit calculation of saving a dollar on a can of soda shifts firmly toward the trash bin.
How to Store Ginger Ale for Maximum Shelf Life
If you want your ginger ale to last well past its best-by date in drinkable condition, storage is everything. A cool, dark environment is ideal. Room temperature in a climate-controlled home is fine. Avoid garages, attics, car trunks, and anywhere that experiences wide temperature swings or sustained heat. Aluminum cans should be stored upright to minimize the contact area between the beverage and the lid, which is the most vulnerable part of the internal coating. PET bottles benefit from the same cool, dark treatment, since both heat and UV light accelerate the breakdown of both the plastic and the beverage inside.
Refrigeration extends both the carbonation and the flavor quality, though it is not strictly necessary for safety. If you stockpile ginger ale for occasional use, rotating your supply so older cans get used first is the simplest way to avoid ever discovering a forgotten two-year-old can. For what it is worth, most people who taste-test expired soda report that cans hold up better than plastic bottles over long periods, both because they retain carbonation more effectively and because the metal-leaching concern, while real, takes longer to reach noticeable levels than the flavor degradation in PET bottles.