We would have simply called that a “Coke float.” See also: a purple cow (grape soda and ice cream.)
Maybe it’s regional, but I can’t imagine not having floats in the hot summer months. Weren’t these the stock and trade of classic soda fountains? Even with the addition of milk or cream, the only thing exotic to me about the “dirty soda” is the name.
With our CO2 machine and a selection of flavor syrups, we often make Italian-soda-type floats on hot days. Pomegranate/lime float, anyone? I’m not sure what color cow that becomes.
A local food truck called the Soda Shack has a long list of dirty style sodas- Dr. Pepper with peach and mango puree, Mountain Dew with mango puree and Swedish Fish, etc. Some of the combinations are quite tasty, though my kids seem to prefer the combinations that don’t work for me (sorry, Butterbeer).
When I was a kid living in Tennessee my mother somehow got some Vernor’s, probably from relatives in the Detroit area since it wasn’t available here. I fell in love with the absolute unapologetic intensity of it. Every other ginger ale I had before and after Vernor’s was a disappointment. I thought nothing could improve on it.
For me, mocktails i don’t necessarily view them as a “Get over drinking”. I see them as just a tasty beverage in its own right. For a work function they had an open bar but i’m always weary of going hard on alcohol in settings where i’m surrounded by coworkers and bosses, so after two drinks i switched to mocktails and i was having a great time.
