A Boston cooler is a drink typically composed of ginger ale and vanilla ice cream. Variations abound, however, with club soda, sherbet, rum, milk, sugar, or even coffee sometimes added or substituted for the key ingredients. In Ohio, the root beer float (a similar beverage made from vanilla ice cream and root beer) is also referred to as a Boston cooler.

The origin of the Boston Cooler lies in Detroit, Michigan, the city in which Fred Sanders is credited with inventing the ice cream soda in his shop along Boston Boulevard. It is known that by the 1880s the Boston cooler was being served in Detroit, made with the local Vernor's, an intense

golden ginger ale, unlike the common modern dry ginger ales. Whatever the exact origins, the name almost certainly has no connection to Boston, Massachusetts, where the beverage is virtually unknown.

It can be found most often in the Detroit region's many Coney Island style restaurants, which are plentiful because of Detroit's Greektown district influence. National Coney Island is one of the few restaurant chains to list the Boston Cooler in their menu. It is also found at the Detroit Dairy Queens and at Halo Burger, a mid-Michigan fast food chain.

A slight variation to the Boston Cooler occurred as the concoction drifted south to Ohio. Legend has it that Tom's Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville, Ohio, 250 miles form Detroit, borrowed the Detroit classic for its menu when it opened in 1948. Tom's has been in business since 1948 and has not changed a thing on the inside. However, Tom's serves their coolers with root beer, not ginger ale.

Cafe Bella Roma, SPQR in Los Angeles also serves Boston Coolers, typically getting an average of 2.5 Bostonians asking what it is. The co-owner of the Cafe had grandparents from the Detroit area who had put it on their menu in Indiana.

Eleven City Diner in Chicago serves Boston Coolers, complimenting its vintage soda fountain and its menu including fountain drinks from around the country such as Brooklyn egg creams and Phosphates.