James Vernor, Sr. (April 11, 1843 – October 29, 1927) was an American pharmacist and druggist who invented Vernors brand ginger ale in 1866.

Vernor was one of the original members of the Michigan Board of Pharmacy, formed in 1887, and held License No. 1 throughout his career. Vernor also served on the Detroit City Council for 25 years.

In 1896, Vernor and his son James Vernor, II. closed the drugstore and together opened a new soda fountain on Woodward Avenue south of Jefferson Avenue near the riverfront ferry docks, and organized a manufacturing plant. By 1915, they expanded operations to include a bottling company, which widely manufactured Vernor’s Ginger Ale.

According to company legend, when Vernor left to serve in the war he had stored his experimental ginger ale syrup base in an oak cask. After returning four years later, he opened the keg and found the drink had changed through the aging process. He declared it “Deliciously different,” which became the drink’s motto. However, in a 1936 interview, son James Vernor, Jr. suggested that his father did not develop the formula until after the war, a theory confirmed by former company president James Vernor Davis in a 1962 interview. According to the 1911 trademark application on “Vernor’s” as a name for ginger ale and extract, Vernors did not enter commerce until 1880, years after returning from the war.