COCACOLA LAUNCHES ITS FIRST BOOZY DRINK IN JAPAN
JAPAN: Coca-Cola launched its first ever alcoholic drink on Monday in Japan—a fizzy, lemon-flavoured concoction laced with spirits that seeks to capitalise on the growing popularity of “chuhai” alcopops enjoyed especially by young women.
Although the US firm dabbled in the wine business in the 1970s, the experiment in Japan is “unique” in the company’s 125year history, said Coca-Cola Japan president Jorge Garduno. From Monday, three new “Lemon-Do” drinks—containing three, five and seven percent alcohol—will be available in the southern Kyushu region of Japan.
A 350-millilitre can will set you back 150 yen ($1.40). “This is a pilot project in the region which has a sizable market,” Masaki Iida, spokesman for Coca-Cola’s Japanese unit, told AFP. He declined to reveal the exact spirit in the drink, as the recipe is a closely guarded secret.
Coca Cola product developers got the idea after visiting Japanese-style “izakaya” pubs, where they discovered that lemon-flavoured drinks are very popular, according to the firm’s website. The popular “chuhai” drinks— which contain vodka or a distilled, grain-based spirit called “shochu”—come in a range of flavours such as grape, strawberry, kiwi and white peach. They range in strength from between three and nine percent and are particularly popular with young drinkers, especially women.