When one mentions Coca-Cola, the last thing that comes to mind is alcohol, but that’s exactly what the drink giant has done, releasing an alcoholic drink in Japan.
The drink– a fizzy, lemon-flavoured concoction laced with spirits and aimed at young women, has been launched in Japan.
While Coca-Cola was involved in the wine business back in the 70s, this alcoholic drink represents a first in its 125-year history.
The drinks which have been dubbed ‘Lemon-Do’ – 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).
‘This is a pilot project in the region which has a sizable market,’ Masaki Iida, spokesman for Coca-Cola’s Japanese unit, told AFP.
The canned ‘chuhai’ drinks which basically mean canned lemonade or fruity drinks have become really popular in Japan and Coca-Cola hopes to take a corner of that market and they were said to have gotten the idea after visiting Japanese-style ‘izakaya’ pubs, where they discovered that lemon-flavoured drinks are very popular
The drink will contain vodka or a distilled, grain-based spirit called ‘shochu’ and will come in a range of flavours such as grape, strawberry, kiwi and white peach.