Coca-Cola Is Launching Its First Alcoholic Drink

If you’ve ever got bored of having to add vodka or rum to your Coca-Cola to make it a little stronger, this new drink will be right up your street.

Coca-Cola is planning to launch its first alcoholic drink in its 132 year history – an alcopop that will be sold exclusively in Japan.

The world’s most famous soft drinks company will be starting to make a canned, flavoured and sparkling drink that includes a Japanese spirit called shochu.

Shochu is distilled from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat or brown sugar. It tastes similar to sake in that it has a nutty, round taste.

Alcopops containing shochu are called ‘Chu-Hi’ and range in strength from three to eight per cent. They are hugely popular and sales of them have risen in the past five years, particularly with female drinkers. Coca-Cola hopes to capitalise on this to expand its market.

Jorge Garduño, Coca-Cola’s Japan president, said: ‘We haven’t experimented in the low-alcohol category before, but it’s an example of how we continue to explore opportunities outside our core areas.’

The drink will only be released in Japan, due to the ‘unique and special qualities’ of the domestic market.
The move can be seen as a way to increase the market for fizzy drinks, which is in a global decline as young people become more health conscious and want to cut their sugar consumption. The company has also moved into the tea, coffee and water markets to decrease their shortfall.

About the author

Alice Johnston

Food Editor

Alice is always planning her next meal. She studied English at the University of Bristol before getting her Master’s in newspaper journalism from City University London. She worked on Femail at Mail Online for 18 months writing about lifestyle and food and has also worked at Metro.co.uk, The Guardian, Mumsnet and The Sun. After starting at Culture Trip as a Social Content Producer writing travel and lifestyle stories, she was promoted to the role of Food Editor and now specialises in culinary culture, trends and social issues around food. When she’s not writing, eating or travelling, she can be found cooking overly elaborate dinners, reading cookbooks in bed or playing with her cat, Orlando. Her favourite foods include fishfinger sandwiches, burnt caramel panna cotta, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and oysters.