Coca-Cola launches first alcoholic drink

Coca-Cola has launched its first ever alcoholic drink in Japan, a fizzy, lemon-flavoured concoction laced with spirits.

According to Jorge Garduno, Coca-Cola Japan president, although the US firm dabbled in the wine business in the 1970s, the experiment in Japan is unique.

Three new ‘Lemon-Do’ drinks containing three, five and seven percent alcohol will be available in the southern Kyushu region of Japan.

Coca-Cola seeks to capitalise on the growing popularity of chuhai alcopops, a drink predominantly enjoyed by young women.

“This is a pilot project in the region which has a sizable market,” said Masaki Iida, spokesman for Coca-Cola’s Japanese unit.

Coca-Cola product developers got the idea after visiting Japanese-style izakaya pubs, where they discovered that lemon-flavoured drinks are very popular.

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.

Coca-Cola is wading into an already-competitive market, where major Japanese companies such as Suntory, Kirin and Asahi dominate the shelves.

The firm’s president has dampened hopes of people hoping to get the drink outside Japan, saying there are no plans to launch ‘Lemon-Do’ outside of the country.