On Monday, Coca-Cola released its first alcoholic beverage—called Lemon-Do, which is currently only being rolled out in a ‘soft launch’ on the Japanese island of Kyushu. For those of you that are good and tired about laboriously adding your own spirits to your favorite Coke products, don’t get your hopes up about seeing it in your local corner store any time soon: senior Coke execs have said this is merely an experiment in a small slice of the marketplace for the time being.
The product is part of a campaign that aims to capture a growing market of young drinkers, and in particular, women. Described by Coca-Cola as “unique” in the company’s 125-year history, the three drinks range from 3% to 8% alcohol and are modeled after the already popular ‘Chu-Hi’ drink (an abbreviation for shochu highball). Though local producers like Suntory, Asahi and Kirin dominate the market, one can only imagine that should they be so-inclined, Coca-Cola could make some serious waves against even entrenched brands.
