Coca-Cola released its first ever alcoholic drink when the traditional soft drink maker rolled out Lemon-Do in Japan on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The lemon-flavored drink is meant to compete with other Japanese-style alcoholic drinks known as chu-hi as Coca-Cola tries to break into the country's popular canned drink market.
The beverage will be offered in Japan with three percent, five percent, and seven percent alcohol, but it will not include any coke.
A sampling event for Lemon-Do was held in Fukuoka on Saturday.
"We've started to experiment because, in the end, we are trying to follow the consumer," Coca-Cola chief executive James Quincey said at a shareholder meeting on April 26, the Journal said. "And, in the case of Japan, this is a relatively well-developed segment of low alcohol."
The Journal said that even though the demand for alcoholic drinks in Japan had been falling due to its shrinking population, interest in canned alcoholic drinks has been growing, in part because it is cheaper and taxed less.
Coca-Cola representatives in Japan said in March the drink – made with distilled grain-based alcohol called shochu – was created exclusively for the palate of Japanese consumers and Lemon-Do likely would not be created for customers outside of the country.
Chu-hi, an abbreviation for shochu highball, is marketed in Japan as an alternative to beer and is popular with female drinkers, the New York Post reported. Suntory, Asahi, and Kirin currently dominate the sector for canned chu-hi drinks.
"Coca-Cola has always focused entirely on non-alcoholic beverages, and this is a modest experiment for a specific slice of our market," said Jorge Garduño, president of Coca-Cola's Japan business unit. "The chu-hi category is found almost exclusively in Japan.
"Globally, it's not uncommon for non-alcoholic beverages to be sold in the same system as alcoholic beverages. It makes sense to give this a try in our market. … While many markets are becoming more like Japan, I think the culture here is still very unique and special, so many products that are born here will stay here."
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