Coca-Cola plans to produce canned alcoholic drink in Japan

Iconic soft drink brand Coca-Cola is now planning to produce an alcoholic beverage in Japan, breaking its 125-year tradition of producing the non-alcoholic original drink.

The drinks giant will experiment on Japan’s growing taste for Chu-Hi, a canned sparkling flavoured drink that gives a kick with a local spirit called shochu, according to The Telegraph, a British newspaper.

Confirming the plan on the company’s website, 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.”

Garduño, who did not specify a timeline for the new product, added: “Coca-Cola has always focused entirely on non-alcoholic beverages, and this is a modest experiment for a specific slice of our market.

It was unlikely the alcopop-style product would be sold outside of Japan, he suggested.

The phrase alcopop typically refers to sweet but alcoholic drinks, and in 1990s UK brands such as Hooch, Reef, Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi Breezer became hugely popular.

Chu-Hi - an abbreviation for shochu highball - has been marketed as an alternative to beer, proving especially popular with female drinkers in Japan. The product is typically between 3 percent and 8 percent alcohol by volume.

As younger consumers become more health conscious, Coca-Cola has been diversifying from fizzy drinks, including buying water and tea brands.

But last November, Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog speculated that Coca-Cola might move into alcohol, as it looked to "premium segments such as adult craft beverages", reports BBC.

But they were controversial, raising concerns that they encouraged young people to drink alcohol in large quantities because they were so easy to consume.

Coca-Cola also owns Georgia Coffee in Japan, which it claims is the world's highest-grossing canned coffee drink, making more than $1 billion in annual sales.

The country has a Food for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU) government certification, in light of its ageing population and fiber-fortified drink Coca-Cola Plus was FOSHU-approved in 2017.

Having certain drinks at particular times of day is more of an entrenched ritual in Japan than in other part of the world, said Khalil Younes, EVP of marketing and new businesses for Coca-Cola Japan, in a blog post. People might drink green tea with sushi, but opt for oolong tea with fattier Chinese food, for example.