Fox Business: Coca-Cola to Launch First Alcoholic Drink

The booze industry is continuing to perform well, and Coca-Cola is taking notice. According to a Fox Business article, the iconic soft drink company is rolling out its first alcoholic beverage.

The beverage company announced the move by saying that it’s going to test the waters in Japan, which has an emerging market for Chu-Hi, a canned drink that’s made with the Japanese spirit shochu. It’s likely that the new product will only be available in Japan, however, it’s unclear as to whether or not this will lead to alcoholic beverages making their way to the U.S. and brands and franchises that offer Coca-Cola products.

In an interview with Fox Business, Howard Telford, the head of soft drinks at Euromonitor International, said, “Company leadership have spoken recently about being less afraid to experiment in terms of innovation—and dipping a toe into this category makes particular sense in Japan where the style of beverage is more familiar to customers and the pace of CPG [consumer packaged goods] innovation is faster.” He continued, “This is a departure for Coca-Cola, but I think this reflects the way that changing consumer tastes are pushing the company into less familiar areas like premium dairy, coffee, tea and now low-alcohol flavored drinks.”

To read the original article, click here.