WASHINGTON – Beverages major Coca-Cola on Monday launched its first everalcoholic drink in Japan. With a fizzy, lemon-flavoured drink, the US-basedcompany broke its 132-year-old tradition to enter the alcoholic beveragesmarket. The drink – offered with 3%, 5% and 7% alcohol is a variant ofpopular Japanese “chuhai”, popular among young women.

All the three variants of the drink will be available in the southernKyushu region of Japan from Monday. A 350-millilitre can will cost 150 yen(US$1.40 or Rs 93).

The company has not yet revealed its plans for the rest of Japan or othercountries.

Chuhai is a popular drink in Japan and Coca-Cola plans to cash in itspopularity. Chuhai — a word that combines “highball” and “shochu,” is analcohol made from rice, barley or sweet potatoes. Surveys show Japanesewomen prefer these to beer.

Many companies in Japan have recently been experimenting and relaunchingchuhai to get more woman customers.

Coca-Cola link> has a huge presence inJapan in nonalcoholic drinks segment and with chuhai drink, it plans todrive its sale further.

“This is a pilot project in the region which has a sizable market,” MasakiIida, spokesman for Coca-Cola’s Japanese unit, was quoted as saying by AFP.

It has named the drink Lemon-Do which will be available with 3%, 5% and 7%alcohol, including a salty-lemon version and another that is flavoured withhoney and lemon. The drink doesn’t include any Coke, clarified the company.

It faces competition from companies like Kirin, Asahi, Aurosa and Suntory.

“We’ve started to experiment because, in the end, we are trying to followthe consumer. And, in the case of Japan, this is a relativelywell-developed segment of low alcohol,” James Quincey, the president ofCoca-Cola, said at a shareholder meeting on April 26.

Although Coca-Cola once owned a winery, it has never directly sold analcoholic drink in its history which dates back to 1886.