Something's brewing: Coca-Cola to 'experiment' with alcoholic drink

Coca-Cola has always focused entirely on nonalcoholic beverages, and this is a modest experiment for a specific slice of the market

Coca-Cola Co.’s Japan unit plans to introduce a fizzy alcoholic drink in the country, in what an executive described as the first alcoholic product in the company’s history.

Jorge Garduño, president of Coca-Cola’s Japan unit, said in an article posted on the company’s website that it is “going to experiment” with a canned drink that contains alcohol—a product category known as chu-hai in Japan.

The chu-hai drinks are often made with a distilled grain-based alcohol called shochu and flavored, carbonated water. Flavors range from strawberry to ice tea and cream soda.

Coca-Cola’s Japan unit has long sold many drinks that