Cheers! Coca-Cola Launches Its First Alcoholic Drink

A fizzy lemon-flavored alcoholic drink that went on sale in Japan on Monday marked Coca-Cola Co.’s KO first fling at selling alcohol in its 132-year history.

一款柠檬口味的气泡酒精饮料周一将在日本上市销售，这是可口可乐公司(Coca-Cola Co., KO)成立132年来首次销售酒精饮料。

At a sampling event in Fukuoka on Saturday, hundreds of people lined up for a taste, including some who didn’t expect to find the U.S. company experimenting with Japanese-style booze.

在福冈举行的一次品酒会上，成百上千人排队试饮，其中一些人没有料到这家美国公司竟然会尝试推出日式酒品。

Coca-Cola, a big competitor in nonalcoholic drinks in Japan, is entering the fray with a lemon-flavored version of chuhai called Lemon-Do. It will be available with 3%, 5% and 7% alcohol, including a salty-lemon version and another that is flavored with honey and lemon. The drink doesn’t include any Coke.

可口可乐已在日本无酒精饮料市场占据重要地位，如今该公司推出了名为Lemon-Do的柠檬口味烧酎高球酒，进军酒精饮料市场。这款酒的酒精含量分3%、5%和7%三档，其中一款是咸柠檬口味，另外一款加了蜂蜜和柠檬。这款酒不含任何可乐成分。

The company enters a highly segmented and competitive market, where others such as Suntory Holdings Ltd., Kirin Holdings Co. and Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. dominate supermarket and convenience-store shelves. Coca-Cola launched the foray on the southern island of Kyushu; its plans for the rest of Japan or other countries aren’t set yet.

在日本，酒精饮料市场是一个高度分割、竞争非常激烈的市场，三得利控股公司(Suntory Holdings Ltd.)、麒麟啤酒公司(Kirin Holdings Co., 2503.TO)和朝日啤酒集团公司(Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., 2502.TO)等企业主导着超市和便利店的货架。可口可乐率先在福冈这个九州南部岛屿推出新品，而在日本其他地区或其他国家推出新品的计划还未确定。

“We’ve started to experiment because, in the end, we are trying to follow the consumer. And, in the case of Japan, this is a relatively well-developed segment of low alcohol,” Coca-Cola Chief Executive James Quincey said at a shareholder meeting on April 26. He observed that rival companies already make both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.

可口可乐总裁James Quincey在4月26日的股东大会上说：“我们已经开始试验，因为归根结底，我们要努力跟上消费者。就日本而言，低度酒市场发展状况相对良好。”他指出，竞争对手已经同时生产酒精和非酒精饮料。

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来源:华尔街日报爱语吧作者:Penny