Directory of Alcopops Resources

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Alcopops is a term created by popular media to describe bottled alcoholic beverages that resemble drinks such as soft drinks and lemonade. Malternative is another name used for these drinks and is a reduction of the phrase 'malt alternative,' and it implies that these drinks are meant to be an alternative to that slightly more famous category of malt-based beverages: beer. These drinks begin life much the same way as beer: Malted grain and water are fermented to create alcohol. The resulting mixture is then filtered (generally with carbon) to remove any "malt" flavor, and then sweet fruit flavorings are added. Alcohol content is generally around 5% by volume. The resulting concoction is sweet, like a soft drink, comes in 12 ounce bottles, like beer, is marketed heavily to the "under 30" crowd, especially women, and, perhaps most importantly, is regulated the same as beer.

Resources in This Category

• Bacardi Silver

  http://www.bacardi.com/
  Official site. Offers details of sponsored parties. [Requires Flash player]

• CNNMoney: Jack Daniels, Miller Brewing introduce hard cola

  http://money.cnn.com/2002/05/20/news/jack_cola/
  "Vanilla Coke too sweet? Blue Pepsi too ... blue? Never fear. America's craving for bizarre beverages now has another potential savior -- a cola that can get you drunk."

• Cocktail Times: Ready To Drink Fact Sheet

  http://www.cocktailtimes.com/indepth/rtd/rtd.shtml
  Descriptions of the most popular alternatives, including taste, launch date and producer.

• Mike's Hard Lemonade

  http://www.mikeshard.com/
  Official site. Offers sweepstakes, available styles, ad campaigns and photo gallery of fans. [Requires Flash player]

• San Francisco Chronicle - 'Alcopops' labeled spirits instead of beer / Decision could raise taxes on drinks

  http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/13/BAGVMMUU2J4.DTL
  State Board of Equalization votes to reclassify 'alcopops' as liquor instead of beer because it targets teenagers.

• SFGate.com: Matthew Yi: Get ready to pay more for “alcopops”

  http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2007/08/14/matthew-yi-get-ready-to-pay-more-for-alcopops/
  Article on California regulators raising taxes on "Alcopops" because they are packaged to appeal to youth.

• Wikipedia: Alcopop

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcopop
  Encyclopedia article describing the beverage, its history, and controversy.

 

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