Kiddie beer and drinks a Japanese trend

Sangaria, a Japanese beverage company, is doing what in most countries would be unthinkable: manufacturing pretend beer and other such beverage products for children.

Japan's drinking culture, which includes educating young people in the practices, is well known and the company says using such products allows children to more fully participate in family celebrations.

"Kodomo no nomimono," for example, comes in cans, bottles and six-packs. It looks like beer, tastes like apple juice and foams in a glass. The product line also includes fake champagne, wine and cocktails.

There's even a TV ad you can watch featuring kids downing these drinks.

Ridiculous stuff.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

Coca-Cola switches to water for the moment

Coca-Cola should have its thirst for acquisition quenched for a while after agreeing to shell out $4.1 billion to acquire Glacéau, a maker of “enhanced water” drinks.

The acquisition of Glacéau, whose bottled drinks include Vitaminwater, Fruitwater and Energywater, will give Coca-Cola about 30% of the U.S. market in the category.

Glacéau was founded in 1996 by Darius Bikoff, a New York entrepreneur. The deal should bring Coca-Cola back to prominence in a niche in which it had been surpassed by rivals. Arch-competition Pepsi-Cola, for example, already has about 45% of the market with its Aquafina, SoBe and Propel drinks.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

New World of Coca-Cola opens in Atlanta

The New World of Coca­Cola opened today in Atlanta.

The new facility's 62,000 square feet of visitor area makes it approximately twice the size of the original World of Coca-Cola.

It will feature more than 1,200 artifacts from around the world that have never been publicly displayed before. Only about 50 artifacts from the previous World of Coca­Cola will be showcased.

In addition to the displays, the facility has a fully functioning bottling line that produces commemorative 8-ounce bottles of Coke, tastings of more than 70 different products, and a Pop Culture Gallery featuring works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and Steve Penley.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

The return of Vanilla Coke

When I was a kid, cherry Coke was all the rage at soda fountains across the country. I drank to a different beat, getting my local soda jerk to whip up a vanilla Coke for me -- a squirt of the pale yellow vanilla syrup, a long pull on the Coke lever, and instant heaven in a glass.

Thus, I was pleased when Coca-Cola began mass producing Vanilla Coke (at one time also called Coca-Cola Vanilla or just plain V) in 2002, particularly since soda fountains had largely died out and tracking down one of the survivors was a tedious process.

Eventually, Vanilla Coke was distributed in 30 countries. However, because it never really outsold its first-year figures, despite Coca-Cola humbly calling it "the greatest innovation since Diet Coke in 1983," it was phased out in the U.S. and many other markets in 2005.

Luckily for fans of the stuff, it was reintroduced in New Zealand earlier this year and did well. Now, both Coca-Cola Vanilla and a sugar-free version called Coca-Cola Vanilla Zero are being distributed across the U.S.

Welcome back. I feel like a kid again.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

A prize-winning lemonade

The great majority of cocktail "competitions" I come across usually are restricted to one establishment or one brand. New York, however, came up with a much more interesting one, its Sidewalks Cafe Cocktail Competition.

The city's Department of Consumer Affairs and the New York State Restaurant Association selected one winner each in the alcoholic and non-alcoholic categories in a competition at the Institute of Culinary Education.

The contest was for bartenders representing restaurants with sidewalk cafés, as licensed by the city. Fourteen of 25 competitors made it to the finals.

The winners, both from Manhattan:

• Non-Alcoholic Cocktail: Watermelon Lemonade, from Bubby's in TriBeCa.

2 ounces of fresh-squeezed lemon juice
4 ounces of fresh watermelon puree, strained through a course strainer to remove seeds
1 1/2 ounces of simple syrup
6 ounces of water

Shake and serve over ice with a big wedge of fresh watermelon garnish.

• Alcoholic Cocktail: The Porch Swing, from the Blue Smoke barbeque restaurant on East 27th Street.

1 1/2 ounces of Hendrick's gin
1 1/2 ounces of Pimm's No. 1
4 ounces of fresh lemonade

Pour into a tall Collins glass. Add a splash of 7-Up. Finish with 10 finely sliced half-moon cucumbers.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

Corn for cars, sugar for drinks

If you want to power your car with ethanol, you may have to pay more for your soft drinks.

Put another way, the Jones Soda Co. now seems rather Nostradamus-like in its decision to create a line of soft drinks sweetened by cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Huh? To explain:

At the time, the Seattle manufacturer said even though sugar costs more than the HFCS, it wanted to offer a less-fattening product.

Meanwhile, the cost of HFCS is rising. It still is cheaper than sugar, but the price gap is closing and such major producers as Coca-Cola Co. and Pepsico Inc. are keeping a close eye on the situation.

Most soda and food manufacturers switched from sugar to the cheaper HFCS starting in the late 1970s, and more joined the trend in 1980 when sugar prices spiked. This year, the diversion of corn to create ethanol fuel in the U.S. has begun pushing up prices of HFCS.

Next month, Jones will have billboards in its key markets saying "Corn is for Cars; Sugar is for Soda."

Ron Sterk, assistant editor at Milling and Baking magazine, was quoted on Forbes.com as saying it is not easy for food and beverage plants to switch to sugar because of needed reformulation in recipes and changes in equipment -- a process companies went through when they made the decision to go with HFCS 25 years ago. Soda makers and food manufacturers would use mostly liquid, not granular sugar if they were to shift back.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

Seize the drink

Carpe Diem USA Inc. has signed an agreement with AMI Brands LLC to distribute its line of natural waters and beverages.

Dietrich Mateschitz, who created the popular energy drink Red Bull, created Carpe Diem’s Kombucha, Kefir and Ginkgo drinks. They are a blend of 25 botanical ingredients, are 100% natural, and contain lightly carbonated spring water. The California company also produces a line of botanic waters, subtitled Relaxing, Vitalizing and Harmonizing. They contain 26 botanicals, fruit and spring water.

Ginkgo, Kombucha and Kefir all retail for $1.99 and the Botanic Waters for $1.69 to $1.99.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

Hash browns and a cola with those eggs, please

Orange juice, tea or coffee still are the breakfast beverage staples, but consumption of carbonated soft drinks with breakfast by Americans has been steadily climbing for two decades.

NPD Group, a New York consumer research firm NPD Group, analyzed data on beverages consumed with meals, not overall consumption. According to its analysis, consumers eating breakfast outside the home order soft drinks with 15.1% percent of their breakfasts, compared to 7.9% in 1990.

Of meals eaten at home, only 2.4% include carbonated soft drinks, but it was a barely noticeable 0.5% in 1985.

Coffee consumption with meals outside the home has dropped from 48.7% to 38% in the past 15 years.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

Coca-Cola first to settle in benzene suit

Coca-Cola has settled suits in three states that claimed two of its products -- Fanta Pineapple and Vault Zero -- contained ingredients that could combine to form benzene, a cancer-causing chemical.

The Atlanta-based beverage giant agreed with officials in Florida, New Jersey and Kansas to replace drinks to anyone who purchased the beverages before September 2006. It also will pay $500 to each of four plaintiffs plus any legal fees deemed fair by an arbitrator.

The company said it has reformulated the two drinks. They bear a label with a best-before date of January 2008 or later.

Other soft-drink makers, including PepsiCo Inc., remain defendants in related lawsuits.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

The not-so-magnificent 7

In the current atmosphere of finger-pointing at various beverages for their evil sugar-laden ways, the Diet-Blog has calculated the seven most sugar-filled drinks.

I won't spoil the guessing game for you before you head over to that site, but the image at right may give you an idea of a typical culprit.

Diet-Blog, incidentally, was created in 2003 by Dane Carlson as an eating disorder support site and information clearing house. In 2004 Jim Foster took over. Diet-Blog receives income from advertising, a portion of which goes to fund the site.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

Mabi, an island drink, headed to your store

A non-alcoholic drink that bills itself as "The Champagne of The islands" will be hitting mainland store shelves.

The Original Mabi Drink (pronounced "may-vee") is a pasteurized energy soda containing extract from the bark of the mabi plant, seen here.

It has been sold throughout much of the Caribbean by Global Beverage Enterprises Inc. Now, it has signed a deal with Goya Foods Inc. to distribute it in the United States, Canada and Spain as well as increasing the island market by extending into Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Global Beverage, founded in 2003, also has developed Kool Cow Sparkling Dairy Drinks, a shelf-stable, milk-based sparkling dairy beverage line.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.

A cocktail list from the UK

Summertime cocktail parties are all the rage, especially in more northerly climes where warm weather is truly a seasonal thing.

But coming up with something other than the same-old same-old when it comes to non-alcoholic cocktails can get to be a bit of a strain.

The UK site 50connect, however, can help. It has come up with a nifty and innovative list of such drinks bearing some equally imaginative names -- such as the Princess Margaret, the Queen Charlie, Acapulco Gold, Boo Boo's Special and Cardinal Punch.

If you have some of your own to add, just attach them here in the comments section.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.