What are Alcopops?

“Alcopop” is a term coined by the popular media to describe bottled alcoholic beverages that resemble sweet drinks such as soda and lemonade. It is believed that the sweetness of alcopops appeals to younger drinkers more readily than the taste of wine or beer, and may be a contributing factor in overall underage binge drinking.

• Current alcopops sold in the United States include:
• Smirnoff Ice
• Mike’s Hard Lemonade
• Bacardi Silver
• Skyy Blue
• Seagram’s Coolers
• Zima
• Jack Daniel’s Country Coolers
• Lynchburg Lemonade
• Hard Cola

These drinks first emerged onto the market in Australia in the mid-1990s and soon spread to the United Kingdom with the launch of Merrydown’s Two Dogs and Hooper’s Hooch. Soon after, alcopops reached the United States. Zima, introduced in 1994, was the first widely known and widely purchased alcopop.

Later, Mike’s Hard Lemonade was also released in the United States, with comical commercials depicting what the advertisers called “violence against lemons.” Smirnoff produced another citrus-flavored malt beverage in the late 1990s called Smirnoff Ice which was promoted with flashy commercials usually involving trendy young people dancing in unlikely situations and places.

While the amount of beer being sold worldwide has dropped, the sale of alcopops has taken off dramatically. This is thought to be because the sweetness of alcopops appeals to younger drinkers more readily than the taste of wine or beer, and is less detectable on the drinker’s breath.

“Alcopops should be made harder for underage drinkers to buy—not easier.”
-- Jim Mosher, Director, Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation