Soft drink giant Coca-Cola is planning to launch an alcoholic beverage in Japan this year.
The company plans to develop its own version of Chu-Hi, a Japanese alcopop.
Chu-Hi are canned beverages that feature flavoured sparkling water and distilled alcohol, shochu.
Coca-Cola is expanding its business away from traditional added sugar fizzy drinks.
Sales of fizzy drinks experiencing a drop globally as young people are focusing more on health concerns.
Coca-Cola Japan business unit president Jorge Garduño said the entry into the alcoholic market marked a new era of experimentation for the company.
Garduño said: "Coca-Cola has always focused entirely on non-alcoholic beverages, and this is a modest experiment for a specific slice of our market."
Japanese alcoholic beverage producers including Suntory, Aasahi, Kirin, and others have been are already producing Chu Hi drinks.
Coca-Cola, with its more than 130 year history, has always produced non-alcoholic drinks, with an exception to acquiring a winery back in 1977 and selling it to Seagrams in 1983.
The company has been experimenting in the Japanese market for quite some time. Coca-Cola Japan launches an average of 100 new products every year. Last year, it introduced Coca Cola Plus, a drink that contains fiber.
In the fourth quarter of 2017 alone, the company carried out several new, key initiatives and programs, from launching new bottle designs to testing new products and flavors.
Coca-Cola said that it would probably sell the alcoholic drink only in Japan, because of the unique and special qualities of the market.
Garduño has been with Coca-Cola since 1992, working in various areas of the world. He has been in charge of the Japanese business since July 2017, working in partnership with the local bottling system.
