Soda giant Coca-Cola Co. is poised to enter the alcohol market in the U.S. with a new hard seltzer under its Topo Chico brand, which to this point has only been available as a non-alcoholic sparkling water.
Topo Chico Hard Seltzer will debut in some Latin American cities this year and hit the U.S. in 2021, the company confirmed to Ad Age. Trade publication Beverage-Digest first reported the news.
While Coke has experimented with alcohol beverages in overseas markets in recent years—including in Japan—it has not been involved in the sector in the U.S. in more than three decades. It once owned a wine business, but that was sold in the early 1980s.
But the fast-growing hard seltzer category has proved too alluring to resist. And Topo Chico has a natural entry point: The brand, which Coke acquired in 2017, owes its rising popularity in part to its use as a mixer, including for drinks like “Tito’s and Topo,” which blends the sparkling water with Tito’s Vodka.
The brand won’t be made with the same mineral water used by the core Topo Chico brand, which sources its water from Monterrey, Mexico, according to Beverage-Digest. Instead the hard seltzer will be made locally. Can images supplied by Coke show the product touted as having a “tangy lemon lime” flavor.