Fizz with deceptive kick

What does a person have to do to order a drink these days without someone going on about the latest rage on the bar circuit - alcoholic sodas and lemonades? In the past six months, Hong Kong has gone crazy over 'soft' drinks - an ever-expanding variety of sodas aimed at young people who want to drink but do not like the taste of alcohol. Widely available in bars, the drinks are also sold in supermarkets and convenience stores. If an older generation views with suspicion this attempt to expand breweries' markets to the younger, predominantly female crowd, the target consumers think it is a brilliant idea. 'It gives you another option,' says twentysomething Lorna Batty. New brand, Hooper's Hooch, brewed by Bass in Britain, seems to be the flavour of the moment. At an informal tasting at Al's Diner in Lan Kwai Fong, our taste team was almost uniformly enthusiastic about its fresh lemonade flavour. 'I can drink six or so in an evening and I don't get drunk or hung over,' says Kathryn Lewis, another member of the target market. And there is the danger: the alcohol content, often as high as the average beer, is masked by sweet and lemony flavours. Hooch, for example, has a 4.7 per cent alcohol content. E33 soda has 5.5, and E33 cider has 8.4. Coolest of the sodas, Sub Zero, has 5.5 per cent and Australia's Two Dogs has 4.2. 'Hooch doesn't taste alcoholic to me at all,' declares Jane Verberne of the 1997 restaurant group. 'You can taste the fresh lemon and it's really cleansing on the palate . . . It's yummy, really yummy.' Men like Hooch, too, which is borne out by its popularity at hard-drinking places like Mad Dogs. The drink also gets the thumbs-up from people like Michael McCabe, executive chef of he-man steak house Dillinger's. 'It's got the smell of fresh lemonade,' McCabe notes. 'And it's just fizzy enough.' But, Mad Dogs bar manager Mark Strudwicke says: 'The danger is that you drink these drinks like water and the effect is wicked.' Especially if you are drinking E33 cider, which has the highest alcohol content of all. 'If you want to get wrecked, drink E33 cider,' says Mad Dogs general manager Lloyd Gallon. 'And there's a guaranteed hangover the next day.' Lewis has evidence of that. 'I've seen people get really drunk on this,' she recalls. 'At Joe Bananas, they put grenadine in it and call it Shirley Mental.' Her verdict: 'Terrible.' What did our panel say about E33 cider? Not much actually, apart from commenting on its ultra-trendy packaging and image. 'I though this one was aimed at the drug crowd,' comments FABS operations manager Jan McKenzie. 'It's like cheap, cheap Russian sparkling wine,' Verberne says. The second sip is an improvement, however, and she modifies her initial comment. 'It's not too bad if you keep drinking . . . you can taste the alcohol content in this one.' 'There's something unbalanced about the taste,' McKenzie adds. 'But you have to give it a chance.' How much of a chance McCabe will not venture. 'This has got that hangover quality about it,' he declares. On the positive side, he judges it higher on the flavour stakes than the other sodas. However, E33 soda, which competes directly with Sub Zero, is not much better. 'It has a bitterness mid-palate,' McKenzie says. 'There's a chemical taste right in the middle,' McCabe concurs. Lewis calls it horrible and Verberne describes it as flat. Suggestions include using it as a mixer - or adding a shot of vodka, which makes it even more potent. Sub Zero, McKenzie says, is used often in Australia as a mixer. 'Everyone there is into Sub Zero with vodka and a wedge of lime,' she says. 'But imagine doing that here. People would keel over.' With slick marketing and the might of Foster's behind the brand, Sub Zero's best response was given in hindsight. Although first judged too sweet, it was eventually placed top of the selection of sodas. Its image as the coolest soda of them all has been helped by the company planting 'cool' people to drink Sub Zero at Lan Kwai Fong hangouts - bars report customers asking for whatever the hip, 'walking advertisements' were having. Cool means nothing to Two Dogs, the roughest looking of the bunch. Named after a rude joke, the laugh is extended to the label, which features six paw prints and the tag line, 'Why do you ask?' 'This is not a good look,' Verberne says. 'And the smell isn't crash hot.' Neither does it taste alcoholic to her, although the flavour is enhanced with a few ice cubes. McCabe and Lewis are more upbeat about the taste. 'It's a light summer drink,' Lewis comments. 'It already has the flavour,' McCabe adds. 'It doesn't seem like you will want to mix anything into it.' Taste and presentation aside, everyone agrees alcoholic 'soft' drinks are the way to go on a junk or a picnic, when you do not want to lug along all the mixers. In the next few months, there will be more to lug. The labels are bound to be joined by others making waves in the rest of the world. A favourite in Britain is Vault Alcoholic Soda, with its whiff of ice-cream and vanilla. There is also Mrs Pucker's Alcoholic Orangeade, which smells like mango and tropical fruit and is deceptively mild despite a 5.5 per cent alcohol content. Hooper's, which makes Hooch, also has a brew that tastes of freshly grated ginger. Then there is the new range of alcoholic colas such as Alcola Alcoholic Cola which has four per cent alcohol. If nothing else, British critics say, it makes for a cheaper alternative to Bacardi and Coke. Alcoholic soda in hand, we await its arrival in Hong Kong.