bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Janine Stein

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.



Fizz with deceptive kick