No rest for the WKD

The endless churn of the trends cycle has driven the return of sickly sweet alcopops to pubs and supermarket shelves. Why has booze become naff again, asks Kyle MacNeill

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Last month, an off-licence appeared overnight near my flat.

Located smack bang in Manchester’s trendy (and increasingly novelty) Northern Quarter, Cornerbop was decked out with a fruit stand and a lurid, lime-green sign that looked like a dodgy PowerPoint job. The decor – fully stocked shelves; a window plastered with signs – was equally convincing. But a DJ blasting out tech house gave the game away. This was an activation. On closer inspection, I uncovered the culprit: Bacardi Breezer. And the special occasion? The rum-based, fruit-flavoured drink is back after a 10-year hangover.

Breezer isn’t the only throwback beverage enjoying a second wind. Just days prior, I had stumbled across a new mural from Hooch, also in NQ. It was part of a £1.8m 30th birthday campaign that saw the boozy lemonade (discontinued for a spell in 2003) partner with 1,400 pubs and bars across the UK, and go on draught for the first time since its inception in 1995. Smirnoff Ice, hitting a quarter-of-a-century, has also just launched its first-ever global campaign across 20 countries, unveiling a new range of technicoloured cans. And Reef (basically, a souped-up J20) has reappeared on shelves after 20 years, with a new cardboard Tetra Pak option in its range.

Alcopops - fizzy, fruity drinks with an ABV of 3 to 7 per cent - first burst onto the scene in the mid-Nineties, with Hooch, Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Breezer and WKD going hand in hand with the rise of superclubs. By 2005, the UK market was worth an eye-watering £1bn. Not everyone was happy about it. Panic surrounding their bright and bold marketing alleged that these saccharine tipples were targeting underage drinkers. Among the several entertainingly sensationalist tabloid headlines of the time were “BOOZY COLA RAGE” and “ALCOPOP DRUG BARONS”.