Alcopop

An alcopop is an alcoholic drink, also known as ready-to-drink (RTD), flavored alcoholic beverage (FAB) or flavored malt beverage (FMB). They are usually available in bottles or cans. They contain about the same amount of alcohol as a beer. Usually, they are very sweet, so that the alcohol can not be tasted.

Typical alcopops, in different bright colors.

There are two different kinds of this drinks. In Europe, they are usually spirits mixed with lemonade, like vodka with lemon juice (and a lot of sugar, so the alcohol cannot be tasted), or rum with fruit juice (also very sweet). In the US, they tend to be beers, which taste very sweet.

Because they are very sweet, alcopops tend to be more popular among young people. Since the fact that they contain alcohol is usually not obvious from the taste, these drinks are considered to be dangerous for young people by many countries. These have either raised the taxes on the drinks, or they have outlawed the sale of these drinks to people under a certain age (usually 18, sometimes 21 years).

Related pages

• Mixed drink