Why in god's name is he creating a writeup on, of all things,
Zima!?
Let me first say that I have never tasted (that I recall) Zima, I just find it interesting as a
cultural artifact. So read on, and later you can pelt me with rocks and sticks if you don't like it.
Amid a fad for "clear" products - everything from clear
motor oil to
Crystal Pepsi - in the early 1990s,
Coors introduced a "clear maltbeverage" in September
1992, though most of the country was spared until it was distributed nationally in
1994. This clear
beer was called Zima, and it essentially was beer, until the color (and flavor) was removed by
charcoal filtering to produce…well, god knows what it is.
Zima was aggressively promoted towards the young, hip, male, free-spending 21-34
demographic through promo CDs and web sites, as well as traditional media. But that demographic is a fickle one, and Zima was largely dismissed as a drink for losers and became the butt of literally millions of jokes. (Example: On
Friends, when Joey learns that Ross has invited some fellow scientists from the museum to his
bachelor party, he adds a six pack of Zima to his party shopping list. That's just the
tip of the iceberg.) Zima was primarily popular among
females 21-34, which was not the hard-drinking, free-spending manly demographic that Coors was shooting for, and only added to the negative image of Zima as the effeminate drink of choice.
In
1995, Coors spent $14 million promoting a new product,
Zima Gold, to appeal to that elusive demographic. Ads touted the higher alcohol content (5.4%), but Zima Gold wasn't even worthy of jokes, much less purchasing.
NUTRITION INFORMATION
Alcohol% by volume: 4.8
Calories k-cal/12 oz: 185
Carbohydrates g/12 oz: 21.4
Protein g/12 oz: 0.0
Calcium amg/12 oz: 30
Sodium mg/12 oz: 22
Potassium mg/12 oz: 58
Niacin mg/100 g: < 0.25
Vitamin B1 mg/100g: < 0.01
Vitamin B2 mg/100g: < 0.01
Shelf life: 97 days/14 weeks
Editors Note:
In 2008, MillerCoors LLC announced that it had discontinued production of Zima in the U.S.
source: background - altculture.com; nutritional data - coors.com