Coca-Cola Japan captured the attention of people around the world when it announced its first ever alcoholic drink. That lemon-flavored beverage, called Lemondo, arrived last week. One hitch though — it's only available in Kyushu.
Thankfully, Konbini Watch found a way to get one of each variety of the alcopop — regular, honey lemon and salty lemon — up to Tokyo. Each can (¥150 in convenience stores or ¥1,500 plus shipping if you go through Mercari) offers 350 milliliters of drink, with each flavor carrying a different alcohol content.
Turns out having three cans of Lemondo shipped across the country is worth it. Generally, the drink tastes closer to the decent lemon sours you can get in restaurants than the other varieties of lemon-flavored chūhai that currently sit on store shelves.
In the case of the regular flavor, it resembles the taste of the Chicago-based Mike's Hard Lemonade. The honey adds some pleasant sweetness, but the best is the salty lemon. Besides containing 7 percent alcohol by volume, it nails the balance between sour and salty, and tastes great on a hot day. Here's hoping it travels eastward soon, while temperatures remain high.