Diageo, the global premium spirits maker and leader in beverage alcohol, has jumped on the bandwagon of the booming hard soda market in the U.S. Its local arm, Diageo Beer Company USA, presented two new hard sodas, which have been developed in collaboration with Philadelphia-based Quaker City Mercantile. The new brand is called Quaker City Malting (or QC Malt for short) and is owned by Diageo. Quaker City Mercantile will receive a royalty on each sale.
Philadelphia and Denver are the test markets for the first two products which are called Lemon Shrub and Old Dutch. As opposed to most other alcoholic hard sodas the products are designed on the basis of non artifical components like natural flavors and pure cane sugar. The products have a nostalgic positioning and can be served on their own, over ice or mixed with spirits.
Steven Grasse, the designer of the new products, has started Quaker City Mercantile 20 years ago as a design agency and moved quickly into developing, producing and selling of drinks and spirits. The company stands behind the success of new products like Sailor Jerry rum, Hendrick’s gin and Art in the Age spirit sand the relaunch of ‘Gansett beer.
