The New York Times

Striking Back at Soft Drinks, Bacardi Plans Low-Cal Rum
By MELANIE WARNER

Published: January 26, 2005

For the past decade, the liquor industry has stood by quietly as sales of both light beer and diet soda have gone through the roof. Now one liquor company wants a piece of the lucrative market for low-calorie beverages.

In April, Bacardi Global Brands plans to introduce a flavored rum called Island Breeze that is promoted as having half the calories of regular rum or vodka. Unlike other flavored liquors, Island Breeze has no added sugar and is sweetened with sucralose, the popular artificial sweetener that is popping up in everything from peanut butter to orange juice.

A standard 1.5-ounce shot of Island Breeze has 48 calories, half the calories of a shot of normal rum and 70 percent fewer than some flavored drinks like Absolut Vanilla and Smirnoff Cranberry Twist. Island Breeze will also be 18 percent alcohol, instead of the normal 40 percent.

By comparison, light beer has one-third fewer calories than regular beer, 100 versus 150.

"We want Island Breeze to do to the spirit industry what the first light beer and diet soda did to those industries," said Alfredo Piedra, Bacardi's chairman for global new product development.

Driven by consumer concerns over calorie control and weight loss, sales of light beer are now almost equal to those of regular beer. According to the research firm Beer Marketer's Insights, light beer's share of the market rose to 47 percent in 2003, from 11 percent in 1979.

John Sicher, publisher of the industry publication Beverage Digest, estimates that by 2015, sales of sugar-free soda will surpass those of regular soda. Diet sodas' share of the market rose to 28.7 percent last year, from 24.4 percent in 1999.

Executives at Bacardi took note of these trends and last year decided to test the concept of a "lite spirit" with consumers. "We thought, why couldn't this work in the spirits industry?" said Paul de la Torre, marketing manager for new product development at Bacardi.

When they took the idea to focus groups in New York and Miami, all 36 participants, who were already rum and vodka drinkers, said they would be eager to try a low-calorie flavored rum. "We'd never seen that kind of response before," Mr. Piedra said.

Scott Ortega, a vice president at Allied Domecq's spirit and wine business, which sells Stolichnaya vodka, Sauza tequila, Malibu rum and Kahlua, said his company would not introduce a product specifically aimed at calorie-counters, but at the same time he said it would not rule out using sucralose in a flavored alcohol.

Despite the popularity of sucralose, not everyone is convinced that artificially sweetened drinks are the answer to the nation's weight problem. Last summer, in a study published in the International Journal of Obesity, two Purdue University psychology professors, Terry Davidson and Susan Swithers, found that artificial sweeteners may actually cause people to eat more. "They disrupt your body's natural ability to 'count' calories based on foods' sweetness," Professor Swithers said. "People can be fooled into thinking a product sweetened with sugar has no calories, and therefore they overeat."

Bacardi said it was not trying to promote Island Breeze as a weight-loss product. "It's simply a way for people to have a good time and save a few calories," Mr. de la Torre said.