Zima (drink)
- This article is about a beverage. For a town in Russia, see Zima (town).
| Original glass-ribbed bottle design for Zima Clearmalt. | |
| Type | Malt beverage |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Coors Brewing Company |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Introduced | 1994 |
| Proof (US) | 10 per 12oz bottle |
| Variants | Black cherry, Green apple, Orange, Lemon-lime |
| Related products | Smirnoff Ice |
Zima is a lightly-carbonated alcopop beverage made by the Coors Brewing Company. It is an un-hopped beer with flavoring agents added, and has approximately the same amount of alcohol as an average American lager.
Zima directly means "winter" in Polish and in transliteration from Russian); the name is also reminiscent of "zymurgy", the science of fermentation, or brew-making. It was launched nationally in the United States as Zima Clearmalt in 1994 after being test-marketed two years earlier in the cities of Nashville, Sacramento and Syracuse. The lemon-lime drink was part of the "clear craze" of the 1990s that produced products such as Crystal Pepsi and Clear Tab. The slogan used in early advertisements for Zima was "a truly unique alcohol beverage," and that was certainly true in one sense -- Zima was literally in a category by itself -- an alcoholic beverage that wasn't beer (at least, not obviously), wasn't wine and wasn't hard alcohol.
Zima offered an alternative to the then-successful wine cooler category, and became faddishly popular. The fact that Zima was a malt-based beverage gave it an advantage over wine coolers in many American markets, since many locations in the U.S. allow beer to be sold in convenience stores and supermarkets, while wine-based beverages can only legally be sold in liquor stores – even if they have an alcohol content comparable to a bottle of beer. Coors spent $50 million marketing Zima in its first year, persuading nearly half of American alcohol drinkers to try it. Brandweek Magazine reported that at Zima's peak in 1994, 1.2 million barrels of the beverage were sold. Originally popular among young women, Coors made its first attempt at attracting young men to the brand in 1995 by marketing Zima Gold; the drink was unpopular and disappeared from store shelves within the year.
Competitors to Zima have been largely unsuccessful. Miller's Qube and Stroh's Clash are no longer made today. In 2000, Smirnoff launched Smirnoff Ice, which today outsells Zima.
Today, the beverage is marketed as Zima XXX and is available in four flavors:
- Hard Black Cherry
- Hard Lemon Lime
- Hard Orange
- Hard Green Apple
In pop culture
Zima has been the butt of many jokes due to its unusual taste and the perception that the brand intentionally targets underage consumers. Zima has appeared in five Top 10 Lists on Late Show with David Letterman, most recently "Top Ten Signs Bush Is Drinking Again" (6. Appointed Michael Brown head of Zima). It was also the focus of a Saturday Night Live skit in which a married man attempts unsuccessfully to seduce his child's babysitter with the beverage on her ride home.
Another (more subtle and hard to catch) joke occurred in the science fiction television series Babylon 5. A sign for the beverage appeared in a bar in one of the first season episodes in 1994. Contrary to fan interpretations, B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski claimed it was not a product placement, but a complicated in-joke played by Babylon 5's production crew. Straczynski said at the time, that the concept of Zima lasting through 1994 was "hysterical;" that it could last until 2258, when the episode took place, was even funnier.
The beverage also plays a role in the short story "Eating, Ohio" by Imad Rahman, in which a hard-luck Pakistani actor portrays Zima Zorro in bar promotions, getting into a fight with a Red Bull Matador.
Zima has appeared in the "A Fish Called Selma" episode of The Simpsons, which orginally aired on March 24, 1996. In one scene, Selma lights up at the Ugli, a trendy restaurant in the show, and a man voiced by Harry Shearer says "Excuse me, I ordered a Zima, not emphysema". Since the episode aired, this phrase is sometimes used out of context by non-smokers in the presence of a smoker. Zima was also mentioned in the episode "Co-Dependent's Day," which originally aired on May 12, 2004. In one scene, Homer vows to abstain from all clear liquors. When Marge asks, "Even Zima?" Homer replies, "Hell, I only drink that when I'm already drunk."
The madTV character Rusty Miller frequently offers Zima to the celebrity guests of his public access show.
During a Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live, Kevin Nealon tried some Zima and said that it "tastes like zhit".
Mike Luce and I drank a couple and then hugged.