TIL That Zima still exists... and I am really old.

in #til7 years ago

Ok time to embarrass myself... more than usual.

Some of us old-timers may smile (or cringe) when we hear the word "Zima". For the majority of the rest of you, I'm going to assume you have no clue what Zima even is.



Zima is (not was) a lightly carbonated, clear, citrus-flavored malt beverage created in 1993. Yum!!!!! or is it Ick!!!!? It was developed by Coors in order to compete with wine coolers, which had become popular in the 1980s. Thanks to a very successful and expensive ($50million) advertising campaign, nearly half of all alcohol drinkers had tried Zima by 1994. It sold over 1 million barrels in its peak year of 1994. Please check out wikipedia for more of the facts.

It's tough to explain taste via writing but I'll try. Imagine a Sprite. Now imagine it's the worst can of Sprite you have ever had. I guess that isn't so hard after all.

Fair enough. Coors tried to compete with wine coolers in the 90s. Where is the embarrassment?

Zima was specifically marketed toward young women*... and apparently dorks like me and my friends.



Apparently it was specifically aimed at young women with big hair...
and my dorky friends and me.

The beverage was clear. It was served in all of the clubs I frequented four nights per week. You know what looks really "cool" in a clear liquid in a club?

Glowsticks!!!!!



Yep. I drank an alcohol designed for women out of a glass with a glow stick in it.

Now that fact is recorded on the block chain forever. (Maybe this post wasn't such a good idea...)

Oh but wait, I can make it even worse. Zima's ad campaign (aimed at young women) used witty phrases like, "Zima is Zomething different". So how did my friends and I make this worse? We would refer to getting drunk at the clubs as entering "The Zima Zone". I told you it was worse.

Luckily this phase only lasted less than a year (and was well before I met my wife). My buddies and I have sworn an oath never to mention it to each other... but nobody ever said anything about posting it on the internet.

I honestly have no idea why I thought of Zima today. Perhaps I was feeling too good about myself and wanted to bring myself back to earth. Perhaps I saw something that reminded me of it when I was looking for retro cartoons. Perhaps I had a craving for it. No! Definitely not the last one.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I googled Zima. I thought it had died in the mid 90's. I was clearly wrong. Most people thought it died in 2008. They too were wrong. Because....

Today I Learned you can still buy Zima in Japan!!!!



Yes this was a real campaign. Click here for more info.

If you don't believe me, here is their website: https://zima.jp/index.html

So it's off to Japan to enter the Zima Zone!

Children, fetch me my glow sticks!

No.

Not those.

My special occasion glow sticks.

What is the most ridiculous thing you drank before the decision making part of your brain fully developed?

*Although the initial demographic was intended to be women, the company quickly saw that there was a market for alternatives to beer and include men. You do not need to be embarrassed if you love the stuff.

Image Links 1, 2, 3, 4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zima_(drink)

Sort:  

Ugh...I hope to never see Zima again. Still recall the hangover

Oh yes, I'm old enough to remember Zima, lol.
Funny you posted this, while I was out of the country with my business partner a couple of weeks ago he decided to try and bring back the Tom Collins drink from years ago. I'd say by the time our trip was over he had taught six bartenders how to make it and had bought a couple of dozen people their first round to sell it.
I'll share with him your Zima post tomorrow, he'll get a kick out of it.

I hope he does. Sounds like a fun guy.

Does the package count? Years ago my friends and I drank Miller beer, because the bottle was clear. I'm sure there is a planet somewhere that uses glass container-color as the standard for judging great beer.

Is that Miller High Life... the Champagne of beers?

That's right... I hadn't thought of the rest of that name since I quit picking my beers by bottle clarity. Champagne...guess I was hoity before I even knew what it was.

"I drank an alcohol designed for women out of a glass with a glow stick in it." ROFL LOL

I was really dumb before I turned 26... now I'm just kind of dumb.

I am still dumb. I am just 24 heheheh

Zima means winter in Bulgarian 😀

I believe they picked that name because it meant "winter"... they were going for a whole cool vibe. I think they missed.

You can't go wrong with any alcohol if you ask me. All good days should start with a shot, to help with decision making ... :)

I think I have found you you at the bottom of a bottle or two...

Now now... there's nothing wrong with a bit of fun... in fact there's nothing wrong with a lot of fun. May the GOOD times NEVER end. Cheers.

Can't recall anything particularly odd. But I never tried Zima either.

You aren't missing a thing lol

I'm in the 'cringe' category of old timers. Do they still have Everclear and Natural Lite? That would complete the holy trinity of drinks we loved to make fun of when I was younger. Laugh at wine coolers while downing 40s of Mickeys.

Wow! 40s of Mickeys. I was a fan of the "Mickey's Big Mouths" which were in those bottles that kind of looked like grenades. I'm banned for life from a college in Wisconsin because of Everclear... hope my kids don't end up going there. Worst thing I ever drank though was "Cool Colts" they were Colt 45 Malt liquor... but with a minty taste. It was like brushing your teeth then slamming a 40. Brilliant idea!

Jungle Juice? (Everclear and fruit)

This post has been ranked within the top 50 most undervalued posts in the second half of Nov 26. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $7.66 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.

See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Nov 26 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.

If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.36
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70744.80
ETH 3561.94
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.80