Air - new beverage billed as "water with alcohol"

 

Air has launched in various cities around the US West Coast

Many people enjoy having a few drinks after work or on the weekend. Only a subset of them actually enjoy the taste of whatever cocktail or malt beverage they're sipping on. Others would prefer to get the buzz and inhibition release without actually choking down liquor or beer. Whether it's that earthy pine-tree-in-a-bottle flavor of gin or the harsh burn of cheap whiskey, alcohol can be downright painful. Air, "the first water with alcohol," provides an alternative with a light flavor profile purported to be closer to club soda than beer or spirits.

Air advertises itself as "Water + Air. Carbonated." The taste is supposedly as simple as the tagline; the malt beverage combines water, alcohol and natural fruit flavors for a taste that's barely there. It claims to use all natural ingredients. While we haven't given it the proverbial swig, the description has us thinking of lightly fruit-flavored club soda spiked with alcohol.
Air, which is a product of US-based Alco-Water Beverage Co, comes in Berry, Citrus and Club flavors. It's packaged in 12-ounce (355-ml) cans, each of which contains 95 calories (or 143 calories for the Club flavor). Its four percent alcohol content is comparable to a lighter beer.

Air distribution is currently limited to a handful of states on the West Coast of the US. A recent tweet indicates the company also plans to come to the eastern states. It's sold in such stores as Whole Foods and Albertsons. The minds behind the young drink have been hosting launch parties in major cities like LA, Las Vegas and Portland throughout the summer.
So is Air really the Holy Grail for drinkers (i.e. all the fun of alcohol without any of the strong, acquired taste)? We're guessing it's more like the latest Zima or Smirnoff Ice - a fruity malt beverage that only the ladies can get away with drinking - but we'll have to taste it to know for sure ... maybe once they get around to filling liquor store coolers in our neck of the woods.
If you don't even want to be bothered with drinking, you might want to try out WAHH Quantum Sensations - they're like alcoholized breath spritzers, said to bring on "a brief moment of light-headedness and distraction."
In any case, you gotta' love the JetLev in the Air promotional video ...
Source: Drink Air via PSFK