Blithe Spirits for the Sober Set

Thirsty for the latest, coolest thing? Something fruity and fizzy, with only a playful amount of kick? The alcoholic-beverage industry has plenty of new suggestions: a picnic cooler full of concoctions freshly invented for the moderate but merry '80s. Here is an upscale-looking bottle of Seagram's Golden Spirits in a flavor called "mandarin vodka"; it tastes like a spritzy cocktail but contains little more alcohol than a beer. How about a Wineberry Sausalito Sling, with a flavor suggestive of ginger ale and bubble gum, or a Calvin Cooler in citrus flavor, with real fruit pulp floating in it?

When it comes to alcoholic beverages, U.S. consumers have developed a taste for sweetness and light, and the liquor, wine and beer industries (total 1985 sales: more than $50 billion) are scrambling to satisfy them. The result: a head-spinning array of exotic mixtures, handy packaging and zingy promotion that is challenging many old loyalties. "We are embarking on a flavor explosion in the alcoholic-beverage industry," says Paul Connors, co-founder of a Massachusetts-based beverage-marketing firm called Locon.

The innovations are designed to reverse a sales slump caused by the continuing U.S. trend toward sobriety. The combination of health consciousness, concern about drunk driving and the young-professional work ethic has given the alcoholic-beverage industries their toughest test since Prohibition. Total consumption of beer, wine and liquor, which climbed an average 3.3% a year during 1975-80, rose only .4% last year, according to Impact, a trade publication.

At first many beverage companies were paralyzed by the problem, having successfully produced the same old-favorite brands year after year. Now suddenly the liquor, beer and wine companies seem to have hit on the right formula for keeping their customers in a drinking mood. They have decided to win over the members of the baby-boom generation, who were raised on soda pop and feel no compulsion to acquire a taste for Scotch, with an outpouring of wine and liquor coolers, fruity cordials, sparkling wines and cocktails-in-a- can.

Michael Crete and R. Stuart Bewley, two entrepreneurs in Lodi, Calif., helped get the wave rolling when they invented California Cooler in 1981, taking their recipe from traditional beach-party punches made of white wine, fruit juice and soda. By the time they sold their business last September to Louisville's Brown-Forman distillers for $146 million, more than 75 imitators had appeared on the scene. This year an estimated 70 million cases of wine coolers will be sold, up some 72% from 1985, making a total market of more than $1.2 billion.

Why such a cooler splash? Young people appreciate the familiarity of the flavors, ranging from raspberry to chocolate, in contrast to the arcane varieties of table wine. Another attraction is the 5% alcohol content, about half the potency of regular wine. "We're showing people they can still have a good time partying and not get blown away," says Chuck Blank, marketing manager for California Cooler. Yet another selling point is perceived . healthfulness, even though most coolers have as many calories as a similar- size can of regular soda. The beverage appeals particularly to women, who buy about 70% of all coolers sold, yet it has managed to escape the stigma of wimpiness.