Chelsea was a low-alcohol (0.5%) carbonated drink created by

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

in the late 1970s. It was

test-market A test market, in the field of business and marketing, is a geographic region or demographic group used to gauge the viability of a product or service in the mass market prior to a wide scale roll-out. The criteria used to judge the acceptability ...

ed in several American cities, including Richmond, Virginia and Springfield, Massachusetts, as the "not so soft drink." In addition to its alcohol content, Chelsea was also somewhat unusual for its time in that it featured 100% natural flavors. It also had 1/3 less sugar than found in most soft drinks. Another unusual aspect of the product was that it was

pasteurized Pasteurization American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mi ...

, which allowed it to be promoted as containing no artificial preservatives. Chelsea ran afoul of anti-alcohol advocates for supposedly whetting teen appetites for

alcoholic drink An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The c ...

s. The drink, available in 10 oz., 32 oz. glass bottles and 12 oz. aluminum cans, was legal for all ages and tasted like ginger ale with a slightly beerish aftertaste (ingredients included lemon and lime juice, apple flavor, and ginger).

Addressing the alcohol issue

A small brochure explaining Chelsea was included with the 4-pack of 10 oz. bottles. On one page of the brochure the alcohol issue was addressed this way: "The not so soft drink is not so ordinary... "The fact is most soft drinks contain a very small amount of alcohol. New Chelsea contains a bit more alcohol than ordinary soft drinks. That's because alcohol is an inherent component of the natural flavors used. But the result is a light blended soft drink, not an alcoholic drink. "Chelsea fits the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

(FDA) Standard of Identity for a soft drink. Furthermore, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has reviewed Chelsea and determined it to be not under its jurisdiction. "Finally, studies by a leading independent research consulting company indicate: ' A 150 lb. man would have to consume more than 34 ten ounce bottles (2.6 gallons) in one hour to reach a

blood alcohol level Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes; it is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume or mass of blood. For example ...

considered to be legally under the influence.' (80–100 mg/100 ml in most states) '...about a gallon of Chelsea (twelve 10 ounce bottles per hour) would have to be ingested by a normal 70 lb. child to produce overt behavioral effects. This volume exceeds the capacity of the stomach. ' With the alcohol in Chelsea at .0.5%, no physiological effect can be expected with typical consumption.

Reformulation as "The Natural Alternative"

In response to the withering criticism for its alcohol content, Chelsea was reformulated to take out the extra alcohol, and re-marketed as "the natural alternative". The bottle's color was changed from clear (which helped display the product's golden color) to green, and the label on both the bottle and the can de-emphasized the Anheuser-Busch name. Chelsea never went beyond the test markets, although remnants can occasionally be found for sale on eBay. The Soft Drink Division of Anheuser-Busch later tried its luck with a second soft drink, Root 66, a caffeinated (and non-alcoholic) root beer. It too never got beyond the test market stage.

References

*Becca Knaack
In the late 1970s and early 1980s Anheuser-Busch made two test runs at marketing soft drink products
''G&M Distributors'' August 6, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chelsea (drink) Anheuser-Busch Alcoholic drink brands