−196 °C Strong Zero (commonly referred to as Strong Zero or −196) is a brand of

chūhai , an abbreviation of "shōchū highball" (焼酎ハイボール), is an alcoholic drink originating from Japan. Traditional chūhai is made with barley shōchū and carbonated water flavored with lemon, but some modern commercial variants u ...

produced by

Suntory Global Spirits Suntory Global Spirits Inc., formerly known as Beam Suntory, Inc., is an American beverage company that is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings, a Japanese multinational beverage conglomerate. The company produces alcoholic beverages. It is the th ...

. It is currently sold in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, the

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. As with other types of chūhai, it is available in a variety of different flavors, and is often sold at

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

s and through

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise m ...

s. The "strong" portion of the name comes from the fact that the drinks have relatively high alcohol content (9%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

in Japan). The "zero" refers to what the manufacturer calls "sugar-free". According to nutrition labelling standards in Japan, a beverage product can be labelled as sugar-free as long as it does not exceed 0.5 g of sugar per 100 mL. Strong Zero is made by freezing fruit in

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...

. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of , and hence the "−196 °C" in the name. The frozen whole fruit is then pulverized and soaked in beverage alcohol. The final beverage contains the fruit juice,

vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

and soda. The UK and Australian versions are marketed as containing Shochu in addition while this notation is lacking from the US release and is not mentioned in the version for the Japanese domestic market. The process produces a relatively low calorie and low sugar drink. As with many food and drink products available in Japan, new flavors are often released to coincide with the seasonality of different ingredients.

Australia

The brand was launched in Australia in June 2021 under the name "−196", initially with a "Double Lemon" flavour packaged in 330 mL cans. The Double Lemon product has 6% ABV (1.6 Australian Standard Drinks), 0.3 g sugar, and 122 calories per serving. The launch of −196 Double Lemon in Australia in 2021 was the largest launch in the Australian ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverage market in the preceding five years, and the product initially went out of stock upon its introduction. The initial launch was supported by two ads featuring Japanese characters of a sumo wrestler and a samurai warrior that play with a lemon to create the lemon juice for the premix. The ad campaign was awarded with three Australian Effie Awards in 2022. Following the success of the Double Lemon flavour, Beam Suntory launched a "Double Grape" flavour in Australia in October 2022. The Double Grape flavour comes in the same size cans and has the same ABV, and has 122 calories and has 0.0 g of sugar per serve.

United States

The brand launched "-196", pronounced "Minus One Nine Six", as a spin off in the United States in September 2024. While not the full strength of Strong Zero (6% versus the original's 9%), there are a variety of initial flavors offered: "Lemon", "Peach", and "Grapefruit", later expanding to include "Strawberry".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:-196°C Strong Zero Suntory brands Japanese alcoholic drinks Japanese drink brands Premixed alcoholic drinks Citrus drinks