What is Rio drink? The Rio Drink is a Chinese know off type brand of the alcopop family. Born to take on the might of Bacardi Breezer and the like it is now a mainstay of the Chinese “girly drink” scene. Here is the Rio Story.
You have to give the Chinese their credit, foreigners have an idea, the Chinese then fiddle about with and then make their own version. With Oppo and WeChat this has been a real success, Dicos, hmm less so, but they all do well.
Rio sites a bit in the middle of this.
To read about Dicos click here .
History of Rio Drink?
Formed in 2003 by Shanghai Bacchus Limited Company which is an arm of the Australian-based Bacchus Distillery. They had been inspired by things such as the chuhai cocktails in Japan. Rio was thus born as alcopop that would be tailored to the tastes of Asians more than say Bacardi Breezer, which was already a powerhouse in China.
It was also to differ from Spy Wine Coolers, which you can read about here .
How big is it?
OK, so for some context Snow Beer is the best selling in the world, that does not make it good. Rio and Breezers take 2/3 of the local Chinese alcopop market and in 2015 earned about $60 million dollars, these are not small town Charlie’s!
To read about Snow Beer click here
Which countries can you buy Rio?
Whilst predominantly a Chinese thing, soft power means it is now available in other countries, such as Cambodia. Ironically it is more expensive here. I therefore keep my loyalty to Spy.
Heaven forbid, but there was copyright infringement????
ironically you see Chinese brands getting spoofed by other Chinese brands more than you even see western rip-offs. Another Chinese company was selling “Bio” in exactly the same bottles. Essentially a direct clone. A lawsuit was brought and they got fined, but amusingly you can still buy it.
How does Bio taste? Awful. How does Rio taste? Pretty damned good.
Bottle, or can?
Originally it was all about the bottles of Rio, but now they have hardly and cheap canned varieties hurrah!
What are the different flavors of RIO?
They have all weird sugar free and health versions that much like Tanguay Ice I avoid.
Oh red about Tanduay Ice here .
General flavors are blue, pink, orange, and green. Technically they also have a flavor rather than just a color, but everyone knows them by colour.
Who drinks Rio?
Hmmm, Chinese girls and me.
To read about the love Chinese girls have for Rio click here
Thankfully I have no shame. Long live Rio Drink China. Not to be confused with the soft drink, or the Brazilian city.
Rio Drink China – Update!
As one one our more popular posts I have deice it was time to give the Rio Drink article a little update. A few months ago I noticed in Cambodia – where Rio is a popular drink alongside Spy that the bottles had had a little imagee upgrade.
As you will see there’s a new much more colourful and dare I say fun logo to the drink. Photo taken in that quintessential Chinese town that is Sihanoukville. Enough said.
