End of Zima

MillerCoors LLC announced that it will discontinue the clear malt beverage Zima, introduced by Coors Brewing Co. in 1992, because of "challenging alternative segment sales and declining consumer interest."

Production of Zima ceased on 10 October already. Remaining orders will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis using available inventory. The last orders are expected to be filled in December.

So MillerCoors killed Zima. End of story. Or is it? Err, no. Because MillerCoors is only replacing one controversial beverage with another. MillerCoors, the recently merged operations of Miller and Coors, has asked distributors to replace Zima on store shelves with Sparks and Sparks Plus four-packs and Sparks Light.

Sparks is a caffeinated alcoholic beverage acquired by Miller Brewing in 2006. This concoction of caffeine and alcohol has been getting a lot of bad press in recent months and has led Anheuser-Busch to drop the sale of its caffeinated alcoholic drinks in June this year in an effort to settle complaints that it was misrepresenting the beverages and marketing them to minors.