ALCOHOLIC "lemonades" have been taken off the shelves of several supermarket chains following complaints from parents that they encouraged under age drinking.
The drinks, which taste like fruit juice but contain more alcohol than beer, were "delisted" yesterday in almost 400 stores belonging to the Super Valu, L&N, Centra and Centra QuickStop chains. The stores will return stocks to suppliers.
Quinnsworth decided to stop selling a variety of imported alcoholic fruit drinks in its branches last month. And Superquinn has responded to customer complaints by moving the products off the shelves and selling them in the offlicence section instead.
The alcoholic lemonade, developed three years ago, sold 20 million cases in Britain last year. Imported brands such as Two Dogs, Grog and Snakebite have been joined by the first Irish made product, Woody's, which comes in lemon, orange, strawberry and pink grapefruit varieties.
The drinks are aimed at young people, mainly women, aged 20 to 36, according to the manufacturers. However, parents are worried they could encourage teenage drinking in those who might otherwise dislike the taste of traditional alcoholic drinks.
"Customers told us these products were so drinkable you wouldn't know there was alcohol in them. They also look so much like ordinary lemonade that our checkout operators mightn't spot the difference," says Mr Eamonn Quinn of Superquinn.
Super Valu and Centra removed the drinks because they were not readily identifiable as alcohol.
The National Parents' Council has called for bottles to be clearly labelled as alcoholic, and has appealed to staff in off licences not to sell to under 18s.
United Beverages, which makes Woody's in Dundalk, conformed to the code of practice drawn up in Britain when developing the product, spokesman Mr Philip Smith says.
This stipulates that alcoholic soft drinks should only be sold where alcohol is sold they must be advertised as an alcoholic drink the labelling should look like that on beer and cider bottles and should state clearly that the alcohol content.
According to Customs and Excise, retailers only need a wine licence to sell the drinks, which are classified as a liqueur made from fruit and/or sugar.
Woody's, with an alcohol content of 4.7 per cent, sells for about £2.40 a bottle in pubs and half this in supermarkets and off licences. The product will be launched nationally next month.
