A selection of alcopops are displayed in an off licence in London March 7, 2008.
The creator of the world’s first alcopop beverage, Duncan MacGillivray, has died of a heart attack during a holiday with his family in Bali, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. MacGillivray was 66.
MacGillivray created the world’s first alcopop drink, Two Dogs Lemonade, in 1993. Two Dogs kickstarted a new category of sugary alcoholic brews — known in the beverage business as RTDs (ready to drink) — that took the world by storm and were blamed by critics for a rise in drinking among 11 to 15-year-olds.
According to an interview with the Independent last year, the creation of the famed concoction happened by chance after MacGillivray’s neighbor, the owner of a lemon orchard, complained of being unable to sell all of his fruit. MacGillivray suggested brewing the leftover lemons, and the rest is drinking history.
[ABC]