Boston Beer Company partners PepsiCo for alcoholic Mountain Dew

PepsiCo and Boston Beer Co. have partnered to launch 'Hard Mtn Dew', which has 5% alcohol by volume and will be available in regular Mtn Dew, black cherry and watermelon flavors.

Set to hit the shelves early next year, Hard Mtn Dew represents a smart play as it uses a trademark long associated with soda and drinkers of all ages—for an alcoholic beverage whose alcohol content is more substantial than the average light beer.

Boston Beer will develop and produce the new drink and PepsiCo will set up a new entity to sell, deliver, and merchandise the product. The companies said that they paired together because they "understand the importance of delivering new, breakthrough innovations to address the changing tastes of drinkers." The beverage will be marketed to adults of legal age and merchandized consistently with other alcohol beverages.

The drink has zero sugar but unlike regular Mtn Dew, it won’t contain caffeine.