La Colombe, MillerCoors Team Up for Low-Alc Cold Brew

La Colombe Coffee Roasters has teamed with MillerCoors on a new low-alcohol, cold-brew coffee line that will be tested in select U.S. cities later this month.

The Philadelphia-based coffee roaster and retailer announced on Monday the launch of La Colombe Hard Cold Brew Coffee, a 4.2% ABV beverage that will be available in a limited run of 9 oz cans in Boston, Massachusetts; Tampa, Ft. Meyers and Treasure Coast, Florida; and Denver, Colorado.

Hard Cold Brew, which is being manufactured at La Colombe’s Michigan production facility, is made with cold brew from medium-roast Columbian and Brazilian coffee beans, malt-based alcohol and cane sugar. Along with Black, the product will be available in Vanilla, which also contains natural flavors. Both SKUs contain 50 mg of caffeine each and will be sold in 4-packs and single-serve 9 oz. cans.

“We’re thrilled to team up with La Colombe on this exciting launch,” Sofia Colucci, vice president of innovation at MillerCoors, said in a press release. “They bring deep expertise in the category and their focus on quality sourcing, roasting and innovation made them the perfect partner. Millennials are constantly looking for new products to complement their active, busy lives. La Colombe Hard Cold Brew Coffee does exactly that.”

According to La Colombe, Hard Cold Brew will be available at beer and liquor stores in the aforementioned markets. It will not be sold at La Colombe cafes or on-premise at bars and restaurants. The test period will run through the end of this year, with distribution handled by the MillerCoors wholesaler network . The launch will be supported with a regional marketing campaign built around the callout of “Rally Like A Grown-Up.”

The collaboration between La Colombe and MillerCoors is the latest “hard cold brew” product to emerge in recent months, following the July launch of Pabst Blue Ribbon Hard Coffee (5% ABV) in Pennsylvania, Maine, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia.

La Colombe CEO and co-founder Todd Carmichael called the new product “something special.”

“As makers, we simply started concocting,” he said in the release. “One of us knows the alcohol industry really well and the other knows coffee really well – and it turns out together we were the perfect pair. This Hard Cold Brew Coffee is truly something beautiful.”