MILAN — Pepsi is launching a new nitrogen-infused soft drink called Nitro Pepsi, the company announced Thursday. According to Pepsi’s press release, Nitro Pepsi is “the first-ever nitrogen infused soft drink.” The infusion technique is popular in the beer and coffee worlds, however, this will be the first cola company to try it out.
The beverage maker is the latest company to get in on the growing nitro trend, which has become increasingly popular in recent years in the cold brew coffee, tea, and craft beer categories. The products work as both off the shelf packaged drinks for retail and on draft at foodservice operators and bars.
Nitro Pepsi will be available in Classic Soda and Vanilla flavours and promises a ‘velvety, cascading foam’. Unlike the crisp bubbles traditionally associated with a soda, the nitrogen infusion gives the Pepsi a smoother, creamy complexion, more like an ice cream float. Like a pint of Guinness, the bubbles cascade down the glass as a thick head forms on top.
“Cola has been the same for 125 years as a category and, yeah, there’s been changes in flavor and packaging, things of that sort, but the idea of carbonation has never really come off of it because it’s so identifiable with soda,” Todd Kaplan, Pepsi’s VP of Marketing, told Food & Wine. “As we started getting into this process with putting nitrogen in, Nitro Pepsi came about…It’s undeniably Pepsi, but it’s not soda.”
