Premix (drink) : A premix or pre-mix, owes its name to the English premixed, i.e. “ mixture in advance, it is therefore a false anglicism.
This term brings together drinks resulting from the mixture of a alcoholic drink and a soft drink. In the United States of America and other countries, premixes are sometimes considered alcopops (alco- for alcohol and -pop for soda in English), even if this last designation is broader than those of premixes.
In Germany we also talk about Biermischgetränk (“drink mixed with beer ").
In France, restrictive legislation since 1996 subjects them to specific taxation applying to drinks whose alcoholic strength exceeds 1,2% (such as mistelles). Below that, we fall into the category of variegated.
Some call them beers-soda by the term “malternative”. However, they must be distinguished from a beer flavored.
The definition, the very notion of premix is different depending on the country: are Eristoff ice, Boomerang, Smirnoff Ice, Woodoo or Kriska premixes?
Examples of premixes:
Mistelle
Premix of whiskey
Premix of vodka
Premix of rhum
Punch
Goat (drink).
Fashion phenomenon: The term premix quickly took on a pejorative or even negative connotation in France. A fashion phenomenon at the end of the 1990s, it was blamed in the media for a wave of car accidents, leaving nightclubs, where the driver's drunkenness was attributed to the abuse of premix, the taste sugar easily masks the taste ofalcohol and may facilitate abuse in some drinkers.
French regulations: French regulations on premixed drinks are mainly tax regulations. Article 29 of the law of December 27, 1996 established a tax on so-called “premix” drinks for the benefit of the National Health Insurance Fund. The establishment of this tax is based on the legislator's desire to reinforce the tax burden on products intended for a young audience and allowing access, through a prepared and pre-packaged mixture, to basic high-strength alcohols. alcoholic degree ; it is therefore a tax intended to combat alcoholism among young people.
The “premix” tax applies to drinks containing between 1,2% and 12% alcohol volume and having a rate of residual sugar greater than 35 grams per liter, often resulting from a prior mixing of drinks having a alcoholic strength not exceeding 1,2% by volume and alcoholic beverages. It is therefore:
drinks made up of a prior mixture (examples of common mixtures: Orange juice et vodka, Red wine et Orange juice, beer et lemonade, whiskey et tail, cider et Cassis, beer et rhum) ;
alcoholic bases (from fermentation, distillation or obtained by other processes), which are not consumable as is but which become so by the addition of various ingredients, such as aromas, sweeteners to food coloring.
The “premix” tax is collected at a rate of €11 per deciliter ofalcohol pure. It is due by national manufacturers, importers and persons who purchase the drinks concerned intra-community.