Jaguar (beverage)

Jaguar is an alcoholic energy drink widely popular and commonly available in many post-Soviet countries.

The appearance of the drink

It is an industrially produced carbonated ready-to-drink cocktail by I.B.B. Ltd. (London) since 2002.[1] or by Happyland LLC (Moscow).

Jaguar is known as being extremely popular among young people, despite the fact that its sale to minors is prohibited,[2] and has a reputation for being often abused by gopniki delinquents.[3] The manufacturer however claims beneficial qualities to their product in their advertising,[4] emphasizing the relatively low alcohol content of the Jaguar drink when compared with hard liquors, and also the benefits of other ingredients as vitamins as well as stimulants (caffeine, taurine, etc.)

In East Slavic languages, it is usual to "translate" the name and call the beverage with "ягуар" spelling of "jaguar" word, used for the animal. It is also often referred to as "Yaga" or even "Jaga", which led to official "Yaga" edition of the drink[5] and "Jaga Fest", commemorated with limited "Jaga Fest" design of "original" flavour drink cans.[6] Other, less common, nicknames include words "yasha" (short for Yakov) or "yagel" (ягель lichen).

In Ukraine, Jaguar beverage is produced as "Jaguaro".[7]

In 2009, Jaguar was described as one of the leading brands of the Russian ready to drink beverage market, with a share of 8% of that market.[8]

In 2010, the alcohol content of Jaguar was reduced from 9% to 7% in order to meet with new regulations regarding "beer and carbonated alcoholic produce" (although the 9% version is still being produced and marketed as "Jaguar Ultra", but it isn't produced by Russian manufacturers, available only via import from IBB's factories). However, Russian site feature "Ultra Light" version, which has 7,2% alcohol content. Alcohol-free versions of Jaguar drink, which use PETE bottles instead of aluminium bottles of same volume, are reported to exist since April 2014.[9]

According to info from Jaguar-energy.ru, since 2015,[10] the design of Jaguar beverage cans bears the slogan "cила cвободы", which may be translated both as "power of freedom" and "strength of freedom".