Spirits By Design

Technical inside information on development of non alcoholic mixers.

sbddataadmin — Wed, 24 May 2023 14:29:13 +0000

Whether you are a producer or a consumer, you have noticed that the range of low and non alcoholic spirits has been growing rapidly in the past year.

With Seedlip being the first company in this new segment to launch in 2015 a lot of companies followed in the next 4 years. In Belgium we encountered a fall back during the Covid19 period. I’m not 100% sure, but I think the consumers did fall back on enjoying an alcoholic drink again during the numerous lockdowns. If you don’t have to drive, you can have a drink?

Since the beginning of 2022 we saw the sales numbers going up again. Besides the new style NA drinks, a lot of traditional non alcoholic spirits alternatives came to market. In my opinion the potential is in this range. Consumers are not bartenders and the use of the mixer needs to be clear and easy. For that reason also some mocktail brands have a lot of success: pour it and drink it.

On the technical side there are quite some difficulties. When I started developing NA mixers back in 2017, I could fall back on a long experience and expertise in producing high quality, balanced spirits. I’m an educated Sommelier Conseil (University of Wine Suze-la-Rousse) and my passion has always been finding the perfect mix of ingredients and adapting the production methods with the final product in mind.
But then… I wanted to take the alcohol out. I tried a lot of dealcoholizing methods: (vacuum) distillation, RO filtering, … None of the results could please my high standards or I wasn’t able to take all the alcohol out. This brings me to a question mark I have about the Belgian laws for alcohol free drinks. In Belgium it’s ok to state a drink is alcohol free if it contains less than 0.5% ABV. I’m not going to dig deeper into this, because if I would let my frustrations about how Belgium works take the upper hand, this would be a book instead of an article.

Back to the production of NA mixers. After months of testing I succeeded in getting the flavor right. I didn’t make it easy on myself because of what I told at the beginning: it needs to be easy to use/mix. Consumers already know for example how to mix a gin and tonic at a ratio of 1/3 or 1/4, so why try to change the habits with a less intense mixer that they all of a sudden have to use in a 1/2 ratio.
Alcohol is volatile and it kind of pushes the aromas in your nose and the warmth of the mouth lift the ingredients when you drink it. Water as a base doesn’t have these characteristics.
Some technical info to explain the difficulty to have an intense but transparent water based product. Taste and aroma is all about etheric oils and the buffer capacity of the base liquid determines how much etheric oil can be dissolved. I won’t get into detail this time about the way water and etheric oils binds with each other, but remind that the amount of oil you need in a water based mixer is a lot higher than in alcoholic spirits.

I developed a production method to keep the intensity, but also the transparency. I’m not fooling myself it took blood, sweat and tears, but it definitely caused headaches and was very time consuming.

Do you want to know more about producing your own nonalcoholic spirits and maybe decide to have a production partner (blog: Reasons to work with a production partner)?

Drop me a line, make a videocall appointment or visit our distillery.

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Reasons to work with a production partner

sbddataadmin — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 17:03:17 +0000

You can’t be good at everything

I started my career as a contract distiller 5 years ago and I meet a lot of people, each one unique, approaching us with different ideas but the reason why they contact Spirits by Design is always the same: “We are good at some thing(s), but we need someone who is experienced to develop and produce my beverage”. Some clients are good in marketing or brand building, some can design a one-of-a-kind bottle, some come up with an innovative idea, some of them already have the recipe, some are born sales(wo)men, …
None of them ever claimed to be good at everything and that’s the perfect way to get somewhere in any business. If you are convinced that you can manage every layer of your (future) business, you are so wrong.
Unless you are some kind of a superhuman, you can’t be good at everything.

Earn more money by not producing yourself

I encourage you to do what you are good at and get better at it. You don’t need a producer if this is your expertise, but in any other case you do!
One of the biggest misunderstandings is thinking you save money by doing it yourself. On the long term this might be the case, once you sell big volumes and are able to hire a sales manager, but until then you should focus on sales in my honest opinion. The only way to build a brand and crank up your sales is to be active in the field.

Invest in sales and brand building

The investment in distilling equipment is high and goes further than just a still. You have to invest in: tanks, bottling line, lab equipment, storage, high voltage power supply, steam generator, shrink tunnel, … And of course you can keep everything affordable and use DIY solutions but it will never be as profitable as the installation at a specialised company.
The money you don’t spend on a production facility is the budget you can spend on social media, POS material, promotional events, sales promotions, samples, things that matter to boost your sales. No sales, no profit!

Dare to make the decision

The more you sell, the more time you need to spend in production. Time you don’t have in fact because you should be selling now. But hey, you are passionate, determined and willing to work long hours to obtain your target. Perfect! Keep that spirit, but keep it within your limits. Otherwise this is a story without a happy end. You will wake up tired and lose focus.
I encountered myself that you can’t do finances, production, marketing, sales, … all by yourself. Been
there, done (or at least tried to ) that. I used to work 70-80 hours a week to try to manage more than I could. And then I made a 180° turn. I decided to focus on production with Tailor Taste Distillery, sales with Albatross Liquors and export & consultancy with Spirits by Design.

Focus! You can’t be good at everything.
It feels so good to do what you’re good at!

Are you producing yourself AND in charge of sales/marketing? Do the math and be honest: every minute you spend in production is one minute you can’t hit the road and sell!

Still not convinced?

A shortlist of reasons why Spirits by Design will help you focus and grow:

You can’t be good at everything.
You think you save money, but in fact you’re losing sales and growth.
First invest in the most important and most profitable: SALES.
Ready to make the decision? Feel free to contact us!
info@spiritsbydesign.com – 0032 56 960 322

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The importance of TASTE

sbddataadmin — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 15:21:24 +0000

Craft beverages are popular, extremely popular. Consumers are in for new stuff.
In our opinion this has something to do with the gin-hype and the wide range of styles and ingredients used in the past few years. People learned there is more to discover than the traditional brands.

New business models made it possible to expand with contract distilling.
Spirits by Design was the first Belgian company to offer this type of services. In the meantime some existing and new distilleries jumped on the train.
At Spirits by Design, we are confident we have everything, and more, in house to grow in the market of tailor-made beverages: passion, dedication, equipment, and the most important part: TASTE!

As far as we know our CEO Tim Veys is the only sommelier-distiller. For three years our master-distiller Tim trained his taste-buds at the Université of Wine (Suze-la-Rousse).
One of the most influencial teachers he met in the finals week at the university was sommelier, journalist and writer Mr. Olivier Bompas. That’s where Tim discovered taste is more than what your taste buds tell your brain.
Taste is a full experience: it is texture, aroma, mood, … and yes, the taste of something can remind you of someone or sometime.
Once you understand the importance of TASTE, your still is a tool to translate what you have in mind.

Experience and knowledge is the part that helps to translate what your clients have in mind.

It doesn’t matter if you are tied to the traditional copper still or you are confident a modern still is your perfect companion… if you don’t master TASTE, you will never be able to satisfy your clients to the full.

Any questions? Please feel free to contact us!

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Compound Gin = Distilled Gin? NO!

sbddataadmin — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 14:31:34 +0000

Gin is flooding the market in a lot of countries and as a distiller specialised in the development and production of tailormade beverages, I can only be happy about this.
But there is the other side of the medal…

Compound?

The big amount of releases is practically impossible to track and if something is out of control, as a result cowboys are popping up.
I’m not aware about the existence of a similar problem in other countries, but in Belgium, the number of gins on the shelves naming themselves ‘distilled’*, being ‘compound’** actually, is pretty big and growing month after month. Compound is not mentioned in the European Union Law and therefore only used as a commercial term. It is used for spirits containing natural botanicals by maceration only or industrial (chemical) aromas and especially that last category is enlarging.
Even though there isn’t a specific category for this type of gins, they can never be named ‘distilled’ (EU Lex No 110/2008: (c) Gin obtained simply by adding essences or flavourings to ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin is not distilled gin).

Nothing wrong with compound

Do I look down on compound gin producers? Not at all because I’m convinced it’s pretty difficult to assemble a balanced gin covering up the typical waxy smell and harsh bitter taste of industrial flavours.
Distilling is an old traditional profession, craftsmanship, and I would like to keep it that way. Making compound gin is not distilling so why would you call it distilled gin? Obviously the significant investment in a still isn’t necessary. But there is more to it…
Because of the commercial value to consumers and the lower production cost, I presume?
There are three possible reason in my opinion:
1. not aware of the regulation and will change the label or bottle as from the next batch
2. sold at the same price as real distilled gin and I hope the buyer is happy with the purchase
3. sold at the normal margin, so cheaper than real distilled gin, confusing the customer

If those producers feel happy not being truly honest to their customers, that’s their choice, but I don’t think it’s fair: not to the customers, not to the real distillers.

Solution?

Is there a solution to this problem?
It would be very naïve just to ask all the compound producers to respect the regulation.
Changing the European Union Law for example by adding an official category for compound can be a first step, but if the governments don’t check it, nothing will change.
Maybe a compulsory registration of every brand?
There might not be a solution at all, but hey… at least you can’t blame me for trying!

Thank you for sharing your experience in your country and making suggestions how to change this trend.

Laws and legislation

* Distilled gin is: (i) a juniper-flavoured spirit drink produced exclusively by redistilling organoleptically suitable ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin of an appropriate quality with an initial alcoholic strength of at least 96 % vol. in stills traditionally used for gin, in the presence of juniper berries (Juniperus communis L.) and of other natural botanicals provided that the juniper taste is predominant, or (ii) the mixture of the product of such distillation and ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin with the same composition, purity and alcoholic strength; natural and/or nature-identical flavouring substances and/or flavouring preparations as specified in category 20(c) may also be used to flavour distilled gin.

** Compound gin: there is no regulation on the use of this name. It’s not mentioned in the European Union Law, but it has been used for a long time already to categorize gin that has been made by adding non-distilled flavours to neutral ethylacohol.

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