Happy Hour: non-alc brands raised a lot of money this month
Recess, Aplós and Trip all had plenty to celebrate. Meanwhile, the world of THC found itself in turmoil and one brave man plans to open a 150-year-old bottle of explorer's ale.
Happy Thanksgiving week! We’re thankful for DRINKS! And for you! Cheers!
Welcome to another edition of Happy Hour: our monthly roundup of the bev/alc news, moves, stories, opinions and thoughts we enjoyed.
THE BRANDING END OF THE BUSINESS
Drinks brands 100% need to know how to show up ‘beyond the bottle’, and Aperol are doing exactly that with a new spatial design framework that guides how they show up in bars, festivals, supermarkets, stores….
The New Rules founders Margy and Emunah actually gave a talk all about life beyond the bottle (“beautiful is not enough”) at BCB Brooklyn a few months back. Watch now, or bookmark for later, we promise it’s good.
Brewdog raised eyebrows with a campaign that claimed to ‘flip’ some of their most notorious headlines. The comments section of their Marketing Director included some salty replies to this.
Jameson has a new look, to “bring people further into the Jameson world”.
Say hello to Sol’s sunny new look.
Mesmerised, for some reason, by the eye-aching branding of El Jimador’s New Mix – which looks a bit like bathroom cleaner, and a bit like it secretly contains psychedelics.
THE BUSINESS END OF THE BRAND
Do you know what Germany’s most successful spirits launch of the last decade is? Apparently it’s Jägermeister Orange. And here’s a quick but interesting LinkedIn take on why it’s been so successful.
New York now has its first alcohol-free members club, The Maze. The commitment to interior design could serve them very well here (it doesn’t feel like a ‘lesser’ option).
Westward Whiskey was in trouble. Now it’s not.
Celebrities must be tired of beauty brands, because bev/alc brands are the thing, with Future launching a wine and wine cocktail brand “for consumers who crave quality and innovation without the pretense [sic] of traditional wine culture”. Call us anytime you want help with the branding, Future.
Here’s a venture capital take on all those celeb booze brands btw: “Here’s what kills most celebrity liquor brands: The celebrity likes to drink. That’s it. That’s their entire qualification.”
Calming beverage brand Trip is doing very well: a significant raise, a big valuation, and $200m profitable revenue predicted for 2026.
Non-alc brand Aplós also celebrated this month, with a $5m funding round.
TURBULENT TIMES FOR THC
At the end of October, Bon Appetite praised the virtues of THC-infused drinks, with a piece that reflected on their growing acceptance.
Then, cannabis beverage sales were predicted to reach $2.8 billion in the US by 2028.
Then, The Atlantic hopped onboard, saying “booze is down and weed is up”.
Then, it all changed, when the legislation to reopen the government included new rules for hemp products. It’s complicated, and it’s changing, and we recommend this PBS explainer.
A NEW RULES RECOMMENDATION:
ZBiotics sent us a package recently, and we ended up testing both of their main products side by side: Pre-alcohol, the engineered probiotic made to alleviate rough mornings after drinking, and their fiber supplement that turns sugar into fiber in your gut (wild, we know).
The pre-alcohol uses an engineered enzyme to break down acetaldehyde while you sleep, so you wake up feeling human instead of trashed. Bring this on every single business trip. And family get togethers. It really, truly works.
HERE COME THE ‘FUNCTIONAL’ DRINKS
Functional, non-alcohol bev brand Verse (which contains nootropics, adaptogens and electrolytes to support various states of mind) is expanding – new sizes, new flavors, more availability. There’s probably a lot more of these kinds of brands waiting in the wings, although as Mother Root founder Bethan Higson told us, sometimes it’s not entirely clear which drinks ‘ritual’ they’re trying to capture.
Eden’s Harvest – “the world’s first adaptogenic craft beer brand” – has put itself up for sale.
OVER TO THE WORLD OF WINE
Say hello to a new wine grape: the Muscat Shiragai (a hybrid of a local wild Japanese grape and Muscat). It’s apparently sweet and delicious, and seems like a bid to revitalise tourism in Japan’s Kurashiki city.
Barefoot Wine has a new look, and plenty of enthusiasm for its NFL partnership – one way it says it’s bringing new consumers into the category. Quite likely we’ll see a few more winey rebrands in the coming 12 months.
Glamour says boxed wine is ok, actually.
WEIRD BEER
A 150-year-old bottle of ale, brewed for British explorers (it can survive extremely low temps, resists freezing and has six times the calorie content of normal beer) is going be opened and used to create a new super-strong beer.
Alcohol-free beer is moving into its flavors era, as Heineken rolls out Nectarine Juniper and Cold Pressed Lime versions of its zero beer.
An interesting partnership here between alc-free beer brand Bero and Aston Martin. ‘Collaborative products’ are apparently on the way. BTW Bero reportedly just hit $10m in revenue.
Meet Low, Slow and No, an inexplicably Wild West(?)-themed campaign from Heineken that feels strangely patronising.
CHANGING TIMES
You heard it here first: Asian spirits are going to be absolutely huge in the coming years. We spotted this story about how baiju producers in China are making less powerful versions, apparently to appease Gen Z and Millennial drinkers.
In a total contrast to the movement towards lower ABVs, some brands are going in the other direction, like 1800 Tequila.
If you’re not gin, you can no longer be called gin, says the EU.
The tequila wars continue, as Diageo continues fighting a class action lawsuit about the labelling of Casamigos and Don Julio.
Is gin no longer cool? Patrón Tequila billionaire John Paul DeJoria is determined to make it so, as he brings Waterloo Gin to 20 more states. “These younger folks that are just getting into gin right now have no clue how bad gin used to be,” says the brand’s chief sales officer.
Wired covers Voodoo Scientific: the “enzyme-tinkering startup” that wants to take the “harsh bite and burn” out of spirits.
Bacardi has some predictions for the future of bev/alc: earlier drinking, screen-free gatherings, more care towards ingredients and maximalist cocktails (amongst other notes).
NEW LAUNCHES
Coffee brand grind has made an RTD espresso martini for the UK – another sign that the RTD craze is still crazed.
The Pathfinder is also getting into coffee, with a new espresso tonic.
Graza now makes wine. And Good Housekeeping rates it.
Monster seems to be planning a new energy drink. For ladies. It’s called FLRT. The website has a flower-shaped mouse hand.
Spotted something that Brown Brothers are calling ‘portable wine’. Tiny booze is here to stay (and it’s perfect for the GLP-1 era).