Crafty Strange Drinks

Wotcha!

One trick I learned a long time ago about how to cope with the gloomy Oregon winters is to take a trip in January, should the budget allow. The holidays are a good distraction in the run-up to the end of the year, and there is plenty to celebrate, but tipping over into the new year is always a little depressing. So, if the ModSub family has a few pennies squirreled away, we'll try to track down some sun.

Last week, I got an email from Amanda over at Tomonotomo, and if you need some inspiration for a January getaway, she's most certainly provided some. After many requests to set something like this up, she and her partner, Ginna, are offering a five-day Sober in Oaxaca experience.

Guests will enjoy cocktail and cooking classes, candle-making, a full day on the agave farms, a bar crawl through the city and more! All in one of the coolest parts of Mexico.

Sober in Oaxaca will run from January 14–18. Spots are limited, so don't hang around if you want to book one. It sounds like an unforgettable trip!

Myles

In last week’s issue (MODSUB152), A Little Creative License, this link got the most attention for two weeks in a row.

In this week’s edition:

NAN
New NA Drink News

SPIRITS
Gnista - Floral Wormwood

CIDER
Excelsior - Ground Control: Cherry

Read time: 5 minutes 15 seconds

From our sponsor: The Zero Proof

Shop a curated edit of deep reds, dry whites, nuanced floral-based beverages, slow-sipping amaros, spicey whiskeys, malty, apple-forward brews, and more.

Find limited-edition pours from Athletic, new international imports, and favorites you already know and love.

Discount applied at checkout.

Thank you for supporting our sponsors who in turn support this newsletter.

NORTH AMERICA

BEER: Another new brew from Go Brewing with the launch of Cold Standard. (Link)

BEER: Move As One is the newest limited-edition pilsner from Athletic Brewing. (Link)

COCKTAIL: Oregon’s Soulhum Elixirs have debuted two new RTDs this week. (Link)

WORLDWIDE

BEER: Over in Japan, Suntory have been super busy. First up is their collab with YouTuber Susuru to create a limited-edition non-alcoholic beer-inspired drink that complements a steaming hot bowl of ramen! (Link)

WINE: Next up from the Japanese company is an alcohol-free rosé wine in a can—Nonaru Sakaba Sparkling Rosé. (Link)

COCKTAIL: To round things off, Suntory also have a limited-edition 0.00% Nonaru Kibun Fuzzy Navel launching in a can. (Link)

COCKTAIL: After a successful launch in May, Asahi have made their 0.00% Mirai no Non-Al Lemon Sour a permanent part of their collection. (Link)

WINE: Over in the UK, ASDA are introducing three new non-alc wines under their own Balancing Act label. (Link)

SPIRITS

ModSub thoughts: Malmö, Sweden, is somewhere I have spent precisely one night. Back in the summer of 1992, a friend and I were hitch hiking from Stockholm to Malmö on our way to Berlin. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, we were picked up by a jovial truck driver who bought us dinner and, upon arriving in the port city of Malmö and realising we didn’t have anywhere to sleep, offered us the sleeping quarters in his truck’s cab for the night.

The next morning, his wife made us breakfast before our ferry to the German city of Rostock, where we found ourselves disembarking into the town, unaware, I might add, we were heading into the midst of the infamous, international headline-making Lichtenhagen race riots. Realising what we had just walked into, it was hard not to glance back across the Baltic Sea in the direction of Malmö and wish we’d had the foresight to stay a tad longer.

But why are we talking about Malmö, you ask?

Well, I’m reminded of this piece of fortune turned misfortune because I have a bottle of Gnista’s Floral Wormwood in front of me and, well … it’s from, you guessed it, Malmö.

In her own words, Gnista's founder, Erika Eklundh, makes handmade “crafty strange drinks” in small batches. So far, she has produced two highly regarded non-alcoholic spirits and, more recently, a handful of wine alternatives.

Floral Wormwood is one of those rare non-alc spirits you can sip neat. It’s honestly like nothing I've tasted before. The aroma brings to mind orange peel, raisins and spices, and the smell of a warm Christmas pudding! Your first sip though brings rhubarb to the fore, mingling with the aforementioned citrus and spices, layered with earthiness, wood and anise. It’s also sweet with honey, mildly bitter and surprisingly viscous for a non-alcoholic spirit. Pour it over ice and the warming flavours become bright and vibrant.

Gnista’s website features a robust recipe collection that will keep you busy making all kinds of gorgeous-looking non-alc cocktails for months to come. I only had time for a couple and landed on the delightful depth of their version of a Collins, the lemon marrying well with the wormwood and jammy rhubarb. For the more adventurous, try Grape Milk, a festive alternative with cream and grapefruit juice. It’s pretty much a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and one you can pull out of the hat during the holidays, though maybe up the amount of spirit in the mix so it stays front and centre.

It’s such an impressive spirit. Versatile, strange and crafty in both senses of the word. A must-have on your bar cart.

Advertisment

The best marketing ideas come from marketers who live it. That’s what The Marketing Millennials delivers: real insights, fresh takes, and no fluff. Written by Daniel Murray, a marketer who knows what works, this newsletter cuts through the noise so you can stop guessing and start winning. Subscribe and level up your marketing game.

Sign Up Free

CIDER

ModSub thoughts: It seems like the obvious direction to go for your first non-alcoholic cider, especially if you're an established, successful cider company, would be to play it safe. Go with a straight original apple cider and see where that takes you. Not so, though, for Schilling Cider Company's Excelsior brand, which decided instead to debut a cherry cider. Okay, maybe not the riskiest of moves, but still an intriguing one.

However, it turns out there was a very good reason for leaning towards cherries. Apparently, Schilling's hard cider fans had been requesting a cherry cider for years, but all attempts had failed due to the effects fermentation had on the cherry flavours. Not so with the non-alc experimentation.

Creating Ground Control: Cherry was less about making a hard cider and removing the alcohol and more about building the cider from the ground up. Inspired by shrub recipes, the company describes the drink as a cider infusion of fresh-pressed PNW apples with sour cherry juice and apple cider vinegar.

The result is a lovely medium-dry apple flavour, closely shadowed and ultimately overtaken, though not overwhelmed, by the cherry. The acidity is in harmony with a touch of sourness, while the vinegar produces a pleasant yet brief kick on the finish.

To date, two years after its launch, this is the Seattle company's only non-alcoholic cider, and supposedly the plan was to make more. But even if this is the only alcohol-free cider Schilling ever releases, the next time someone scoffs at the idea of non-alcoholic cider being anything other than fizzy apple juice for kids, hand them a can of Excelsior's Ground Control: Cherry.

That'll shush them up real quick.

_{A quick heads-up: some links here are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission—thank you for supporting my work at no extra cost to you.}