How do you make a low alcohol beverage?
The low and no alcohol market is booming. The younger generation are drinking alcohol more mindfully, whether that’s completely cutting it out or consuming it only on special occasions. Brands need to be reacting to this movement and offer innovate alcohol-free options. Creating a sophisticated and grown- up alcohol -free product takes a few steps, and here at Omega, we understand how important getting the flavour spot on is.
We get asked often, “how exactly do you create a low alcoholic beverage” so we thought we’d talk through the steps…
Let’s start by creating a low alcohol Gin. For a standard Gin we would start with 96% ABV spirit, soak some botanicals, (Juniper, coriander, angelica root, citrus peels etc.) then distil again to collect a fragrant woody gin with the essence of the chosen botanicals. If we were then to take out the alcohol, we wouldn’t be left with very much to drink. For a low alcohol drink there needs to less than 1.2% ABV and if we are going alcohol-free or zero alcohol there must be less than 0.05% ABV.
Instead the drink is built from the bottom up.
When we increase the juniper berries in the distillation to the max, we will get a strong and punchy liquid you can’t drink on its own but can add, in small doses to our low alcohol beverage. Here at Omega we have our range of kiiNotes®, which are exactly that! Extracts and distillates made from 100% botanical sources, with this tool box we can build our gin.
First we need Juniper, the fresh, woody, terpene notes typical of every gin. Then some citrus notes. How about blood orange from Italy? If we want some spicy notes, we could use Sarawak black pepper from Malaysia. If we want a more floral gin, Rose from Bulgaria will be perfect.
But a spirit isn’t just about flavour, it’s mouthfeel too. How do we get that first initial kick, that slow burn of alcohol before the flavour of your gin, whisky or tequila settles in?
Well, the Omega creative team were more than happy to take on this challenge, something about tasting lots of different spirits got them excited. The result of their hard work? A very specific blend of botanical extracts and natural flavours that work in concert to take you through that fiery start, slow burn and leaves a platform for your spirit aroma to build on. With a different blend for each major spirit, because one size does not fit all.
While we are building our cocktail and spirits from the ground up, why stop at just mimicking a Tom Collins or Negroni? We could make our drink functional as well. By using botanicals that have shown to have health benefits, think Turmeric, Ginseng, Wasabi, Golden Root (Rhodiola Rosea), we can take our beverage to the next level. Astragalus Root Negroni to give our immune system a helping hand, Schisandra Berry Bloody Mary for an energy boost in the morning? Replace the salt on our alcohol-free margarita with Kombu for that salty umami balance with added health benefits!
Andy Prentice, Research & Development Scientist
