The Grocer – 20 July 2019

buying & supplying drinks

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 20 July 2019 | The Grocer | 37

Pernod unveils first

dark no-alcohol spirit

Celtic Soul: created by Ceder’s founder Craig Hutchison

Daniel Woolfson

Pernod Ricard has

unveiled its first dark

non-alcoholic spirit,

Celtic Soul.

The drink, “a non-alco-

holic blend of carefully

distilled dark spirits”, is

the brainchild of Craig

Hutchison – the founder

of Ceder’s, the non-alco-

holic spirit brand Pernod

Ricard brought to market

last year.

It is billed as “a smooth

blend of sweet vanilla,

spices and oak cask

wood flavours, making it

aromatic and complex”.

Pernod Ricard recom-

mends it is served mixed

with ginger ale and gar-

nished with a twist of

orange.

“The whiskey and

mixer market has huge

global appeal, with 36%

of consumers preferring

to drink Irish whiskey

with a mixer, meaning

the scale of the oppor-

tunity to convert drink-

ers to the no and low

category is vast,” said

Pernod.

The drink rolls into

Sainsbury’s from 21 July

in 70cl bottles (rsp: £25).

The low and no

category “currently lacks

a compelling dark spir-

its offering and we are

excited to partner with

Celtic Soul to bring the

brand to market”, said

Pernod Ricard business

development director Ian

Peart.

“The mindset of the

drinker has changed and

to have a sophisticated

drink doesn’t mean it

has to contain alcohol,”

added Hutchison.

“It’s about the ritual,

the serve, the taste and

the adult price point.”

The brand will also

be served at Sainsbury’s

upcoming low and no-

alcohol pop-up pub The

Clean Vic, which the

retailer will open on New

Oxford Street in London

on 24-25 July.

The pub will see

Sainsbury’s showcase a

wider range of virtuous

drinks.

Ceder’s, which is

touted as an alternative

to standard gins, rolled

out with three variants

(in 50cl rather than 70cl

bottles) just over a year

ago and passed the £1m

sales mark in March,

according to Pernod.

Echo Falls has moved
into malbec with new
‘Malb-Echo Falls’.
The NPD (12.5% abv)
is a Californian malbec
billed as “a new premium
offering” with “a flavour
profile of raspberries,
cherries and blackcur-
rants, with toasted oak
and a touch of mocha”.
It has rolled into Asda,
Bestway, Ocado,
Landmark Group and
Today’s (rsp: £6/75cl).
Owner Accolade Wines
said it would tap “the
huge boom in USA mal-
bec varietal wine”.

Malb-Echo Falls is billed as
a ‘new premium offering’

‘Malb-Echo

Falls’ NPD

hits shelves

Bloody Drinks has made its UK debut. It has

launched its first RTD, a ‘Classic’ Bloody Mary, in

250ml cans (6.3% abv). The drink is made with

vodka, cream sherry, tomatoes from Italy and

Spain, fresh lemons, worcestershire and soy sauce,

plus pickle juice and hot sauce (rsp: £3.99/250ml).

Bloody Drinks launches with a ‘Classic’

The brand’s latest whisky

will hit shelves next week

The Lakes Distillery
is getting a major
makeover.
The upmarket spir-
its brand has taken up
a new ‘quatrefoil’ logo,
launched a new website
and will roll out a brand
new whisky next week.
The logo was “deeply
rooted in the heritage of
the renovated Victorian
model dairy farm where
the distillery stands, as
an icon that represents
[the team’s] core beliefs:
faith, hope, luck and
love”, said the brand.
It was “important that
every aspect of our brand

Lakes Distillery rebrands with

new logo, website and whisky

reflects the quality of the

liquid in the bottle and

represents our values so

people understand how

important the focus on

quality is at The Lakes

Distillery” said market-

ing director Kirsty Taylor.

The first product to

bear the new logo, a port

cask-finished expres-

sion of its blended dram

The One (46.6% abv),

will make its debut next

week. The drink is fin-

ished for one year in

first-fill Tawny port hogs-

heads from Portugal, and

is non-chill filtered.

The drink was “full-

bodied and smoky with

ripe cherries and plums

on the nose, hints of

stone fruits, nutmeg and

black pepper on the pal-

ate, leading to a long,

warming finish”, said the

brand’s whiskymaker,

Dhavall Gandhi.

A LITTLE SOUL

It’s about the ritual, the serve, the taste and the adult

price point – Craig Huchison, creator, Celtic Soul