FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

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SHOW SUMMARY 

Ocean Beach Café is San Francisco’s leading alcohol-free spot. In this episode, founder Joshua James takes me on the journey from unexpected inspiration found walking into a failing deli to creating a space where once seen, the wonders of his AF bar, cannot be forgotten.

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WE CHAT ABOUT

0:00 Coming up...

 2:40 Joshua's story

9:30 Other US venues

12:36 The vibe inside?

18:37 Comparing bars in the UK

25:45 Cali sober

28:32 The language we use

30:57 Big alcohol

36:39 Drinks of the future

41:25 On the menu at OCB

48:26 BBQ-Q

52:05 Josh's final thought

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OCEAN BEACH CAFÉ  //  @OCEAN.BEACH.CAFE  //  JOSH ON YOUTUBE

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WE ALSO TALK ABOUT:
Athletic Brewing*

Mash Gang*

Zeronimo

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 BEST EPISODE TO CHECK OUT NEXT

#47 Psychotropic-curious with High & Dry founder Daniel Rowntree

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🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

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SHOW QUOTES 

“You cannot buy premiumisation, in my view.”

“Out of the 95 sommeliers I think we tasted in the first six months, 85/86 are still working with us today.”

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SHOW SUMMARY 

Wild Idol is a premium alcohol-free sparkling wine found in prestigious locations such as Selfridges, Harrods, and numerous fine-dining restaurants. 

In this episode, CEO Paul Beavis discusses in detail the process of producing a drink intended to be the best in the world, how premiumisation has and will continue to impact the category, and why Wild Idol has opted to be naturally alcohol-free at every step.

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WE CHAT ABOUT

0:00 Coming up...

3:01 Paul's story

8:12 Being the best in the world

16:40 Naturally alcohol-free

23:11 Production volatility

25:39 Changing behaviours

29:39 Demanding quality

35:06 Premiumisation in low & no

43:22 Moving forward with caution

46:37 Wild Idol flavour profile

54:33 The BBQ-Q

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TRY WILD IDOL  //  @WILDIDOL.OFFICIAL

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WE ALSO TALK ABOUT:
Guinness 0.0*

£109 sparkling wine (French Bloom)

Big Drop*

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 BEST EPISODE TO CHECK OUT NEXT

#39 Bolle: The only double-fermented alcohol-free sparkling wine

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

======
SHOW QUOTES 

“I think we're in a second phase of moderation. The first phase was all about mimicking the taste of alcohol. Now it's about mimicking the whole experience of alcohol: depth of flavour, complexity, mouthfeel and, of course, mood.”

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 SHOW NOTES 

CBD, THC, micro-dosing, nootropics, adaptogens… there is a whole sub-category of ingredients making their way into the non-alc space, and in this episode, I speak to the founder of the High & Dry agency and co-author of a new report on the subject (The Future of Socialising: What’s next for the dry economy?) Daniel Rowntree, to spread some much-needed light on the subject both at home and abroad.

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 WE CHAT ABOUT

0:00 Coming up

2:09 Meeting Daniel

3:26 UK / US - living Cali Sober

7:13 The law & the research

14:11 Adaptogens, nootropics & psychedelic derivatives

16:46 The impact on low/no drinks & drinkers

28:43 Daniel's story

33:47 Creating High & Dry

35:53 "Big alcohol"

39:22 The High & Dry report

43:18 Working with Daniel

44:22 On safari

46:06 The BBQ-Q

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GET THE FREE HIGH & DRY REPORT // CONNECT WITH DANIEL ON LINKEDIN

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WE ALSO TALK ABOUT:
Impossibrew*
Three Spirit*
Sentia*
Sparkling Dope Soda 

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BEST EPISODES TO CHECK OUT NEXT

#38 80/20 living with MoodyBrew functional adult drinks

#45 - 5 brand new functional spirits from Smiling Wolf

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

=============
SHOW QUOTES
“Our friends would bring like a really beautiful bottle, like a premium bottle of spirit, but we would make the mixes and soft drinks, and so our friends called us the Tonic Twins.”

“I think we visited 120 accounts or something before someone said, ‘Okay, I'll buy one case’.”

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SHOW NOTES
Raissa & Joyce De Haas are the twin power behind Double Dutch Mixers & Tonics. In this episode, we go right back to the beginning, from watching their parents host tasting parties for over a hundred guests in their annexed greenhouse distillery to knocking on 120 doors before making their first sales of Double Dutch.

It’s quite a journey, and they’re taking women everywhere with them as they scale their brand to be a partner in arms for females in hospitality everywhere, all the while ensuring that whatever is in your glass, their mixers give it the respect it deserves.

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WE CHAT ABOUT
2:12 The Double Dutch story
7:27 The launch journey
13:26 Making 10 mixers & tonics
17:25 Supporting low/no drinkers
22:38 Bloody Marys & Margaritas
25:46 Bar & restaurant menus
28:20 Pregnancy or antibiotics?
29:41 Double Dutch Scholarship
36:51 Women in hospitality
42:24 The BBQ-Q 

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Try Double Dutch*  //  doubledutchdrinks.com  //  @doubledutchdrinks  //  Double Dutch Scholarship

============
WE ALSO TALK ABOUT:
Noughty*
Caleño*
Everleaf*
Pentire*
Botan
Botivo*
By Women Built

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

=============
SHOW QUOTES
“I wanted to create something which was for non-drinkers obviously. But also for drinkers. For those people like me who could no longer go out five, six nights a week all the time and drink alcohol. Who wanted to zebra stripe or some days no, and some days yes.”  

“I didn't like that feeling when you're tired, and someone would say, “Come out.” And you wouldn't go out, not because you didn't want to see them, but because, “Oh gosh, I might have to drink”, and I just didn't have that option out there.”

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SHOW NOTES
Smiling Wolf is the brand new range of five functional spirits from founder Hamilton Lowe. In this episode, he shares the origin story inspired by the bartender’s best friend, Barroca! Why he decided to launch with a massive five different drinks and, of course, how his functional spirits work and what they can do for moderating drinkers.

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WE CHAT ABOUT

0:00 Coming up
1:40 Launch challenges
4:47 Hamilton's story
14:10 Understanding functional drinks: are they drugs?
18:19 Functional ingredients
22:06 How it works
27:21 Does it taste weird?
30:40 Flavour profiles
37:48 Launching with 5 drinks
41:43 Bars serving Smiling Wolf
44:33 BBQ-Q

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TRY SMILING WOLF*  //  SMILINGWOLF.COM  

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ALSO
Lucky Saint*
Botivo*
Sylva Labs
Liquid death*

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BEST EPISODES TO CHECK OUT NEXT
#38 - 80/20 living with MoodyBrew functional adult drinks
#27 Meeting the Botanist: a tea-infused 'Function-Ale'

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

=============
SHOW QUOTES 

“The bottle couldn't handle the carbonation in that neck, and we lost £20,000 pounds. I didn't have any product, but £20,000 pounds was gone!” 

“Availability and visibility are key in this category.”

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SHOW NOTES 

Avnish Babla is the 1st time entrepreneur behind Savyll Cocktails, a sophisticated range of non-alc cocktails created with diversity in mind. 

In this talk, we cover everything from importing suspicious white powder to launching big and scaling back to the bottling disaster that left him £20,000 out of pocket with nothing to show for it.

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WE CHAT ABOUT

0:00 Coming up...

1:34 Avnish's story

9:52 Are these "mocktails"?

12:48 UK / USA production

17:39 The evolution of the range

25:40 Wholefoods to Harrods

30:42 Non-alc playbook

32:08 Premiumisation in low & no

35:26 Navigating diversity in low & no

40:23 The importance of being seen

46:57 The BBQ-Q

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TRY SAVYLL* //  SAVYLL.COM  //  @SAVYLLBEVERAGECO

============

WE ALSO TALK ABOUT:

Saphire Community Group

Seedlip Spice 94*

Three Spirit Nightcap*

============

BEST EPISODES TO CHECK OUT NEXT

#42 Behind the scenes at the world alcohol-free awards

#29 The rise and rise of Mocktails with Pooja Sharma-Jones

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

=============
SHOW QUOTES 

“In the UK, it's 20 quid a bottle. I've always thought about it like some people get paid £20 quid an hour. So you know, if someone's going to give you an hour of their life, bloody, make it good if they're drinking your product, and I honestly believe in that.” 

 “So you give them two tonnes of raspberry crumble because you're pulling out 90% of the water weight, but you've got 20 tons of flavour.”

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SHOW NOTES 

All the way from Australia, in this episode, I got to chat with the inspired mind behind the always unique and never boring NON World Wines. Aaron Trotman is equal parts funny and sincere, and this interview was a pure joy.

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WE CHAT ABOUT

Aaron's story

Amazing flavour combinations

A late-found love of food

International seasonality

Stewed cherry & coffee

Replicating red wine

Made for food?

Aaron, ADHD & alcohol

Hospitality (it's in the name)

Australia, the UK & the US

The NON stopper!

Online and on-trade

What's next for NON?

Parenting while building a brand

The BBQ-Q (& AF draught in Aus)

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TRY NON -  uk.non.world  //  @non.world

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WE ALSO TALK ABOUT:

Botivo*

Heaps Normal

Muri

Sylva

Guinness 0.0*

============
BEST EPISODES TO CHECK OUT NEXT

#39 Bolle: The only double-fermented alcohol-free sparkling wine

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

=============
SHOW QUOTES

“I get emails every week from people saying, oh, ‘I'd love to come and judge, I'd love to learn a bit more about these drinks’. Whilst we’re keen on educating and teaching people. they have to come to us already having some background and some proof that they are making an effort and learning and have experience with these drinks.”  

“Progression of the AF space is really interesting. I think if we'd done this competition even four years ago (if there were enough drinks out there then to do this), I think the drinks that would have scored really well then would now be surpassed by almost everything that's coming out now.”  

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SHOW NOTES

This episode was a pure delight as I got to hear all about the entire judging process for the World Alcohol-Free Awards – the WAFAs!

Chris and Chrissie don’t hold anything back, making this one not to be missed!

WE CHAT ABOUT

0:35  The WAFAs story

6:37  Categories!

9:21 Who can enter the WAFAs?

13:09 How many entries did you have?

15:32 New & unique drinks

22:25 Judging

30:44 Progression

34:44 Trophy winners

42:54 WAFAs 2025 (+best range winner)

46:00 Going international

49:34 AF is not a zero-sum game

54:26 How to enter for 2025

56:26 The BBQ-Q

VISIT WAFA -  WORLDAFAWARDS.COM / @WORLDAFAWARDS

 WE ALSO TALK ABOUT:

Free Spirit

Best beer: Ramon

Best spirit: Night Orient

Best halal drink: ASDA

Best cocktail: Bloody Drinks

Best alcohol-free range: Jukes

Best organic: Kombustache

Best wine: Edenvale

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

SHOW QUOTES
“We work with a 16th-generation distillery business. We said to them look, how low can we go before we start to lose the full taste experience? So the warm, the mouthfeel, the bite, everything else which you expect from a full-strength gin. And they said 25%.”

“When we designed the product in the first instance, we wanted to go with taste, texture, and tenacity over anything else.”

SHOW NOTES
Director of Session London Dry Gin from Spirit of Bermondsey, Brad Crompton, takes us through the story of their 25% sessionable gin spirit as we discuss where mid-range beverages sit in the modern drinkers' schedule.

WE CHAT ABOUT
- Coming up...
- Session's story
- Brad's story
- Imbibe & the public response
- Why 25%
- Winning awards
- How does it taste?
- Naming Session
- Educating bars & consumers about mid-strength drinks
- Why people are drinking it
- The antidote to zebra-striping
- Changing the nation's cocktail menus
- Questions about using mid-strength drinks
- Traffic light system
- Who is a Session drinker?
- Increasing the range
- The BBQ-Q

TRY SESSION SPIRIT -  @SESSIONSPIRIT

AND ALSO ABOUT
Session magazine
Almave*
6Percent
Gen!us*
Small Beer*
Botivo*
Nu Wave*

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.

FREE COURSE: OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

SHOW QUOTES
"Today we're doing things a bit differently."

"Only 8% of the conversations were about using these drinks to help with sobriety or recovery."

SHOW NOTES
In this episode, I take a look at a report from Commetric analysing 10,000 Reddit conversations about low/no drinks.

• Doing things differently
• Drink types
• Social events
• Big Vs small brands
• Drink qualities
• Personality types
• What it all means

BEST EPISODES TO CHECK OUT NEXT
#37 You don't need a sad story
#36 Launching a brand-new non-alcoholic cider

===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset

===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/

===
💰 Get 10% off drinks at Wise Bartender with code LOWNODRINKERMAGAZINE
https://wisebartender.co.uk/lownodrinkermagazine *

===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.