This month Botivo – the slow sipping botanical drink inspired by aperitifs – reveals a new look that brings to life both their cra credentials and their joy de vivre personality. Describing their product as ‘made by artisans, drunk by healthy hedonists’, Botivo are challenging the idea that drinks have to have alcohol in them to be beautifully craed, complex and delicious.
Stepping up to disrupt a category that is essentially water and flavourings, Botivo is a truly cra brand that is small batch, handmade, uses only real ingredients, and takes several weeks to make. This translates to a complex, rich flavour with a long finish – something that cannot be achieved with flavourings.
The theme behind the new design is inspired by the ongoing conversation between Botivo founders Sam Paget Steavenson – the artisan – and Imme Ermgassen – the ‘healthy hedonist’ – both of whom are fascinated with the connections that are deepened through the age-old tradition of eating, being merry and drinking together. Both share the opinion that ‘non-alc’ is a limiting concept obsessed with alcohol. Which in turn reflects the brands core philosophy: to create a new category of cra, adult drinks that doesn’t live in opposition to alcohol, but is its own thing.
While many other brands are trying to talk to a younger Gen Z audience who drink less alcohol, Botivo is going aer a slightly older crowd who are healthy, but live life to the full and place real value on pleasure, unwinding, ingredients and how things are made.
WHAT IS BOTIVO?
- Apple cider vinegar is the backbone of Botivo and is widely known to keep the gut healthy and serotonin up. Sam sources his apples from a family run farm in Devon that have been aged for at least one year to develop complexity
- Organic wildflower honey which balances the bitter flavours with a natural sweetness
- Rosemary, a woody, evergreen shrub that is gloriously aromatic; viewed by herbalists as stimulating and mind clearing, is one of the first to be infused. Rosemary is oen found in aperitifs, because it is believed to tone the stomach and stimulate the appetite
- Thyme, a fragrant herb known for helping clear the sinuses, is less commonly found in aperitifs, but is used to add another herbal layer to develop complexity
- Gentian, an alpine flower, is the bitter backbone of Botivo that carries a woody depth found in many cocktail bitters, aperitifs and vermouths
- Wormwood, an intensely bitter botanical and a powerful digestive that has a uniquely aromatic profile, essential to the production of most absinthes and vermouth
- The citrus of orange zest binds all of these flavours together
Created by Sam Paget Steavenson, Botivo is inspired by Sam’s research into Oxymels: ancient tonics that used a base of vinegar, water, and honey that acts as the perfect medium for the infusion of aromatic roots, fresh herbs and botanicals. In Botivo’s case, the apple base is fermented for several weeks before the botanicals are infused. Like a wine that too deals with natural ingredients whose flavour notes and undercurrents can fluctuate with the weather, quirks of pollination, soil and many other unique variables, the result is a refreshingly bittersweet, viscous, and sophisticated non-alcoholic drink.
