| Is The Pathfinder the Pappy Van Winkle of booze-free?Β As I told the author of this piece when we spoke last week, βNo.β The adult non-alc drink industry is still young and doesnβt yet have a Pappy Van Winkle level hype monster. For those who arenβt familiar, Pappy is perhaps the archetypical example of the premium, limited edition bourbon whiskey that a new generation of rare whiskey collectors prize highly. Pappy has many different batches and ages, but they all sell for well over the MSRP and many trade hands on the secondary market for thousands of dollars per bottle. Will there ever be a non-alc spirit or drink for which the quantity demanded so far exceeds the quantity supplied? My first thought is that age is one of the driving factors in bourbon desirability and most non-alc drinks deteriorate with age.Β Have you ever tried a non-alc drink that improved with age?Β Tell usΒ about it. The only one I can think of isΒ Woodnoseβs Sacre, but Iβm sure thereβs an age beyond which even that begins to deteriorate. Is Pappy level hype even something to aspire to? Iβm no bourbon connoisseur, but I suspect that most βdusty huntersβ themselves acknowledge that super rare bourbons are rare and sought after mostly because theyβre rare and sought after, not unlike art and other collectibles. For those who are interested in the history of the bourbon hype machine, Aaron Goldfarb has an interestingΒ 1,Β 2,Β 3Β part series in Punch. As recently as just a few decades ago, Americans didnβt give a damn about bourbon and much preferred clear spirits like vodka. What do you think? What will the βPappy Van Winkle of non-alcβ look and taste like?Β Tell usΒ about it! Brooke LeBlanc had some interesting perspectives on rare + super premium non-alc in herΒ Dry AtlasΒ interview. To be clear, I thinkΒ The PathfinderΒ is one of the best booze-free spirits on the market andΒ I drinkΒ more than my share of it. Odds and Ends I recently stumbled upon Olivia Nocedaβs videos and she has some great NA cocktail recipes and interesting perspectives on mindful drinking. That said, thisΒ first oneΒ doesnβt resonate with me at all. At no point in our lives are we finished growing and evolving. Every day is a new opportunity to create better habits. Old dogs actually can learn new tricks. As adults, letβs discard the myth that who we are today is defined by what or how much we drank in college many years ago. I loved thisΒ second oneΒ though. Life is too rich to numb ourselves. I want to feel everything deeply. Feel the good, the bad and the ugly. This is more physical than emotional, but cold winter morning runs have provided me opportunities to reflect on feeling truly alive and how both pleasure and pain play a role in engendering that feeling. New on Dry Atlas – Alt organicΒ sparkling wines – Ambijus – BotivoΒ aperitif – Dr. Zero Zero – Gnistaβs two newΒ wine alternatives – Joniβs delicious verjus cocktails – Kin EuphoricsβΒ Actual Sunshine – The Bitter OptimistβsΒ Cali Amaro – SaichoΒ sparkling teas –Β Will these rival the ever-popular-at-Spirited AwayΒ CopenhagenΒ teas? TBD! – New de-alcoholized wines fromΒ Studio Null – UweΒ beers Several of those were recommended to me by Frederike and Wim from the Netherlandsβ Nix & Nix non-alc bottle shop. If you missed their interview in last weekβs newsletter,Β here it is. And hereβs theΒ complete listΒ of their favorite booze-free drinks.What new brands and products are we still missing? Send them to us onΒ InstagramΒ orΒ Twitter! |
