With the no/low (NoLo) alcohol sector set to outpace the total alcohol category by 2025, it was a matter of time before one of Australia’s first gin distilleries – Four Pillars – entered the market.
After two years of R&D, the distillery has launched Bandwagon Dry and Bloody Bandwagon, modelled on two of its most popular gins – Rare Dry Gin and Bloody Shiraz Gin – but without the alcohol.
The company said it was the biggest challenge it had faced since it began in 2013, because “it isn’t gin”.
“Gin has to have alcohol in it (37 per cent minimum in Australia), so to make something we love with the key ingredient missing, well that was a challenge for sure,” co-founder and distiller Cameron Mackenzie said.
“When we launched in 2013 never in our wildest dreams did we think we would make a non-alcoholic product. But as we’ve grown older and wiser, booze is not always your go-to and you a need quality alternative. Enter Bandwagon.”
The latest data from IWSR found 43 per cent of adults who buy no and low-ABV drinks use them as substitutes for full-strength products, rather than abstaining from alcohol. As well as outpacing the whole market, IWSR projects NoLo to increase by 31 per cent by 2024 and in Australia to grow by 16 per cent from 2020 to 2024.
The process
Mackenzie clarified that the production process was not as easy as it sounds. The starting point is extracting flavours from the same ten botanicals used for its Rare Dry Gin.
“The oils and flavours from the majority of the botanicals including juniper, lemon myrtle and coriander seed are extracted using steam distillation. Each are distilled separately so we can control their flavour contribution and the quality, and they are mixed together with a water base,” he said.
One of the challenges is replicating flavours and components that come due to the alcohol – heat and weight.
“To bring in some of that heat, we steamed and vacuumed fresh chilli, and to replicate some of that weight, we turned to a natural fructose that is found in plants.
“In the same way that Rare Dry Gin is the base of Bloody Shiraz Gin, Bandwagon Dry is the base of Bloody Bandwagon. So it’s that clear Bandwagon Dry liquid with the addition of one very special ingredient, Shiraz juice,” Mckenzie explained.
To make Bloody Bandwagon, the distillery used unfermented Shiraz grapes.
“We’re getting that same Shiraz flavour and colour without the alcohol. Win, win. The Shiraz juice concentrate is mixed in with the Bandwagon Dry base and voila, we have Bloody Bandwagon.”
Endeavour Group director Buying & Merchandise Tim Carroll said the group is seeing more customers asking of alcohol-free options.
“Zero alcohol products remain one of the fastest growing categories across our BWS and Dan Murphy’s stores; we’ve seen a 150 percent increase in sales in the last 24 months,” Carroll said.
Mckenzie said, “Bandwagon Dry has been modelled on our original gin, Rare Dry Gin, which has become something of a benchmark for modern, citrus-forward gins with a combination of Middle Eastern, Asian, and local Australian botanicals.
“For Bloody Bandwagon we created an alcohol-free base of highly concentrated Shiraz and then added complexity with the addition of many of our favourite botanicals including Tasmanian pepperberry leaf and several types of citrus.”
The two are available from the Four Pillars Gin Shops at the Four Pillars Healesville Distillery and Surry Hills Laboratory, and from BoozeBud, Coles Local, Dan Murphy’s, IGA, Liquorland and Sans Drinks. Bandwagon Dry will also be available from First Choice Liquor, Vintage Cellars, and Woolworths for RRP $50, 700ml.
