Pentire: Botanical, Distilled 0% Spirits Made The Way Spirits Should Be

From the Cornish Coast in England, Pentire is creating fully distilled Botanical Spirits with zero alc

The zero-alc movement has seen bit of momentum these past couple of years, whether that be for our sober drivers (the real GOATs,) expectant folks, our friends that have to get up early and don’t want that heavy-headed feeling, or even those who just want to make the choice for themselves and their bodies. 

For a long time, all these folks have been relegated to camp ‘Coke,’ but when there’s so much choice, complexity and taste on offer in the alcoholic offerings, it can be hard to not feel left out. 

Enter, Pentire… 

There are a number of non-alc spirit offerings on the market now, with many bars, restaurants and at-home-imbibers embracing these new choices, but what sets Pentire apart is its distillation process. 

Significant names in the Zero-Alc Spirits category are crafting great drops but notably, they are not distilled ‘spirits’. We’re getting into semantics here, but the devil is in the details. 

Distilled non-alcoholic spirits like Pentire, who have been called innovators in the sphere, mimic the complexity and ‘bite’ of alcoholic spirits using botanicals to capture flavour nuance. Non-distilled (or extract-based) products blend juices, flavors, and texturizers with water. 

Some of the top drops on the market include ingredients like Glucose Syrup, Cellulose or Xanthan Gum, Sugar and Colour Additives on top of the natural flavours they blend. 

Now, this isn’t a takedown of these products that utilise the extract-based blending system. They offer a serious, measured and quality option for those wanting to experience non-alc options beyond the soft drinks menu. In doing so, they do tend to focus on replicating popular and familiar flavours (eg. ‘gin’, ‘whisky’ or ‘rum’ alternatives) and as they often require less of an involved process than distilled products, they often come in at a sharper price-point. 

You’ll notice that Pentire don’t necessarily market themselves as specific alternatives. They offer, ‘Adrift’, ‘Seaward’, and ‘Coastal Spritz’ as stand alone products with their own signature flavour profiles. 

Instead of mirroring, they focus on forging their own signature through complexity and depth achieved through distillation. 

The distillation process that the spirits we know and love go through is not the process in and of itself that creates the alcoholic content of the drink. When a liquid is distilled, it’s purified using evaporation and condensation.

When making traditional spirits like whisky and tequila, the product being distilled has already undergone fermentation and thus has an alcoholic component. The alcohol level is usually much lower than the final product and much more crude. 

As it’s heated, the vapours condense and are collected as the distillate. The alcohol component (the ‘ethanol’) evaporates at a different rate to the other parts, meaning that the collected product has a higher alcoholic concentration. (Ethanol (alcohol) boils at 78.5°C, while water boils at 100°C.)

Many producers will do multiple distillations in order to further purify and condense the spirit until it reaches the desired proof level while retaining enough of the other components to give it its identity and flavour. Some spirits then undergo aging processes at this stage and others are bottled after distillation, but all the spirits will undergo distillation of some sort. 

In Pentire’s case, the product they are distilling has not undergone an alcoholic fermentation so the components that are being concentrated and purified capture the flavours, aromatics and nutritional elements rather than the ethanol. 

In speaking to Philleigh Way, founder Alastair Frost explains, “We call it a spirit because we’re still doing distillation just like you’d do with gin or vodka, so we’re distilling plants. 

The process is steam distillation and we get these lovely natural organic run-offs of delicious liquids. When we distill it, it’s much more technical than distilling a gin – we have to be really careful with the temperature and pressure inside the still because we’re distilling handfuls of fresh plants and we’ve got to be really careful that we don’t burn them. 

It’s a much more delicate process than gin; we’re not using any dried botanicals or spices so it’s quite technical.”

What They’re Distilling

“Pentire is a celebration of unique plant life that grows on the surrounding headland. Key botanicals thrive here due to a combination of favourable climate, soil pH, and air moisture.”

Pentire distills whole plants that they’ve sourced from their native Cornwall headlands. ‘Pentire’ is in fact, the name of Frosty’s local headland where it all started.

In The Bottle

According to the NY Times, (and we wholeheartedly concur), “a great non-alcoholic drink has all of the elements of a great alcoholic one”. 

Taste is very subjective, but there are key components that make a drink feel balanced, namely a harmonious blend of; acidity, sweetness, bitterness, salinity, and water. 

These layers of flavour play off one another, developing as you sip. The drink excites your palate and challenges you to figure out what exactly makes it so darn delicious – and why you can’t stop drinking it. The trick is to create that nuance without using alcohol as a base. Pentire has achieved this feat in spades.

Their three bottlings all contain a signature Pentire botanical blend, which they then add different botanicals into to impart their varied flavours.

Almost all the alcohol free booze companies – to differing degrees – make products that nod in the direction of “healthy”. Pentire drinks really ARE healthy!

There are just two calories in a standard 50ml serving and zero added sugar. So, you’re talking less than 30 calories for the entire drink if you mix it with a mixer-sized can of a premium Light Tonic. That’s insanely low for a drink that feels like a real treat. 

And Pentire is free from sulphites, vegan friendly and 100% plant-based.

Furthermore, the rock samphire included in the drinks contains vitamins C, E and K, as well as Omega 3 and antioxidants. If you didn’t already feel virtuous drinking an alcohol-free alternative to gin, you should now!

More and more, consumers are paying attention to where their money goes and by extension, what they’re supporting. Ethical consumption is on the rise and hopefully  will continue to do so. 

One of the more trusted ways to gauge the ethical measure of a company is to see if it’s B-Corp certified. 

Pentire is proudly B-Corp certified, and expands upon this in detail in their Impact Report, available for all to see online here.

Environmental:

• Every year, Pentire donates to Blue Marine Foundation to support their mission in protecting the world’s oceans. The Blue Marine Foundation exists to restore a healthy ocean. They do this by creating marine protected areas, establishing models of sustainable fishing and restoring marine habitats. They also fight unsustainable fishing and try to connect people to the sea.
• Pentire’s packaging has always been plastic free. All their cardboard and labels are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified and they use glass bottles and aluminium lids to enable full recyclability. They also only use Kraft paper tape.
• They aim to make their export packaging adhere to this philosophy in future. Within the industry, virgin plastic pallet-wrap is the norm and they have committed to exploring biodegradable pallet wrap solutions for implementation as soon as they can guarantee they are good enough to ship Pentire products.
• All Pentire products are manufactured in the UK, using seasonal ingredients. Most of their ingredients are farmed in the UK, and so we have very low food miles and zero air miles for production. “By partnering with local farmers, we can ensure that our products are made with high-quality ingredients while also supporting sustainable farming practices. We believe that investing in local agriculture is not only good for the environment but also for the economy, helping to create jobs and strengthen communities.”

Social:

• Pentire cares about their employees and recognises that not everyone thrives within the standard work environment.
  “When we started Pentire, we set out to create a place where people loved coming to work, and where they could bring their full selves to work, and still have time to thrive outside of work. That’s why we have always encouraged everyone to exercise whenever is best for them. We find we do some of our best work when we’ve spent time in the great outdoors.”
  Beyond the day-to-day flexibility, employees can work from anywhere for two weeks per year, including at their dedicated cottage in Cornwall (where jumping in the ocean is highly encouraged all year round).
• Pentire encourages their employees to exercise at any time during the working day and offers to pay for a sporting event, such as a marathon or triathlon, for each employee every year.

“It’s a popular time to be sober. Interest in Dry January, a month when many forego drinking alcohol, has jumped 259% compared with the same period last year, according to an analysis by the food website Pantry & Larder.” Christina Campodonico wrote for The San Francisco Standard in 2023.

The Stats

(If you hated statistics class in school, you can skip this bit but let us data-heads enjoy some numbers and reports.)

Graziella Riant-Dalibard for Natural Origins starts off strong in her article, “According to the latest Fact.MR (1) report, “non-alcoholic spirits”, also known as 0.0, represent a market expected to reach $271 billion worldwide by 2033,” she explains, “The sector is very buoyant and has already seen its CAGR increase by 9.9% in four years to 2022, valued at $104.3 billion, the report states.”

Some people attribute the rise in popularity to the growing “sober-curious” movement, which tries to break the ‘norm’ of drinking not by shaming those who choose to drink but by welcoming anyone at any stage of their journey to celebrate it, whether they be ‘curious’ about cutting back or completely sober. The movement is all about not alienating those who switch it up and encouraging the personal choices involved… and it’s working. 

“The ‘sober curious’ movement is not just a fleeting trend. It’s a shift in the way people and generations are interacting with and thinking about alcohol use,” Nicole F. Roberts writes for Forbes Magazine, where she writes about global public health, behavioural science & innovation. “The percentage of college students aged 18 to 22 in the United States who stated that they refrained from drinking alcohol rose from 20% in 2002 to 28% in 2018.”

“It’s a popular time to be sober. Interest in Dry January, a month when many forego drinking alcohol, has jumped 259% compared with the same period last year, according to an analysis by the food website Pantry & Larder.” Christina Campodonico wrote for The San Francisco Standard in 2023.

The Market

It’s great to get the consumption trends from Stats NZ and the NZABC, but how is this reflected in the market? For both our on-and-off premise customers, you’ll be interested to know (and perhaps have experienced yourselves,) it’s definitely showing.

On-Premise

QT Auckland Food and Beverage Director Chad Mills spoke to Restaurant & Café NZ in 2024 about the “Non-Alcoholic Resurgence.” Mills told them that having a decent non-alcoholic offering has become an expectation of his customers. 

“A simple soda or soft drink isn’t enough anymore,” said Mills.

Reflecting the public desire to enjoy non-alcoholic beverages not just at home but out and about are the number of lists being published by lifestyle publications. Media like Broadsheet, UrbanList, Stuff, and Denizen frequently publish pieces giving eager patrons tips on where they’ll find the best non-alcoholic options, highlighting those who’ve extended beyond the standard coke & juice choices many have come to expect. 

Our research has also taken us into forums where we can see what consumers are talking about – straight from the horse’s mouth. Internet hub, Reddit, has an active community sharing interest in all sorts of topics, including recommendations from peers around where they should be heading. Check out a few below if you feel like a social media dig, or to have a nosy as to whether your establishment gets any shoutouts:

• “Are there restaurants with non-alcoholic wines or can I only get Byo’s?” in r/auckland
• “Restaurants/bars with good non-alcoholic options?” in r/wellington
• “Non-alcoholic drinks at Bars” in r/wellington
• “0% Wine – Why do no bars stock it here?” in r/chch
• “Non-alcoholic wine & beer at any bars / restaurants in Welly?” in r/wellington

All of this to say – consumers are thirsty for more non-alcoholic options that are delicious, socially accepted and not condescending or boring. We believe Pentire offers a sophisticated and satisfying option for those sober-curious, completely sober, or just wanting something a smidge on the lighter side.

Off-Premise

FMCG Business recently broke down the Circana’s latest liquor report, which pulls together grocery store sales and combines these with national statistics on liquor store sales, alcohol production and consumer survey data to build a comprehensive view of liquor trends and consumer behaviours. 

“Alcohol consumption in New Zealand is declining… it raises some important questions.”

“One explanation comes from the grocery market. According to Circana’s grocery market data, total alcohol sales have fallen 1.8% in volume in the past year. Once the second highest performing department, Alcohol has been relegated to fifth place – behind non-alcoholic beverages.”

The last few years have also seen the first Alcohol-Free Bottle Shops, dedicated entirely to providing 0% alternatives to the sober-curious consumers out there. 

Concrete Playground reported on Auckland’s first, The Curious AF Bottle Shop when it first opened in late 2022, where they threw shade at the state of offerings at the time, 

“The stunning space gives an insight into just how expansive the international alcohol-free drink selection is these days — and shows just how few excuses our country’s bars and restaurants have for offering nothing better than lemonade.”

Since then, other outfits such as The Chiller, an online shop based in Auckland have popped up with extended ranges of 0% options.