This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Stoli invests in hemp-based zero-ABV ‘spirit’
Luxembourg-based Stoli Group has made a ‘strategic’ investment in The Pathfinder Hemp and Root, its first non-alcoholic ‘spirit’.
Stoli Group, which owns its namesake vodka brand and Bayou rum, said the undisclosed investment in non-alcoholic hemp-based amaro The Pathfinder brings “diversification” to the company’s portfolio, according to global CEO Damian McKinney.
“The Pathfinder is a true trailblazer in the zero-proof category and as this massive shift in the culture of socialisation continues. The Pathfinder and Stoli Group combo creates limitless possibilities,” he continued.
Stoli said the alcohol-free brand had developed a ‘loyal following’ among mindful drinkers, cocktail fans, bartenders and baristas.
Furthermore, it said the move came as the brand has a ‘10,000-plus waitlist’ and is creating a limited edition collector’s bottle to ‘meet consumer demand’.
Described as the ‘new Pappy Van Winkle’ by The New York Post, The Pathfinder claims to be the number-one-selling product this year in many US non-alcoholic retailers, including Boisson, Met Market in Seattle, Wellspent in Portland, and New York’s Amor Y Amargo.
“We have won over a lot of skeptics who didn’t believe that non-alcoholic options would find a place in the beverage world,” said Kraig Rovensky, global ambassador for The Pathfinder Hemp and Root.
“We’re blazing a trail for those who want to try something different – and the demand we’ve seen in the past few months proves that zero-proof ‘spirits’ are here to stay.”
The Pathfinder is made from fermented and distilled hemp, which deliver an ‘intense flavour and aromatic characteristics of a spirit’. Ingredients include douglas fir, sage, juniper, saffron, wormwood and angelica root.
The brand was inspired by the age of apothecaries and homemade remedies.
The non-alcoholic ‘spirit’ offers ‘root cellar aromas highlighted by dried herbs, gentle warming spice, bittersweet citrus, and pine, with a bracing finish’.
The drink can be served in coffee, neat, over ice or used as the base of a cocktail.
The Pathfinder Hemp and Root is priced at US$39.99 per 700ml bottle.