According to a recent study from Statista, Canadians’ consumption of alcoholic beverages decreased for the fourth straight year in 2020, dropping to 98.6 litre per capita, or an overall reduction of 8 per cent since 2010.
A growing inclination toward laying off the sauce – not to mention the desire of younger generations for drinks with “personality,” as is intimated in a recent report from the Insight Partners about the rise of sparkling water – indicates that the stage is set for new types of sparkling sips to make a splash.
Since dipping his toe into the expanse of sparkling waters, Tallo has primarily developed a taste for plain options and is drawn toward brands like Lark, which offers products that have a mild carbonation profile.
Lark, which launched in 2020 and possesses the kind of understated branding an aesthete like Tallo would gravitate toward, has been embraced by home consumers as well as the hospitality sector.
A self-confessed sparkling water obsessive, Veira adds that this past Christmas, she asked for – and received – an Aarke water carbonator.
A number of cannabis-infused carbonated drinks have come to market since the legalization of consumables, and Tallo points out that his local brewery, Prince Edward County’s Matron Fine Beer, recently reintroduced its Eau Well zero-ABV bubbly beverage.
Kin Euphorics, for example, asserts that its products’ “functional formulas and euphoric actives conjure cosmic energy” .
“We really want to disrupt this space, and we feel that we have a differentiated offering.” Sapsucker’s slogan is “Refreshing by nature,” and Lute says that the novel note of sap, combined with classic citrus flavours such as lemon, lime and orange, led product development toward “dialing back the carbonation to bring the profile forward.
Fielding, who has epilepsy, made the decision to cut out booze after experiencing an especially sever seizure in March, 2020.
Soon enough, Fielding and Grand landed on flavour combinations from grapefruit, ginger and juniper to blood orange, the citrus fruit calamansi and jalapeno pepper as enticements for abstainers of all kinds – plus anyone who wanted to use their concoctions as unexpected cocktail mixers.
Fittingly, Fielding and Grand hired noted fashion, art and music photographer Maya Fuhr to shoot their launch imagery, and the results – scenes evocative of playful party moments – hit the right notes in terms of towing the brand’s “A bubble out of the ordinary” tagline.