News

Kerry ingredients company will debut its Botanicals Collection Zero

Kerry introduced its new Botanicals Collection Zero, a range of botanical extracts that are specifically designed for low- and no-alcohol beverages. The ingredient company will offer 15 new standard extracts with an additional 35 other options that the company can create with its fusion distillates.

Flavor options include juniper, rosebud, elderflower, turmeric and cinnamon and all the botanicals are fully traceable, clean-label, halal-certified and kosher.

The ingredients company expressly calls out gin and rum as liquors that can benefit from its haze- and sediment-free botanical extract line. However, other zero-proof producers profit from this new line of ingredients and are likely to take advantage as the market for these options continues to grow.

Kerry said in its release that the market for low- and no-alcohol beverages is expected to grow 41% between 2015 and 2021 as consumers look for alternatives to imbibe without any of the altering effects from ethanol consumption. Although there is interest in these non-alcoholic beverages, taste has repeatedly proved to be a barrier to adoption. Kerry’s new line of botanicals aims to change the association of mocktails with poor taste.

“Consumer expectations are currently not being met by mocktails and other no-alcohol options due to the fact that products often resemble juices rather than alcohol," Michel Aubanel, flavor ingredients global development manager for Kerry. "Increasingly, consumers want the upscale experience of the glass, ice and taste, but without the alcohol content."

Botanical extracts in alcohol beverages is already a $500 million business and growing by 9% per annum, according to Kerry. With such growth in the market, the choices for producers looking to provide customers with upscale non-alcoholic versions of liquor is only going to expand and so Kerry will have to continue to innovate with top-quality ingredients to compete.

To really make its new Botanicals Collection Zero stand out, the company is also offering proprietary blends that target specific markets and regional tastes through its slow maturation fusion distillate process.

The growing global trend toward no-alcohol libations has not equally favored beverages. While wine and liquor have been plagued by concerns about taste and quality, beer has experienced noteworthy success with Big Beer investing heavily in the space. AB InBev plans for 20% of its global beer volumes coming from no- and low-alcohol beers by 2025; the company added four no- and low-alcohol craft beers to its portfolio earlier this year.

If Kerry’s ingredient portfolio can help liquor producers replicate the success seen in the beer industry, there will be an enormous market opportunity for the Irish company to take advantage of as producers unlock the flavor nuances that make liquor based drinks enduringly popular through the generations.