In the heart of Melbourne, a group of neighbours get together each weekend to enjoy homemade food and drinks. Out of all the fresh bread, desserts, craft beer and kombucha, the thing the group kept making again and again was their own gin blends.
Then due to a pregnancy and some health goals in the group, they could no longer all drink their alcohol creations. They started thinking about how they could recreate the drinking experience, but with none of the alcohol. After discussing the mechanics of distilling gin, they asked themselves "Why don't we make non-alcoholic gin?"
From there, things progressed at a rapid rate, using their existing small still, the first batch of Sapiir was served at the next dinner party. It soon wound its way into the hands of friends and demand grew. In the blink of an eye the Brunswick Aces brand was born, and the group started on the path to where they are today.
The Aces crew is made up of a bunch of diversely talented people.
There is an engineer, a scientist, a marketing specialist, a finance officer, a psychologist, a project manager, and a business strategist. With these skills, they have been able to take an idea and transform it into a unique Australian brand.
“Our business is all about making everyone feel welcome at any occasion!”
The name Brunswick Aces comprises two parts:
1 - Brunswick was where the journey began
2 - Aces is in relation to playing cards and an ‘Ace High’ refers to giving people that elevated feeling (being the best card in the deck) with a sophisticated drink in their hand at a gathering and feeling welcome.
The team often get asked to explain what Sapiir means. It’s an unusual term that most people not born in the Middle Ages won’t have heard before. In essence, a Sapiir is an alcohol free spirit which has been distilled with a minimum of 4 botanicals and is completely alcohol free throughout its distillation process. Sapiir-like distillations were originally used to preserve natural botanicals for flavouring food and drinks throughout the year. These vapour distillations were also used for medicinal purposes.
There are 4 key requirements for a Sapiir to be considered genuine:
1 - The flavour of the Sapiir must be captured using either pot or column distillation using fresh, dried ingredients. No additives, preservatives or sweeteners can be used at all.
2 - The flavour of the Sapiir has to be made up of at least 4 individual botanical ingredients.
3 - The Sapiir shouldn’t need any stabilisers or preservatives, and if they are used, they must be of natural origin.
4 - A genuine Sapiir can’t be carbonated and must be alcohol free (being 0.5% ABV or below)
Brunswick Aces have two Sapiir blends, Hearts and Spades.
The Spades blend was the first thing the group created and was purely to fit their own palates, luckily it also fits a lot of other people's palates too. They wanted to create Spades in a savoury and fresh style using the London Dry style method.
The key botanicals in Spades include green cardamom, parsley and lemon myrtle which you will get on the palate and through the aroma. You will also get a similar sensation to the burn you get from alcohol down the back of your throat, this magic has been achieved using Tasmanian Mountain Pepperberry. The team has worked hard to get a front, middle and back palate taste that grows with each sip.
Because the Spades Sapiir blend was created specifically for the team, they created a number of different cocktail recipes to showcase the botanicals. This is one of their favourites, give it a try and let us know what you think of it!
60ml Brunswick Aces Spades
15ml Lemon juice
30ml Lemon Oleo
15ml Lemon Verbena Tea Syrup
½ Teaspoon Lemon Husk Marmalade
Add all ingredients into a shaker
Add ice and shake well
Strain over ice in coupe glass
Garnish with a dehydrated lime
Not only have the team created two outstanding alcohol free spirits, they have also opened the first alcohol free bar in Australia.
The Brunswick Bar has over 100 low and no options including beers, wines, ciders and spirits. The most popular drinks are the amazing cocktails which feature a wide variety of brands from all over the world, including their Sapiir of course...
The Undrunk team need to get on a flight to Aus to visit the bar!