Ben Branson - Seedlip, Seasn, Sylva & Shandy
#80 - 12 Years in the Making: From Seedlip to Seasn to Sylva to Shandy with Ben Branson
Play Time:
67 Minutes
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QUICK QUOTES:
"In the first six months in Seedlip since launch, I wanted to close the business every week. I didn't want to do it. I probably have that now once a month with all my other projects."
“The ambition is to build a global local brand, and so each distillery will have its own responsibility for its own release schedule, and obviously, each distillery is going to work with its own local materials rather than just make a bigger factory in one place. We just want to make the best, not the most"
"I get concerned when I see non-alc products where the first thing I read after the brand name is gin or vodka or whiskey or rum... I find it really misleading, and I find it dangerous from an expectation-setting perspective."
This week, I’m bringing you none other than Mr Ben Branson! The man who turned the drinks world upside down with Seedlip joins me to share the story behind his newest venture, Sylva, with a quick stop off at his innovative bitters range, Seasn.
Sylva is a revolutionary approach to non-alc dark spirits that extracts flavours from trees using sonic maturation. From his humble beginnings as a farming-family-kid-turned-entrepreneur with zero drinks industry experience, Ben opens up about the rollercoaster journey of creating category-defining products. I loved his refreshing honesty about the challenges ("I wanted to close the business every week") and his passionate stance on not mimicking alcoholic spirits.
Between tales of forest foraging, his changed perspective on mocktails, and a sneak peek at his upcoming shandy project (coming to a BBQ near you this summer), this episode captures what makes Ben one of the most innovative minds in the low/no world today. But above all that, he was just so much fun to talk to – happy listening!
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WE CHAT ABOUT
0:00 Ben Branson's story
5:24 Childhood inspiration
8:54 Anti-social behaviour
10:56 The birth of Seedlip
13:29 Small goals: Seedlip was initially a side project
15:27 Genius or lunatic?
17:40 Wavering self-belief: Being his own biggest critic
20:47 How do you stay motivated?
24:31 What is Sylva - how is it made?
30:25 Limited release allocation
31:50 Building a global local brand
36:00 The creative process
39:24 Making a sippable non-alc dark spirit without chilli
44:07 Familiarity of flavour without replication of alcohol
46:19 Dangerous expectations
48:17 Mocktails have their place
50:41 A brief history of bitters
54:38 Seasn bitters
57:43 Dashes not drops
58:57 Find Ben & all his brands
1:00:01 The BBQ-Q
1:03:46 Ben's new Shandy: Daystar
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