W were recently delighted to talk to Stephen Lawrence from Brunswick Aces on an Instagram Livestream. He gave us so much wonderful information. In fact, it seemed a shame that some people missed the stream. So this is a recap of everything he told us on the Instagram livestream, so no one has to miss out! 

The Beginnings of Brunswick Aces

Brunswick Aces was founded by a rather eclectic group of neighbours living in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. These neighbours (turned friends) shared a love of food and drink. Because of this, they wanted to make a delicious, adult-tasting, alcohol-free spirit so that the non-drinkers in their group also had something nice to drink. 

The Brunswick area is famous for being a top foodie location with a strong spirit of multiculturalism and inclusivity. The motto of Brunswick Aces, in the Brunswick spirit, is to make everyone feel welcome. 

The original aim of the friends was to create something delicious for non-drinkers. So this eclectic group, which includes an engineer, a neuroscientist and a combination of other people, none of whom are involved in the food and drink industry, got to work. The result was the creation of the first non-alcoholic spirit in Australia. An alcohol-free spirit that really is unique. 

The Facilities

Not only did Brunswick Aces launch the first alcohol-free spirit in Australia, they also established the first alcohol-free bar. While their bar is no longer exclusively non-alcoholic, they still have one of the best sober menus available. 

Visible from behind the bar is the distillery. This consists of three unusual-looking stills that operate daily and hold 2000 litres. These stills were designed for Brunswick Aces by co-founder Stephen (an engineer). 

They are not set up like a standard distillery because Brunswick Aces don't make typical spirits. Firstly, there is no copper because everything is 100% naturally distilled. This means that nothing is added or taken away in the process. Copper is used to help remove nasty compounds, for example, sulfides, that develop when you distil a spirit like whiskey. But when you distill Sapiir these compounds don't develop. There are also no columns because the spirit is not distilled further to strengthen the alcohol. 

The stills are big because when you make alcohol-free spirits, you need roughly ten times the amount of distillates than you do in alcoholic drinks. There are three stills, which allows Brunswick Aces to distil different ingredients requiring different times, temperatures and settings. For instance, ingredients like aniseed and juniper are heavier and need longer, hotter distillation. On the other hand, botanicals such as clove use much more gentle settings. 

How long does it take to make a Sapiir?

The time it takes to make a Sapiir depends on the spirit that Brunswick is making and how many botanicals are involved in the process. Each botanical is individually distilled. The botanicals each take an average of one full day to distil. Some, such as Juniper, require a little longer, more like a day and a half. Others, such as clove, take half a day to distil. Brunswick Aces spades contain eight botanicals, so takes roughly eight days to distil. 

After distilling, Cam (a neuroscientist) creates the blend and tries to keep it consistent. Each time the products are distilled, they create a new blend, so it requires work to make sure that each batch tastes consistent. They might need to compensate for the amounts of an ingredient because, for instance, the lemon myrtle was particularly sweet this time. So they have to try and dial it up and down to keep it consistent.

Each new batch of 1000 litres (about 1400 bottles) takes about two weeks to create, which includes distilling, blending, bottling and labelling. After that, it can be sent out to the happy customers! 

The Brunswick Bottle Design

The design of the Brunswick Aces bottles is unusual. They wanted something that doesn’t directly make people say, “Oh, but it doesn’t have alcohol in it”. The unique profile is inspired by Chanel number 5 perfume bottles. Its elegance is designed to cause people to salivate immediately, often before they’ve tasted the spirit. And, in the spirit of sustainability, the bottles are pretty to encourage you to reuse them.

But the secret in the lid is the key to everything. One of the complaints that Brunswick Aces often received was that people did not know the right measure of Sapiir to use. So, the obvious solution was to make an inbuilt jigger in the lid. The lid contains two jiggers with different markings at 15, 30, 45 and 60 ml. This way, customers will never struggle to measure their Sapiir again. As they say, “Measure for your pleasure”. 

Tasting Sapiir with Stephen

At this point in the livestream, Stephen poured a glass of Sapiir and tonic, using 30ml Sapiir in a rocks glass. He then talked us through the tasting experience. 

The scent is the first thing you notice when you pour a glass of the Spades blend. Spades is like a perfume that you can drink. It has green, fresh aromas, with lemon myrtle (a native Australian plant), parsley and green cardamom. It has a floral, earthy scent profile. When you taste Spades, it has a savoury palate, emulating gins with a citrussy, floral, and sweet balance. 

To enjoy the complete profile, use all the parts of your nose. After all, the right and left nostrils do different jobs. The right side makes you hungry and thirsty, while the left nostril deals with the delicate flavours. Together, they help you access the entire profile of the drink. 

Alcohol-Free Magic

Brunswick Aces are inspired by playing cards for a reason. Stephen explained an alcohol-free magic trick that helps to understand the Sapiir drinking experience. 

Any magic trick consists of three parts: the pledge, the turn and the prestige. 

The pledge is the part of the trick where you offer something, for instance, a rabbit, that captures the attention of the audience. The scented notes are the pledge of Brunswick Aces Sapiir Spades. They offer a green, fresh and savoury pledge. 

The turn is the part of a magic trick where the magician makes the intriguing thing disappear. Now, this might sound bizarre, but by tasting the Sapiir neat, without a mixer, the flavour disappears. You are left wondering where all the complex flavours you were promised have gone. 

The prestige moment is when the magician brings the rabbit back and we all gasp! Add tonic or soda to the Sapiir and you get the Brunswick Aces prestige moment. All of a sudden, all the flavours you can smell come rushing back, and you can taste them properly. 

What you get is a complex and beautiful blend, with lighter notes on the nose that are citrussy, sweet and floral, and a back palate of juniper and pepper berry (a Tasmanian native plant). You get a beautiful, complex journey and profile in all parts of your mouth. It is the sort of complexity that you don’t get in a cordial. 

So Why Does the Magic Happen? 

The Brunswick Aces distilling process is 100% natural, non-alcoholic distillation. This means that the process only captures the delicate and complex essences and aromas from the ingredients. Your palate can not taste just aromas, even though 90% of taste is done by your nose. This is because when you have nothing on your tongue, your brain can't figure out what to attach the scents to. 

However, by adding tonic or even carbonated water, your brain can attach the delicate aromas to your gustatory sense, and you will be hit with the full force of the botanical flavours. So, to taste Brunswick Aces properly, you need to use a mixer. This is also the case for many other alcohol-free spirits. 

In fact, the word Aces in the name is a nod to the fact that ace is the perfect start to the hand, but won’t win you the game. Brunswick Aces are making the best possible start to help make delicious cocktails, but you have got to do the rest. Sapiirs are spirits that are intended to be mixed. They elevate a mocktail into a sophisticated, non-alcoholic cocktail. 

As one last tip, put a drop of Spades on top of any drink you make, and it will intensify the aroma and enhance the drink. 

Kings Reign

Stephen also shared a delicious, summery, alcohol-free cocktail that you can make with Brunswick Aces Spades. Perfect for people in Australia heading into the summer, less perfect for the Wintery UK. It sounds delicious, however out of season it is! 

Ingredients

• 2 Strawberries

• 30ml Spades Sapiir

• 15ml Elderflower cordial 

• Topped with Noughty alcohol-free sparkling wine

Method

1. Add the strawberry into a glass and muddle it. 

2. Add your Spades sapiir and elderflower cordial.

3. Shake with ice and strain into a glass.

4. Top with Noughty alcohol-free sparkling wine.

5. Garnish with a strawberry and enjoy!