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Non-Alcoholic Drink 2022
Photograph courtesy of Wild Folk | Written by Carmen Cheng

Botanical Cocktails

By Wild Folk | Made in Calgary

Back when Dalia Kohen was running The Coup vegetarian restaurant, she noticed customers increasingly cutting down on their alcohol intake. It led to her creating alcohol-free botanical cocktails for the menu that turned out to be very popular.

“I believe that the growth of the non-alcohol category is largely due to an increase in people wanting to live a healthier lifestyle,” Kohen says.

After selling The Coup in 2020, Kohen came up with the idea of producing her cocktails as canned beverages. She altered the recipes for the canning process, then launched her company, Wild Folk.

The drinks are steeped, rather than distilled, which brings out the nuances of the ingredients. The robust flavours cater to an adult palate and pair nicely with meals. Taking inspiration from the Americano cocktail of the 1860s, Wild Folk’s Sparkling Negroni is made with rhubarb, grapefruit rind, star anise, rosehip and juniper. It has a natural burnt-orange colour and sweet-bitter complexity that mimics the Campari and vermouth in the classic alcoholic version. The Vermouth Spritz is lightly carbonated and also nicely balanced between bitter and sweet, with notes of coriander, cinnamon, basil, hops, ginger and chamomile — a great choice to open the palate before a meal or to help settle the stomach after eating.

These free-spirited, zero-proof takes on classic cocktails balance the convenience of ready-to-drink products with the complex flavours of well-crafted cocktails. Wild Folk botanical cocktails can be found at retailers, restaurants, liquor stores and hotels across Alberta. As 95 per cent of the ingredients are organic and many are sourced sustainably, instead of a hangover, consumers of Wild Folk’s botanical cocktails can wake up celebrating their good choices.

$5.50 each, $22 for a four-pack
drinkwildfolk.com

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