Meet the Man Whose Botanical Beverage is on Everyone’s Lips These Days
Ben Branson must be on to something. It seems like he’s popping up everywhere including a recent Food52 profile and last week’s Wall Street Journal feature story on “sophisticated mocktails.” It’s not just a great public relations blitz. He really is on to something. Not drinking alcohol is now as fashionable as drinking it. Everyone, from chefs and bartenders to the consumers they serve seems to be seeking a balanced lifestyle of happy health and hedonistic pleasure.
Ben grew up on a farm in Lincolnshire, England. As the story goes, “He stumbled upon a 1651 edition of ‘The Art of Distillation’ and became intrigued with medicinal elixirs.” He created a botanical beverage called Seedlip which can be mixed in cocktails, spruces up seltzers and you can enjoy on the rocks with a splash or two of water. It’s free of sugar, gluten and alcohol, and both versions taste good. Seedlip Garden 108 is distilled with peas, hay, rosemary and thyme. Seedlip Spice 94 is distilled with cardamom, oak, lemon and grapefruit. It’s so much better than the sugary shots and juices masquerading as healthy that we’ve been tasting. It’s something to drink when we are not drinking besides water, tea and kombucha.
