Tanica is the 10% ABV flavoured spirit creation of marketer Adriene McDermott and former creative partner of swimwear label Seafolly, Kate Napier filling a gap in the market for low-alc drinks.
With a post-lockdown hangover, McDermott wanted to find a way of drinking less without giving up entirely, so with her favourite botanicals in hand enlisted Napier to create Tanica, short for Botanical, a brand to bring fun, style and design to the moderated drinking experience.
The creative duo says the inspiration for the brand came from the boom of health-conscious consumerism and follows in the footsteps of other lower alc brands such as Aperol at 11%, first launched in 1919, Alize vodka liqueur at 20% since 1986 and Malibu Rum at 21% launched in 1982.
Tanica aims to be the 21st century answer to a clean, light and low-alc spirit with nothing artificial. It champions Australian native and natural ingredients like desert lime puree, strawberry gum and yuzu juice and is available in two unique flavours, No.1 Salted Plum & Ginger and No.2 Desert Lime & Thyme.
"Kate and I started off immersing ourselves in all the parts of brand building we knew and loved from our retail and design backgrounds; innovating the flavours, the packaging, the name and the website was our focus. We wanted to make it easy to create lower-ABV versions of our favourite drinks like margaritas, mojitos and cosmos and invent some new ones too," says McDermott.
"We named it Tanica, short for botanical, but it means so much more. It’s a time and place to make people feel good inside and out. The best of both worlds and as much of a visual experience as a better way to drink,” says Napier, who developed the branding in-house and creatively directs the imagery and social media.
"There's no judgment from us on how and when you should drink; we put the freedom into the consumer's hands and make it appealing with experience and taste," says McDermott.
McDermott and Napier believe they are meeting current market demand for low and mid-strength alcohol drinks outside of the traditional beer and wine space and used their fashion and beauty marketing experience, to be different from traditional and male dominated spirits.
"We believe positive drinking, like fashion, is less about following the trend and more about being comfortable in your own skin. We like to think we are creating a ‘you-do-you’ mentality where people are free to choose how much they drink, whether you're protecting your mental health, being healthier or just don't feel like it right now. Just like beauty, only you know what's right for you,” says Napier.
Tanica is designed to either mix either with soda or for a mid-strength cocktail with half a standard drink per 60ml serve, offering drinkers the opportunity to drink more at fewer calories and less of the hangover.
Its stylish design of reusable frosted glass bottle and Italian beechwood cork stopper makes a stylish addition to any drinks cart. Available online at tanica.com.au
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