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Ex-Diageo, Building a Better Drinking Future, Beverage Consultant, Co-founder PARCH & Summerlong Supper Club ($2m restaurant charity), Creator Ketel One Botanicals, Forbes “Women Running The Liquor World”
Conflicted & co-opted - cocktails for kids?? I've been having this conversation more frequently with friends & family because in creating Parch Spirits Co one of my overt criteria was for our #nonalcoholic cocktails to taste 'yucky' to children - too spicy, smoky, bitter, herbaceous, sour - because they were designed intentionally with complex flavors for adults not kids - and I didn't want them co-opted! (As Starbucks & SEPHORA are overrun with #middleschoolers) Yet I pride myself on my own kids experimenting with new flavors so their palate is more developed than mine at their age. We've also had more open conversations than most about alcohol, alcoholism, addiction & non alcoholic alternatives given my career. So now each of my 3 kids has a favorite PARCH flavor (which is so much healthier than traditional soda & juice) but I still like at tastings when kids make that yucky face - more for us! https://lnkd.in/ePn_k52X
Matt Sabo
3mo
Really great take, and have found myself in a similar spot with our daughters (and, our friends' kids when the topic comes up). It's often about taste, and widening the aperture on flavors.
CPG Product Dev~ Formulator & Herbalist
2moThis is a current topic of conversation with the rise of the NA industry but not a particularly new scenario. Kids always emulate adult experiences. From little kids "tea parties" to teens drinking virgin Pina colada or Shirley Temples at outings or family events. Giving them options isn't necessarily a gateway to alcohol consumption. It can actually be the opposite - showing them fun /inclusive experiences and enjoyable beverages exist without booze. Teen alcohol consumption is more often about "feeling adult" or rebellion than it is the alcohol itself. If mocktails are presented as an "adult" option they have less cause to reach for the alcoholic counterpart. On the flavor side of things, kids who get exposure to more diverse flavor profiles without bias at an early age tend to have a more broad palette. I spent 10 years teaching kids culinary in NYC and the well traveled kids had "adult" preferences as young as 4 years old. They won't particularly notice the difference between a fancy unique soda drink or a mocktail with essentially the same ingredients unless it's treated differently by the adults around them.