The Mother Root Interview: From Prohibition Drinks to Non-Alcoholic Wines

Welcome to episode 24 of The REAL Podcast, brought to you, as ever, by REAL Kombucha. Grab your earphones and a glass of crystal clear Royal Flush. What a time to be supping award-winning non-alcoholic wine-like tipples. What a time to be alive!

Speaking of which, this week’s guest used to work in the world of wine. Bethan Higson travelled the globe as an ambassador for a major wine brand, getting involved in harvests, learning all about yeasts, really getting her head inside what makes a good wine and – just as importantly – how a good wine can heighten an occasion.

Since then, she’s launched one of the UK’s most interesting non-alcoholic drinks startups, Mother Root. If you’re someone who thinks non-alc drinks are little more than sugary pop, you want to try this. Her ginger switchels pack a real punch, bringing a complexity to non-alcohol cocktails that you wouldn’t normally expect to find. A must-have for any non-alc explorer’s toolkit, we were delighted when she found time to drop by and chat about her journey so far.

In this episode, Bethan and Jon discuss a range of things, including the history of prohibition drinks, some of the questions an entrepreneur asks themselves when they start putting their brand out there, and the difficulties of getting a modern crowd to drink an age-old drink. Given her background in wine, we also dig into that world from our own perspective. Her views on the way the non-alcoholic wine world is developing are fascinating. In Bethan’s words, it’s really one for the “crazy thinkers”.

If you’re keen to try Mother Root and find out how it mixes with other non-alcoholic drinks, head to our Know How section. We’ll be adding an exclusive non-alcoholic cocktail recipe featuring our two drinks there. And for our newsletter subscribers… well, who knows what might happen. Treats abound. Worth signing up, dontcha think?

In the coming episodes we’ll be chatting again to REAL founder, David Begg, in a series of short episodes. He’ll be sharing his knowledge on a number of things, including fermentation, tea, food pairing and plenty more. Make sure you subscribe to our podcasts and set your notifications on so you can keep up. See you then.