New Beefeater Botanics launches in Canada

Gin giant Beefeater is taking a sideways step from the category with its new release: Beefeater Botanics Lemon & Ginger.

This is the brand’s first spirit drink, using Beefeater London Dry Gin as a base. It’s bottled at 27.5% ABV – significantly lower in alcohol than Beefeater’s gins – and is made without added sugar, artificial flavours or sweeteners. What’s more, when mixed with tonic water, it contains around half the calories of a regular Beefeater G&T.

Beefeater Botanics is being launched in Canada first as a pilot. It will be sporting the brand’s redesigned packaging, which was unveiled earlier this year.

Desmond Payne, Beefeater’s master distiller, said: “Beefeater Botanics has predominant fruit aromas, yet you can still detect the classic juniper in the profile. The refreshingly balanced taste of fruit flavours is achieved with no compromise, crafted with excellence and using only the best ingredients.”

While this is Beefeater’s first spirit drink, the Pernod Ricard brand is no stranger to flavoured spirits: its Beefeater Pink Strawberry and Beefeater Blood Orange expressions are now distributed in more than 75 markets globally, and this year has also seen the launch of Beefeater Peach & Raspberry.

Muriel Dessenis, Beefeater global brand director, said: “Innovation is at the heart of Beefeater and it has been a strong start to the year for us, delivering new packaging worldwide and three new pilot tests: Beefeater Light in Spain, Beefeater Peach & Raspberry in the UK and now, Beefeater Botanics in Canada.

“For us, innovation is about driving the premium, quality credentials of Beefeater but also responding to key consumer trends in each market to offer our core target consumer, 25-34-year-old ‘urban explorers’, something new and exciting. We know that for these consumers social connections are important and Beefeater Botanics will open up new drinking options not only to recruit new consumers into the brand but the wider gin category.”