Spencer Matthew’s Alcohol Free Spirit Brand CleanCo Celebrates No.1 Status With Brand Refresh

LONDON, UK. 1st October, 2024 - CleanCo, now the world’s leading independent alcohol-free spirit brand, proudly unveils its new offering. The range of alcohol-free Gin, Rum, Whiskey, & Tequila brings together a year’s worth of work on an elevated look, a market-leading sustainable bottle and further recipe development of the already multi-award-winning liquids.

The entire range has transitioned from 0.4% ABV (officially non-alcoholic) to 0.0% ABV (officially alcohol-free), in a move to avoid any confusion for consumers and to cater for those who want to abstain from alcohol in its entirety, for personal or religious reasons.

“CleanCo started a revolution. Only a few years ago if you didn’t want an alcoholic drink at most bars and restaurants, you were destined to boring water, sugary soft drinks or the dreaded juice-dump mocktail. It was like suddenly people assumed you didn’t value your experience or your tastebuds if you weren’t drinking. CleanCo set out to change that and I couldn’t be prouder of how far we’ve come”, said founder Spencer Matthews.

Since its inception in 2019, CleanCo has spearheaded the no and low market, becoming the first of its kind to offer a full suite of alcohol-free alternatives to all major full-strength spirits.  It’s now the best-selling independent brand globally, the most 5-star rated on Trustpilot and holds over 30 awards from around the globe, including recent Great Taste & Gold ISWC wins.

In 2023 alone, CleanCo sold a Clean Cocktail every 8 seconds, through its global network of retail, bar and restaurant partners. This puts the brand at a growth rate of double that of the category, selling enough bottles to reach the size of the Eiffel Tower 170 times.

Fresh Look

CleanCo’s new look, developed in partnership with packaging design agency  KnockOut, pays respect to the traditions of the classic spirit world whilst introducing distinctive modern twists for a new era of drinking.

“I really wanted to create something that retained that inherent premium look and feel you expect from a quality spirit, something that really does the liquid justice, but also carves out a new path in a category that’s typically scared of change.”

“CleanCo is all about delivering taste and experience; the packaging is a huge part of that. I want our customers and retail partners to proudly display their CleanCo bottles at home and on their bar shelves. Our new bottles are a work of art,” Matthews continued.

The new bottle design comes off the back of an entire visual identity refresh for the brand, developed in partnership with brand design agency Duzi.

“As the category evolves, so do we” states Matthews. “When we started out in 2019, we had a simple focus – to create the best product possible to meet a consumer need.  CleanCo is now so much more than that. We’re a community for lots of people, in the same way that the sober-curious and moderation movement has formed new lifestyles for so many. We’ve gone from a start-up to a global leader and this new look honours that journey, as well as what’s still to come”.

Elevated Recipe

The entire CleanCo range is now 0.0% ABV (alcohol-free).

“Whilst our existing range was officially non-alcoholic (regulatory bodies deem anything less than 0.5% ABV as non-alcoholic) at 0.4% ABV, which is essentially the same amount of naturally occurring alcohol you’d find in a banana, we did extensive consumer testing and found it was quite simply, a bit confusing.”

“So, the move to 0.0% ABV is a natural evolution for the brand and the category. It also allows us to meet the needs of those who want to abstain from alcohol completely for health, personal or religious reasons, or frankly just because they want to! And crucially we’ve managed to do this, all whilst retaining our natural ingredient status and award winning taste,” said Matthews.

The new recipe continues to be:

Sustainable Bottle

The new CleanCo bottle retains its iconic hexagonal shape, whilst being significantly lighter. This reduction in glass, means each bottle now requires half the energy to make. Lighter glass frees up space for more bottles per pallet, in turn saving over 100 trees worth of wood every year.

More bottles can now fit into each shipping container and each truck, which equates to two fewer trips across the Atlantic and 40 fewer trucks on the road each year, reducing CleanCo’s carbon footprint by over 12,000 miles.

“A 50% reduction in energy production is huge. When we set out on this project sustainability was at the core of what we wanted to achieve. I’m happy to say we pushed the boundaries and managed to achieve above and beyond what we thought was possible, thanks to our production partners and world-class R&D team,” finished Matthews.

CleanCo's new alcohol free gin, rhubarb gin, rum, whiskey & tequila are available in all leading supermarkets and online at www.clean.co from 1st October 2024.