Ben Branson: Pioneer of Great Taste

You might have already seen our exciting collaboration with Seedlip drinks. The beautifully illustrated limited-edition bottles and the ‘Perfect Palette Painting Set’ flew off the shelves when they launched on 14th June. We are so glad that our audiences loved this collaboration as much as we did! So much so that we have released more of our limited edition bottles which you can buy on the Seedlip website. Inspired by nature, Seedlip X EBNP has bought together pioneers in great taste and great design, Ben Branson (Seedlip Founder) and our own Edward Bulmer. Both found common ground in their ambitions to celebrate the variety of what nature can offer, and have come together through wheels of colour, design and flavour.

Ben Branson is the Founder of Seedlip and Æcorn Aperitifs, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits and aperitifs. He gained inspiration from his family’s 300 years of North Lincolnshire farming heritage, where he finds himself today with his partner and daughter River. Like us with paint, Seedlip is on a mission to change the way the world drinks by working with the natural world to create the highest quality non-alcoholic distilled spirits. The range includes three unique & complex blends: Seedlip Spice 94, Seedlip Garden 108 & Seedlip Grove 42.

Ultimately, regardless of why you’re not drinking, Seedlip strive to offer you the choice of a flavourful, sophisticated, adult option.

Following on from this exciting collaboration with Seedlip we took a second to talk to its founder Ben Branson.

With two gold medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, opening offices in LA & Sydney and publishing a Cocktail book with Penguin, tell us Ben what moment are you most proud of or do you hold most dearly in your Seedlip journey?

Being the first to do something & challenge the status quo isn’t easy but when you do, as we did, with the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits, and now can count over 200x other non-alcoholic spirit brands now available in over 50 countries… well… that’s pretty wow to me & my team! We have a dynamic category, growing demand & an exciting opportunity for people all over the world to have a great option to drink when they’re not drinking alcohol.

Seedlip has been a huge success in its (only!) four years on the market, what Drives and Inspires you ?

Impatience, curiosity, dissatisfaction, solitude, nature, my girls, change, design, simplicity, stories, history…. I could go on!

Tell us a surprising fact about Seedlip?

My ancestors [we’ve been farming as a family for 320 years] are hidden in the acorn on the front label of Seedlip Spice 94.

You have a diverse background working for brands like Nike, Magnum and Veuve Clicquot, what does good design mean to you?

Good design tells a story, simply, beautifully & meaningfully to its audience.

Where is your favourite place to enjoy a Seedlip cocktail?

Sitting outside my greenhouse, in the veg patch, listening to the chickens, pottering!

Best piece of advice you have learnt from creating Seedlip?

Hire the best, build a strong culture, try things, be polite, do things properly, work at pace.

Favourite book or podcast to share?

The Art of Distillation published in London in 1651 written by John French, a physician who collated hundreds of herbal remedy recipes [some alcoholic, some non-alcoholic] that used distillation as the method. This book has changed my life, informed and inspired the creation of Seedlip and we are proud owners of a copy from 1664 that survived the Great Fire of London!

[You can read the pdf here http://www.magia-metachemica.net/uploads/1/0/6/2/10624795/john_french_-_the_art_of_distillation.pdf ]

Favourite EBNP colour + why ?

Has to be Pea Green. It’s the hero ingredient in Seedlip Garden 108 and for the first three years we hand-picked our peas from my farm every June. I even have P E A S tattooed on my knuckles!

For more insights into the Seedlip X EBNP journey check out our interview between Ben Branson and Edward Bulmer HERE and head over to our social channels.