Crafting the Soul of Tequila With Almave, a Non-Alcoholic Agave Spirit

Cocktails Distilled

Like so many of us, Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has a fondness for Tequila, but also, like many of us, he understands the advantages of imbibing less.

But finding a good non-alc Tequila is not as simple as it sounds. So Hamilton did the next logical thing - he created his own.

In an endeavour to honour the tradition and craft of real Tequila, he partnered with Casa Lumbre, an innovative Mexican spirit company and its distiller and co-owner Ivan Saldaña.

The two them crafted Almave, which is marketed as the first non-alcoholic blue agave-based spirit distilled in Jalisco Mexico.

The liquid has been designed to provide an alcohol-free alternative without compromising traditional tequila's authentic taste and cultural essence.

To find out more, we talk to the distiller and co-owner of Casa Lumbre about Blue Agave and retaining the taste of Blue Agave without fermentation.

Chapter

1. Crafting the Soul of Tequila With Almave, a Non-Alcoholic Agave Spirit (00:00:00)

2. Now tell us how the collaboration with Hamilton actually came about. (00:01:26)

3. Now, although Almave is made from blue agave, do you see the liquid as a non -alcoholic tequila or would you define it as something else? (00:02:52)

4. Now tell us a little bit about how Almave was created. How did you go about it? (00:04:49)

5. Let me ask by skipping the fermentation process, does Almave have more of the terroir of Jalisco than a normal tequila would have? (00:10:50)

6. Now, having said that it's not technically a tequila, how would you describe the flavour? (00:12:52)

7. Have you designed a mother to, have you designed the liquid to be just drunk on its own or with ice or specifically to be put into cocktails? (00:15:58)

8. Now there's a variety of non-alcoholic products on the market right now, in fact there's a deluge of them. Why should consumers grab a bottle of Almave compared to anyone else? Anything else? (00:17:57)

9. Now, of course, in the news in the last day or so has been the fact that Pernod Ricard has acquired a minority stake. What is this going to mean for the brand? (00:22:05)

10. Now the spirit is still in its first year, but have any bartenders created drinks with it that you didn't perhaps expect? (00:23:27)

11. So if you've got a dawn and you've got a dusk, what's next for the company? you've bookended so much of the day. (00:28:18)

12. Now you mentioned earlier that Pernod was going to help in terms of getting into new markets. Where is the liquid available right now? (00:29:44)