Seedlip Founder Ben Branson Brings his Next Drinks Innovation to M&S

Ten years after starting the non-alcoholic drinks movement with Seedlip, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits, Ben Branson is bringing his next innovation to M&S

Launching at M&S is Sylva Orchard, made with regenerative pale malt barley, cherry wood from Kent, plum wood from Wales and apple wood from Worcestershire. It has notes of red cherry, stewed plum and crisp apple, followed by toasted biscuit, malt, caramel and gentle smoke, with a long finish of dark berries and bakewell tart.

Sylva, the unique maturation lab making aged non-alcoholic spirits from grain and wood, will launch at M&S this September.

Sylva isn’t designed to imitate alcoholic spirits like whisky or rum. It began with a different question: with around 73,000 tree species in the world, what do they taste like?

At Sylva’s maturation lab in the Colne Valley, Branson and his team are exploring the answer, working with more than 200 tree species to create new flavours from wood and grain. British grain is distilled while woods are split, chipped, roasted, smoked and charred, before the liquid undergoes a pioneering maturation process using heat, oxygen, time, pressure and ultrasound.

Ben Branson, Founder of Sylva, says: “With Seedlip, we proved that choosing not to drink alcohol didn’t have to mean compromising on the experience of a delicious drink. With Sylva, I wanted to go further. We’re not trying to make an alcohol-free version of something that already exists. We’re exploring an almost untouched source of flavour – trees – and asking what becomes possible when you combine wood, grain, science and time. Seeing Sylva on the shelves at M&S is a very special moment. It takes something we’ve spent years developing in our lab and forest and puts it in front of a completely new audience.”

Sylva Orchard is designed to be sipped slowly, either neat or over ice. It can also be served as a highball with soda, or as Sylva’s ‘New Fashioned’ with seasn Dark bitters.

Sylva Orchard will be available from 23 September in 325 M&S stores, RRP £35.

For more information: https://sylvalabs.com/