Manchester alcohol-free craft brewer Drynks Unlimited is celebrating its 0% SMASHED Pale ale winning a coveted Product of the Year award. It was one of the only small independent businesses, and the first ever alcohol-free drinks brand, to win a coveted award.
SMASHED Pale ale is a light and refreshing 0% ale with hints of toffee and caramel finished with passionfruit notes. It only launched in October 2020 and has already proved one of the brands most popular beers.
This is the first year that the prestigious Product of the Year award included a specific No and Low Alcohol category which saw 10,000* consumers vote for the most innovative product.
Drynks Unlimited launched in 2018 and has invested millions of pounds in a pioneering cool vacuum distillation plant in Stockport, Manchester which gently removes alcohol from real premium craft beers and ciders. This innovative process results in a range of 0% beers and ciders which taste as good as the alcoholic originals. You wouldn’t know there wasn’t any booze in them.
It owns the only cool vacuum distillation brewery in the UK which has started paying dividends as its SMASHED range of quality alcohol free drinks is winning global taste awards, national supermarket listings in the UK, UAE and USA and seen sales grow by almost 50% from January 2020-January 2021.
Richard Clark Founder and MD of Drynks Unlimited said: “We only launched our SMASHED range of alcohol-free beers and ciders in 2019 and we’ve been bowled over by their popularity. We spent a long time perfecting the best way to remove alcohol from premium craft drinks without damaging the original liquid so the fact that 10,000 people voted for our SMASHED Pale ale above big name drinks brands is very humbling.
“We know people are missing the social atmosphere of a pub, so we thought we would offer a free 0% pint delivered to your front door; have A Smashed Pint on Us.”
SMASHED Pale Ale was one of just 34 national winners, joining an illustrious group of market-leading and innovative products including Heineken’s Strongbow Rosé Cider, Echo Falls’ Blueberry & Hibiscus Rosé Seltzer and Nando’s Garlic PERinaise PERi-PERi Mayonnaise.
To celebrate winning Product of the Year and to say thank you to everyone’s support since Drynks Unlimited launched, the brand is giving away 250 x 660ml bottles of SMASHED Pale ale and 250 x 660ml of SMASHED Lager on the Drynks store on Thursday 11th February 2021. www.drynks.co.uk
“No-low is a fast growing industry and what better reflection of this than to be voted Product of the Year” says Helga Slater, MD, Product of the Year “We’re thrilled to crown 0% SMASHED Pale Ale as the winner in the alcohol-free category, a truly worthy winner.”
The annual Product of the Year Awards feature the most comprehensive survey of product innovation with the world’s leading data and insights company, Kantar. The winning products represent key consumer wants and habits and each brand wins the right to feature the iconic red Product of the Year logo – an instantly recognisable symbol of product excellence.
The SMASHED range uses the finest ingredients to create authentic tasting beers and ciders that maintain the same bubbly personality, character and flavour of the original full alcohol version.
All SMASHED drinks are vegan, gluten free (where possible) and contain less than 100 calories per 330ml bottle/can. The quality and taste of SMASHED drinks also won the brand a Great Taste Award and World Beer Award bronze for SMASHED Lager and an International Beer Challenge silver medal for SMASHED Citrus.
SMASHED is available in selected Sainsbury’s** stores (SMASHED Lager and SMASHED Pale ale 4 pack box) and the full range is in Booths supermarket. It is also available online at www.drynks.co.uk, Zeroholic.co.uk, Drydrinker.com, and a range of local independent retailers across the UK.
Check us out on www.drynks.co.uk and on social @drynkssocial
*Winner Alcohol Free Drinks Category. Survey 9,865 People by Kantar.
** SMASHED Lager is in 250 stores and SMASHED Pale ale in 130 stores nationwide
