We got a press release yesterday proclaiming that Three Spirit, an elixer that is “beyond alcohol,” had arrived in the U.S. Since non-alcohol or dealcoholized products have seen a surge in interest lately, we thought there might be a story here.
Three Spirit proclaims itself to be “the world’s first plant-powered social elixir” and a “spirits alternative.” Almost all beer is vegan, and, according to a spokeswoman for the U.K.’s Vegan Society, “nearly all distilled spirits are vegan.” There are also vegan wines, such as the red wines from Charles Shaw and Yellow Tail. That means beer, wine and spirits are, and have been for millennia, “plant-powered social elixir(s).”
Three Spirit is aimed at people who subscribe to the idea that food is, or can be, medicine. There’s actually some pretty solid science behind that thought. It’s been established for more than two decades that a whole-foods, plant-based diet can prevent and reverse heart disease and at least ameliorate a range of other nasty diseases, for instance.
There’s also solid science that suggests alcoholic beverages are okay in moderation, which is generally described as “no more than one drink a day for women, two a day for men.” The first Medicare-approved lifestyle medicine program, developed by Dr. Dean Ornish, specifically allows alcohol in moderation.
But many people who follow a whole-food, plant-based diet abstain from alcohol. Some, of course, do so for religious reasons. Others may have experienced harm from alcohol in their own lives. One woman I know, who follows a plant-based, whole-food (PBWF) diet — and who will tell you that a PFWF is not a vegan diet — watched her father die from alcoholism when she was 15. Others may just not like the taste or the “buzz.”
What the people behind Three Spirit seem to be trying to do is to establish a new category of product, one that, according to the handout, “takes drinkers from the start to the end of their evening, with active ingredients and serves to help them feel good through the power of plants.” Since the ingredients in Three Spirit plainly do not qualify it as a beer, wine or distilled spirit, they have no alternative but to use another term, and the term they have chosen is “elixir.”
Three Spirit is being sold direct-to-consumers from its website and at “select retailers across the country.” Select, at the moment, appears to be the operative word. We went search and could find only three locations, all in New York City: Two retailers of nonalcohol beverages and an alcohol-free bar in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. Because it’s not beer, wine or spirits it can be shipped to all 50 states.
Have Three Spirit founders created a tasty beverage? We haven’t tried it, but we suspect the answer is yes. Does it make drinkers “feel good?” We’re pretty sure the answer is yes. Can it revolutionize the drinks industry? Sure it can. If “hard seltzers” can do it, so can a plant-based elixir. The question is: Does it have strong enough backing to do so? On that, we’re not at all sure.
