Banks Botanicals is delivering bold & sophisticated flavours, one bespoke bottle at a time.
Meet Brian Cohen, Yolanda Uys and Frank de Palma, Co-founders of Banks Botanicals – organic, non-alcoholic spirits, made for the mix.
We caught up with Brian to learn more about what makes them unique in a competitive market, new product developments, and their plans for the future. Excerpts from our chat below :
What is Banks Botanicals?
Banks Botanicals is a dedicated non alcoholic distillery located in Healesville in the Yarra Valley.
Founded by my wife Yolanda Uys and myself together with close friend Frank De Palma, Banks was born out of our passion to create a bold and sophisticated non alcoholic adult beverage that celebrated everything that was uniquely Australian.
It was the Yarra Valley’s reputation for pristine water that first drew us to Healesville. We appreciated the region for its abundance, diversity and quality – ideals we wanted to embody in our boutique ‘local craft’ product as well.
We produce a crafted non alcoholic spirit – Banks Hebrarium – which is 100% distilled with organic botanicals that produces a sugar-free, gluten-free and vegan friendly spirit. We use mountain-fresh Yarra Valley water to distil the distinctive cinnamon notes of cassia with the fresh high notes of lemon myrtle and lime, the nutty roasted flavour of wattleseed and the spice of wild Tasmanian pepperberry. Each botanical is individually distilled and then blended to create the distinct flavour of banks. It’s an unapologetically bold and sophisticated mixer with a sense of occasion, and has a memorable finish that lingers long after the final sip.
And what moment led to the inception of it?
Banks is the coming together of Yolanda’s extensive marketing career within the drinks category and Brian being a non drinker. Around 2018, we started observing 2 concurrent global trends in wellness and the need for better inclusion. People wanted to look after themselves better, and that prompted many people to decide to drink less and explore non-alcoholic options. But outside of water, lemon lime and bitters or sweet soft drinks, there wasn’t an offer available that delivered bold and sophisticated flavours.
The social rituals around drinking are part of the fabric of bringing friends and family together. It’s that sense of sharing an experience together, mixing a drink and bringing a feeling of occasion to a moment. Previously, if you decided not to drink you stood out, with some not feeling as connected to that shared moment as a result, with that sense of occasion or ritual of mixing missing. By creating a bold and sophisticated non alcoholic spirit that was made to be mixed, we wanted to create a better sense of inclusion.
We saw a gap in the market and decided to be brave and take on the challenge.
What distinguishes Banks from other non-alcoholic spirits in the market?
The way we craft and produce Banks is unique.
We use a traditional distillation process that uses water as its base vs alcohol. We don’t dealcoholize Banks, and no alcohol ever enters our process. We also treat each botanical individually and have 5 botanicals in our blend. We only use organic or wild harvested botanicals as our ingredients. Plus we don’t use any concentrates or syrups to add flavour or body. Just mountain fresh Yarra Valley water, botanicals and the skill of our distilling team.
Banks Botanicals also pledges 10 cents from every bottle sold to Bush Heritage Australia, a not-for-profit national conservation program committed to restoring and protecting Australia’s unique native flora and wildlife. This speaks to us about the full circle of community and giving back.
Flavour wise, Banks is unique in that it is its own unique blend of flavours. We decided early on in the project that we didn’t want to replicate an existing spirit. As non-alcoholic spirits are a new category, we wanted to have the freedom to explore all the different botanical flavours available to us. And we try to hero Australian botanicals such as lemon myrtle, wattleseed and Tasmanian pepperberry.
What’s been the most interesting thing you’ve heard about your products from your customers?
It’s always to do with the taste and flavour. The surprise that many consumers experience when they first taste Banks and can’t believe it’s not alcohol. When we were creating our spirit, we always had the ritual of mixing drinks in mind, so we always tested our blends mixed vs. straight, to see how the botanicals stood up with other mixers, as some non alcoholics can get lost when mixed.
The non-alcoholic beverage market seems to be growing by the day, how do you manage to maintain your footing with increasing competition?
We have a digital first approach, to build brand awareness and engagement with our audience via our CRM and marketing automation platforms to make sure we are communicating with the right audience in the right way.
We also focus on flavour and New Product Development through investment in our production capability such as with our new Hydrosol still. This investment allows us to scale as demand grows and deliver innovative flavour distillations that enables us to expand our range with innovation.
What were some of the most painful challenges you encountered along the way? And how have those challenges changed today, i.e., what are some present-day challenges that you face?
Balancing supply and our ability to keep pace with the growth in demand for Banks Botanicals was quite a challenge. Our first production in December 2020 was just 300 bottles that we hand labelled and packed. Now, our production has grown to running 5000 bottles in 18 months.
We’ve also seen a growing interest in the use of Australian botanicals across the spirits industry, which has put pressure on our ability to source an ingredient such as Tasmanian pepperberry. Pepperberry is not commercially grown, rather it is wild harvested each March and April from state forests in Tasmania, so the annual supply is limited to what gets picked. We have had to diversify our supply chain partners to ensure continuity of our botanicals at the quality that we demand.
What’s been a major highlight/achievement for you over the past year?
Ranging! We have managed to secure ranging and support from national partners for Banks from First Choice Liquor Market and Dan Murphys. We were included in 20 Dan Murphys stores nationally in 2021 as part of a trial into the low and no alcohol category. As a result of the strong sales performance of Banks in those trial stores, we are about to be ranged in all 243 Dans stores nationally from July.
How do you see the next couple years panning out for Banks Botanicals? Any major reveals you could hint at for us?
We expect the better drinking trend to continue to grow and diversify. As better drinking continues to become mainstream we want to focus on growing our sales and distribution capability and reach across the on-premise and independent retail sectors. As Banks is non-alcoholic, our possible channels of distribution are far wider than a traditional spirits brand as retailers don’t require a liquor licence. This has opened up channels we didn’t expect when we started such as florists, hospitals and gifting stores.
We’re also looking at global expansion as we’re in the process of setting up our ability to export. We think there are significant growth opportunities across parts of Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the US.
We expect to see processes and technologies continue to evolve in the non-alcoholic space and with this, I expect us to continue to innovate in flavours and formats to ensure we are giving our customers what they expect.
In terms of reveals, we are just launching our first entry into the RTD (ready-to-drink) space with a premixed non alcoholic cocktail of our Banks Herbarium spirit mixed with a pink grapefruit tonic. This launches in July! The RTD space opens up a great opportunity for non alcoholic curious consumers to taste Banks at a lower price point (4 pack $20 vs. Bottle of Banks Botanicals 700ml $50). The RTD also allows us to deliver a curated taste as well as have a pack format that suits different usage occasions such as events and out-of-home consumption.
We are also in the process of expanding out our RTD, with launches expected in 2023.
Where can people find your bottles?
They can find them online via our website, in Dan Murphys, First Choice Liquor Market, leading independent drinks specialists such as Blackhearts & Sparrows as well as at online no and low alcohol retailers like craftzero.
And lastly, give us your favourite cocktail recipe to shake up with Banks please!
That’s a hard one, but my favourite is a Banks Raspberry Bramble – it’s deep red in colour, and layered in flavours.
To make a Banks Bramble you need:
60ml Banks Botanicals
30ml Lime (juice from 1 lime)
30ml Pineapple juice
10ml vanilla syrup
4-6 Raspberries
Cinnamon sugar
Martini Glass
Method:
Rim the Martini Glass with lime and then dip onto a plate of sugar cinnamon. Put the glass aside
In a shaker muddle (squash) the raspberries
Add Banks, Lime, Pineapple juice and vanilla syrup in the shaker and shake.
Once shaken add a handful of ice to the shaker and reshake. This cools the drink without diluting the flavours
Strain and pour into a glass. Garnish and enjoy!
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Learn more about Banks Botanicals here.
By Nikita Lamba
