Pulp Culture co-founder Mark McTavish will be the first to tell you that his company’s line of ready-to-drink, functional fermented juice beverages is a niche proposition. But with the California-based brand’s latest flavor – the protein-rich BUILD – it’s continuing to push forward its mission of creating a better-for-you alcoholic drink.
Founded in 2020 by McTavish and endurance athlete Brendan Brazier, Pulp Culture’s line of 4.9% ABV, 12 oz. canned juices are made with natural ingredients and vitamins to provide functional benefits beyond a buzz. Flavors on the core line include RELAX, HUSTLE, THINK, RESTORE and PLAY, each of which contains functional mushrooms sourced from Four Sigmatic.
With BUILD, the first launch on the brand’s new “hyper-functional” PulpCulture+ line, the company is premiering what it calls a “world’s first” protein-boosted hard juice made with pineapple, cordyceps, ashwagandha, vanilla and coconut. Each 12 oz. can contains probiotics, 120 calories, zero grams of sugar, and 5 grams of animal-free protein developed by The EVERY Company through a proprietary precision fermentation process. BUILD will retail for $16.99 per 4-pack and is now available online with a brick-and-mortar roll out expected in the near future.
Pulp Culture’s products are produced via a “spontaneous fermentation” process in which raw, cold-pressed juice is fermented for three months, creating both the alcohol content as well as organic acids, probiotics, phytochemicals and other nutrients. The company has called the final drink a “Full Spectrum” fermented beverage – to borrow a term from the hemp space – to describe the array of functional properties created through the process.
“BUILD is something that I’ve wished existed for years: highly bioavailable, nature-equivalent and quality animal protein—without the animal—in a wild-fermented, naturally alcoholic, zero-sugar probiotic beverage with botanical adaptogens,” said Brazier in a press release. “We know people, especially fitness enthusiasts, want the positive outcomes of a better beverage that naturally contains alcohol—and it’s finally here.”
While positioning any alcoholic beverage as “healthy” is against federal food and drug standards, McTavish told BevNET that BUILD – and Pulp Culture itself – is focused on “celebrating fermentation” and offering consumers more beneficial ways to drink alcohol.
“I’ll be honest about it, we didn’t come up with a product here that we thought consumers were asking for,” McTavish said. “The main principle behind all this is that we’re making this type of a product because consumers didn’t even know it was possible, and that once consumers see that you can have a very healthy experience with a product that just happens to contain alcohol, and it’s actually giving to your body and making you feel great, we think that their mindset will shift quite a bit.”
Pulp Culture’s line originally launched in summer 2020 and, as a result of rolling out into the height of the pandemic, has taken a careful approach to growth, McTavish said. The brand is currently sold in Whole Foods across the country, including California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Georgia and Tennessee. As well, the company has added chains like H-E-B, Central Market and The Fresh Market as well.
The launch of BUILD comes on the heels of a $7 million Series A funding round announced earlier this month. The round was led by The Kale Fund, Vibrant Ventures and Roger Lienhard of Blue Horizon, and strategic funding was led by entrepreneurs Marc Lustig, Kyle Vogt, Michael Mente, Raissa Gerona and Alexis Ohanian. The round also included CPG players such as the founders of Four Sigmatic, MUD/WTR and The Feed.
McTavish said the company spent roughly a year-and-a-half raising the Series A, during which time it opened up a new Los Angeles production facility and taproom. The financing is also supporting a “big push” into ecommerce via the launch of a direct-to-consumer site, with BUILD serving as the first online exclusive product as part of “a really concerted effort to become a DTC brand.” While digital and social marketing will play a role in raising brand awareness, he said Pulp Culture intends to focus on building a community of health-conscious consumers engaged with the brand.
“We really feel like community-centric strategies are going to be the winner for us, because we think a lot of people that want to drink the healthiest thing they can possibly drink are doing that because of a trusted referral. Somebody said [to them] ‘Hey, this is what I drink, you should try it’ or they’re part of a tribe. Maybe they’re an endurance athlete, maybe they’re a fitness fanatic, maybe they’re into super mushrooms and they’re part of that crowd. We feel like the trusted referral goes a long way and we have these specific consumer groups that fall within very specific communities that we can tap into.”
Four Sigmatic’s involvement both as a supplier and via the cap table is particularly important for Pulp Culture as the two companies will work together to cross promote one another, McTavish added. As well, Pulp Culture is partnering with fitness clubs like Barry’s Bootcamp, Equinox and F45 Fitness for in-store activations.
Meanwhile, the BUILD launch also reflects a milestone for The EVERY Company, marking the protein producer’s first innovation in the beverage alcohol sector. The company, originally known as Clara Foods prior to its name change last year, produces animal-free pepsin and egg proteins made with a precision fermentation process.
Arturo Elizondo, co-founder and CEO of The EVERY Company, told BevNET that the protein used in BUILD was in R&D for over six years and cost more than $100 million to create. With the product now on the market, he hopes to introduce the ingredient into additional beverage formats – both alcoholic and non-alc – where protein was previously absent due to texture and flavor issues.
“We felt that there was a real opportunity here for us to, not necessarily give it to people because it was the obvious place to go, but really that this is somewhere where no one has gone before. And it’s never been possible before with all the other traditional proteins.”