Steric Expands Beverage Processing Technology into RTD Production

Steric Systems Inc. is applying its electromagnetic beverage processing technology to enable RTD brands and co-packers to improve product consistency, fine-tune finished flavor and reduce the cost of key ingredients.

The move builds on Steric’s commercial work in wine and distilled spirits, where the process has been used to improve flavor balance and integration, address unwanted sensory characteristics, and recover commercially challenged product. Steric processing has enabled producers to realize more than $30 million in retail sales that otherwise would not have been possible.

Steric is a flavor optimization tool that can be used across multiple product development and production phases. The process passes a beverage or ingredient through a precisely controlled electromagnetic field for nanoseconds, changing how its existing components interact and are perceived. Nothing is added or removed. The result can be better flavor integration, reduced bitterness and astringency, improved mouthfeel and a more balanced finished product.

The process also gives producers more flexibility in ingredient sourcing. Lower-cost alcohol bases and other inputs can be processed to improve their sensory performance, allowing producers to reduce ingredient costs while maintaining the target profile of the finished product. At commercial RTD volumes, relatively small reductions in per-gallon input costs can translate into meaningful COGS savings.

Steric can be applied to individual ingredients, intermediate blends or finished beverages, giving R&D and production teams the ability to use the process where it has the greatest impact. For co-packers, it also provides another means of bringing production back toward a customer’s target when batches vary, without automatically requiring reformulation or additional ingredients.

“For RTD producers, we see Steric as another tool for managing flavor, consistency and production economics,” said Bill Fay, CEO of Steric Systems. “It gives producers more flexibility in the ingredients they use and another way to fine-tune the finished product, with the potential to improve both product quality and cost.”

The Steric technology was named 2023 DISCUS Innovation of the Year and has been used by leading international whiskey, bourbon, tequila and wine brands since its commercial debut in 2024.

Steric is now working directly with RTD brands and co-packers to evaluate their products and production challenges. Producers can submit an existing RTD, ingredient or formulation for side-by-side Steric processing and sensory evaluation to determine where the technology can deliver measurable value in flavor, consistency or ingredient cost.

About Steric

Steric Systems Inc. develops clean, non-additive technology that helps beverage producers improve flavor, consistency and production economics. Its award-winning process has been successfully applied across wine and spirits to enhance product quality, recover off-spec inventory and reduce production costs. Developed through more than eight years of R&D, Steric technology has been used with some of the world’s largest beverage alcohol brands.