First announced in January, De Soi is a new brand of non-alcoholic sparkling aperitifs produced by singer Katy Perry and Morgan McLachlan, the master distiller of AMASS Spirits. The product line currently features three flavors, in 750ml bottles or 8 oz cans, and features a unique blend of herbal and adaptogenic ingredients.

The three flavors include Golden Hour, Champignon Dreams and Purple Lune. For the purposes of this review, we sampled the 8 ounce cans only. This is fine, since we’re much more bullish on the potential for this as a single-serve product and feel that it’s the likely point of trial for the brand. 

Each can has between 50 and 70 calories and 10 to 12 grams of sugar. This is certainly lower than most alcoholic beverages and seems like a good spot to be for an 8 ounce can.

Moving on to the liquid, De Soi has created some really top notch stuff. Having a co-founder that’s a master distiller clearly hasn’t hurt and each of the three formulations is thoughtfully crafted and well-executed. 

The products use real ingredients – fruits, herbal ingredients, adaptogens, and more – rather than flavorings, and the results are layered and complex, with bitter, sweet, herbal and tangy notes creating flavor profiles that are best sipped slowly – much like most alcoholic beverages. They’ve certainly succeeded in creating flavors that feel like legitimate replacements for booze.

Here’s a rundown of our tasting notes for De Soi’s three varieties:

• Golden Hour – This variety has a very citrusy flavor with notes of lemongrass, lemon balm and yuzu. It also has hop extract, rosemary, bergamot and elderflower, which add additional layers of flavor. 

• Champignon Dreams - This is the fruitiest tasting of the three, with grapefruit, apricot, black currant and strawberry providing the first waves of flavor. From there, we tasted gentian root, juniper and sherry vinegar notes, resulting in something that tastes like a non-alcoholic riff on a gin and tonic. 

• Purple Lune - Tart notes from cherry, blackberry and balsamic give this product a slightly less bitter finish than the other two SKUs. Notes of vanilla, rose petals, oak and pepper add depth and complexity. 

On top of having exceptional flavor, each variety has its own blend of functional ingredients, including mushrooms, adaptogens and L-theanine. While these don’t have the same immediate efficacy as alcohol, we do think that it’s good for the brand to include  additional on-trend ingredients that should be familiar to most consumers who are in tune with better-for-you beverages, rather than just flavor and a lack of alcohol. 

Lastly, there’s the packaging, which features a short 8 ounce can with a matte finish pressure sensitive label. The label is definitely aesthetically pleasing and has a polished but small batch feel with a three color design that has a somewhat minimalist vibe. Each SKU has its own unique background color as well as a conceptual shape that sits in the middle of the front panel. These shapes, which house the label copy, also have a color that’s unique to each.

The label copy is straightforward and has a top to bottom hierarchy that’s pretty intuitive – aside from the name of the SKU being in the bottom right of the center label callout. Still, it’s pretty easy to find and we think that the sub heading of “sparkling non-alcoholic aperitif” should be intuitive enough for consumers to quickly figure out.

In the end, we were really impressed with De Soi’s initial lineup. The drinks are extremely enjoyable, the branding looks great, and we think that they are well positioned to be a player in the growing non-alcoholic cocktail segment.