Summer in Australia comes with its own set of expectations: big eskies, big nights, a blur of long weekends. For a long time the story was simple — if you wanted to join in, you drank like everyone else and hoped tomorrow would sort itself out.
These days, more and more of us are quietly rewriting that script.
On the farm and out at markets, we keep hearing the same quiet line said in different ways:
“I still want something beautiful in my glass… I just don’t want to feel awful tomorrow.”
*Why What We Make Matters* is our answer to that line. It’s the philosophy behind Elderflower Mist Sparkling — a promise that what’s in the bottle has been shaped around how you want to feel, not just how it tastes.
Keeping the ritual, changing the feeling
For most of us, it’s never really been about the alcohol. It’s about the ritual.
The sound of a cork easing out of the bottle. The way liquid catches the light as it pours. The simple dignity of a proper glass in your hand when everyone gathers at the table.
When we first started making Elderflower Mist Sparkling, we knew we didn’t want to give that ritual up. We wanted the pop and the pour, the condensation on the glass, the sense that what you’re drinking is “grown‑up”. We just didn’t want the fog.
So we chose a different centre of gravity:
- A naturally low‑alcohol path, with an alcohol-by-volume (ABV) in the 2–3 percent range instead of climbing higher.
- Bottle‑fermented drinks that behave like wine in the glass, but don’t land like your typical high alcohol - 13.5 percent plus - bottle of bubbles.
- Flavour first: elderflower, citrus, botanicals, hops — not sugar and burn.
The job of each bottle is simple: keep the ritual, go lighter.
What we heard when we really listened
When Shireen began her research into No‑ and Low‑Alcohol drinks, it wasn’t an abstract academic project. It was a way of listening more closely to what people were already trying to tell us.
Again and again, certain themes popped up:
- People wanted choice — a way to participate in social rituals without feeling pushed into all‑or‑nothing drinking.
- They wanted drinks that felt considered, not like an afterthought for the designated driver.
- They cared about what is in the bottle, the ingredients: fewer additives, no artificial colours, less hidden sugar.
- They paid attention to ABV, even if no one at the table was saying the number out loud.
In short: people were ready for a new kind of bottle — one that honoured the moment without hijacking tomorrow.
Elderflower Mist Sparkling sits right in that space.
Light afternoons, clear heads - low-alcohol elderflower sparkling
January here is all sun on shoulders, birds and instects in the trees. The days stretch; the air shimmers. It’s the season where a drink can feel less like a treat and more like a default.
Our response to that isn’t to say “no drinks at all”. It’s to offer a different kind of yes.
Elderflower Mist Sparkling Classic brings bright elderflower and citrus — a glass that feels like shade. Crimson Delight leans into berry and rose‑family fruit, a little more plush without being heavy. Wild Mountain Hop brings gentle bitterness and savoury lift, the kind of bottle that makes sense when the heat is still sitting on the back of your neck and you’re not ready to switch to tea.
Across all three, the thread is the same:
- Pour into small glasses, not giant ones.
- Serve well‑chilled, ideally with something easy on the plate.
- Think in terms of long afternoons and even longer conversations, not big nights and blank spaces.
The pleasure is still there — the pop, the pour, the sparkle — but your head and body stay part of the plan.
ABV clarity as a form of care
One of the simplest ways we can live out *Why What We Make Matters* is by being honest about alcohol.
Every batch of every vintage, we track ABV carefully and share it openly. You’ll see it on our labels and in our stories because we want you to be able to make informed choices, not guesses.
In practical terms, that means:
- You can choose Elderflower Mist Sparkling when you want to cut back without cutting out ritual altogether.
- You can pour it for guests knowing you’re offering something beautiful and considered, not just an anonymous “soft drink option”.
- You can plan a summer table that leaves room for the next day — the early start, the swim, the drive home.
Transparency is hospitality. It’s one more way of saying, “We’ve thought about how you’ll feel when the glasses are empty.”
Pour for the pleasure of it
At the heart of *Why What We Make Matters* is a simple invitation:
Pour for the pleasure of it, not for the fog.
Pleasure can look like a single chilled glass on the verandah while the light softens. It can be a bottle of Classic shared over prawns and salad after a hot day. It can be Wild Mountain Hop in the late afternoon, its gentle bitterness keeping pace with the heat.
What matters is that you’re present for it.
As we step into a New Year, that’s the story we’re carrying forward: drinks that honour the land they come from, the people around the table, and the mornings that follow.
Here’s to light afternoons, clear heads, and bottles that make room for more of what matters.
