#4 Low No Drinker meets Mahala

Low No Drinker: for mindful & sober curious drinkers

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Summary
Paul Scanlon and Danielle Schumann are the co-founders of Mahala Botanical Non-Alcoholic Spirits. In this episode, they share their journey from idea to inception of an international brand all on Zoom during the midst of a global pandemic.

Daniele explains how the country-wide ban on alcohol sales in South Africa led her to experiment with non-alcoholic liquids and eventually create Mahala which has been going from strength to strength ever since.

Learn about their complete farm-to-glass process, where hand-foraged local botanicals are selected by their own team and handcrafted in the only female-owned distillery in South Africa.

With a vast career in full-strength alcohol beverages, Paul Scanlon also shares his insights into the world of low/no in the UK, South Africa and beyond.

Chapters
| 0:00:00 | Introduction to the episode
| 0:01:06 | Introduction to Mahala Botanical Spirits
| 0:03:23 | Origins of Mahala
| 0:08:47 | Farm-to-glass process
| 0:11:21 | The only female-owned distillery
| 0:13:07 | Supporting and upskilling
| 0:14:34 | Paul's previous life
| 0:15:09 | A labour of love.
| 0:17:37 | Challenges in the UK.
| 0:19:16 | Low/No in South Africa.
| 0:20:47 | Industry growth.
| 0:21:52 | Expanding to the US.
| 0:22:05 | Mahala Amber.
| [0:22:30] | The craft market.
| [0:24:32] | The cost of quality.
| [0:25:11] | Constant innovation.
| [0:25:42] | The Sparrow Society
| [0:26:56] | The Botanical Society of South Africa.

Highlights from Paul & Daniele

“And I think, when you say farm to glass, it's really that we are part of the process from the beginning where we pick the botanicals to the end of it where we actually bottle it, label it and put in the box all ourselves”

"The forecast for the next three years for the UK low/now market is to grow at 8% to 10% where alcoholic spirits are flat."
"I think there's a lot of support for females in the industry at the moment."

"We're always going to be at the craft end, at the premium end... people are willing to pay for a really nice product that's got quality packaging, quality taste, and that has a nice story behind it."

Links
Mahala online https://mahalabotanical.com/
Shop Mahala https://mahalabotanical.com/our-shop/
Mahala on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mahalabotanical/
Mahala on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/mahalabotanical/

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Low No Drinker on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/low-no-drinker-magazine/posts/?feedView=all&viewAsMember=true

Low No Drinker Magazine: for the mindful & sober curious drinker