12 Years in the Making: From Seedlip to Seasn to Sylva to Shandy with Ben Branson

Prefer to listen? Find my conversation with Ben Branson on ep#80 of the Low No Drinker Podcast Listen on Apple | Listen on Spotify | Watch on YouTube

If you haven't heard of Ben Branson yet, where have you been hiding? Often dubbed the founding father of the non-alcoholic drinks category, Ben's been quietly (or not so quietly) revolutionising what we drink for over a decade. From Seedlip's* launch 11 years ago to his newest venture, Sylva, the man just doesn't stop innovating!

After several weeks of diary tennis (he's a busy man!), I managed to pin Ben down for a chat on the Low No Drinker Podcast recently, and let me tell you, his passion for creating exceptional alcohol-free options is genuinely infectious.

Nature's Child

"I absolutely love nature," Ben told me, and this isn't just marketing speak. Growing up surrounded by his family's farming heritage, Ben's childhood memories are deeply rooted in the woodland.

"My best childhood memories involve wood and trees," he explained. "Whether that's building tree houses or being in the forest or making a bow and arrow or playing poo sticks... wood and trees just were part of my upbringing." It's little wonder that Sylva is derived from trees from his own woodland.

His journey into the world of drinks wasn't exactly conventional. With no background in the industry, Ben stumbled upon an old book called The Art of Distillation and thought, "I'd quite like to have a go at that. And it had absolutely nothing to do with drinks.

"I can remember really, really clearly taking mint from my garden and making a liquid that smelled and tasted like that plant. I found it just so absolutely magical that I just wanted to keep doing it."

That simple experiment eventually led to Seedlip, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Sylva: Sonic What Now?

Ben's latest brainchild, Sylva (old English for 'of the forest'), is perhaps his most intriguing yet. Based in a distillery on the Essex/Suffolk border—in the grounds of a Benedictine Monastery, no less—Ben and his team are producing non-alcoholic dark spirits using something called 'sonic maturation' (no, I hadn't heard of it before either).

They source wood from their four-acre forest, chip it down, and then subject it to a combination of heat, pressure, oxygen, and ultrasound in what Ben describes as 'sonic reactors' (which are actually repurposed industrial cleaning machines). This unique process extracts flavours from the wood that create complex, sippable, non-alc, dark spirits.

Their first release, Padauk, offered notes of "freshly baked chocolate cake, buttered whole grain toast, stewed plum pudding, and green walnuts." Their second, Hazel, takes you from "earthy forest floor right through to spring fresh cut green wood."

Not Trying to Be Something It's Not

What makes Ben's approach refreshing is his refusal to mimic alcoholic drinks.

"I don't drink alcohol, so I don't know what any of those things taste like," he admits candidly. "So it'd be a really boring project for me trying to make something that I don't even know where I'm aiming towards."

He's particularly critical of products that lead with alcoholic terms like 'gin' or 'whiskey' in their marketing: "I find it really misleading, and I find it dangerous from an expectation-setting perspective."

Instead, Ben focuses on creating something entirely new and authentic. Sylva is designed to be sipped neat—no mixers, no hiding behind bubbles or garnishes. Bold move!

Thinking Global, Acting Local

Rather than scaling up mass production, Ben's pursuing what he calls a 'global-local' approach: "You produce close to your produce. It's a really simple idea."

They're currently building another distillery outside New York that will work with US tree species and US cereals. "Rather than just make a bigger factory in one place, we just want to make the best, not the most," Ben emphasises.

More Than Sylva

Ben's creative portfolio extends beyond Seedlip and Sylva. He's also created Seasn, a duo of non-alcoholic bitters designed to elevate drinks, featuring over 30 different plant extracts.

And the innovation train doesn't stop there. Ben's next project? A non-alcoholic shandy called Daystar. "We're bringing shandy back!" he enthused. The idea came from his wife's craving for an AF shandy while pregnant with their third daughter. "Literally, I could taste it, and then I couldn't find it, and so then I had to make it!"

Fancy hearing more from the man himself? Tune into episode #80 of the Low No Drinker Podcast for the full chat with Ben. Trust me, his enthusiasm might just have you looking at trees in a whole new light.

Find more inspiring founder interviews on the Low No Drinker Podcast.

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