Three Spirit create non-alcoholic functional spirits that offer an alternative way to participate socially without compromise.

Together, Sensory Experiences and Three Spirit hosted a group of industry leaders for an exploration into the sensory dimensions of taste and the social side of drinking. Guests experienced a selection of cocktails in two conditions: first in isolation, then within carefully constructed sensory environments informed by cross-modal neuroscience. The result was a powerful reminder that the enjoyment of a drink isn’t just limited to your taste buds.

The evening forms part of a wider exploration into the Low and No category that’s of interest to us at Sensory Experiences. As more consumers moderate alcohol consumption, the challenge is no longer simply replicating flavour. It’s about preserving the emotional role these products play; ritual, reward, indulgence, social connection and identity.

Just as electric cars lose the emotional anchor of a growling engine; when you remove the defining element from a product category, how do you maintain excitement, desire and emotional connection? Our interest is in how sensory design can help compensate for that absence; through product design, branding, packaging, language, sound and the experience surrounding the product itself.

Across categories there is a design instinct to emphasise what has been removed. Diet and light products are typically presented in lighter packaging. In the 0.0 category, the dominant design cue is pale blue. But from our evidence based-sensory design perspective, we can see immediately how wrong that is.

Lighter colours cue expectations of lighter flavour, reduced richness and less indulgence. Pale blue is strongly associated with water and dilution, and can even suppress appetite. When the consumer barrier is the fear of a less enjoyable or less emotionally fulfilling experience, every sensory cue should work in the opposite direction; priming depth, complexity, richness and satisfaction.

The opportunity for Low and No brands is not to communicate absence, but to amplify experience. Richer, textured colour, haptic interest, evocative language, purposeful sound design and iconic rituals can all help reinforce the expectation of pleasure and reward.

For Three Spirit and the ever-growing world of alcohol-alternatives, the mission is to help people feel fully involved while choosing to opt out. To cue up hedonism and indulgence through communications and brand. And to deliver emotion through experience.

You can’t always find a fully immersive sensory lab in which to enjoy your nootropic non-alcoholic cocktail, of course. But the purpose of our event was to explore how the surrounding environment can elevate complexity of flavour and deepen social connection. Accentuating what there is, rather than focusing on what there isn’t.