The kit basically consists of the brewing mixture, a bung and airlock and stickers to mark the bottles in which you are converting the juice into an alcoholic beverage. The process is as simple as - in an appropriately sized bottle mix the yeast mixture and juice and close with the bung and airlock. Let this mixture stand for 24 hours and lo! You now have an alcoholic flavored beverage. I must mention here that the airlock device is provided so that you do not use the original bottle can to seal the bottle, since doing so can cause the bottle to burst because of the build up of carbon dioxide during the fermentation process. Drinks Lab claims that at the end of 24 hours your juice will contain approximately 4.5% - 5% alcohol and if allowed to mature further and with the right combination of juice and room temperature the alcohol content can go as far as 14%. Drinks Lab is also a very socially responsible company and strictly verifies that the product is being purchased by customers who are at least 18 years of age. Check out the interview with the founders of Drink Lab below:
Chirag and Rachit, please introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello E-Junkie readers, Rachit and I are the Co-founders of Drinks-Lab and life long friends from London, England. We grew up together, went to school together and having graduated from University a few years ago we were both itching to get out into the business world and start something for ourselves; we had the idea for Drinks-Lab and we have been going from strength to strength ever since.
What was the inspiration behind starting Drinks Lab? What is the concept of the homebrew kit?
Drinks-Lab is dedicated to bringing new and innovative drinks products to the public and our first product is the Drinks-Lab Homebrew Kit, which is a really simple and easy way to make boring juices fun by turning them into sparkling, alcoholic drinks in just 24 hours!
Both Rachit's and my background is in IT Services / Consulting, but we have always been entrepreneurially spirited. We would talk for hours trying to think of an idea for a business we could start up, often over a few cold beers in the pub, and that's pretty much where Drinks-Lab began. Rachit mentioned how we never really drank juice or soda unless it was a mixer with a spirit, which got me thinking about the hundreds of different juice flavours out there and the mixes we could try. One thing lead to another and I eventually thought how cool it would be if you could make your own alcoholic drinks from your favourite juice without having to add a spirit. A little research, and a few more planning sessions (in the pub) down the line and the Drinks-Lab Homebrew Kit was born!
According to the FAQ on your site the homebrew kit contains yeast, vitamins and salts. Can you please elaborate on the individual constituents of each?
Yes, all three ingredients are conveniently wrapped up in a single sachet to be poured into your favourite bottle of juice. Our yeast has been specially selected from literally hundreds of thousands of different options, it is the key ingredient and is essentially the machine that turns the juice into booze quickly and with a great taste. To put it simply the yeast eats the sugars in the juice to naturally produce alcohol and bubbles. This is literally one of the oldest processes in the world and in fact almost all alcoholic drinks you buy off the shelf, will at some point have involved yeast eating sugar to produce the alcohol. An added benefit is that the yeast is packed full of B vitamins, which are really good for you. We add a tiny amount of magnesium sulphate, also know as Epsom salt - which is a naturally occurring ingredient that helps to keep the yeast dry, and finally a mixture of trace vitamins that help the yeast work at its best.
How is your kit different from other homebrew kits available on the market, like Spike Your Juice? If so, what is the differentiator?
Yes, the key difference with Drinks-Lab is that our Kit works in only 24 hours as opposed to the 48 hours required by Spike. Our specially selected yeast is also a lot more versatile than Spike, meaning that slight differences in temperature and sweetness of the juice won't prematurely stop your homebrew as some Spike users have found. Finally, many our customers have told us that they prefer the taste and smell of Drink-Lab Drinks over Spike.
How well has the homebrew kit been received by the public? What has been the biggest compliment that you have received, since you launched?
The response has been fantastic and we are taking orders from around the world, people love the idea. We have recently been selling at some of London's funky food/crafts markets and everyone has been very complimentary, some people have left some great comments / reviews on our facebook book too. Its hard to pick a single compliment but I was told a beautiful young journalist, that a blueberry and passionfruit brew she made was better than sex!
How did you promote this concept early on? Do you think eCommerce and social media would play a big part in the success of your product?
ECommerce and Social Media are integral to the way we work, and we are trying hard to leverage these mechanisms more and more. As a small startup we don't have a physical shopfront with passing traffic, so our website is critical to our success. We have a Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest presence and have many sales coming to us directly from these channels. As I mentioned we have also been taking our product to the public, with great samples at some of London's cool markets, as well as working on some publicity stunts... I actually dressed up in a bright orange full body morph suit and walked around London last weekend talking to people and handing out flyers / discount codes. It was great fun and is a cheap but effective way to take your product to the public.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/drinkslab
Twitter: @drinkslab
When you are not working on Drinks Lab related stuff, what activities do you enjoy??
Well, I currently have a full time job as well as running Drinks-Lab, so I don't really have as much free time as I would like, however I've recently been getting involved in a number of Entrepreneurship and Mentorship programmes, offering help and guidance to young entrepreneurs who wish to pursue their own ideas. This is also the case with a number of our Drinks-Lab staff / interns - many of them have ideas that I'm actively helping to develop... I'm always looking for new people, so if any of your readers would be interested in getting involved with drinks-lab and have some entrepreneurial flair, please get in touch, I would be more than happy to help develop some of those ideas!
Let us have a rapid fire round:
Tea or coffee?
Favourite spirit?
Gin
Favourite inspirational quote?
'A life without struggle is no life at all' - My mother has said those words to me many times, when things get tough they remind me that the difficulties we face make us the people we are.
Favourite music genre?
I listen to everything - but I'm loving Drake's new album at the moment
Sport that you love to watch/play?
It has to be Football - Rachit and I are both big Manchester United Fans!
What are your future plans for Drinks Lab? Do you plan on introducing any more innovative products?
We have a number of new products in the pipeline, including a new take on an old favourite - Mulled Wine. We also have a Jelly Shot Kit idea we are working on and few other top secret potential new products
What advice would you like to give to budding entrepreneurs and startups?
Get out there and do it! Believe it or not, you can go a hell of a long way without spending a penny! If you have an idea, scope it out... do the research, even try to get some potential customers on board before you start up. Then make sure you utilise all of the help that out there for free, use services and tools like, facebook, twitter, mailchimp, wordpress, amazon webservices to get started up with very little spend. But more importantly, listen to what your customers and the market tell you, working smart doesn't have to mean working hard. All of that coupled with some common sense decision making should get you a long way, sometimes you just have to take that initial leap of faith.
Thank you guys for taking the time fir this interview, we wish Drinks-Lab and you the very best in the future.
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