Big-sipping Botanical Aperitivo Botivo (non alcoholic) has joined the Mangrove Global portfolio. Hand-blended in small batches at Lannock Farm in Hertfordshire, each batch takes over a year from start to finish and has a refreshing bittersweet taste profile that food and drink critics rave about.
Botivo becomes the latest addition to Mangrove’s portfolio of spirits, world whiskies and non-alcoholic drinks. Mangrove is the UK’s leading premium spirits distributor and part of the SPIRIBAM Group.
Nick Gillett, Managing Director of Mangrove Global, commented:
Botivo doesn’t have the centuries behind it that some of our portfolio does. But craft is craft whether it’s three years old or three hundred. Sam makes it himself, from real ingredients, on a farm you can actually visit. With Botivo you can taste the difference. What I love about the brand is that it has a personality that consumers want to be part of. It’s playful, it’s flavour-forward and it sits on a menu without apology. That combination is what the on-trade has been looking for. Our job is to make sure a lot more of the right people have the opportunity to drink it.
Co-founders Imme and Sam describe themselves as the hedonist and the artisan. Sam hand makes it and Imme built the brand around it. The liquid is produced on site using rosemary, thyme, gentian, wormwood, orange and honey, infused through an aged British apple cider vinegar base. It contains no flavourings, essences or preservatives as they believe real ingredients are the only way to create complex flavour profiles. Botivo’s signature serve is the Botivo Spritz, though the brand is equally at home in an alcoholic cocktail: roughly one in four customers drink it in alcoholic serves such as the White Negroni.
Three and a half years after launching, the numbers speak for themselves. Botivo is stocked in Waitrose, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Majestic, Whole Foods and Planet Organic and is present in more than 40 Michelin-starred restaurants and 45 of the UK’s top 100, as well as being the best selling non alcoholic serve in groups such as Bill’s. Mangrove Global takes over UK on-trade distribution with immediate effect.
Imme Ermgassen, Co-Founder of Botivo, added:
We managed to take Botivo this far with a tiny team of 2 full time sales people, we know that it flies in the on trade because it’s not just delicious, its super versatile. Joining Mangrove means we can finally get out of London, get in front of more accounts and have the conversations that turn people into advocates. Once someone tastes it properly, they’re sold. It’s just a question of reach and we could not be more excited to get it out there.
Botivo’s Signature Serve: The Botivo Spritz
25ml Botivo
175ml soda water (or tonic)
Orange wedge squeezed
Lots of ice
Botivo joins Mangrove’s growing no-low portfolio alongside Almave, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic blue agave spirit co-founded by Lewis Hamilton and the Giffard Alcohol Free range.