The Free Spirits Company’s CEO Milan Martin on the poetry of a cocktail

The Free Spirits Company

The Free Spirits Company is finally available in Canada and we could not be more excited. 

It is, after all, excitement — both on the part of consumers and company CEO Milan Martin — that has brought the California-based non-alcoholic spirits company north of the border. In fact, it could be argued that excitement is at the core of Free Spirits Company, fueling each of its endeavours, from generation to expansion.  

Martin’s optimism about the alcohol-free space and Free Spirits’ place in it is glittering and refreshing, at times romantic, simply because he loves his own product, believing in its quality with the fervor a sports fan has for their team. The idea for the hand-crafted spirits came to Martin as all best ideas do — he saw a lack in his own life.

Martin comes from the ad business. “It’s a work-hard, drink-harder business,” he says. “There were countless times with clients or colleagues or friends where you're having a fun time and when your glass is empty, if somebody says, ‘Hey, would you like another drink?’ Nine times out of 10, the answer is, ‘Yes, of course I'll have another drink’.” 

You get another drink to prolong the fun, meaning that the sweetness of these social experiences lies not in the alcohol itself, but in the cocktail you have in your hand, Martin says. An empty glass means leaving the experience. Eventually, however, Martin began to feel the weight of all the boozy cocktails. As a night out progressed, alcohol would get in the way of his genuine appreciation of the wonder that his cocktail glass contained. 

“Just the intrinsic value of a full cocktail is really wonderful,” Martin says. “This notion of all these ingredients that have come together, and that have been made by all these interesting, creative people, all in your glass [is beautiful].” We’re sold the idea that we need alcohol to have a fun time, but this isn’t true, he adds. 

This poetic realization is what led Martin to rethink the place alcohol takes up in cocktails. “Many of us, we're not there [on a night out with friends or colleagues] to drink a lot of alcohol,” Martin says. “We're there to have a great time, we're there to have something great in our glass.” 

The outcome of this realization? Free Spirits Company, which launched in the middle of 2020. “We really asked the silly question of what if a great cocktail didn't necessarily have to have alcohol,” Martin says, with a beaming smile in his voice. Fueled by the desire to preserve the integrity, artistry, and complexity of a cocktail, which, according to Martin, is more about a delightful experience than anything else, Martin created a company dedicated to giving control back to consumers in terms of the amount of alcohol in their drinks, and by extension their bodies.

“This notion of all these ingredients that have come together, and that have been made by all these interesting, creative people, all in your glass [is beautiful].”

Thus, we have Free Spirits’ The Spirit of Bourbon, The Spirit of Gin, and The Spirit of Tequila, all preserving the quality — the spirit — of each liquor by utilising a process called “Distillate Reconstruction.” By distilling the essences of natural ingredients (such as American White Oak and Mexican Blue Agave), Free Spirits is able to recreate some of the world’s most beloved liquors. In place of alcohol, Martin and his team infuse their products with vitamins B3 and B6. 

Consumers are in love. “We kind of developed a product based on my experience [...] and what's been really wonderful and really encouraging is just the outpouring of people that want to try it,” Martin says. Soon after the company’s launch, Martin says he received many missives from Canadians asking when his products would be available in Canada. So Martin and his team decided to head up north sooner than they had planned. 

Over the still-young life of Free Spirits, Martin has been able to get to know his customers very intimately, learning that his appreciation of the art of a cocktail is shared by many.

“On one hand, it's been a relief [learning] that this crazy idea that we had wasn't as crazy as we thought,” he says. “On the other hand, it's really a wonderful human experience to be able to interact with these wonderful people that either just wanted to reintroduce a great cultural experience back in their lives because they've decided to quit drinking, [or because they’re] people like me, who still do drink alcohol [but want to] introduce this new way of controlling the amount of alcohol.”

Martin’s unique perspective, which waters the indie roots of Free Spirits, is also what undergirds his company’s popularity and success, placing the company in stark relief against an increasingly populated backdrop of bigger alcohol brands working to snake their way into the alcohol-free space. These are brands whose alcohol-free iterations of their mainstays seem almost perfunctory, because they’re just following a trend. Consumers notice this, Martin says. 

“It is the pioneers and the genuine brands that come from that space, that are born from that space, that I think have an advantage [in the market],” says Martin. “GM makes electric cars, but most people would rather have a Tesla.” In other words, consumers can tell when a big company just wants their money — the proof is in the pudding. Their products can never be as good or nuanced as something a person from the community would create, because they don’t have the appreciation of craftsmanship, labour, or the moment when a glass is passed from bartender to consumer, all of which Martin has, alongside a respect for his other indie competitors in the business. 

“We just know that more options and more competitors give people more control over the amount of alcohol they put in their body,” Martin says. “[It gives them control over] how they celebrate and how they relax. We're proud to be able to offer that to Canadians.” 

Free Spirits’ products are available in Canada through Rival House and Soberlicious, and will be available through Sansorium, which is launching in August.  

“I'd much rather be doing this than introducing another vodka into the world,” Martin says.