Swinkels Family Brewers launches Spijked& in the Hard Seltzer category in the UK exclusively through Flavourly.com. What sets this brand apart is the partnership that Swinkels Family Brewers is entering into with The Seaweed Company to contribute to the restoration of the ocean. Spijked& is an alcoholic sparkling water that contains 4,7%, five-times distilled alcohol. It is has 65 Kcal and less than 1 gram of sugar per 250 mL can. Spijked& is vegan-friendly and comes in four natural flavours: Lemon, Cherry, Wild Berries and the first-of-its-kind: Seaweed. The Seaweed flavour, besides its surprisingly great taste, is an integral part of Spijked&’s purpose to be ‘More than a Hard Seltzer’.
Restoring ocean health with seaweed farming
Spijked& has a distinct nautical feeling and this theme flows throughout the brand, providing the inspiration for our groundbreaking partnership. Swinkels Family Brewers is teaming up with The Seaweed Company to make headway on sustainable seaweed farming, which contributes to restoring ocean health and helps to reduce carbon emissions. As part of this collaboration Swinkels Family Brewers will grow an A4-sized area of a seaweed farm for every can of Spijked& sold.
The name Spijked& is based on the English word ‘Spike’, which means adding alcohol to a drink. In the USA this type of drink is also known as a Spiked Selter. The ‘ij’ provides the connection to our Dutch origin.
Gijs Swinkels, CCO at Swinkels Family Brewers: “Spijked& taps into the growing trend of the modern consumer, that tends to be extremely mindful about the things he consumes, its impact on the environment and is looking for lower calorie, yet great tasting, alternatives to his regular alcoholic drinks. The Spijked& range of hard seltzers is a ‘better-for-you’ alternative for the health and environmentally-conscious who are after a refreshing alcoholic drink. We believe that Spijked& offers a lot of potential. Especially because the Wild Berries flavour was ranked second out of 69 hard seltzer brands, winning a listing at the Swedish Alcohol Monopoly Systembolaget for Summer 2021. Investing in sustainable initiatives is extremely important to our family business. This focus led to us to develop the exciting partnership with The Seaweed Company and this collaboration fits perfectly with our sustainability and circularity strategy.”
Joost Wouters, SeaEO at The Seaweed Company: “We are very excited to work together with Spijked& to grow more seaweed farms and speed up the cultivation of this unique untapped natural resource. Seaweed is an important contributor to restore the state of our oceans. It doesn’t need land, fertilizer or fresh water to grow, absorbs a lot of CO2 and it enriches marine biodiversity. Seaweed has many valuable applications that contribute to the health and wellbeing of people, animals and plants.”
Ali Stewart, CEO of Flavourly: “We could not be more excited to be working with Swinkels Family Brewers. Their 300-year track record of product excellence has led to them becoming one of the most admired breweries in the World and we are delighted to be joining them on this part of their journey. When they first approached us about supporting the launch of Spijked& we were hugely impressed by the ethical and environmental credentials, but for us it is the quality of the liquid that is absolutely paramount. We don’t get involved in projects unless we genuinely love the product, so we were delighted when the Spijked& range tasted even better than we had hoped.”
