Our Question
Ever wondered what the hell you are reading on the back of a soft drink?
When I hit my thirties, I noticed my hangovers were becoming brutal and my body wasn't reacting well to certain food and drink groups but I didn't know WHY.
I started reading the list of ingredients on everything and began avoiding highly processed products.
But why has a commercial lemonade not seen a fresh lemon, and why do products tell me they are "natural" yet taste artificial?
Our Backstory
When I hopped off the hooch, I still craved something worth savouring. Something fresh and complex, and something that didn't make me bloated, give me a fuzzy mouth or a sugar crash.
After well over a decade spent in winemaking, bartending and brewing I realised that most brands were more interested in a long shelf life over flavour and health.
Over-processing and the use of preservatives seemed to be a necessary evil. Or was it?
We wanted to start a soft drink company that started a playful conversation around a serious subject.
We got to work testing and refining the techniques we had mastered in alcohol production, and translating those techniques to extracting raw fruit, and mixing water, citrus and spices.
Carbonation added the magical ability to elevate these raw ingredients beyond the sum of their parts, and then we were hooked.
Having started the business in my kitchen sink, we now supplying some of the UK's best independent cafes, restaurants, hotels and delis as well as discerning consumers.
These are Soft Drinks with Attitude. Fresh cans, from us to you.
Simple, right?
OUR VALUES
RAW INGREDIENTS //
NEVER FROM CONCENTRATE
Natural's good, Fresh is great, but Raw? That's the Holy Grail.
That's why we pursue pure, honest flavour.
You wouldn't call Bovril powder "natural steak juice", so why call soft drinks "natural" when they are packed with essences, concentrates, preservatives, and stabilisers?
Our soft drinks? Pure fruit + spices, engineered by hand in small batches. No tricks.
Soft Drinks Like They Should Be.
REAL FLAVOUR //
FLAVOUR FROM THE FRUIT, ALWAYS
Great flavour starts with fresh produce. Full stop.
Every ingredient serves a purpose. We use precise timing and technique to to draw out every nuance of flavour and aroma, without harsh heat.
Organic cane sugar binds our drinks, a tickle of Vitamin C stops oxidation, and once we find the right balance of sweet, sour, and bitter, we supercharge with carbonation.
Sophisticated, Adult Soft Drinks.
FRUIT TO CAN //
SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION
Fruit arrives on a Monday, fresh cans fly out on a Wednesday.
Simple, really.
We keep our supply chains short, and we rebuilt our facility in 2023 with speed and sustainability in mind.
We designed out the waste from our whole process, from a digital shopfront to a renewably powered production facility utlising two forms of direct air capture.
This is Guilt Free Drinking.
As seen in
Future Proofing.
For us, sustainability isn’t just a policy you frame on the wall and forget about, it’s more than emissions and energy efficiency.
We’re making long term decisions that ensure Rapscallion is here for a long time, not just a good time.
We rebuilt our Production HQ in 2023 with some key principles.
Boil the kettle and pull up a pew:
WE ARE ELECTRIC //
ELECTRIFIED INNOVATION FACILITY
Modern, subversive, sustainable.
We rebuilt our production facility in Glasgow around electrically powered machinery; divesting from fossil fuels.
MORE POWER, BABY // 100% RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY
What’s the point in looking at efficiency if your power source is prehistoric?
We’re proud that 100% of our electricity comes from 100% renewable sources.
We’re confident it makes our juice taste better, and it’s less to worry about when you leave a light on. Apart from when it’s £1 per kW.
WASTE NOT WANT NOT //
ANAEROBICALLY DIGESTED WASTE
If you need a reminder of how bad Methane is, just lift your duvet up after a heavy night on the lentil soup. Methane gas is produced when organic matter decomposes without the presence of oxygen.
That methane is roughly 30x worse than carbon dioxide for the ‘greenhouse effect’.
Every part of our organic waste gets anaerobically digested, thereby removing around 90% of our potential methane emissions.
A LOT OF HOT AIR //
ONSITE DIRECT AIR CAPTURE
We struggled to scale our zero preservative ethos back in 2021, but we didn't wat to buckle on our promise.
After years of R&D working with Nitrogen gas, we knew that a blanket of it on our liquid would stop any spoilage.
Fast forward to 2023 and we successfully trialled our own nitrogen generator. This separates our atmospheric air on site and feeds all of our tanks with 97% pure food-grade nitrogen.
All generated on site by our 100% renewable energy. That mean's no unnecessary nasties in our cans.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM //
CARBON CAPTURED C02 GAS
We have all heard about what increased levels of Co2 are doing to our planet.
Co2 has been a primary ingredient in soft drinks since they were invented in 1767. We love the release of bubbles on our tongue.
The more we researched where the majority of food grade Co2 comes from, we knew we had to start some awkward conversions across the UK.
We are proud to say that we work with a dedicated supplier down South who provides us with "captured Co2" from the environment.
So whilst we understand that we are simply redirecting the Co2 in the atmosphere for good use, at least we are not creating more demand for it's creation from commercial fertiliser production.
LESS IS MORE //
LET'S TALK ABOUT TINS
Back when we first started, people turned their nose up at our cans. Premium soft drinks had to be in bottles they said!
Fast forward four years and the tide is turning. 75% of all aluminium ever produced is still in use today and over 82% of drinks cans sold in the UK in 2020 were recycled. Recycling an aluminium can uses 90% less energy than glass.
We love aluminium cans because they are lighter to transport, and they lock in that liquid goodness; the lack of sunlight on our recipes keeps that juicy goodness intact.
Our smaller 250ml format was intensely peer- reviewed by you guys; larger than a mixer and less bulky than a full 330ml can. Our award winning design reflected that same ‘Less is More’ philosophy.
All of our outer packaging is sourced locally in Glasgow from renewable or recycled materials and we use as little of it as possible.
We utilise every part of the fruit in our production process. Why? Pulling flavour from every part of the fruit tastes better, and it means less of the good stuff found in landfill.
- OUR CORE COLLECTION
- our seasonal collection
