While there is so much out there telling us what to (and what not to) eat - there is a lack of advice on how to get tipsy when you are on a diet. So here it is, the gospel in all it's glory! Advice on what to drink when you are on a diet.

What the juice is in that sachet?

Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it something you’d find in your grandma’s underwear drawer? Wait, what!?! No, no and a resounding NO to all the above.

Despite it’s rather alternative appearance, that little white sachet is actually the best way to deliver our fresh little gift to you. Yes, gift, we are nice like that. Free delivery, (check) cool packaging (check) and now a little gift?( Check)  We like going the extra mile, it's in our veins (along with that healthy dose of Minus 33 we consumed earlier).

So what is this gift and how do you use it?

Inside the sachet is a handful of dried hibiscus petals. 

Geek alert: Hibiscus (/hᵻˈbɪskəs/ or /haɪˈbɪskəs/) is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. (Yes we stole that from Wikipedia)

Now some of you may be familiar with hibiscus in syrup, used to add some colour and sweetness to champagne/ prosecco. The idea behind our inclusion of this sachet in each pack is not too dissimilar....

Where possible, we love to jazz up our drinks with simple, natural add-ons and a 33 & T should be no different. Just add one or two petals to your low-calorie gin and tonic to bring a nice rich, wholly natural, pink colour to your marvellous creation. It works with a variety of cocktails too.

 

Does it change the flavour?

As part of a cocktail it won’t have much effect, in strong concentrations it can add a surprisingly pleasant sour flavour, but unless you let it steep in just the spirit, by itself, it shouldn’t change the taste of your drink. So use it sparingly after adding your mixer.

What more can you tell us about Hibsicus?

Not only does it add to the visual appeal of a cocktail, Hibiscus is reported to have health benefits as well. We’ll leave those claims to the doctors and researchers, after all, we are adding it to alcohol - so we can't take the medical high ground here. But everything from lowering blood pressure, to aiding weight loss and potential anti-cancer properties (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15922006) have been linked with this awesome flower. 

All we know is it looks great! So next time add a sprinkle and enjoy.

Order yours here

When it comes to how and why I created Minus 33, taste was the prominent thought. I wanted to create the best tasting spirit and was willing to stop at nothing to ensure we had the liquid just perfect. The taste was decided on after a year of creating countless recipes and running samples through a panel of spirit lovers.

The spirit they chose as their favourite was a 33% product – lighter than what you’d expect from a traditional spirit, but the lower alcohol level allowed the more subtle flavours (floral and citrus) to come to the fore and create a better tasting, fuller more rounded flavour.

When distilling we remove a lot more of the heads (the first section of liquid that comes off the still) than most – this removes some of the harsher alcohols and leaves a smoother spirit. In fact it is this method that lends to a smoother spirit than the lower alcohol itself.

In a lot of spirits sugar is used to help counteract the harsh burn the alcohol brings, a burn that is compounded by the presence of very dry, spicy botanicals (another traditional element we avoided on the advice of our expert panellists). Sugar on a molecular level binds with the tongue before the alcohol and therefore reduces the burn effect. On a large industrial scale, a concentrated form of sugar is used, as removing too many of the heads isn’t cost effective. Luckily for you we put taste ahead of the economics and spare no expense in creating the best tasting liquid we can.

Sugar is obviously very high in energy / calories but sweetness was a quality our gin loving crowds enjoyed in the liquid so to keep the process as natural as possible we looked to nature to find a botanical that could help us bring that sweet edge and we didn’t have to look far. Liquorice Root! – Now if you are anything like me, you hate liquorice – I for one can’t tand it, but liquorice root is completely different, much like sugar cane is it fairly hard but full of sweetness – the difference is liquorice is a natural sweetener and very low in calories as a result it was a perfect, natural way for us to add a sweet edge without having to add sugar.

The result was a great tasting spirit that was lower in energy. So why is that even significant!? Well after fat, alcohol is the second densest form of energy and as a result not very good for you. Lots of you enjoy a low calorie mixer but it is the alcohol you should really be worried about. So by reducing the alcohol content and by adding no sugar we created one of the lightest spirits on the market and the lightest spirit in the UK. At 46 calories a serve you’ll be hard pressed to find anything that tastes this good that isn’t as bad for you.

Compare it to a double measure of another spirit and you can save up to 33 calories. Not the largest victory, but still, every little helps, and it may just help you justify having that third helping at the end of a long week.

Big on Taste and Low on Calories – Minus 33, the best of both worlds.