- The Nantes start-up Gueule de Joie offers around fifty references of beers, wines and spirits without alcohol.
- On the occasion of "January sober", she hopes to remove the preconceptions about these drinks, in full swing.
How about we stop drinking, at least for the next 25 days? While the British have launched themselves since 2003 in Dry January ("January sober" in French), the movement seems to seduce their French neighbors this year. Except that they will quickly ask a question (if it is not already done), at the aperitif time ... What are we drinking?
For those who are already missing the sound of the bottle opener or the popping cap, Jean-Philippe Braud, a 37-year-old from Nantes, has the solution. Six months ago, this former salesperson launched Gueule de Joie, an ecommerce site bringing together around fifty references of beers, wine and aperitifs… Alcohol-free. “Two years ago, my wife was pregnant, and I too wanted to lower my alcohol consumption. But while continuing to go out, see people, party and good meals. "
The head of the company therefore gathered, on the same commercial site, "the best of alcohol-free products all over the world", half coming from France and some exclusively. Because he swears: today, and while the sector is booming, soft drinks have little to do with Champomy. "More and more craft brewers or small wine growers are getting involved," says Jean-Philippe Braud. When we manage to find them and remove the preconceptions, they are real quality products, which have taste, and are much less sweet. It is an inclusive alternative. "
We tested for you…
So, we tested. We chose a lager from the Danish brewery Mikkeler, the only one in the range to display a 0% alcohol level (the others go up to 0.9%). Like the other references, the packaging of the bottle is sober (that's it for the pun). In the glass, it froths properly. And on the palate, it's light (obviously), but the aromas and bitterness are there. "The manufacturing process is the same but the fermentation process is slower and is done cold," explains Jean-Philippe Braud. There is another technique which consists in filtering alcohol. There is often in these beers a maximum of hops, to give the taste. Honestly, it's pretty good, if not impressive.
For wine (also say drink with wine profile), there is white, red or rosé. But at the first sip of the sparkling Côte de Vincent, you can't go wrong. The combination of grape varieties makes tasting more pleasant than with grape juice (it is especially much less sweet). As we are not very cocktails, we declined the Monin syrup with orange spritz flavor or the Seedlip, this English plant-based spirit. But it seems that it is worth the detour, like the Mojithé, this false mojito which zaps the rum for green tea, "in order to give a nice roundness in the mouth".
Even more references
After a “big period” in December, for the holiday season, Jean-Philippe Braud is banking on January to boost its sales, even if the government does not ultimately support the operation. Until then, several hundred orders have been shipped all over France, "beyond the targets" that Gueule de joie had set for itself. If all goes well, the brand would like to open a physical point of sale in downtown Nantes this year, and develop the number of sales references.
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