Ben Branson – Founder of Seedlip & Æcorn Aperitifs
Ben Branson is the Founder of Seedlip and Æcorn Aperitifs, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits and aperitifs. He gained inspiration from his family’s 300 years of North Lincolnshire farming heritage, and grew up alongside his two younger brothers, eights dogs, horses, rabbits and guinea pigs. Stoically a country boy, Ben now lives with his girlfriend and two dogs in a 15th Century cottage in the Chilterns, bringing his heritage with nature to the forefront of his new business venture.
With an industry respected branding and design guru father, Ben was quickly immersed into the working world of marketing and branding, completing work experience at the early age of 14 for the globally renowned spirit Absolut Vodka. This early glimpse into the dynamic design industry ignited his passion for storytelling and creativity. Leaving school at 18, Ben began a career working on some of the world’s biggest brands, before working full-time on Seedlip from December 2014.
Ben’s experience grew through the agency world, eventually seeing him set up his own brand design firm with two colleagues specialising in the luxury food, drinks and lifestyle sector, with the likes of Farrow & Ball, Nike and Soho Member’s Club, The House of St Barnabas as clients.
With a holistic understanding of the luxury lifestyle industry and an avid trend-mapper, Ben saw a huge chasm in the market place for the discerning consumer, a vast gap between alcohol brands and soft drink brands. Having worked across both sectors and gaining an important insight from clients such as Glenmorangie, Moet, Innocent and Twinings, to name but a few, Ben had the brainchild of Seedlip, a drink that is applicable for drinkers and non-drinkers alike, focusing on displacing the social stigma and sweet, unhealthy alternatives for those not drinking.
Harking back to his botanical and farming roots and being a keen cook, Ben was researching “Medieval Cottage Herb Gardens” which led him to the long-forgotten distilled non-alcoholic herbal remedies found in “The Art of Distillation” – published in 1651 and documenting an array of forgotten flavour profiles without sugars or artificial ingredients. Almost as if his life’s path had led him to this point, Ben married his family’s farming heritage, branding prowess and understanding of the luxury lifestyle market to create Seedlip.
Wanting to draw inspiration from his farming background, Ben came across the word Seedlip at The Museum for Rural English Life – a basket used to sow seeds – an item his family were using on their own farm over 300 years ago, making it a perfect fit for the name of his new brand. Family, heritage and innovation are words that really resonate with Ben, pushing boundaries and using old methods really excites him. Branson hopes to bring distilling, blending and ingredient sourcing home to the family farm as the expansion of the portfolio begins this year.
Ben is an avid collector of things, a hoarder by his own admission, and is always researching, developing and acquiring items for either his collection of over 3,000 vintage penguin books, Victorian children’s books, antiques, or his rapidly expanding taxidermy collection, spearheaded by the Seedlip Fox & Hare, which have unwittingly become Seedlip mascots. A keen artist, Ben further adds his “flare of Ben” at every touch-point by personally art directing Seedlip’s design and aesthetic. The fox and hare bottle illustrations represent Seedlip by illustrating all the individual ingredients of the complex blend on the label, bringing this whole personal journey full circle through the brand.
With offices in the Chilterns, Los Angeles and Sydney, Seedlip is now available in over 25x cities including New York, Barcelona, Shanghai & Singapore and served in many of the world’s most awarded bars, restaurants and hotels including 350x Michelin * Restaurants & 9/10 of the world’s best cocktail bars.
In January 2018, Seedlip announced plans for the launch of a new NA brand to complement the existing portfolio, and to help further grow the category of NA drinks. In December 2019, Æcorn Aperitifs was announced as the sister brand to Seedlip. Æcorn Aperitifs will be a stand-alone brand that occupies its own distinctive place within the NA landscape.
Ben was named as one of the Top 50 most influential people in food and drink by The Telegraph and awarded Young Achiever of The Year by The Drinks Business. He continues to pioneer the non-alcoholic category forward with the launch of Æcorn Aperitifs in Selfridges and The Savoy in May 2019.