Discover recipes and a comprehensive city guide, just in time for Dry January
CM: What inspired Sipland?
MF: I met Lauren through my work as cofounder and CEO of Red Clay Hot Sauce. Both of us had changed our relationships with alcohol for different reasons and bonded over that. We saw a need for someone to be the bridge between consumers changing how they’re thinking about alcohol and the brands. Since soft-launching this summer, every opportunity has led to the next.
LH: As a graphic designer, I had the itch to step into a more permanent role for a brand, and Sipland fell into my lap. Molly is the business savant building relationships and partnering with brands, and I get to own the creative side.
CM: What services do you provide?
LH: I think of Sipland as being two things: one is a consumer-facing resource for recipes and product recommendations and the other is a top-tier creative partner for non- and low-alcoholic beverage brands. The hope of Sipland is that through the experiences we create, our guests won’t miss alcohol.
MF: We’ve also developed a local guide with our favorite restaurants that have beautiful, thoughtful nonalcoholic drinks that are just as complex as true cocktails.
CM: How do you curate the products you recommend?
LH: It’s a lot of trial and error, and the litmus test stretches across someone like me, who can’t identify flavor notes but thinks something tastes good, to Molly with her F&B background, to our friends and partners. I’ll often throw a dinner party to see what my guests think of a product.
MF: This industry is really booming, and everybody is trying to get their hand in the pot. Sipland can come in and offer guidance on what’s good and what isn’t. I think a lot of it is we’re customers, too. We also want to go out and have something delicious and not have to drink alcohol.
CM: Do you see the movement growing beyond the Holy City?
LH: It’s happening locally, but more and more on a full-blown national scale. A lot of young people are reexamining their relationships with alcohol, and I could see a world where we really start talking about drinking culture the way we do with cigarettes, saying “What a time that was!” We’re hearing about it more with college students, which is an audience I didn’t think we’d speak to.
MF: Key cities are leading the charge. Charleston is a big drinking destination, and our guide is full of great drinks that nod to that. In September, The Charleston Place asked us to create a no- and low-alcohol espresso martini bar, which showed that sober doesn’t have to mean boring; nonalcoholic parties can be sexy, fun, and inclusive for everyone.
CM: What’s on tap for the future?
MF: We were just hired by Zero Proof, one of the largest nonalcoholic e-commerce sites, to begin managing their social media content. We’ve already worked with a handful of leading brands in this industry in just a few short months, so we’re so excited for the momentum to grow.
LH: We’d also love to develop a line of beautiful, thoughtful glassware that becomes iconic to mocktails, similar to how there’s
designated glasses for wine and martinis.
