Boise beverage company builds business by introducing alcohol-free drinks

They might not be Harry Potter, but these people under the stairs are concocting potions and brews that could be considered just as magical as anything whipped up in Prof. Snape’s class.

Just three weeks ago, Briana Beford and Melissa Nodzu, co-owners of Free Spirit Beverage Company, opened a pop-up location known as People Under the Stairs, a mini-lounge experience that offers up alcohol-free drinks served from under a flight of stairs.

“This is like a spring-summer residency,” Nodzu said, referring to the location at 104 S. Capitol Boulevard in downtown Boise, a stone’s throw from the Egyptian Theatre and right around the corner from Humpin’ Hannah’s. “It’s to vet and see if Boise really is ready for an exclusive, alcohol-free experience.”

People Under the Stairs is a second location for the duo, who also run Bottle Shop at 518 N. Curtis Road in Boise. That location serves more of a tasting room in addition to the facility where they bottle various beverages, bitters, mixers and other products that are alcohol-free, low-proof or full-proof.

The business began in 2019 on Vista Avenue, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Free Spirits Beverage Company had to switch gears. Beford and Nodzu had intended to turn their shop into a mobile experience but landed on a brick-and-mortar location on Orchard. Since then, they’ve made the Curtis Road location their primary operating space and recently opened the Capitol location to gauge interest in their products.

Beford, a horticulture enthusiast for as long as she can remember, explained that the products are “shrubs and shrub-based.” But don’t worry, these aren’t hedges that have been thrown in a blender and liquified.

“So, shrubs are a maceration of fruits and vegetables in apple cider vinegar,” she said. “Typical shrubs are like one part vinegar to one part sugar. Ours are five parts vinegar to one part sugar and 10 parts food. We rely heavily on the food to flavor the vinegar.”

Though Free Spirits is testing the market with their alcohol-free beverages like their “Luke Peary” cocktail made with smoked pear, ginger shrub, coriander, cinnamon and other flavors, or their “Smokin’ Melissa Mule” made with ginger, lemon balm, rosemary and lime, they started by creating bitters for use in mixology.

“Bitters are an extraction of botanicals, typically in a high-proof alcohol, and bitter refers to the plant’s constituent,” Beford said. “Bitter plants are their own category. That would include hops, yarrow, dandelion, black walnut. Bitters, by nature, actually help your digestive system by allowing your palate to interpret and your stomach to create hydrochloric acid, which allows you to break down fats and carbs.”

Though the bitters are available for anyone to purchase, there are a few drinking establishments locally that use the product. The company also distributes nationwide in New York, Maryland, Hawaii, Alaska and Washington.

“They’re like all over the place,” Nodzu said. “Black walnut is our most popular bitters that we sell across the nation.”

Before becoming Free Spirits, the company began life as Ione Bitters. The name Ione is in reference to a character in Greek mythology who was a sea nymph.

“Now, we reference Ione as the CGO, which is the chief goddess officer,” Nodzu said. “Because a lot of what’s happened over the years that we’ve created Free Spirits Beverage Company, when you go back in hindsight, you can see how we were just muses in all of this.”

That inspired foresight is part of what led the duo to make a foray into alcohol-free beverages.

“We used to run a beer, wine and spirits experience, and saw the trend coming when, like, kombucha and craft beer was popular,” Nodzu said. “And Boise is hard to get a liquor license, so we decided, let’s just go all in on non-alcoholic, really awesome cocktails so that people have quality choices.”

According to a news report from The Conversation, younger generations are drinking less alcoholic beverages than older generations.

Generation Z is consuming about one-third less beer and wine, and data from a recent Gallup study showed a 10% decline in alcohol consumption those aged 18 to 34 in the last decade.

“Bri and I have typically always been ahead of the trend, especially here in Boise,” Nodzu said. “We’re both hyper-creative, but this is one thing that we created that we kind of dug our heels in and said, ‘We’re doing this.’ Because we can sense it, like, what’s happening. We just need to stay right here in this lane.”

The two have said that it’s not just Gen Z and the younger people who are moving toward the “sober curious” lifestyle. Baby Boomers are also looking into more alcohol-free beverage options due to health concerns.

Part of the growing success of the company revolves around Beford and Nodzu’s collaborative spirit. The two like to create new products and try new things, and part of that is working with others in the food and beverage industry. To that end, they also carry other companies’ alcohol-free beverages for use in their menu such as the Ritual brand.

Though they have a core group of dedicated fans and shrubs enthusiasts, the team is dedicated to whatever they try and will keep experimenting with new flavor profiles in addition to continued production of their popular products.

“We are definitely hustlers,” Beford said of their work ethic. “We have bootstrapped this whole thing with a team of two and seen exponential growth year over year. Which is thrilling.”

For location hours or more information on their products, visit freespiritsbevco.com.