Business

HOPPER-ING TO MAKE THE MARKET BY STORM

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21 January 2010

Kevin Quinn
kevin@southwarknews.org

Two entrepreneurs based in Blackfriars have come up with a brew targeting adults wanting to avoid alcohol, but who are tired of sickly sweet soft drinks.

Brand experts Neville Portelli, 50, and Gregory Watson, 46, set up their own company, Juice Brewery, in Southwark last year and are hoping to take the UK soft drinks market by storm.

The pair, who have been running a successful branding agency, Undeground BLC, for the past fifteen years, have developed and launched what they believe to be the 'first adult looking, adult tasting soft drink.'

Based in Valentine Place in Blackfriars, the Juice Brewery's innovative product is called 'Hopper'. Made like no other soft drink, it is brewed with English malted barley and hops, but before it reaches fermentation a splash of fruit juice is added together with sparkling water. The result is a refreshing drink which, when poured into a glass, forms a foamy head, just like a beer. Yet it contains absolutely no alcohol.



One hundred and twenty thousand bottles have been sold since the launch last summer.  Priced at £1.39 a bottle off trade and up to £2.49 on trade it comes in three flavours - Apple, Blackcurrant and Citrus. It contains no additives or preservatives, and is less than 100 calories per bottle.

Portelli and Watson are no strangers to the market. While running their brand agency they worked with top clients like Coca-Cola. 'Hopper' has already won an International Fodd Expo Innovation award last summer, and was runner up to Pepsi-Co for Best Adult Soft Drink at the Beverage Innovation awards in Munich in September last year.

Bars in ultra trendy Fulham were quick to stock it, but a recent marketing drive locally now sees the drink stocked within local trade outlets, including Baltic restaurant on Blackfriars Road and The Stage Door pub underneath the Old Vic at Waterloo.

To find out more about 'Hopper' and get your hands on a bottle, contact Juice Brewery on 0203 268 2220 or e-mail: info@juicebrewery.com

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