I started TANICA as a side hustle during COVID with two girlfriends who shared a love of marketing and desire for something better to drink. The initial TANICA was closer to a cocktail mixer, a lower alcohol alternative to full strength spirits that came in a pretty pink bottle. We called ourselves the “Mecca Beauty of Drinks.”
After quitting my day job and a year of hard knocks selling TANICA at market stalls and online, the brand was scouted by Distill Ventures, an early stage innovation program with investment from Diageo. This big break afforded us the opportunity to take all the learnings and feedback from all of you and start again - keeping the name which is short for botanical and the original idea of showcasing the native flavours of Australia.
2023 started with a deep dive with women in Sydney and Melbourne on what they wanted in a daytime cocktail. We learned, like all things, it’s about balance. Not depriving yourself or making compromises. It's being in tune with what makes you happy and the occasion you are in. It’s doing and drinking what makes you feel good, without derailing other parts of your life - like your health and wellbeing or your social life - that (I still think) are important to you. We discovered the best moments for women over drinks was the spritz occasion - the ultimate daytime cocktail of a coastal culture like ours.
We took on the learnings to start from square one. Rather than a blend like limoncello, we worked with an expert distiller in liqueurs and vermouths to develop our own method to create TANICA - it’s distilled like a gin without juniper as a clear spirit, then slow-soaked in Davidson Plum for two months to give it a naturally bittersweet flavour and vibrant colour. We pioneered ways in the process to keep delicate fresh ingredients fresher, like not exposing delicate botanicals to boiling temperatures of alcohol which is typical of traditional distilling.
I hope you enjoy TANICA as much as I do. I have tried a lot of spirits and cocktails in the world and I can honestly say TANICA is my absolute favourite (but I'm a little biased). It’s more than a spritz to me, it’s just the perfect drink for the way we live here.
Adriane x