Matthias Ingelmann, bar manager at KOL Mezcaleria, and Matt Varona, beverage manager for KOL’s parent company MJMK, have launched IV Drinks with the aim to bring high quality, affordable verjus to the UK.
The pair’s first launch is Vinberg Extra Sour Verjus, imported from Austria.
“The verjus situation in the UK has been really frustrating,” said Ingelmann. “It was either not of good quality or really overpriced. Verjus is quite an obvious alternative to lemons and limes, but the value for money was just not there, so we started IV Drinks out of a need for verjus in our drinks at KOL.”
Verjus is made with the juice of unripe, unfermented wine grapes that has a complex and tart character.
“We started looking into sourcing other products, discovered this amazing Verjus from Burgenland, Austria, and began importing it,” added Ingelmann.
“Vinberg Extra Sour Verjus is of amazing quality and much cheaper than anything else on the market, making it finally possible to use bigger quantities of really good Verjus in cocktails.
“We think it will pave the way for more bars and bartenders to use Verjus in drinks and lead to more innovation around the topic of acidity in drinks in general.”
IV Drinks Vinberg Extra Sour Verjus is available in a 50cl bottle from The Whisky Exchange at rrp £11.95 and, for the trade, in a 500cl box available from Speciality Drinks.