The product
Placed a few meters from the checkouts, the green and yellow pouches, which look exactly like children’s compote packaging, do not go unnoticed by consumers waiting in line at the SAQ. However, the Alchimia Limonada Quebec slushie is not a snack for toddlers. It’s more of a sachet of vodka alcoholic drink to put in the freezer… while waiting for sunny afternoons. The rules of use are simple: freeze and squeeze, we can read on the packaging.
The company
Behind this ready-to-drink freezer, which would be among the first of its kind to be produced in Quebec, is Amélie Talbot. A chemist by training, the founder of Spiritueux Alchimia is not new to the field of alcohol. Founded in 2019, the company first brought to market an oatmeal vodka, a gin and maple liqueur, and a maple cream. However, Mme Talbot now wants to put “emphasis” on its sweet slushies which can be drunk through a straw or tasted with a spoon like a granita. After two years of “tests” where they were found in a few state company stores for the summer season, the green and yellow sachets are now on sale in a large majority of SAQ branches.
The story
“What’s not on the market yet? », This is the question that Amélie Talbot asked herself when she started thinking about a new product. And with the “cleaning” that the SAQ intends to do in the Quebec spirits aisle to leave more space on its shelves for the products that sell best, Mme Talbot, by wanting to stand out from what was being done in the ready-to-drink section, may have opted for the right approach.
“The idea is to try to develop products in categories where there is not too much competition, to try to go into a market where there is demand and few offers. Spirits are basically a family passion. My grandmother was a gin lover. »
PHOTO PASCAL RATTHÉ, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Amélie Talbot, founder of Alchimia Limonada
The decision to launch into the marketing of slush was not made by chance. Amélie Talbot already has a little “experience” when it comes to developing a slush. “I’ve been making slushies for my friends for years and years. For a long time, I have been making them in different flavors and bringing them to our pool parties. Everyone likes it. It’s the continuity of all that,” she says.
“And I’m a chemist by training. It’s always a challenge to make a product that freezes, but not completely ice-like. »
From Lévis, where she is based, she went to a research center in New Brunswick to prepare her slip. “I went there to develop the product. It gave me access to equipment and more knowledge. »
Recipe in hand, she then turned to the Témiscouata Distillery, in Bas-Saint-Laurent. She has her slips produced there as a subcontractor. In addition to her fresh lemonade sachet, which may remind nostalgic people of the juice bags sold at a certain time in Perrette convenience stores, Amélie Talbot would like to develop other flavors which will also rhyme with summer and heat.
reference: www.lapresse.ca