Our Story

A Story of Two Busy People

Seadrift was founded by Alastair and Carolyn Whiteley. After 20 years living in London, Alastair and Carolyn moved back to her hometown on the Northern Beaches of Sydney seeking a more natural, peaceful life.

The beautiful beaches, fresh sea air, a simpler more organic world of her childhood, where people had time for each other and for themselves. The simple life.

But it wasn’t long before they found themselves asking the same old question “Why are we all in such a rush? We rush at home, we rush at work, we rush our children and we rush each other.”

They found themselves and their friends working endless hours at breakneck speed, darting from one calamity to another, and had to ask ‘For what?’

So after way too many bottles of wine devoted to managing everyday stress, they decided that something had to change. And so Seadrift was born.

A drink to slow down, to unwind and enjoy without the guilt. A drink with which to appreciate the little moments and watch the sea drift by.

Inspired by a Growing Movement

Inspired by a growing movement towards “mindful drinking” and the role that adult-tasting non-alcoholic spirits could have to help people step back from alcohol, Alastair and Carolyn set out to create a non-alcoholic spirit that tasted of the natural beauty and ingredients of Sydney’s Northern Beaches. A drink that was adult tasting, refreshing, and could be drunk with the seafood, salads and fragrant Asian stir-fries that make up our local cuisine.

Utilising his design skills, having run one of London’s largest branding agencies and Carolyn’s background in innovation working on some of the world’s major alcohol brands, together they set sail to create a new type of spirit.

They began experimenting with seaweed sourced from the local beaches. First distilling batches in his kitchen, then experimenting on different stills and in distilleries, until after two years they struck on a unique process that allowed them to capture the essence of the fresh sea air and local herbs.

And so Seadrift was born, an adult-tasting, non-alcoholic spirit.

Australia’s First Non-Alcoholic Distillery

In December 2019, Seadrift opened Australia’s first non-alcoholic distillery, right in the heart of Brookvale on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. The distillery is purpose-built and designed specifically for our unique process that is based on the traditional copper pot distillation method that has been used for centuries to produce top-end vodkas and gins, with some very modern tweaks!

All production is made in hand-beaten, copper pot stills. The botanicals are slowly distilled at low temperatures to create a really fresh botanical tasting drink. The copper dome of the still helps to concentrate and capture the natural flavours and aromas, producing a smoother, fresh-tasting spirit.

Our ingredients are freshly cut and supplied fresh each day, from the best local growers around Sydney. We rigorously control our ingredients, balancing each and every batch individually, to account for different flavour intensities throughout the growing season.

We produce by hand in small batches to ensure that the freshness of the product is maintained throughout the process. A true labour of love.

Of course like all unique drinks we have a few secret steps to the process that we can’t share, as they make the magic that is Seadrift.