01 · The breakdown
Hardwater
Equation
-
01Alcohol
Distilled until it's clear, so nothing gets in the way of the fruit. 5 percent.
-
02Real Juice
This is where the flavor comes from: real fruit, not a lab.
-
03Mountain Spring H₂O
Spring water from a mountain in San Diego County. Most cans start with city tap. Ours starts here.
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02 · Congeners
The leftovers
from making alcohol
Congeners are what fermentation, distillation and aging leave behind in a drink: aldehydes, esters, fusel alcohols, phenols and tannins. They give whiskey its color and brandy its depth. They do not make you any more drunk. They are simply more for your body to process alongside the ethanol.
Research Dr. Andrew Huberman summarized ranks drinks by how rough the next day tends to be, and the ranking tracks congener load, not sugar. Brandy sits at the top, the other dark spirits follow, clear spirits do better, and the lowest of all is pure ethanol diluted in juice. That one chart is the design brief for SunGod.
Huberman Lab. Plays from YouTube.
What's in the can,
and what isn't
SunGod is built on a short ingredient list where every item is one you can name: organic neutral grain spirit, mountain spring water, real organic juice, with a light touch of organic cane sugar. No carbonation, no artificial flavors, no artificial sweeteners.
What we won't tell you is what that does for anyone. Alcohol is alcohol and 5% is 5%. What we can say is exactly what's in the can and what isn't, which is more than most of the shelf can.
Huberman Lab is an independent podcast with no affiliation to SunGod, and nothing in it endorses this or any product. We link it because it explains the subject clearly, not because it says anything about us.
03 · Neutral grain spirit
Start with the purest
alcohol you can get
A neutral grain spirit is ethanol distilled to about 96% purity, stripped of nearly all congeners, color and flavor. Ours is distilled in Germany from organic wheat, which is also why the drink is gluten free.
Because it is so concentrated, very little of it gets a can to 5% ABV. A vodka based drink needs far more spirit volume to land in the same place, and that extra volume brings its own water and impurities with it. Using less spirit leaves more room in the can for the water and the juice.
04 · Water, no bubbles
Most of the drink
is water, so the
water matters
Most canned drinks are made with whatever runs through the co-packer's taps. Water is the majority of what you are holding, so we start with mineral rich spring water from a mountain spring in San Diego County, 5,000 feet up, checked by an independent water engineer.
There is no carbonation, on purpose. Bubbles bloat, they mask flavor, and they get in the way of a long afternoon. Still water lets the fruit come through and makes the drink easy to stay with. That is why we call it Hardwater and not a seltzer.
05 · Real juice
Flavor from fruit,
not a flavor house
The flavor is organic juice: cucumber, lemon, mint and ginger in Minted Sol, pineapple, coconut and ginger in Solar Drift. A light touch of organic cane sugar rounds it out. No artificial flavors, no artificial sweeteners, no preservatives. If it is not on the can, it is not in the can.
06 · By the numbers
The label,
nothing else
- USDA Organic
- 5% alc/vol
- Non-carbonated
- 12 fl oz
- Made in California
5% ABV · 140 calories · 9g total organic sugar (including juices) · 12 fl oz
Cucumber, Lemon, Mint, Ginger. Crisp cucumber and bright lemon with cooling mint and a warm ginger finish.
5% ABV · 150 calories · 13g total organic sugar (including juices) · 12 fl oz
Pineapple, Coconut, Ginger. Juicy pineapple and smooth coconut balanced with a warm ginger finish.
The long version