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Spirits Review 2015 Clear color. Delicate, interesting, attractive aromas of sesame nougat, cashew butter, and white chocolate raisins with a silky, vibrant, dryish light body and a tingling, long warm milk and honey, toasted exotic nuts, crispy chicken skin, and barnyard hay finish. A delightful creamy eau-de-vie with lots of tropical cocktail affinity.

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GOLD 90 Points

“Exceptional”

Awards

Spirits of the Americas, 2014 “A new style of spirit for the US, this cacao-based clear spirit offers a charming, almost grapey aroma with hints of white flowers, and has a light and pleasing crispness made for cocktails.”

GOLD “Best New

Spirit” 93 Points

Tasting Panel Review, 2014 A white spirit sourced from Peru, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic and made with 100% fresh cacao fruit. Soft herbal nose, smooth and creamy texture with sot spice and complex flavor; deep and long with bright, dry flavors and a lush aromatic finish.

New World Spirits

Tom Higbee, founder of Solbeso, discusses making liquor from cacao with Bloomberg's Pimm Fox on "Taking Stock.

WATCH VIDEO: Click above or go to

www.bloomberg.com/video/solbeso-the-liquor-kissed-by-the-sun-

bpZ1~3PeSb68paGurK2T~w.html

SOLBESO: THE LIQUOR KISSED BY THE SUN By: Pimm Fox, Bloomberg TV - December 5th, 2014

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Spirit LeadersSpirit Leaders

LEADERS 2VOLUME 39, NUMBER 2

EDITORS’ NOTE As Founder and original distiller of Solbeso, Tom Higbee’s passion for product and category innovation continues to flourish. Solbeso is the most recent innovation in a career that spans 25 years in brand development where Higbee con-sulted with companies like Diageo, Pepsi, and Unilever. Higbee is a graduate of The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and Penn State University.

Originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, Thomas Aabo arrived in New York City in 1998, joining the rapidly expanding world of start-ups, ini-tially in technology, but never losing his passion for hospitality. After a decade starting and growing mobile and Internet-focused ventures in New York and San Francisco, he joined forces with Tom Higbee to start a quest for innovation in beverages.

COMPANY BR I EF N e w Wo r l d S p i r i t s (solbeso.com) is a New York-based incubation and importation company with a mission to create ex-ceptional new-to-world brands. Their first brand, Solbeso, is an entirely new class of spirits and the world’s first created from the fresh cacao fruit.

What is Solbeso and how did it come about?Higbee: About five years ago, we were in Latin

America working on a chocolate project unrelated to spirits. As part of the exploration, we joined lo-cal farmers in the field to harvest the cacao. The farmer’s job is to knock the cacao pod from the tree, crack it open, and remove the fruit, separating the bean from the fruit because it is the bean that is used to make chocolate. The fruit is a by-product of this process. Interestingly, the fruit has a wonder-ful citrusy flavor, like a lemon-lime sorbet. It’s deli-cious. The locals eat the fruit and drink the juice, but the vast majority of it is thrown away simply because it’s too perishable to take to market. It also ferments quickly, making it difficult to work with as a juice. This was our eureka moment: If it ferments, it can be distilled. Imagine, this vast waste of fruit – more than four million tons a year globally – could become an entirely new revenue source for the farmers. Very quickly, we built a makeshift still in the heart of Peru and created what was to become the world’s first distillate from cacao fruit.

Would you talk about steps you took to get to the next phase after you had this idea?

Higbee: We never thought about creating a new category of spirits. We simply wanted to get the product to market to see how con-sumers and the trade would respond. The curious thing about Solbeso is it contains trace amounts of theobromine – the natural stimulant found in

chocolate that enhances mood and energy. We knew we were on to something. The challenge, of course, was in sourcing the juice at scale: There was simply no infrastructure to collect and process the juice. The farmers were just throwing it away.

Aabo: So we set out to build partnerships with local growers in Latin America that shared our vision. We also enlisted folks like Clay Gordon, a U.S. cacao expert, to help expand our network from Peru to Ecuador, and later to the Dominican Republic. We gained support and much needed investment from executives at Diageo, ABInBev, Brown-Forman, and others, eager to participate in an innovation unlikely to be developed within their own organizations. Along with Master-distiller Dave Pickerell of Makers Mark and WhistlePig, we began building a scalable production proto-col and infrastructure. We ended up building our own distilleries in the jungle with local partners like Fernando Crespo – and now have three facilities producing in Latin America.

Higbee: Importantly, we had to work within the farmer’s system because their main interest, and source of income, is the cacao bean. Once that cacao pod is opened, we have less than a day to get the fruit into a proper fermentation process. To do this, we have to innovate at every stage: The collection process; how we ferment; we even cus-tom-built our distillation equipment to achieve the consistency and quality people taste today. It took nearly three years, but we now have a fully scalable infrastructure that provides hundreds of farmers with the tools and training necessary to make more money in a sustainable way. We’re making a difference in these communities, which is an important part of New World Spirits’ mission.

How do you cut through the noise in the spirits industry and build a brand?

Higbee: We see craft spirits following a similar trajectory to the craft beer movement. What does a

millennial consumer want these days? In the world of spirits, they’re looking for a great story, authen-ticity, and the ability to discover something new. The great thing about Solbeso is it comes with 3,000 years of history. Before the advent of choco-late, the Mayas and Aztecs made a beverage out of fermented cacao fruit called The Drink of the Immortals. Solbeso is a modern distillation of this original fermented drink. It’s a great story that con-nects past to present and is something we love to share with cocktail enthusiasts who are eager to discover something new.

Aabo: We actively work with brands and part-ners who share our passion for Latin culture, heri-tage, and quality. This includes launching Solbeso in the countries where we produce. We want the locals to experience Solbeso for themselves and for visitors to share in that moment of discover.

Are there variations of this product? Higbee: Solbeso No.1 is our signature prod-

uct. It’s an 80-proof base spirit with a singular taste. There’s really nothing else like it: It starts with a floral aroma and light citrus taste that’s creamy in feel and clean in finish. You’ll notice hints of honey-suckle on the front and more of a toasted caramel on the back. The locals drink it on ice, but it’s great in a wide variety of Latin drinks – like the mar-garita – and has the flexibility to extend into classic cocktails like the Solbeso Negroni.

Aabo: Similar to grapes, there are many differ-ent varietals of cacao. Each has a corresponding ef-fect on taste, which is further subject to changes in climate, seasonality, and terroir. This creates an op-portunity to release single-origin expressions and variations on blends. Right now we are especially excited about a barrel-aged Solbeso we’ll be intro-ducing in limited quantities as soon as next year.

Is New World Spirits eager to bring on new categories?

Aabo:. We believe there continues to be oppor-tunities to deliver novelty with authenticity. Solbeso is definitely in this mold. Right now, our focus is to make Solbeso a global brand because we believe it has a story, heritage, and taste that is universally ap-pealing. That said, New World Spirits has the infra-structure and experience to create other products from cacao and other commodities in the region.

Higbee: The American palate has evolved rap-idly over the past 30 years. This has created a world of opportunity for those who want to create new tastes and experiences. Our ambition is to be at the forefront of this movement, by introducing qual-ity products, sustainably sourced, that have a great story to tell. •

Tom Higbee

The New Spirit of Latin America

An Interview with Tom Higbee and Thomas Aabo, Founders of New World Spirits and Creators of Solbeso

Thomas Aabo

By: David Schner, Executive Editor - April 2016

Much like coffee, it is the cacao bean and not the fruit that is in demand. But, what happens to the fruit surrounding the seed? Sadly, most of it is thrown away and wasted. As with apples and bananas, the fruit browns quickly after being exposed to oxygen. The creator of Solbeso, Tom Higbee decided to trying his hand at distilling this fruit. Working with Peruvian Pisco producers, over four years he developed a product that is entirely unique in the world of spirits. Solbeso (“sun-kissed”), is crafted from cacao fruit harvested on family farms in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and northern Peru. And again, like coffee, there are varietals. Solbeso chooses twelve different species of cacao fruit and blends them according to flavor and aromatics. And as with ice wine, there is just a short window of opportunity to make the final product before the fruit is rendered useless. It is an intense process that must utilize the fruit within 6-8 hours. The yeast used for fermentation is proprietary using a blend of both local and Champagne cultures. It is during the fermentation process that it is exposed again to the open air, where it is sun-kissed. It is then distilled in both copper alembic and column stills to achieve the final product, before it is brought down to proof with water in the United States and bottled for shipping.

GSN REVIEW: SOLBESO CACAO SPIRIT By: Blair Frodelius, liquor.com & Good Spirits News - August 18th, 2014

Finish: Fairly short with both an interesting salty and fruity character. Overall: This tastes best ice-cold as a shot, or as a base in a fruit based cocktail. This is also killer in a Bloody Mary, although you have to call it a Bloody Mariya. GSN Rating: B

Solbeso Cacao Spirit (80 proof) Visual: Clear. Nose: Slightly musky and fruity, with a nose leaning towards mango. Taste: I’m immediately reminded of unaged whiskey with a fruity rather than sweet corn based edge. There’s a bit of heat that fools the tongue into thinking this is a higher proof spirit. The flavor is pleasant but seems one dimensional. I’m curious to know how this would fare if it was aged in a tropical wood, as some cachacas are.

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New World Spirits Media Highlights

New World Spirits Media Highlights

CACAO FRUIT-BASED SOLBESO by: David Graver, Coolhunting - June 5th, 2014

The first 80-proof spirit born from the tree best known as the source of chocolate. Whiskey hails from grain, agave provides the source for tequila and vodka can be derived from wheat or potatoes. But with Solbeso, an entirely new and (as yet) unnamed category of distilled spirits has emerged. Carefully selected, fresh cacao fruit—sustainably sourced from family farms in Ecuador and Peru—yields the drink, which becomes high-proof alcohol after fermentation and craft-distillation in South America.

This full-bodied white spirit does have a very subtle, smooth cocoa hint, but it is in no way a chocolate beverage since it's from the fruit pulp—not the cocoa bean. Dominated by various citrus notes with a light floral nose, it tastes distantly akin to tequila. And, much like tequila, Solbeso contains natural stimulants.

Although this is its first foray into the world at large, the origins and inspiration behind Solbeso are rooted in history. Even before cocoa beans were used to create chocolate, early inhabitants of South America used the pulp around the seeds for alcohol. With the modernization of ancient techniques and a new distribution system for cacao pulp, the resulting spirit maintains a full, unique flavor that avoids becoming overly sweet. Altogether, it's a stand alone sipper that can also add new dimensions to cocktail-making—and it's truly unlike anything else on the market.

KICK OFF WORLD CUP WITH A SOUTH AMERICAN SPIRIT by: Michelle Locke, Associated Press - May 14th, 2014

This one is so new it’s not officially a category. But a recently launched spirit, Solbeso, is being billed as the first premium white spirit distilled from cacao fruit, the citrusy, sweet pulp surrounding cacao beans, better known as cocoa. The fruit is sourced from Peru and Ecuador and there are plans to expand to other countries, including the Dominican Republic and Brazil.

Among those serving Solbeso is Enzo Cangemi, bar manager at Ovest Pizzoteca in New York. “It’s an exciting addition to my cocktail program, as I utilize a lot of spices and herbs in my cocktails,” he says. “Solbeso has a delicate cacao aftertaste that gives these cocktails a fuller, richer flavor profile.”

SOLBESO IS THE ULTIMATE PARTY DRINK NO-ONE KNOWS ABOUT by: Jeremy Glass, Supercompressor - May 28th, 2014

Go home, cannabis — cacao is officially the most useful plant in the world. Cocoa powder, chocolate, and booze, all from one plant? That's how you crush the botany game. Solbeso is made from the sweet pulp that surrounds cacao seeds, which is then fermented into a party-inducing 40% ABV spirit. As a by-product of cocoa bean production, the aromatic cacao fruit used to distill Solbeso is sustainably sourced from farms throughout Latin America. Solbeso is naturally sweet, aromatic, and tastes like tequila's badass cousin without the bitter 'tude. With hints of warm honeysuckle and dry citrus, the flavor profile goes well with ice tea, simple syrup, vermouth, and bitters.

CACAO COCKTAILS: A NEW TEQUILA-LIKE SPIRIT DISTILLED FROM CACAO FRUIT by: Katie Kelly Bell, Forbes - September 10th, 2014

Solbeso is made from distilled cacao fruit, and it might be a new spirit category in today’s modern cocktail taxonomy, but it has an ancient history. Long before we grew addicted to the beguiling wonder of chocolate, the ancient cultures that grew cacao were distilling the pulpy cacao fruit into a white spirit—to be consumed at celebrations. The chocolate culture caught fire in the modern age so it is interesting to see this white spirit revival. During the harvesting process the pulpy fresh fruit, which is similar in texture to a peach, is cast off and generally left to rot.

Occasionally the pickers will snack on the fruit while harvesting the cacao beans, but it’s impossible to really use all of the fruit that a single harvest will yield. The team at Solbeso spent over a decade researching the most aromatic fruit (there are actually 12 different cacao varieties) for use in distillation. The result is a white spirit expression that leans towards citrusy and bright with creamy sorbet notes. Some might compare the taste profile to premium tequila, but it also works well with brown spirit cocktails—a workhorse spirit to be sure.

Currently the Solbeso team is working with farmers in Peru and Ecuador, farmers who are likely thrilled with this new development—netting twice the profit for the same resource. The cacao fruit, much like a ripe peach, is highly perishable; in most cases one has less than six hours before the quality begins to diminish. Often, on site distillation is necessary. It’s hard not to like a spirit that makes use of a previously discarded resource and improves the bottom line for cacao farmers.

New World Spirits Media Highlights

The first look inside a cacao pod might surprise you – it certainly surprised me. I had just picked the football shaped pod from a cacao tree on a jungle farm in Belize and fully expected to open it up and find it chock full of cocoa beans. Instead (once whacked open by the machete) fingers of a gooey white substance emerged…not unlike a scene from the movie Alien.

The cocoa beans were there…just covered with the white cacao fruit. Typically cacao farmers scoop out the fruit and separate the cocoa beans to begin drying the beans that eventually end up as chocolate. The white goo gets discarded, but it wasn’t always that way.

Centuries before the advent of chocolate, the Incas, Mayas and Aztecs prized this fruit allowing its sweet pulp to ferment into a low-proof mead-like beverage. Often referred to as the Food of the Gods, the original drink - known as chocolatl or “bitter water” – was traditionally consumed in preparation for battle, in celebration of a victory or in anticipation of conquests of the amorous type!

Consumption of fermented cacao beverages waned over time as European settlers arrived in the Americas bringing their wines, beers and spirits distilled from corn, sugarcane, molasses and grapes. But anything previously known as Food of the Gods and affiliated with amorous conquests deserves a rebirth. Enter Solbeso.

Through modern technology, Solbeso has perfected the ancient art of fermenting the cacao fruit and is the first variation to be distilled. This 80 proof category-defining spirit delivers a floral aroma and light taste derived from the creamy, citrusy sweet pulp of the cacao fruit. Solbeso is the first premium distilled spirit made from a curated blend of the world’s finest cacao fruit sustainably sourced from family farms and co-operatives throughout Latin America where cacao production has been a way of life for thousands of years. By pioneering every step of the production process - from cacao collection, to fermentation, to distillation - Solbeso has created the world’s first cacao fruit supply chain, vastly benefiting local communities in remote regions of Latin America along the way.

Seasonality, micro-climates and the altitude at which the cacao is grown all have a direct effect on the flavor of the fruit, requiring a dedicated effort to source it from numerous regions. To ensure consistency from region to region, cacao fermentation required the development of a specialized strain of yeast (similar to Champagne yeast) that performs in high acidity environments.

Cacao fruit begins to oxidize and naturally ferment once opened making it necessary to begin the distillation process of Solbeso within an eight hour time frame. Often on-site distillation is a must. All equipment used to ferment and distill Solbeso has been custom designed to effectively remove impurities and concentrate the aromas and flavors of the cacao fruit. The cacao distillate is shipped to the United States to be blended, filtered and bottled.

The Solbeso name is a portmanteau of the Spanish words Sol (Sun) and Beso (Kiss) - an allusion to the open-air fermentation process where the cacao is literally “kissed by the sun” – conjuring the warmth and magic of a spirit born in the tropics.

It’s up to you to take the warmth and magic of Solbeso, shake or stir a few cocktails and…well, see what happens. Remember, distilled cacao fruit was once used for amorous conquests. Maybe you’ll get lucky.

SOLBESO: THE SPIRITED SEXY SIDE OF CACAO By: Terri Marshall, Examiner.com - September 15th, 2014

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A new spirit made from cacao fruit The liquor industry is flush with chocolate-flavored liqueurs, 'wines' (shudder), and cloying choco-cocktail recipes. They all seem to end up tasting dubious at best, so when we first heard about Solbeso—a new spirit from South America made from cacao—we were pretty skeptical. Yet as it turns out, Solbeso doesn't have much to do with chocolate at all. Chocolate is made from tiny beans nestled inside cacao pods, whereas Solbeso is distilled from the juicy, pulpy fruit surrounding said beans. When this fruit is transformed into liquor, it yields a softly sweet and citrusy-tasting clear spirit—a bit like tequila, a bit like pisco, a bit like rum—with thick floral flavors laced with nutty undertones. A totally new category of liquor that actually adds something interesting to the conversation instead of re-hashing tired concepts? Consider us on board.

Making the Cacao Fruit Spirit Developing the formula and processes for an unprecedented liquor category comes with more than its fair share of challenges, which is why it took almost four years for owner Thomas Higbee to guide the product from idea to bottle. Higbee says that inspiration originally sparked during a visit to Northern Peru when he discovered cacao farmers throwing away pods full of what appeared to be perfectly viable fruit after extracting the beans needed for chocolate production. Curious about the reasons for the waste, he sampled one of the leftovers, and was surprised to discover the raw flesh tasted quite appealing. "It's this luscious, lovely fruit, like a creamy lemon, lime, orange sorbet with cream, he says. "It's delicious." After doing some preliminary research, Higbee discovered that one of the main reasons why the cacao fruit is discarded: it is highly vulnerable to oxidation. Like avocados, the fruit will begin to perish shortly after it is exposed to air, so distillation facilities must be within arm's reach. Determined to succeed but without easy access to Peru's pisco factories (most of which reside about 20 hours south near Lima, he says), Higbee rigged a mobile distillery and built others directly on site where the cacao is harvested. "For some families, they've been throwing out this fruit for seven generations, and now we're taking it off their hands instead," he says. "It's giving these people more money for the same amount of work. It's cool for these small family farms." Solbeso uses a few intensely flavored, aromatic varieties of cacao (there are upwards of 12 different varieties grown across South America, Higbee says), sourced from Peru, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic. Higbee says they use an assembly of varieties because the difference in flavor between each one is similar to that between wine grapes. Each type adds something slightly different to the final flavor. Once the pods are opened, the fruit is laid out on open-air beds, where a Champagne yeast and local yeast blend are introduced to aid in fermentation. Each batch is distilled on site in its respective country, and then shipped to the United States for blending and bottling. Blending is an important part of the process because each single variety batch will taste slightly different, thanks to varying climate, soil, and season. "Blending gives you complexity and consistency," Higbee says.

How It Tastes the final spirit has little resemblance to the dark, bitter chocolate one might expect, but rather tastes light and clean with elements of the fresh creamy fruit

Bottled at 80 proof, Solbeso is unlike any other spirit on the market, although some loose comparisons can be made. "I often tell people, it's like if rum and tequila had a baby," Higbee says. When telling people about Solbeso, he starts by reiterating that the final spirit has little resemblance to the dark, bitter chocolate one might expect, but rather tastes light and clean with elements of the fresh creamy fruit: a little floral orange blossom, a bright splash of lemon.

The aroma bursts with an intriguing combination of green apple skin and wet grass. Lemon is prominent in the flavor, rounded out with hints of silky honeysuckle and rose, wisps of herbs like thyme and rosemary, and subtle undertones of toffee and roasted pecans. It's complex, balanced, and surprisingly soft with just the slightest burn from the alcohol on the finish. I can definitely see comparing it to aromatic Italia pisco, herbal tequila, and warmly sweet rum, but Solbeso strays from the straightforward framework of all three to settle neatly in its own category.

How to Drink It Given its lemony, herbal character, Solbeso is delicious in Margarita form: mix two ounces of the spirit with one ounce fresh lime juice and three-quarters of an ounce of simple syrup for a drink that's got the same refreshing perk as the classic cocktail, but with a darker sweetness and deeper complexity. Higbee recommends trying Solbeso paired with lemon juice in a Latin riff on the classic Bee's Knees cocktail, which is satisfying as well, but I found the Solbeso's bold spirit to dwindle a bit in the face of the rich honey. Instead, try it in the refreshing New York Sour, with Solbeso in the place of rye. The red wine floating on the top of the drink brings an added a deeper berry-forward complexity to the drink while also drying out the sweetness from the spirit and accompanying sugar.

Mostly, though, I've enjoyed drinking it chilled or on the rocks with a simple lemon twist.

Looking Forward I love Solbeso's unique and unapologetic personality, and can't help but get excited thinking about the potential for the category going forward. With so many different types of cacao fruit available for production, will single variety versions be developed? What would it taste like when aged in barrels? Could the category grow to be as wild and diverse as pisco or mezcal? Only time will tell, but if this represents the beginning of a future for cacao spirits, I'm excited to see—and taste—what happens next. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to discovering what kinds of cocktails will be developed when Solbeso lands in the hands of bartenders in the months to come.

SOLBESO: CHOCOLATE'S BOOZY COUSIN FROM SOUTH AMERICA By: Emma Janzen Serious Eats - August 27th, 2014

New World Spirits Media Highlights

New World Spirits Media Highlights