Kin Euphorics: A New Way to Connect & Relax

What if a night of drinking actually made you feel more focused, more connected, and improved your mood? And what if it came without the hangover? These are a just a few of the things that Jennifer Batchelor was thinking about when she started concepting the idea for Kin Euphorics, a new player in the non-alcoholic beverage space, two years ago.

Between working in the travel industry (a space filled with welcome cocktails and all-you-can-drink wristbands) and witnessing her friends go through the detox/retox cycle (think a rigorous spin glass followed by a vodka green juice), she wanted to find a better solution. Batchelor wanted to be able to walk into her local Whole Foods, grab something non-alcoholic off the shelf, bring it to a friend’s house and split it, while still feeling like they were able to relax and “take the edge off.” She realized that the products living in the stress relief space on store shelves, like supplements and tinctures, lacked that social aspect.

This is where Kin Euphorics, launching this month, comes in. With a background in ayurvedic herbology and medicine, Batchelor combined eastern philosophy around herbs with what Silicon Valley types are doing to enhance performance, focus and clarity to create the Kin’s first product, High Rhode. It’s a sippable “social tonic” that gives you a natural buzz without alcohol (that means no hangover) thanks to a combination of adaptogens, botanicals, and nootropics.

High Rhode is a blend of replenishing nootropics to enhance perception and help deepen connection and adaptogens and botanicals to lift your mood. The nootropics at play here are not the kind that will make you feel like Bradley Cooper in Limitless, but a blend that provides replenishing, cognitive benefits. Add rhodiola rosea, a stress reducing adaptogen, and hibiscus, orange peel and licorice and you’re left with a warm, floral tonic that won’t leave you with a pounding head in the morning.

Batchelor and her business partner spent time studying the social ritual of drinking, especially looking at what type of connections are being made around a bottle of wine that aren’t being made around a bottle of water. “When we unpacked it all, it was three main things: lowered inhibitions, the perception of taking the edge off, the sense of relaxation, and the idea of engaging in this thing we aren’t doing from 9 to 5,” she says. “The core principle that tethers those things together is a sense of connectivity.” Of course, when alcohol is involved, there is a threshold: when you drink too much, you stop connecting.

Batchelor anticipates New Year cleanses like Dry January being an interesting place for Kin. “We are zero calories, zero sugar. A lot of mocktails as you can imagine, are 25-plus grams of sugar, because it’s all juice,” she says. Not to mention that one serving will also give you 25% of your daily dose of vitamins B6, B3 and B9.

She’s also working on partnering with bartenders to come up with thoughtful and creative (non-alcoholic) cocktails featuring Kin. “We want to be a part of a great hospitality experience for those who aren’t drinking and want something more than just a club soda,” says Batchelor. One bottle of Kin is 12 servings, making it perfect for sharing with friends. Mix it with soda water for a simple, floral sip or get creative with one of the brand’s featured recipes, like the Kinlet. No matter how you enjoy it, Kin will actually give you the pick-me-up that many turn to alcohol for — and don’t get.