Food & Drink
St Hildie’s Tonics Will Change the Way You Think About Drinking Alcohol
Photo by Ella SophieSaint Hildegard von Bingen drank alcohol for good health. The 12th-century saint was a mystic, herbalist and botanist, and would have never succumbed to sober trends like Sober October or Dry January. Now, 900 or so years later, Hildegard serves as the muse and patron saint to the latest game changer in canned libations: St Hildie’s Spiked Tonics.
St Hildie’s isn’t like the other options in the alcohol aisle, but shares closer ties to the health and wellness section. “We really wanted only ingredients with integrity, ingredients that we would proudly and comfortably list on our label and ingredients that we would put into our own bodies,” says St Hildie’s co-founder Christine Peck.
Peck started tinkering with different recipes a few years ago in her Austin, Texas, kitchen when friend Alexi Cashen came to visit. Once Peck shared the idea of better-for-you canned drinks, Cashen — an industry veteran — was in. Then came master of branding and advertising (and Peck’s sister-in-law) Meghan DeRoma to complete the trifecta of founders.
“It really started because we are all healthy women who like to drink alcohol,” Peck says, plain and simple. “And truly nothing on the market aligned with the ingredients we were consuming every day.”
So the three began brewing up botanical concoctions packed with real fruit juices and purees, beneficial botanicals (think lemon balm, holy basil and eleuthero) and spirits, like three witches stirring over a cauldron. “We don’t dislike that association,” Peck says with a laugh.
The perfect brew would taste delicious, give a nice buzz, and be full of the good stuff humans should actually be consuming — no harsh chemicals or artificial flavors and absolutely no added sugar.
Potions perfected, the three disciples of Hildegard figured out how to pour the contents of the cauldron into the can without losing the integrity of the ingredients. All of St Hildie’s production is in the Bay Area, the alcohol used is 100 percent organic and the packaging has zero traces of plastic.
Now, St Hildie’s can be found all over Marin in places like The Junction and Hook Fish Co. at Proof Lab Beer Garden, Mollie Stone’s and Whole Foods.
“Being able to walk into our favorite local grocers and restaurants and order — or better yet, watch somebody else order — a St Hildie’s feels so good,” says Peck, who now lives in Mill Valley near Cashen (DeRoma is in SoCal).
The perfected flavor is getting noticed by industry experts, too — St Hildie’s won a gold and two silver medals in the 2023 Bartender Spirits Awards and was named one of the Best Canned Cocktails in Forbes. “Our vision is to continue to grow and to support all of those people who choose to live a clean life but also enjoy a cocktail with friends,” says Peck. And that’s surely a vision their namesake and patron saint would make a toast to.
