Saw It On Social: Haus Spirits
Dec 7, 2020
While I enjoy a good craft cocktail, I’m not a regular drinker of wine. Why? Sugar. So when a friend mentioned that aperitifs had less sugar and less alcohol-by-volume, I Googled it. And that decision flooded my Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest feeds with ads for Haus.
The Algorithm Powers That Be work harder than Kris Jenner.
Haus is an California-based manufacturer of aperitifs. Aperitifs are distilled spirits usually served as a “before dinner” drink. They are advertised as having a lower alcohol content than traditional spirits, and lighter than some wines.
The founders of Haus designed the aperitifs “for people who love drinking” but don’t want to feel sluggish and hungover the next day. They’re designed to be consumed with friends or at social occasions.
To test out Haus, I ordered their popular Sampler Kit. For $40, you receive four mini bottles. Each bottle contains 2-3 drinks…or one drink if you’re having a hard day.
You can either select your flavors or receive their bestsellers. I chose the citrus flower, spiced cherry, ginger yuzu and peach passionfruit flavors. I’m told the rose flavor is also delicious, but I don’t enjoy the flavor of florals, so I passed on that one.
I liked all of the flavors I ordered. My favorite was the citrus flower, which tastes like lemon and elderflower. I also liked the spiced cherry, which tastes a bit like a Manhattan cocktail with lots of cherry in it. The other two flavors were fine, but not my favorite.
Kyle didn’t like the product as much as I did, because all of the flavors were too sweet for him. And I admit, they were sweeter than I anticipated given the advertised low-ish sugar content.
The Haus aperitifs are made more like wine than spirits like vodka or Bourbon, so they wouldn’t be my first choice for an end of week cocktail. But if you like wine, you will have no trouble finding a flavor you like. And with the lower alcohol and sugar content than cocktails, these could be a good replacement for women who don’t want to go dry but want to cut back.
I wasn’t blown away by Haus, but sampling the flavors was kind of fun. If you’re looking for a fun Friday night activity to do with your roommate or partner, this would be a fun one. It might also be a fun Zoom event if friends ordered the same flavors and you did a taste test.
I never felt drunk after drinking the Haus products (even if I decided to drink the whole sample-size bottle), and I didn’t have a headache the next day (which I always get with wine).
Bottom Line. I found the Haus advertising accurate. Their aperitifs are light and easy to drink, and don’t leave you feeling like crap the next day even if you have one more than you intended. The flavors are tasty, though you will inevitably like some better than others. The Sampler Kit is a great place to start. And if you have a wine drinker on your list, it could also make a nice gift.
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Like all Saw It On Social posts, I purchased these Haus aperitifs with my own money. The purpose of SioS is to assess whether I would spend my own money on the product and not regret it, or ideally be willing to spend that money again. No gifts or sponsorships were solicited or accepted. If you have a suggestion for SioS, drop into the comments below.
I’m a bit confused… the average glass (5 ounces) of non-sweet wine contains 1.2g of sugar… so not much at all.
One of these things contains about 1.4g of sugar per ounce (each container has almost 7 ounces)… so… looks like tricky labeling.
I’d highly recommend Dry Farm Wines. Otherwise I stick to straight liquor to avoid sugar.
while i don’t know much about relative sugar content, in the same vein, the sampler says the abv is 18%, which is going to be higher than wine. (red is usually going to be around 13-15%, white a bit lower. a standard glass of wine serving is 150ml, a generous restaurant pour higher.) nutrition/alcohol-wise, this sounds like it may be a good substitute for a cocktail, but doesn’t seem like it would be lower calorie or alcohol than a glass of wine.
I may have misread a chart (trying to convert metric to US measurements). So I may be confused about the sugar issue.
Have you tried Swoon (formerly Be Mixed)? They are zero calorie, zero sugar and you just add your preferred spirit. Big fan of the Margarita one with a shot of mezcal.
After rereading A Gentleman in Moscow (my favorite book), I’ve been inspired to do a better job in terms of pairing wines with my meals. I ordered the Wine Folly tasting journal and borrowed her book Wine Folly, Magnum Edition from the library. I’m actually quite excited. Usually, I just get the Kirkland Red wine from Costco, which I love, but this will be fun. I also recommend Reverse Wine Snob who has “best of” lists for Trader Joe’s and Costco. It all feels slightly snooty and aristocratic, but I love it!
I bought Big Macs and Burgundy, and then promptly bought 3 more copies as gifts. It is an awesome coffee table book, as well as full of really fascinating info. I have a WSET 3 and I found it to be engaging and super informative for any level of wine drinker and the pairings are really fun and on point. The photography and illustrations are beautiful. Would highly recommend as well!
As someone who has been in the wine and spirits industry for upwards of 20 years I can promise you, marketing alcohol as “low carb/sugar/keto” is a marketing gimmick only. Alcoholic calories are non-nutritional calories. If you choose to drink it, you have to get on board with that fact. MOST of the wines out there are dry and have negligible amounts of sugar. You know which wines have more sugar ? inexpensive (sub $10 (read: cheap) commercial wines that have their lackluster flavors bolstered with it. Any company (MLM) marketing their wines this way is basically saying that something that is normally/naturally low sugar/carb is “now now sugar/carb”. — it’s as if they were marketing carrots as ‘low fat’ – when in fact all carrots are low fat.
Lots of aperitifs have sugar, all liqueurs have sugar (by definition) and most spirits and wine have little to none.
Interesting. Thanks for the info.
“The Algorithm Powers That Be work harder than Kris Jenner“ ????????
I haven’t looked at Haus’ sugar/alcohol info, but based on Belle’s post, Haus hasn’t been untruthful. Aperitifs are very popular in Europe. They’re light, less sweet & lower alcohol vs wine and are meant to start the meal or go with a social event. We also drink them if we just want something light – like a bunch of friends getting together for an afternoon with some drinks and snacks.