Lyre’s was founded in Australia in 2019 by Mark Livings and Carl Hartmann, setting out to mimic classic alcohol-free spirits (its name, in fact, comes from the Australian lyrebird: a bird famous for its mimicry).
As one of the earlier entrants in alcohol-free spirits, it embraced the leading UK market from the start. But over the last couple of years the US has become its biggest market; with the biggest opportunities for growth.
To that end, David Gimpelson was appointed as CEO in 2024 to head up the company from Nevada: bringing with him decades of experience building brands such as Casamigos Tequila (George Clooney’s famous tequila which sold to Diageo in 2017) and Calirosa Tequila.
In the latest installment of BeverageDaily’s brand building series, Gimpelson tells us how he plans to embrace this period of growth (Lyre’s is currently outperforming the category with double-digit volume and revenue growth); while also streamlining the business to tap into the top opportunities in today’s alcohol-free market.
Introduce us to Lyre’s!
We are the non-alcoholic version of all your favorite spirits. If you like a Margarita, or an Old Fashioned, or Manhattan, or an Espresso Martini, or a glass of Champagne, we can offer the same cocktail with no alcohol.
It’s about the same delicious flavors and mouthfeel, and the excitement over a cocktails, without the alcohol involved.
There’s two different ways to make non-alcoholic products. There’s dealcoholization, which is what many brands do: where you take your traditional product and remove alcohol.
Lyre’s chose not to do it that way, because we believe that removes a lot of the flavor profiles that makes those products so beautiful.
We actually take the inverse approach: we have an amazing flavor architect, David Murphy, who takes natural flavors and botanicals to emulate the flavor profile and mouthfeel of traditional spirits.
The taste test
Lyre's has secured over 200 awards and accolades since launching in 2019.
Who’s your target market?
It’s a moving target these days. First and foremost is the younger generation: 21-30 years old.
We see a generational shift: our parents and grandparents were coming home and having a glass of something almost every single night. Then there’s a middle generation of 40-60 year olds moderating a bit more, maybe only drinking on the weekends.
And now a significant proportion of people under 30 are not drinking at all.
We’re also noting that – as people pay more attention to health and wellness and trying to extend life and prologue health as much as possible – they’re moving away from alcohol consumption and looking for alternative enjoyment.
If we were pinpointing a specific target, it would be a younger, athletic, socially-conscious individual who’s looking to change towards a better-for-you-lifestyle: but still wants to engage in the same social environments and activities.
Tell us about Lyre’s growth trajectory
In the first few years of the business, Lyre’s was a pioneer. And the early years were really tough: trying to explain to bars and and restaurants and retailers why they should carry a spirit alternative.
As time evolved, people realized there are options out there; and brands like Athletic helped pave the way, and the interest in the space grew pretty rapidly.
Lyre’s had some incredible expansion in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and then we saw significant growth in 2025.
That was interesting, because 2025 was really a transition year. We repackaged the product, changed the name of our products in the US from names like ‘agave blanco spirit’ to ‘tequila alternative’: we really wanted to make sure consumers knew what the products were and how to use them. We changed our four main SKUs in the US market to whisky alternative, rum alternative, tequila alternative and gin alternative.
And we’re seeing some significant success on the back of that.
On-trade or retail?
Lyre's has built up its business in the on-trade. One goal for 2026 is to maintain that on-trade dominance while also building up retail. And e-commerce is another priority for growth: with the channel already representing around 20% of its global business.
Lyre’s was founded in Australia: what does your geographical footprint look like today?
We were born and founded in Australia and that will always be near and dear to our heart and will always be a main focus. We still house a lot of our executives in Australia and there’s a great team there. It’s our second biggest market in the world.
We’ll continue to grow UK and Europe, that will always be a priority, then we have awesome distribution in the Middle East, that’s an incredible growth opportunity.
The US is our largest market, around 60% of our global sales.
Alcohol-free spirits are the core of your portfolio. What’s beyond that?
For trial, for people who are curious about entering the non-alcohol space, RTDs are a great entry point. So we’ve created some of our best tasting products in RTD format.
We have a G&T, we have an Almafi Spritz, a rum mule, a margarita and non-alcoholic sparkling wine.
It’s really great trial for customers at a pretty acceptable price point to understand that it does taste great.
You’ve worked with highly successful alcohol brands such as Casamigos Tequila and Calirosa Tequila over your career. How does this experience translate over into alcohol-free?
It’s a very simple recipe for building brands. There’s a lot of reasons they go well and why they go wrong. For me, it’s about taking life lessons and failures, and understanding the metrics and opportunities to take.
The biggest one for me, with Lyre’s, is that it was attempting to be everything, to everyone, everywhere, and that’s incredibly difficult to do as a start-up.
Our goal now is to have laser-focused priorities in the business.
Seven deadly things
What's your poison? Lyre's Almalfi Spritz; or, in full-proofed, tequila on the rocks.
Worst work vice? I'm long-winded: that can be a bad habit
Worst work mistake? One regret - I exited Casamigos 16 months before Diageo acquisition.
Biggest waste of money? Overpaying for social influencers. I'm not saying we wouldn't work with them, but there's ways to do it: just paying someone to mention your product is the worst way for a start-up to spend money.
A brand you're jealous of? Tito's vodka. It was the most humble beginnings, but they really built up brands with people and relationships and now it's a massive company.
When has your pride caused a fall? When I was younger, I changed jobs too often. If I was to give my younger self some advice, I'd say to stick out some of those opportunities out longer. You feel you should have a bigger title, bigger pay. When you're young and naive you think you're the best thing since sliced bread. As you get older you start to understand you have to put the pride aside: that's not a singular process, it's something you build and learn throughout the years.
What makes you angry? We're going to screw things up, and it's ok. What frustrates me is when people brush things under the rug and hope no-one notices. It's way harder to pick up the glass when it's been under the run for a long time.
How do you start and end your working day?
Working for a global business, I need to be available on all time zones. I don’t want anyone to feel they’re working on an island, and I want an open door policy.
So my day never starts or ends, it’s an evolving clock.
But I do prioritize my kids: I take them to school every morning, take them to sports, so I disconnect during those times.
I know it’s a cliche, but when you love what you do...
What’s your top tip for other beverage brand builders?
Prioritize and focus where you know you can show success. Then pivot off that success in other markets once you’ve proven yourself.
If you live in Florida, only start in Florida. If you live in California, start in California. Prove yourself where you live.
As an early-stage company, you have to be very present. You have to meet people, understand what they want and need. It’s way easier to do that by getting in a car than on a plane.
So think small. If you think too big, you’ll never get there.
