Rachael Petach @ Current Cassis

Regenerative Blackcurrant Adult Beverages

Rachael Petach is the Founder and CEO at Current Cassis (aka C. Cassis). C. Cassis is supporting regenerative agriculture with its growing lineup of products made from blackcurrants grown in regenerative agroforestry systems in the Northeastern US. 

The Brand

The C. Cassis product lineup includes a bottled liqueur and a ready-to-drink sparkling blackcurrant cocktail. Their liqueur is completely sourced from blackcurrants grown in the Hudson Valley of New York. The brand has just opened a tasting room in Rhinebeck, NY as a “foodie” destination in the Hudson Valley, expanding on the culinary potential of blackcurrant provisions.

Odd Timing

There’s a certain irony to creating a great product just when your pregnancy keeps you from enjoying it, or to making a great liqueur when you set out to create a non-alcoholic (NA) beverage. But as Rachael explained it, some ideas, like songs, just get stuck in your head.

Having worked in hospitality for much of her career, she saw the need for high-quality, functional beverages without alcohol. The current NA market offered options that were saturated with sugar or just fizzled out on flavor. She started trying things on her own and it wasn’t long before blackcurrants came to mind.

“Rather than reengineering something that already exists, I decided to approach it from a different perspective and create something from this source material that was totally underutilized, underrepresented, and has such a cool flavor – really savory with this big complex acidity.” – Rachael

Diving into a Rabbit Hole, Three Stories Up

The kitchen in their Brooklyn apartment was the laboratory where Rachael explored techniques and methods shared by winemaker and brewer friends, putting her closer to the beverage she imagined. She shared it with friends, bars, and restaurants, receiving lots of positive feedback, and just couldn’t quit. 

“I was loving it. I was obsessed with it. It seemed so absurd because no one cares about blackcurrants. This is such a niche thing, but I was having such an amazing process with it, I had to keep going. It tethered so many of the parts of my professional background, my like environmental curiosities, my penchant for making things that have a broader impact. It was very real but I think it came from that place of play, which I think is important.” – Rachael

A Banned Ingredient

Rachael first became familiar with blackcurrants while traveling and working on farms in Europe, and while they showed up at the occasional farmers market or Polish shop in her Brooklyn neighborhood, she couldn’t understand why they weren’t common in American culture. 

Digging in, she learned that the currant plants brought over by European immigrants carried a blister rust fungus that can attack white pine. Because of its threat to the then-robust logging industry, currant plants were banned across the States. More recently, however, blight-resistant varietals have been lobbied for and permitted in certain states where they thrive, including the Pacific Northwest, northern California, and the Northeast. 

Growing Pains

It didn’t take long for Rachael’s “cottage enterprise” to outscale their Brooklyn kitchen, or to realize that moving outside NYC made fiscal and operational sense. After settling into, and quickly recognizing the limitations of their studio space in Catskill, Rachael soon faced what many entrepreneurs do – the complicated choreography of growth, investment, and scaling to match potential.

”I think that's where maybe a lot of people with really beautiful ideas would stop. It would be right to stop at that point because then you see all that goes along with it and it's so much. Coupled with that, if it’s some sort of joyful organic pursuit, you realize I’m going to fund this thing and end up doing so much just to see if anyone cares about buying it. It’s a gnarly roadblock.” – Rachael

Leaning into the Experience

A fortuitous introduction led them to a bigger, better distillery space in Rhinebeck. Not only functional, the new barn offered the perfect venue for pairing their products with experience.

“We have a place where people can really connect with what we're doing – our connection to the land and agriculture, what blackcurrants even are and why anyone should care about them. This physical place can embody that and help tell the story of our brand.” – Rachael

Harvesting A Superfood

While taste and experience take precedence in telling their brand story, Rachael reminds us that the agronomic and nutritional profile of blackcurrants just adds to the plot. 

• C. Cassis sources their blackcurrants from Livingston, where Propogate has been partnering with local landowners on an agroforestry project. Like crops, trees don’t thrive in a monoculture, and planting blackcurrants among chestnut trees provides the desired diversity and environmental benefits the project requires.

• While Rachael shies on the nutritional benefits of blackcurrants since she’s making alcohol, she does acknowledge their superpowers (not to mention being processed solely with local wild honey). Blackcurrants have four times the vitamin C as oranges, and double the antioxidants of blueberries. They’re immunity boosters and contain gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which eases inflammation in the body. 

The brand is focusing its efforts on getting consumers excited about their products and letting the backstory delight them in ways they weren’t necessarily expecting.

“From a branding side, we're not using regen or organic certified. Our product is amazing and I really believe in its potential and the way that it impacts the environment and human health. But I’d guess a good majority of people do not care about whether something is horrifying for them or not. I want someone to pick it up because it's cute and tastes good. I want it to be indirect. High Noon isn’t talking about their nutrition benefits. Coca-Cola doesn't talk about environmental impact. These are not keys to success in these categories. But how cool is it to give people who wouldn’t necessarily be curious about those aspects from a purchase point of view to realize they can feel extra good about a product.”  – Rachael

50% Market Share for Regen

Rachael believes regenerative ag can still be polarizing among farmers and there are still so many misunderstandings about its practices and impact. For regen to truly scale for impact, she believes brands need to view it as the “icing on the cake”.

Yet, she still believes brands can be true to the regenerative value system, and put it out there in a way that’s creative.

“If you make a good product, make something that you stand by and really love – the teaching moment will come.” – Rachael

You can check out the full episode with Rachael Petach from Current Cassis HERE.

Subscribe to future episodes of the ReGen Brands Podcast on your favorite podcast platform using the buttons below. You can help support our mission of growing regenerative CPG brands with a 5-star rating!

Stay engaged in the conversation by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, The ReGen Brands Weekly, and connecting with us on LinkedIn (Kyle & AC).

Your support of the show and these brands truly means the world to us. Thank you!

This ReGen Recap was produced with support from Kristina Tober