Fin Soda’s zero-proof cocktails and the Montreal hospitality behind them

Mélanie Aumais and Pierre-Hugues (aka Pete) Marois went into a creative spin in their Petite Patrie apartment in mid-2020, and emerged with a business. With no bars or restaurants open for drinking or dining then, the couple had time on their hands and thought it would be fun to try making a non-alcoholic, Campari-ish drink.

The result was their company Fin Soda and its classic “Aperitivo,” the first of what is now a line of eight non-alcoholic cocktails using all fresh ingredients.

Comprised of a dizzying blend of fresh fruits and spices—orange, raspberries, grapefruit, gentian, dandelion root, angelica root, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, pink peppercorn and cane sugar—Aperitivo is a bright alternative to the “real” thing, and that’s just what Aumais and Marois were aiming for.

Both ITHQ grads (she in restaurant management, he as a sommelier), Aumais started cooking at a young age and then moved into bartending. Marois, in charge of production, describes himself as an auto-didact: “I’m curious by nature,” he says. “I’m into everything flavour-related.”

“Pete’s the geeky, techno guy,” Aumais says, referring to Marois’ roto-vap evaporator machine, which has pride of place in their office. “I like simple cocktails with one fun ingredient.”

Aumais and Marois were committed to using only fresh produce, with no aromas or flavours, unlike the way some new-fangled seltzers are made. “Our drinks feel more like a complete beverage,” Aumais says. “There are a lot of textures and layers… we’re transforming the ingredients.”

Carbonation was the other commitment. “Pete always geeks into anything related to carbonation; mate, kombucha, cocktails on tap, anything gas- or bubble-related,” Aumais says.

“We’re always trying to find unusual or underdog ingredients that aren’t as well-known as they should be."

The right chemistry

Fin Soda’s flavours are predominantly focused on local fruits and berries, with an affection for the province’s emerging fruits like tart haskap and bright orange sea buckthorn berries. A seasonal rhubarb and sweet clover soda sells out in days, pointing to consumer interest in these unsung elements.

“We’re always trying to find unusual or underdog ingredients that aren’t as well-known as they should be,” Marois says. “We’re looking for the most delicious fruit,” he adds, “often, but not always, organic.”

Ripe fruit is macerated but not fermented to ensure that the products are zero percent alcohol, versus other ‘non-alcoholic’ beverages which are 0.05% alcohol. The juices aren’t pasteurized, either; they’re put through a fine filter so that flavour isn’t affected. All juices have organic cane sugar as an ingredient, plus a colourless, odourless stabilizer.

Depending on the recipe, it takes between two and four days to complete all the steps, starting with washing and chopping. Everything is made in-house, using as many Québécois products as possible. The Mule, a peppery ginger, chili, and lime beverage, is one of the few with out-of-province ingredients.

Where do they make it?

After the creation of Aperitivo and their second cocktail, the Lemon Verbena (a sassy lemonade-ish drink including rye and coriander seeds), Aumais and Marois christened their company Fin Soda, after their love for fine bubbles and fine cuisine, and opened an online store in August 2021.

By the end of that year, Fin Soda had a new home in a Little Italy production kitchen where they canned batches of 300 themselves, sticking labels on by hand – an exhausting task. By January 2023, they decamped to a 2800 square feet space in the heart of industrial Verdun, with the help of a federal small business loan (and a lot of family support).  “Verdun’s city office was super helpful, too,” says Marois, giving them flexibility with their permit so that future plans for commercial growth and/or something more public-facing can be easily accommodated.

Inside their rambling space filled with books and bartending gear, a hallway leads to the production room with huge tables and sinks for mise-en-place, and pallets stacked with boxes full of fruity bubbles. The maceration and carbonation tanks and the canning machinery complete the picture, creating an image of a microbrewery – without the actual brewing. They produce 5000 cans in six hours, with one or two production runs a week of 1300 litres each, a far cry from the 300 they were doing before. 

Aumais and Marois estimate that they produced about 200,000 cans in 2024. With 300 points of sale in Québec, Ontario, and BC, they acknowledge the growth has been huge within a three-year period.

Perfectly demure cans in demand

Fin Soda’s cans are compact at 250 ml, smaller than the average soft drink can. “It’s the perfect size for one drink, and if you’re going to mix it with alcohol, it’s the perfect size for two drinks,” Aumais says, adding that when they first started canning, this size was new, and it was a way to stand out on the shelves.

“It fits so perfectly in your hand, too,” says Marois. “Big, tall cans? You can’t drink the whole thing, and it gets warm and less bubbly. We want to maximize the experience.”

Right now, they sell about 70% of their product to restaurants and bars, and about 30% to retail: small businesses and specialized distributors that understand their business.

“Our products are better where there’s some kind of curation, where people are looking for a quality product,” Aumais says. “We’re not pushing to be in supermarkets. We don’t have to.”

The couple still work in restaurants on the side to stay connected to the industry—and to ensure they have something else to talk about besides their business, they confide. Marois is behind the scenes in charge of the bar program at Bar George, creating new menus and handling special requests; Aumais has earned stripes at McKiernan and works with Beba.

To mix or not to mix?

“During the pandemic, people either drank a lot more or a lot less,” says Aumais. “But this trend came from the consumer; it was really a change in mentality.”

Aumais estimates that their customers are drinking Fin Soda straight about 60% of the time, and 40% as a mixer. On its own, bartenders recommend it as delicious and ready-to-drink, but it also mixes well.  “I recommend mixing with mezcal, because it’s a bit of a curveball and people expect me to say gin or vodka,” she says (there are recipes on the website).

Initiatives like Dry January, Sober November, and Défi 28 jours sans alcool are creating more interest in drinks like theirs. In January, all those New Year’s resolutions give the company a good flow to get back to spring and into summer, they say.

Graphics, collaborations, and zero-waste aspirations

Fin Soda’s bright graphics, created by Marois, are another way the product stands out on shelves. Their newest drink, Une Poire pour la Soif, is a collaboration with Little Burgundy’s Stem Bar, with graphics by their designer Rebecca Ladds. That drink is a combination of pear, eucalyptus, oolong, and roasted fennel seed, which Aumais describes as a cross between a cold climate Chardonnay and ginger ale.

The Stem Bar collaboration is the third in a trio: Cascara, Sea Buckthorn, and Strawberries is a collab with Café Pista, while Blueberry Smash—a deep blue drink with hints of vanilla, elderflower, and grapefruit—is another with the alcohol-free shop Apéro à zéro.

Using Café Pista’s cascara—the husk of the coffee fruit—also aligns with Fin Soda’s zero-waste leanings. “Cascara is the biggest waste in the coffee world,” says Marois. “We’re proud and happy to try out ideas with people that we share the same ideas and values with.”

What’s next?

Finding a solution to the logistical challenge of their own leftovers—spice husks, fruit skins, and other natural byproducts—is another future project. The options are numerous, the couple say.

Working with dehydrators, making candles, or potpourri; there’s an experimental energy in the atelier and an enthusiasm for the challenges ahead.

“When we pull out the spices from Aperitivo production, I think ‘this is the best potpourri I’ve ever smelled’,” says Aumais. “So definitely within the next year there will be some byproducts.”

“We build our sodas the same way we build cocktails, really inspired by food and pastries,” Aumais says proudly.

Marois agrees: “We’re working the same way we do behind the bar, with similar techniques and ingredients. We just want to make good products.”