Blissed Out: Kin Euphorics Sets New Mood for Drinking Culture

Jen Batchelor didn’t want to pay influencers for their testimonials for good reason.

Everyone wanted to know. How did the founder of a startup with a vision to disrupt the non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages market land supermodel Bella Hadid as a partner? “Make a great fucking product,” said Kin Euphorics CEO Jen Batchelor.?

I love Batchelor’s bluntness because she trusted her own research and product development enough to buck the status quo and throw out the celebrity influencer playbook. “I didn’t want to pay a single influencer for their testimonial,” Batchelor said. “I legitimately wanted real feedback.”?

Batchelor also rejected early “bad actor” VC funding opportunities to maintain control of her creative vision. The cliched idea of producing non-alcoholic analogues of whiskeys, for example, defeated her much bigger purpose. “No, I want to create iconic flavors,” she said. “I want to create something that never existed before.”

It takes guts to leave money on the table. The Austin-based company ended up pulling in over $3 million in sales in Kin’s first year—solely through digital marketing—because Batchelor upended convention and refused to compromise her vision. By the time Hadid approached Kin three years later, not the other way around, the brand was charting new territory.?

Changing the Rules

When Batchelor launched grassroots development in 2017, the term “sober curious” had not yet gained social currency. The drinking ritual itself was not the issue. People still wanted social connection but without the downsides. So Batchelor reverse-engineered what the benefits people seek from drinking with the goal of actually enhancing mood and brain function.

With a background in Ayurvedic medicine, the Florida State business grad did this by reimagining traditional plant medicines through the lens of functional medicine—a holistic approach to health that considers the interactions between genetics, environment, and lifestyle. After a lot of experimentation, she came up with a range of beverages that activate specific states of mind, from focus to relaxation and sociability.?

Batchelor called these mood-boosting elixirs, “euphorics,” and a brand and whole new category was born.

Batchelor self-funded the first year, giving herself 12 months to develop a minimum viable product and beta-test it with over 3,500 people. Her unconventional vision was to change the face of drink technology and be a tool for shifting consciousness. It took nine months before the first investor signed on almost immediately. “We went straight to the dreamers,” she said.?

Not Another Mocktail Alternative

As alcohol consumption continues to decline globally, the functional beverage market has exploded, jumping 54% to $9.2 billion between 2020 and 2024. It’s now forecast to hit $70.8 billion by 2028 in North America alone. Kin was a trailblazer when it launched commercially in 2018.?

For brand identity, Batchelor again swam upstream and partnered with an all-women creative agency that had only done fashion and beauty work. “I want the sleekest, sexiest, chicest brand,” she told them. By concentrating on Instagram where her target audience was already having conversations about wellness and lifestyle, it proved an outrageous success.

Simple test ads that positioned Kin as aspirational rather than just another mocktail alternative struck a chord. Starting online allowed her to gather data about early adopters before plotting the path to retail shelves. Kin did so well that it captured the attention of Hadid, who even built her own pitch deck to explain why she believed in the brand.?

Together, Batchelor and Hadid have never settled for leading a trend. This was about changing the ground rules of drinking itself—for everyone’s sake.

The Spotify of Beverages

Working with top nutraceutical firms, Kin achieved what biotech experts originally thought impossible: packing functional benefits into a 60-milliliter container. Kin’s combination of adaptogens, nootropics, and botanics in this form had never existed before. Different combinations create different effects.?

For instance, their High Rhode made-to-mix beverage uses rhodiola rosea and 5-HTP for energy, while Dream Light contains reishi mushroom and melatonin for relaxation. The mimosa-like Actual Sunshine combines turmeric, ginger, and saffron with collagen for morning focus and glow.

“We’re the Spotify of beverages,” Batchelor told Adweek.

“Choose a playlist, we’ll take you there. You want to amp up for a workout? We'll take you there. We’ll take you to a place of sensuality, focus. That’s the power of music as a drug, and that’s also the power of euphorics as a means to feel something.”

Kin’s presence in major retailers from Whole Foods to Target and Erewhon today offers such a salutary lesson in scaling a vision without compromising: It’s possible but it takes backbone. Batchelor says expansion is about reaching more people with Kin’s core mission of changing the way people connect—with themselves and others—and therefore the world. “It’s lofty, it’s heady. It doesn’t always land, but for the people that it does land for, it’s a game-changer.”?

In Great Company

The irony of creating a great product before chasing influencers is that Kin is now influencing people in ways far beyond a simple choice of beverage. As one of Kin’s Texan neighbors, we’ll continue to watch its evolution with great interest. So, a big congratulations to the team at Kin for staying true to that original vision and breaking new ground: Jen Batchelor , Amalie Moreno , Chloe Jensen , Andrew McDermott , Melanie Rose . All images: Kin Euphorics