Haus

California-made, low-alcohol apéritifs that 100% live up to the hype.

About Haus

If you’ve had weekends like ours, you’ll have a few too many memories of great parties ruined by poor quality booze – which left you feeling groggy by the middle of the evening and worse the next morning. That’s why wise people tell us a Haus is not a home without wonderful things to drink. Aperitifs are perfect for socializing – their alcohol content is high enough for flowing conversation but low enough they can be sipped for hours without causing drunkenness or hangovers. You might say they’re halfway between spirits and wine.

Why We Love Them

Traditional European aperitifs are generally too sweet and bitter for our palette, but Haus has fixed that by relying on fresh fruit, herbs and botanicals – chardonnay grapes, elderflower, star anise, lemon, cloves. And because we really can’t help ourselves when it comes to puns — It’s enough to bring the Haus down.

Origin Story

Legend has it that most family businesses fail by the third generation. (The first generation gets everything started; the next builds and expands; the third blows their inheritance on ill-judged schemes and indulgences). Yet Haus has emphatically defied this fate. Helena and Woody are a third generation winemaking family in Sonoma Country, California; in 2009, Woody discovered aperitifs while living in Berlin, and was struck by the German culture of drinking while enjoying companionship, rather than drinking to get drunk. He figured that, if it’s good enough for the Germans, why not for Americans? The first batch of Haus was created in the family living room with a bucket of chardonnay and lemons and elderflower from the yard. The team has determinedly retained this homegrown philosophy ever since.

Great tasting aperitifs with flavors derived from fruits and herbs
All natural ingredients
Haus bottles are 100% recyclable
California-made
Third generation family business

The Science & The Soul

The Science

Haus point out that, in the main, the alcohol industry has barely evolved since Prohibition. It is dominated by huge liquor companies who rely on cheap ingredients and artificial flavors. The Haus science can be summed up with three words: farm-to-bottle. Using carefully selected fruits and herbs enables the Haus team to create complex, sophisticated flavors that avoid bitterness and contain a fraction of the sugar levels of many European aperitifs. Also worth noting: Haus is free of gluten, dairy, lactose, and casein – as well as being vegan friendly.

The Soul

The Haus team keeps a close eye on every aspect of production. Most ingredients are grown at the family farm in Healdsburg, and then blending and bottled occurs at the company warehouse in Sonoma County. But the Haus soul isn’t just concerned with delivering a tasty drink for a single occasion; it also wants to reward loyal customers. Membership of the Haus ‘club’ gives benefits we can’t find matched anywhere else.

As importantly – at The Fascination, we applaud any business that’s making a genuine contribution towards the health of the planet. Haus bottles are 100% recyclable (as are its boxes); although the company also points out the bottles – which have an elegant and distinctive design – can be up-cycled to hold candles, flowers oil, vinegar – let your imagination go wild!