The Spirit of
Enlightenment

Cut Classics are traditionally distilled spirits crafted to deliver the familiar flavours, aromas and experience of a London Dry Gin, a premium vodka and a beautifully aged rum with half the typical alcohol and calorie content. They are award-winning premium quality spirits in their own right. However, they have been crafted with the trends towards lower alcohol consumption and lower calorie consumption in mind. If you can enjoy your favourite spirits with half of the ‘bad stuff’ in them, why wouldn’t you?!

Cut Classics use the term “light spirit” to tell you that our drinks are like the spirits that you are used to drinking, but with much less of the ‘bad stuff’. A food or drink brand can only use the term “light” if the product contains at least 30% fewer calories or, in the case of spirits, at least 30% less alcohol. In the case of Cut Classics our drinks contain 50% less alcohol and 50% fewer calories than a traditional 40% ABV equivalent. For more detail about what makes a light spirit a light spirit, click here.

They’re both! Cut Classics are lower alcohol spirits - at 20% ABV they contain half the amount of alcohol associated with traditional gin, rum and vodka. It is more than enough alcohol to enjoy a relaxing buzz, and is far less likely to lead to drunkenness and hangovers than strong spirits! Cut Classics are also low calorie spirits – at 28 calories per serve they can be paired with Slimline or Light mixers to make delicious low calorie drinks. In fact you could have as many as 5 low calorie alcoholic drinks made with Cut Classics before you consumed the same amount of calories as a single glass of wine!

Due to their lower alcohol content and calorie load, Cut Classics can offer an attractive alcoholic drink option for GLP-1 users (Mounjaro, Ozempic or Wegovy). Many alcoholic drinks are packed with empty calories. Cut Classics, on the other hand, allow you to create GLP-1 friendly cocktails or long drinks packed with flavour, delivering a relaxing buzz and with a fraction of the calories typically found in such drinks. But GLP-1 users should always be careful and should seek advice before consuming any alcohol. According to Sources such as WebMD is not unusual for GLP-1 medication users not to feel great when they consume alcohol. Lower alcohol spirits like Cut Classics can help with that as they contain far less alcohol than traditional spirits. But ultimately you must listen both to expert medical guidance and to what your body is telling you – if you don’t feel great after drinking alcohol then the best option is definitely to stop and seek advice.

Each 25ml serve of Cut Classics contains 28 Calories. That is half the calorie load of an equivalent traditional spirit. The total calories in your drink will, of course, depend what you mix it with. Select a low calorie tonic to go with our low calorie London Dry and you can enjoy your favourite G&T experience with a little over 30 calories. Pair our low calorie vodka with soda water and a dash of lime for sub 30 calorie long drink. When you consider the 150 calories found in a typical glass of wine it becomes clear why Cut Classic light spirits are a great low calorie alcohol choice.

Distilled alcohol, even if it is made from a gluten-containing grain, such as wheat, rye or barley, is considered gluten-free. This is because if an alcohol is distilled, proteins from the starting materials that provided the starch or sugar are removed in the distillation process. This is a helpful article explaining more.

Cut Classics are zero sugar or sugar-free spirits. No sugar gets added at any point. Any sweetness comes from the traditional distillation processes used. Our spirits are also zero carb (rum and gin) or ultra-low carb (vodka - 0.1g per 25ml serve).

All Cut Classics are high quality spirits in their own right. They are smooth and elegant on the palate, have impeccable provenance and are crafted by experts to deliver the tastes and aromas that you love with lower alcohol and therefore lower calories. Where you will notice a difference is that they don’t have the harsh burn that many spirits have when you try them neat. You’ll feel it less in the throat, and you’ll taste less ethanol (allowing the hidden underlying flavours to shine through). Expect a softer, authentic tasting version of the full strength spirit.

No additional flavouring (either artificial or so-called 'natural') is added to Cut Classics. All flavours come from traditional distillation and blending methods. We have adapted these methods to enable us to make great spirits with half the alcohol and calories... but nothing extra added!

That’s a trade secret! What we will tell you is that there is a slightly different approach used for each spirit in our range. Sometimes it involves the profile of the underlying botanical ingredients. Sometimes it involves the blending of different batches of liquid after distillation. Sometimes it involves multiple distillations through old copper stills.

We always say that Cut Classics are a lower alcohol expression of classic spirits where non-alcoholic spirits are at best an impression of them. Cut Classics are made in the same way as traditional spirits, and using the same ingredients. They smell like traditional spirits. Their flavours are what you would expect of traditional spirits. They contain an amount of alcohol that will gently deliver the relaxing buzz that you expect of spirits. None of that is true of non-alcoholic spirits.

Yes, Cut Classics is the leading producer of premium quality mid-strength spirits. We understand why the term “mid-strength” has been created, but we don’t particularly like it. For us the term “light” works better because we have always focused on reducing both calories and alcohol. It is a term that the consumer is familiar with too, from the world of soft drinks for example. They understand that a “light” version of a familiar drink or food product means that it has less of the “bad stuff” in it. “Mid-Strength” is ambiguous in the context of alcohol - mid-strength beer might be 3.2% ABV, while a mid-strength spirit might be 20% ABV.

In a word: dilution. Halving the amount of spirit you serve would also halve the amount of flavour. You'll be diluting it away - a bit like using too little cordial which then tastes weak and watery. Also, let’s be realistic – are you really going to measure out 12.5ml of gin when you’re used to pouring 25ml?

Yes – Cut Classics have won medals at the most prestigious international spirits competitions: the International Spirits Challenge (ISC) and the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC). You can find details of these awards, and other accolades, here.