We love a good ready-to-drink can. There's nothing better than cracking one open on a hot day and taking that first cold sip while the can gets frosty in your hands. That's why we were so excited to feature not one, but two of our favorite summer sips in our July Poolside Service box (now sold out!): the Little Saints Classic Margarita and Negroni Spritz. They bring incredible flavor, thoughtful ingredients, and fresh takes on two classic cocktails, making them the perfect companions for long summer days.
We sat down with Little Saints founder Megan Klein, the creator behind these gorgeous zero-proof creations, to chat about the story behind the brand, how one Dry January turned into a category-changing company, the inspiration behind their functional mushroom ingredients, the iconic Baby Mint trailer, and how the zero-proof movement has evolved over the years.
Crack open your favorite can, pour it over ice if you're feeling fancy, and let's jump into this fun Q&A.
Do you remember the exact moment you decided to create Little Saints? Where were you, who did you tell first, and what was the very first step you took?
Well, I might have drank a swimming pool’s worth of during the pandemic in 2020. Pre pandemic, I always loved having a drink with friends to wind down at the end of a stressful day, and during the pandemic I continued that ritual by myself. I wasn’t necessarily a “problem drinker”, because I was only having one to two drinks a night and still getting work done during the day. But without social distractions, I could not escape how those nightly drinks were making my body and mind feel — I felt foggy, low energy, and a little depressed.
So I decided to do dry January 2021 and bought every non alcoholic option out there. Some of them tasted great, but everything was full of sugar, nothing had a smell to it, and nothing had a good functional mushroom in it.
Because I’d previously founded a juice, salad dressing and dip company, I know how to get healthy, natural beverages made. And that’s when I decided to start Little Saints, because I wanted to drink what was not available to me.
When you look at where Little Saints is today, do you ever have moments where you can't believe this is the path your life took? What has surprised you most about building a zero-proof brand?
I recently went to my 25th year college reunion, and several of my friends said things to me like “I can’t believe YOU stopped drinking”. Of all of my friends, I was a really great drinker — I loved cocktails, love cocktail culture, could handle my alcohol, and was (still am) a lot of fun. I don’t think my 22 year old self could even comprehend drinking anything other than alcohol at night! At the same time, there are a lot of things about leading Little Saints that feel pretty consistent with the things in life I’ve always enjoyed — exploring new cocktails, socializing, entertaining, and inspiring change in others. It’s funny how life works — for me, Little Saints makes no sense and all of the sense in the world at the same time.
Can you tell us a little about Baby Mint, your mint-green vending trailer? What does it represent to you now when you look back on those early days?
When I first launched Little Saints, I got the word out in real life. I bought a used corn vending trailer from Wisconsin and had it wrapped in mint green with Little Saints branding, and I installed a trailer hitch on my mint green jeep so that I could tow it around Michigan. I named the trailer “Baby Mint” and brought her to over 50 events in 2021 to launch the brand — all before we officially launched our website. Those first events with Baby Mint taught me so much and helped me understand what people were really looking for. So many people came up to the trailer with a beer in their hand and shared that they’d had a similar Covid experience to me - they drank too much during the pandemic and they were looking for a better alternative. I learned that people were looking for something without sugar, that reminded them of their favorite cocktails and that was “good for them” in some way (which is why they loved to hear about the functional mushrooms). I also learned to simplify the way I talked about Little Saints — I went from talking like a scientist to relating like a bartender. Once we launched our website in November 2021, we already had a bit of a cult following from those early Baby Mint days.
Did you expect the zero-proof space to evolve the way it has, or are there aspects of the movement that have surprised you?
I love how much the concept of drinking has evolved over the past five years since I started Little Saints. In the beginning, there was a lot of confusion about who was supposed to drink non alc and how you were supposed to do it— ie, did you have to be sober? Did it mean you had an alcohol problem? Today, non-alc is mainstream, and most people have some awareness of it. I love that drinking is no longer just black and white.
Can you talk a little about the ingredients you use? Why mushrooms, and what made those particular ingredients feel aligned with the experience you wanted to create?
When I started Little Saints, no one else was using functional mushrooms as a main ingredient in their NA cocktails. I decided to use them in a cocktail because I knew how much they helped my mood during the day — I had been putting lions mane and reishi in my coffee and smoothies for years. I wanted the feeling of clarity and ease that I got from my morning mushrooms to continue on until the night, and that’s why I made them an integral part of Little Saints formulations.
We're so excited to have the Classic Margarita and Negroni Spritz featured in our Dry July box. What's your favorite way to enjoy each of them?
The easiest way to enjoy them is super cold, right out of the can! If you’re having a cocktail moment and have time to get out your favorite glassware, they taste and look even more elevated on ice. For the margarita, grab some Tajin seasoning and salt the rim of the glass before you fill it with ice and your Little Saints. Garnish the negroni spritz with an orange peel or wedge and put it over a square ice cube. You really can’t go wrong!
