The evolution of AF: Unintoxicated’s new subscription box service first of its kind in Canada

Marlon Sookdeo and Nicole Kirby, founders of Un-intoxicated

The popularity of subscription boxes has skyrocketed over the past 18-months, but even before we were all forced to rethink our lonely dinners, they were a growing trend across the country. The best thing about subscription boxes is that they allow us to experience new things with very low commitment, and with boxes for everything from shaving products to various kinds of peanut butters, it was only a matter of time that we would receive a subscription box for the growing alcohol-free market and consumer base.

Make way for Un-intoxicated, monthly subscription boxes serving up a set of curated non-alcoholic options all based in the endeavour to help Canadians change our relationship with alcohol. This is a first for Canada but not new to the marketplace, as several monthly drink kits sprung up during the course of the pandemic. 

The project was created by husband and wife duo Marlon Sookdeo and Nicole Kirby, who has a very personal connection to their new business. 

“There’s a lot of history of alcohol and drug abuse in my family,” Kirby says. “I’ve been very conscious from a really young age of what I’m taking into my body.” Kirby has been mindfully consuming alcohol for about 15 years, the couple says.

“If we will be out with friends, I'll have one or two drinks, and then I'm very happy to move on to tea or coffee or a non-alcoholic beverage,” she says. “I'm comfortable in my body and my social skills, I don't need alcohol to have a good time.” 

When Sookdeo took an e-commerce class at the University of Toronto, he saw how he could translate the couple’s idea into the real world. “One of the courses was literally to write an e-commerce business plan,” Sookdeo says. So he began performing in-depth research into the non-alcoholic industry in Canada, and Un-intoxicated was born.

“In Canada, it’s in its infancy,” Sookdeo says of the alcohol-free and non-alcoholic industry, especially when compared to European and American marketplaces. “This [Un-intoxicated] is a great opportunity to do something different.”

Un-intoxicated provides a number of subscription plans that you can get for yourself or as a gift for someone else. The service provides the option to get a box on a month-to-month basis, a three-month subscription plan, a six-month subscription, or a 12-month subscription plan. Each box contains drinks (such as a monthly featured spirit, and beer samples), along with mixing ingredients (such as cordials and spices), recipes, and tools that will make creating a cocktail a breeze. 

September’s box, for example, features Sexy AF Friski Whiski, Sookdeo says. The recipe for the month is a Maple Whiskey Sour. “[The box] will have cinnamon, lemon, Friski Whiski, a little sour cordial, a shaker in the box with lemon and cinnamon, and we will give you the instructions to make it. Every month we're going to have a new non-alcoholic spirit in the box with the recipe.”  

The couple sees their monthly subscription boxes as a tool to help Canadians facilitate their transition to mindful drinking, especially in social settings. Sookdeo says he has seen Kirby intimidated in social settings about her choice to pare back her alcohol consumption, and he doesn’t want that to happen to other Canadians. 

“Alcohol can more or less ruin lives,” he says. He and Kirby have seen the effects first-hand that alcohol can bring on, and they want to help others to learn this, too. 

And Sookdeo and Kirby really mean it when they say “Canadians.” “We’re not shipping it to the U.S.,” Sookdeo says. “We’re for Canadians by Canadians. [...] We're proud to be Canadian, and if I can support this lifestyle in Canada, then I don't know why I wouldn't.”

A spotlight on Canadian voices on the experience of rethinking drinking via their blog, along with the exciting and expanding alcohol-free and non-alcoholic options make up Un-intoxicated’s multifaceted services, and are certainly the next step in the sober-curious movement.

Check out their site to subscribe to a box and be surprised every month with their new ways to help you rethink drinking.