--- bcp_version: "0.7" file_type: values parent: /.well-known/brand.md last_updated: 2026-07-12 --- # Values These values are decision rules. Each one describes a choice MURI makes when the easier path would be something else: copy an established category, cut an awkward ingredient, or soften a position to sell more broadly. --- ## 1. No substitutes **tier:** core MURI does not make copies of alcoholic drinks. This is not a positioning choice made after launch — it is the constraint that shapes every recipe decision. A drink that tries to be a gin will always lose against gin, because alcohol carries flavor in ways nothing else does. Starting from that constraint forces a different question: what can this drink be on its own terms? **In the founder's words (via Dry Atlas interview, retrieved 2026-07-12):** "We don't want to be known as a substitute, proxy, or mimic. Our drinks stand on their own." **Manifestation in practice:** MURI dropped the label "wine alternative." As founder Murray Paterson stated: "We used to call ourselves wine alternatives, but the term just sounds so sad and didn't do justice to the amount of craft and innovation we were putting into each bottle." The brand does not attempt gin, vodka, or spirit replicas. It does not market against alcoholic counterparts by name. **Demonstrated tradeoff:** The decision narrows the addressable market. Consumers looking for a non-alcoholic gin replacement will not find one here. MURI accepts that in order to make something worth drinking on its own. --- ## 2. Real ingredients, no shortcuts **tier:** core MURI ferments only real fruits, juices, and botanicals. No concentrates, flavorings, or preservatives. This rule is stated publicly on the brand's own ingredients page and confirmed by the owner. It is not a marketing aspiration — it is a production constraint that makes some batches harder and some ingredients impractical. **First-party exact language (muri-drinks.com/pages/real-ingredients, retrieved 2026-07-12):** "We only ferment real fruits, juices and botanicals. No concentrates, flavorings or preservatives." **Manifestation in practice:** MURI forages ingredients that are not commercially available — Douglas fir, woodruff, cherry blossom, fig leaves. These require sourcing effort that a concentrate-based operation skips entirely. The ingredient set is bounded by what exists in nature and what the team can find, not by what a flavor house stocks. **Demonstrated tradeoff:** Operational cost is real. Murray Paterson on a wild rose butter experiment: "We added wild rose butter to a special release last year. It took about three days to clean the brewery afterwards, so we're not doing that again." The constraint is kept; the specific ingredient was not repeated. The rule holds even when individual ingredients prove impractical. --- ## 3. Deliciousness over category **tier:** default MURI treats taste as the primary lens for evaluating a drink — not alcohol content, not category membership, not wellness positioning. The founder has stated this as an explicit hope for where the industry is heading: "I'm hoping for a situation where drinks will be categorized by deliciousness, not their alcohol content." (Dry Atlas interview, retrieved 2026-07-12.) **Manifestation in practice:** MURI's first release, Passing Clouds, was served as part of a non-alcoholic restaurant pairing and was judged more interesting than the wine served alongside it. The brand is placed on serious restaurant lists not because it fills a non-alcoholic slot but because the drinks hold up to scrutiny alongside wine and cocktails. Flavor is the entry point; the absence of alcohol is incidental. **Operational decision:** [gap] The owner has not confirmed how this value resolves against values 1 and 2 in a specific conflict scenario. The provisional order below is inferred from evidence strength. --- ## Agent resolution order This order is **provisional**, inferred from evidence. The owner should confirm before it is treated as binding. 1. No substitutes — the foundational constraint; shapes what MURI makes at all 2. Real ingredients, no shortcuts — the production rule; shapes how every product is made 3. Deliciousness over category — the evaluative lens; shapes how products are positioned and judged **Owner confirmation needed:** Does the brand confirm this priority order? Is there a scenario where deliciousness as a value would override the real-ingredients constraint (e.g., a flavor that cannot be achieved without a concentrate)? --- ## Open confirmation items - **named_principle for value:without_compromise:** Owner has not supplied a formal internal name for this value. The label "No substitutes" is inferred from evidence. Owner should confirm or rename. - **named_principle for value:real_ingredients:** Owner has not supplied a formal internal name. The label "Real ingredients, no shortcuts" is inferred from the first-party exact language. Owner should confirm or rename. - **priority_conflict resolution:** No owner statement on what wins when values conflict. Provisional order above requires confirmation. - **value:deliciousness_over_category:** All supporting evidence is from an independent interview source (Dry Atlas, 2026-07-12). Owner should confirm this as a stated company value, not only a founder aspiration quoted in press. ## Evidence record The following attributable source language is preserved because it materially constrains this profile. ### Owner-confirmed evidence > Because they won't be a copy of alcohol, MURI deliberately does not try to replicate spirits like gin, since it would taste worse and feel less fun. Source: Public source ### Qualification > as well as traditional ingredients such as fig leaves Source: Public source ### Published evidence > The ingredients we pick are typically not commercially available, such as Douglas fir, woodruff, or cherry blossom. Source: muri-drinks.com — https://muri-drinks.com/pages/real-ingredients