Collective Arts, the Canadian craft beverage company known for pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation, has launched Botany Energy, a new line of clean energy drinks. The introduction of Botany Energy marks Collective Arts’ continued expansion beyond craft beer and into the fast-growing functional beverage market.
The company said Botany brings a fresh perspective to the energy drink category, blending thoughtful formulation with signature eye-catching design. Each product is crafted to fit the way people want to feel today: focused but not wired, energized but still grounded, supported throughout the day without the extremes.
Energy is no longer a one-size-fits-all category. Consumers are driving rapid growth in new sub-segments like clean energy, functional energy, and adaptogenic blends, it said.
“Consumers, especially Gen Z and Millennial women, are reimagining energy,” said Toni Shelton, VP Brand and Strategy at Collective Arts. “They’re done with the ‘slam a can and brace yourself’ mentality. They want steady, supportive energy that fits into a balanced, wellness-focused lifestyle. Botany brings that to life with clean, adaptogenic formulations built for daily energy that fits women’s lives, not the other way around.”
The company said Botany Energy is part of the Botany lineup of beverages that champion the nourishment that nature intended. Botany Energy has two sister portfolios: Botany Elixirs and Botany Waters – already in market – both derived from the same values as Botany Energy but with a different set of features and functions.
Botany Energy is now available in 7-Eleven stores across Canada, with expanded distribution rolling out in 2026. Botany’s Elixirs and Waters can be found at select quality grocery retailers including Whole Foods, Healthy Planet, Sobey’s, Fortinos and Well.ca. All Botany beverages can also be purchased in Ontario at Collective Arts Hamilton and Toronto spaces and online shop.
Fusing innovative beverages with talents of emerging artists
Founded in 2013, Collective Arts fuses innovative beverages with the talents of emerging artists from around the world. Their goal is to create a locally relevant, globally iconic lifestyle brand, focused on providing artists with a platform to be discovered and amplified.
The company is based in Hamilton with its main facility. It also has a taproom and event space in Toronto on Dundas and Bathurst.
“We sell everything you can imagine. We started as a craft brewery . . . The typical craft brewery model is to root yourself in a local neighbourhood and become really geographically loved by your local community. Collective Arts kind of tried to look at the craft beer model and how do you create a globally relevant craft beer company, when there’s thousands of them everywhere in pockets of neighbourhoods,” said Shelton.
“And so really the impetus behind it was coming from the design space, is how do you take all of this amazing art that’s out in the world and bring it closer to consumers. A lot of the time, artists find their work gets stuck on gallery walls where they don’t make a ton of money, they don’t get nearly enough eyeballs on it, and it’s hard as an artist. They’re kind of stuck talking to the same people in their own little echo chamber.
“So Collective Arts created a brand platform, and really that’s what we are and why we have so many different categories that we play in.
“We have a call for art that anyone from around the world can submit art to at any time in the year. We don’t own the art. We licence it for a period of time. And that way the artists can go and do what they want with their art. They can go sell it to Nike if they need to, or give us their scrapbooks, is kind of what we always say.”
Grassroots artist community created
Shelton said the company has created this grassroots artist community from around the world.
“We have folks submit art from Iran and Korea and Spain, and 40 different countries. We’ve had, I think, 30,000 submissions of art over the years, and we’ve really created this creative community and brand for us,” she explained.
“So then we go look at the products we make. We started in craft beer, a really highly experiential consumer category. People want new, they want innovative, constantly rotating products. Then we looked into what other categories we can play in. Cider was the next one, being able to use local juice and local fruit and play around with different flavour profiles. We’ve got two of the top-selling ciders, Ontario ciders, in the LCBO.
“Then we look at spirits. We make a lot of gins, some of the really, really well-awarded gins. The reason we get into gin is because it’s one of the spirits you can actually have fun with and play with when it comes to flavours and botanicals. Whereas vodka, there’s only so much creativity you can apply. For our gins, we were really able to have a little bit of fun there.
“And then the RTD (Ready to Drink) market. Beer starts to decline. People are minding their waist a little bit more. And then we start to get into the craft cocktail, ready-to-drink market. We’ve been doing that for probably seven years, more now.”
It’s all about creativity and quality.
“Whatever category we’re in, the reason a consumer picks us off the shelf is because they know they can trust that there’s been integrity and authenticity that’s gone into creating the liquid. But they also know there’s going to be a unique experience when it comes to seeing what art is being featured on the label,” said Shelton.
“We’ve gone through a lot of different market challenges over the years, whether it’s the pandemic or the sober curious movement. And as we know, a lot of challenges make for a lot of opportunities. And now we are taking non-alcoholic seriously. We know our consumers are millennials and the up-and-coming Gen Z consumer. We know they like creating authentic, unique experiences. They like to disdain the status quo. And so we’ve created a lineup of alcohol alternatives. We have our non-alcoholic beer . . . and then we have some zero-proof cocktails, which is a bit of a strange category, because we hold ourselves really high to the standards that we put into making products. It’s a zero-proof cocktail without the booze, but we’ve spent a lot of time crafting that experience so that you get real juices, real flavours of tequila, and you don’t have to compromise on what a well-balanced cocktail tastes like, whether it’s got the real thing in it or not.
Consumers not shopping in silos
“We started in beer. We own that. We methodically go through categories. We don’t just jump into a category for the sake of it. What really drives us is knowing our consumers. And we know our consumers don’t shop in silos. You don’t just drink beer. You don’t just drink cocktails. You drink water. You drink energy drinks. You drink better-for-you things.
“And so when we look at the trends in beverage, there’s a lot of moderation. It’s less about abstinence and more about mindful consumption and having options. That’s the driving force behind why we’re in those categories.”
But the reason the company believes it belongs in those categories goes back to its brand platform, because it is truly trying to bring more art into the everyday.
“We disrupted the craft beer industry with our art model, we think we can do that in these other categories.”
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