Cut Above

Cut Above was founded in Houston, Texas by Andrew Shea, who started the brand with the specific intent of maintaining the ritual of cocktail drinking while reducing his own alcohol consumption. The range is built from natural botanicals, herbs, and spices, formulated to work as direct one-to-one replacements in cocktail recipes. The lineup covers AF gins, whiskeys, and agave-based spirits, giving bartenders and home mixers a palette of spirit categories to work across.

The brand distributes through both direct-to-consumer channels and retail partnerships, giving it reach beyond a single route to market. Cut Above positions its range as premium zero-proof products, with the emphasis on cocktail functionality and flavour accuracy rather than standalone sipping.

The Houston base is less common ground for AF spirits than the coastal US cities where most of the category's brands have launched, and the cocktail-first positioning is a deliberate narrowing of scope that sets Cut Above apart from brands that position AF spirits primarily for solo drinking. For sober-curious drinkers who want to maintain cocktail culture, the brand's founding story and product focus are consistent with each other.