Marcel Amann · The Beverage Engineer · Creator of Lake Side Valley
I develop drinks for other people's brands — recipe, sensory profile and production readiness, from the first idea to the bottle. At my research and production center, Lake Side Valley, I have developed more than 200 recipes for distilleries, breweries, hotels and brands, as well as 14 proprietary product lines that are currently on the market.
Head — Engineering Every recipe is a system: documented, scalable, repeatable — down to a tenth of a gram.
Heart — Sensory work And in the end, the first sip decides. I keep developing until it lands.
Gin, liqueur, wine specialities or functional drinks: your drink from the first idea to a production-ready recipe — including sensory work and both Swiss and EU regulatory requirements.
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Whisky, gin and liqueur without alcohol — based on a proprietary process that gives drinks their character back. For brands that want to own the fastest-growing category.
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Scaling the recipe, coordinating the bottler, labelling and launch support — so the recipe becomes a product on the shelf.
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LSV-01Almost black in the glass, then bright Swiss-flag red when tonic is added. Aronia berry, juniper and alpine herbs shape a recipe of twelve botanicals. The set contains one 500 ml bottle, two Chrüzli tumblers and an ice mould.
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LSV-02The colour-changing idea translated into an alcohol-free recipe: twelve botanicals based on the original Aronia Dry Gin, developed for tonic and cocktails. The set contains one 500 ml bottle, two Chrüzli tumblers and an ice mould.
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LSV-03A soft, velvety gin built around cannabis, juniper, blueberry, wormwood and nettle. Five leading botanicals appear on the bottle as a reference to the five senses; the full recipe brings together thirteen botanicals.
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LSV-04Orange and strawberry lead this full-bodied aperitif, developed directly from the original Apero recipe. Serve it with tonic or alcohol-free sparkling wine for a bright, bittersweet spritz.
Where to buy ↗ LSV-05One naturally cloudy Glattgold lager becomes six distinct spirits. The collection explores how a single beer base can move from its original character into botanical and distilled interpretations — six 100 ml bottles in one presentation box.
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LSV-06A family recipe from the 1920s, once enjoyed warm in winter and mixed with lemon soda as a wine spritzer in spring. Today it combines locally sourced red wine with spices from controlled organic cultivation.
Where to buy ↗Target audience, occasion, price point, regulations. You tell me where the drink should go — I tell you what is possible.
Development in Zurich with access to thousands of ingredients — from selecting the botanicals to fine-tuning the aromatics.
Tasting samples, feedback rounds, readjustment — until the profile is exactly right.
Scaling the recipe, coordinating the bottler, labelling and handover — including Swiss and EU requirements.
Since May 2021 I have developed more than 200 drinks and spirits — classic gins and spirits, alcohol-free alternatives, functional drinks, beer spirits and entirely new product concepts.
Good taste is only part of it. A development that works ties recipe, raw materials, technology, sensory profile, design and the story of a product into one experience.
What follows is a selection that stands out to me — because of an unusual idea, a new technical solution, or a particular link between flavour and design.
Over the years a collection of more than 1,000 different botanicals from nearly every part of the world has come together. Each plant brings its own combination of aroma, taste, texture and character. For my work this is less a collection than a library of flavour — and the basis for developing individual taste profiles.
INN-01A technology for alcohol-free spirits that keeps taste, aroma and mouthfeel close to the alcoholic original — without sugar as a crutch and without conventional artificial flavouring. Shelf life was the hardest part, since alcohol also acts as a preservative. The first 0.0% gin alternative launched in June 2023 for Bergbahnen Engelberg TITLIS; residual sugar was cut further in 2024, a base recipe for the sensory impression of alcohol followed in 2024–2025, and solutions for alcohol-free wine and beer are in development for 2026. IN Gredient AG was founded in mid-2026 to prepare production and commercialisation.
INN-02One alpine gin recipe for the TITLIS Bergbahnen and Hotel Terrace in Engelberg, developed into a full collection: London Dry, an alcohol-free version, a Reserve at 57% vol, an Old Tom with a louche effect and a gin liqueur. Across the six bottles a continuous 360° mountain panorama is built up in porcelain paint — from Hotel Terrace past the golf course and the 2,428 m viewpoint to the Titlis at 3,238 m, on to Trübsee and down to the valley station. Each bottle was decorated and fired by hand.
INN-03A pilsner was brewed and then distilled; from that single beer spirit six distinct products were developed. 01 Bier Spirit at 42% vol, neat or with tonic. 02 Bier Likör at 22% vol, a sweeter reading. 03 Bier Reserve, aged in French oak, which changes colour, structure and aroma. 04 Bier Dry Gin — beer spirit, juniper and botanicals with no added sugar. 05 Bier Apero, Italian herbs on a beer-spirit base. 06 Bier Creme Likör with cream and real vanilla. One base, six completely different results.
INN-04A technology for converting lactose to ethanol more efficiently, developed in 2023, with VEY Holding AG founded around it. The goal was an ethanol carrying as few unwanted congeners as possible. Out of that process came a spirit in its own right: VEY, which reads as a dark spirit with caramel and sweet notes. During further research a second application became interesting — lactose as a feedstock for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), connecting beverage technology, fermentation and renewable raw materials.
INN-05Both gins are built on botanicals sourced directly from Japan. For KYO a dedicated maceration technique was developed to capture the character of the Japanese Kyoho grape. SHIMA rests on eight botanicals, among them Japanese yuzu peel and jasmine blossom. The packaging drops the conventional label entirely: the bottles were colour-coated in small batches and printed directly.
INN-06A vodka from 100% wheat, refined with lime peel. The bottle was selected specifically for the project and carries an unusual closure set with 151 hand-mounted crystals. The recipe was only one half of the work: the aim was a product where taste, material, feel and presentation together produce the experience.
INN-07A London Dry Gin built on a clear regional concept: botanicals from Central Switzerland alongside ingredients from regional organic Knospe producers. The bottle became part of the development — an unusual flat-round glass form finished with a three-dimensional porcelain-paint design, applied by hand and fired at around 800 °C.
INN-08A development project at the intersection of beverage, function and lifestyle. The brief: six different drinks with six different functional focuses, which meant researching new raw materials, novel ingredients and specialised manufacturers. The recipe was not the whole task — bottle and closure were developed specifically for the concept and form part of the product experience. The products are still in build-up; further detail follows after release.
Space was my first passion. Beverage innovation became my profession.
My path led from aerospace studies and years as a tech entrepreneur into beverage development — with the same mindset: a drink is a recipe, a recipe is engineering. Over 200 projects later, my references range from an organic mulled wine based on a 1920s family recipe to non-alcoholic spirits that simply did not exist before.
Development happens in my lab in Zurich; production runs with partners in Switzerland and Germany. I am commissioned by distilleries, breweries, hotels, clubs and brands — always when the drink is not meant to come out of a catalogue.
At thirteen, a conversation with his physics teacher turns an early fascination into a clear goal: aerospace.
Aerospace studies establish the method that still shapes his work: understand systems, document precisely and leave nothing to chance.
Years in software and an AI authentication venture sharpen his entrepreneurial perspective — and the wish to master a tangible product from A to Z.
Lake Side Valley becomes the proving ground for his own recipes and brands, produced with partners in Switzerland and Germany.
The hemp gin establishes a beverage category that did not exist before — CHF 125,000 in revenue within three months, with no advertising.
On the Swiss version of Dragons' Den, he wins the lions over with “Die Schweiz im Glas” — the gin that changes colour when tonic is added: a CHF 200,000 deal. His gins are served at the Swiss Federal Parliament and in grand hotels.
Launched via a weekly video series: €29,100 in revenue within three months — without a single franc of ad budget.
The diamond gin LDV is listed for French airports. In parallel, In-Gredient AG is founded: non-alcoholic spirits based on a proprietary process, backed by a US investor.
The best egg liqueur I have ever tasted in my life.
Client email after ordering, 2025
There is nothing else that tastes like this. He invented a category — and we put it on our menu immediately.
Bar operator, Switzerland
Describe what you have in mind — you will receive an honest assessment within two working days on whether it is worth pursuing.
