Mint & Lime Quas with Fibre

Mint & Lime Quas is our seasonal flavour. It starts with a spearmint tea base, to which we add rye and barley. It is then fermented with our 180-year-old sourdough culture and finished with a dash of fresh lime juice.

Spearmint brings a gentle, cooling freshness and the lime gives bright, zesty citrus. Underneath, malty grain depth holds it together, and a refreshing tartness with light carbonation keeps it crisp.

It drinks more like an aperitif than an ale: zesty, herbal and dry, never sugary. If you love the freshness of a mojito but are not drinking, this is the can to reach for.

Each 330ml can is high in fibre, with 6.7g from chicory root, and low in sugar, with 2.5g of sugars per 100ml and about 63kcal per can. It is plant-based and suitable for vegans. It contains gluten from rye and barley.

Mint & Lime is sold as Live Quas, unfiltered and unpasteurised, with over 500 billion live cultures in every can. Keep it in the fridge at 2–6°C, where it keeps for six weeks. As a seasonal flavour, it is not available all year.

Kvass is a traditional fermented drink made from rye and barley, drunk across Eastern Europe for around a thousand years. It is malty, lightly tangy and naturally sparkling. Quas is our sourdough fermented take on it, made in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In the glass. Cloudy chestnut brown like the rest of the range, with a fine head and small natural bubbles.

Nose. Cool spearmint and fresh lime over a soft malt background.

Palate. Zesty citrus and a herbal edge over malty grain. Bright acidity and light carbonation keep it moving.

Finish. Refreshing tartness, a gentle mint freshness and a crisp, dry close.

First sip, second sip. The first sip is all lime and mint. On the second, the rye and barley come through underneath, and the drink makes sense: fresh on top, grounded below.

How to serve. Fridge-cold and straight, in a stemless tulip glass or a wine tumbler, with no ice. If you want a little theatre, add a single fresh mint leaf or a twist of lime peel. Keep it to one.

With food. Fresh, herb-led and lightly spiced dishes are the match. Pour Mint & Lime with chargrilled prawns, fish tacos, a herb-packed tabbouleh, charred courgettes and halloumi, or lamb kofta with minted yoghurt. The mint soothes gentle heat, and the lime cuts cleanly through anything fried, from tempura to fish and chips. Avoid sharply citrus-cured dishes such as ceviche, whose acidity overwhelms the drink's own.

When to open one. As an aperitif before dinner, in the garden on a warm evening, at a barbecue, or fridge-cold after a sauna.

Malty and tangy, with a clean, dry finish. Original leans towards dried fruit and gentle spice, Ginger brings fresh ginger warmth, and Mint & Lime is bright and zesty.

Mint & Lime starts with a spearmint tea base instead of plain water, and finishes with a dash of lime juice.

• Scottish water and mint. Spearmint brewed into a tea, which is the base of every batch. It gives a gentle, cool freshness rather than the sharpness of peppermint.
• Rye and barley. Added to the spearmint tea, the grain gives Quas its body and malty depth, and it feeds the sourdough culture. Both contain gluten, so Quas is not suitable for people with coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity.
• Chicory inulin fibre (2.3%). A plant fibre from chicory root. It is why every can is high in fibre, with 6.7g per 330ml.
• Sugar. A small amount gives the culture something to ferment. Part of it is used up during fermentation, and the finished drink has 2.5g of sugars per 100ml.
• Erythritol. A natural sugar alternative that comes from plants, used in a small amount to soften the sourness without adding sugar.
• Sourdough cultures. Our 180-year-old starter, with over 100 types of yeasts and lactic acid cultures living together. They make the sparkle and the clean sourness.
• Lime juice. A dash, added once the drink has fermented, for fresh, sharp citrus.
• Natural flavourings. A combination of natural essential oils that rounds out the citrus aroma.

What is not in it: no artificial flavourings, no preservatives and no acidity regulators.

Original has 2.4g of sugars per 100ml, and Ginger and Mint & Lime have 2.5g, so every flavour is low in sugar.

Quas is a rye and barley sourdough fermentation. We ferment Scottish water, rye and barley with our 180-year-old sourdough starter, a living culture with a natural community of more than 100 types of cultures, yeasts and lactic acid cultures among them.

Working together, they make a complex fermentation. The yeasts give the gentle natural sparkle and the bready aroma, and the lactic acid cultures give the clean sourness. Ginger gets freshly pressed ginger, Mint & Lime starts with a spearmint tea base and a dash of lime juice, and everything is made in small batches in Edinburgh.

Quas is never filtered, and Live Quas is not pasteurised, so the cultures are still in the can when you open it.

A sourdough starter is a living mix of yeasts and lactic acid cultures, kept going by regular feeding with flour and water. Ours has been fed and kept going for around 180 years, and it holds over 100 types of cultures.

We never add single cultures or brewer's yeast, so the starter does all the fermenting. Different cultures make different acids and aromas: the yeasts give the gentle sparkle and the bready notes, and the lactic acid cultures give the clean sourness. That mixed community is why Quas tastes layered rather than simply sour.

We count them. Samples of Live Quas are diluted many times and spread onto plates of growth medium. Over a few days, each live culture grows into a visible colony, so counting the colonies and multiplying back up tells us how many were in the can. These are called colony forming units, or CFU.

Testing across batches finds over 500 billion live cultures in every 330ml can. The figure applies to Live Quas only, because it is unpasteurised. You can see how the counting is done on our science of kvass page.

Filtering removes cultures from a drink, and pasteurising inactivates them with heat. Both extend shelf life, which is why so many drinks go through one or the other.

We leave Live Quas unfiltered and unpasteurised because much of its character comes from the culture. The trade-off is a shorter shelf life and a drink that has to live in the fridge.

Live Quas is unpasteurised, so its cultures are still active in the can. Cold slows them right down and keeps the flavour where it should be. Keep every can in the fridge at 2–6°C at all times, and unpack your box into the fridge as soon as it arrives. Our process is designed so Live Quas can travel unrefrigerated for the short next-day journey to you, but from the moment it arrives it needs the fridge.

Live Quas keeps for six weeks. Check the best-before date on the can. The cultures stay gently active even in the fridge, so the flavour slowly becomes more sour and less sweet with time. That is fermentation at work, not a fault.

Every box comes with Free Next-Day Delivery. Order Monday to Thursday by 4pm for next-day delivery. Shipping is included in the price, and every box travels by Royal Mail Tracked 24 or APC Overnight, with a tracking number.

If cans arrive damaged or leaking, our Safe Arrival Guarantee gives you credit or a discount on your next order, or a free replacement, with a full refund as a fallback. Live Quas is also covered when delivery is delayed by 5 days or more.

Yes. Choose two or all three flavours in the picker above and we will split your box between them.

Kvass and beer both start with fermented grain, and Quas shares beer's malty body and natural carbonation, so it sits comfortably beside a pint. The differences are in how they are made.

Most beer is brewed with hops and fermented with brewer's yeast, which turns sugars into alcohol. Alcohol-free beer is usually made the same way, then has the alcohol removed, or is fermented less. Quas has no hops. It is fermented with a sourdough culture of yeasts and lactic acid cultures, which gives it a tangy, bready character and a dry finish instead of hop bitterness. It is non-alcoholic, and Live Quas is unfiltered and unpasteurised, so the cultures are still in the can.

Kombucha is fermented from sweetened tea with a SCOBY, a culture in which acetic acid cultures are prominent. That is where its tart, vinegary edge comes from.

Quas is fermented from rye and barley with a sourdough culture dominated by lactic acid cultures. The result is malty and bready, with a clean, rounded sourness rather than a vinegar tang. If you find kombucha too sharp, Quas is a different lane: closer to a dark ale in body, and good with food.

Kefir and kvass are both fermented drinks with long histories in Eastern Europe, and both can contain live cultures. Milk kefir is made by fermenting milk with kefir grains, so it is dairy and can contain lactose. Water kefir uses sweetened water and its own grains.

Quas is made from rye and barley with a sourdough starter instead of kefir grains. It is plant-based and suitable for vegans, though it contains gluten. In flavour it is malty and dry rather than creamy or yoghurt-like, and our starter holds over 100 types of cultures.

Kvass on shop shelves varies a lot by producer. Some is not fermented at all, just sweetened, flavoured and carbonated. Some is fermented with baker's yeast, then filtered or pasteurised so it keeps for months without a fridge.

Live Quas is fermented with a sourdough culture of over 100 types of cultures, then left unfiltered and unpasteurised, with over 500 billion live cultures in every can. It contains no preservatives or acidity regulators. That is why it lives in the fridge and keeps for six weeks. To compare sugar, check each drink's label per 100ml: Quas has 2.4g to 2.5g.