“The first thing I asked Erica, was: ‘Why?’” When he had some recipes, the Wassingers approached someone surprised by their request to cook up a non-alcoholic drink: Valentine Bolo Beer brewer Chris Hernstrom. He looked to create a layered taste, with a bit of alcohol’s warmth. He tinkered with flavors and extracts made from plants and fruits, especially those found in Nebraska: sage, chokecherries, elderberries. “We were sitting there and thinking, how can we relive this, and have this restorative effect all the time?” “We’d wake up every morning and see this beautiful creek flowing by the cabin,” he said. In Long Pine, he got to thinking about how he might develop a beverage with the same attention to flavor, ingredients and changing consumer desires – something special like a cocktail, but without alcohol’s drawbacks. He understands the science behind taste, texture and processing methods. In his career at ConAgra Brands, Andrew Wassinger has developed and improved products such as frozen vegetables and microwave popcorn. The creation is a product of time the Wassingers spent in Summer 2020 with their young sons along Long Pine Creek, east of Valentine. It’s a liquor substitute made by blending ingredients and know-how from across Nebraska, right down to the Ogallala Aquifer water they use from the heart of the Sandhills.