In a post-pandemic world where anxiety has spiked and alcohol deaths top 175,000 yearly, young people are rethinking how they socialize – and what they sip.
Verse is a high-end adaptogenic drink looking to disrupt the functional beverage market and social constructs of alcohol consumption. Verse combines functional mushrooms, electrolytes, vitamins and a nootropic blend of brain-enhancing substances.
“Our tagline is toast today, thrive tomorrow,” founder Carlos Liverani said. “There’s a breakdown in between fast tracked ingredients and more extended release ingredients the next day.”
The company was founded by University of Miami alumni Chris Tracy and Liverani. Liverani said that Verse is providing a health-enhancing beverage that mimics the effects of alcohol and mitigates the adverse effects of the “hangover” the next morning.
“Nootropics, ashwagandha, these compounds attack the same GABAergic receptors that [alcohol] latches onto,” Liverani said. “After an hour, you start feeling a lot more relaxed.”
Alina Lytvynenko is a freshman at the University of Miami working as an ambassador for Verse. She said she was drawn to Verse at a School of Communications career fair, where Tracy explained how the drink’s effects can substitute alcohol consumption in social scenes.
“[Tracy] talked about it not being just a wellness drink, but a real alternative to alcohol – something you could bring to a party or bar and still feel like you belong,” she said. “It wasn’t just about health – it was about your values.”
Liverani emphasized how alcohol often fills a social gap in college.
“A lot of my relationship with alcohol [in college] was because I wanted to be social and the fear of loneliness,” Lytvynenko said.
A study found that one in five deaths in young people are alcohol-related. A growing number of people have become “sober-curious,” creating an emerging market of booze-free beverages.
Verse positions itself to contribute to the growing movement of wellness and sobriety. Liverani says that Verse is not just alcohol-free but a behavior-enhancing alternative that rivals traditional social drinks – without the toxicity.
“If we just designed a beverage that was gonna go in the wellness aisle of Whole Foods or Sprouts, it would have never made the impact that we wanted,” Liverani said.
Liverani’s experience at UM in greek life exposed him to the reality of typical college partying culture.
“It always felt backward that we celebrated being young and thriving by poisoning ourselves with alcohol. That contradiction was something I couldn’t ignore.”
Verse’s founding reflects growing cultural concerns about alcohol use, mental health and the search for healthier social alternatives. Over 178,000 people die from alcohol yearly, worsened by the availability of alcohol and the prevalence of mental health challenges.
A study found that anxiety prevalence nearly doubled after March 2020, from 19% to 37%.
According to the Verse website, the beverage’s effects include a gentle, uplifting sensation along with feelings of calm, focus and creativity. The website reports a decrease in social anxiety within 15-30 minutes.
“If you force people to choose between being lonely or drinking something unhealthy, they’re always gonna choose drinking something unhealthy,” Liverani said. “The question we wanted to tackle was, how might we disrupt alcohol.”
Miami’s nightlife is some of the best in the country, second only to Las Vegas by U.S. News Rankings.
Liverani says that this culture can be revolutionized by the introduction of Verse into clubs.
“We made Verse as Instagrammable as possible – to literally compete with the champagne bottles and vodka parades in nightlife settings,” Liverani said. “We wanted to show people that this healthy nonalcoholic beverage was as cool as the bottle of champagne that was coming to you.
Tracy adds that in Miami’s culture, health itself is becoming a new luxury.
“In Miami, the social scene plays a heavy influence in most people’s lives,” he said. “People these days view health as a status symbol, and that’s what we’re trying to tap into.”
Lytvynenko says that the broader culture at the University of Miami lends itself well to an environment where students want to have fun but also care about their success and health.
“There’s this real ‘work hard, play hard’ culture here – and not in a toxic way,” Lytvynenko said. “It’s the exact energy that made Verse stand out to me – it aligns perfectly with the lifestyle I see around me at UM.”
Tracy and Liverani met while attending the University of Miami, where they formed a friendship that grew into a lifelong partnership. As the company grew, so did the demands of navigating a startup together.
Tracy says that it’s important to find these partners and strike a balance between camaraderie and work.
“You need to know each other’s styles of how each other likes to work best,” he said. It’s tough building a business with two of your closest friends. You start to get at each other’s necks about little stuff, and you need to be able to take a step back and look at the big picture.”
Liverani studied Biomedical Engineering as an undergrad, which he says shaped his decision to engineer a solution to a prevalent cultural phenomenon.
“[In BME], you learn not just about where society suffers in regards to biomedical conditions, but you also learn about technology and how to solve those things.”
At the University of Miami where a vibrant social scene meets academics, Verse strikes a chord for many students interested in maintaining their well-being. What began as a conversation between two classmates is now part of a growing shift on campus – one where wellness is not a trade-off for fun.