Voodoo Scientific Leverages Ginkgo Enzyme Services to Develop Enzymatic Processing Aid to Eliminate the Harsh "Bite" from Distilled Alcoholic Beverages

LOS ANGELES and BOSTON, June 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Voodoo Scientific, a company creating capabilities to help distillers deliver meaningful innovation, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today announced Voodoo's plans to leverage Ginkgo Enzyme Services to optimize an enzymatic solution to enable distillers to produce ultra-premium spirit products that are truly smooth. To support the development of the enzyme critical to Voodoo's product, Ginkgo will leverage its extensive protein discovery and design capabilities to design and optimize the enzyme for a wide range of conditions in spirits manufacturing, from craft to global-scale production environments.

Most distilled alcoholic beverages produce some degree of harsh sensation, or "bite," when consumed, which is a major deterrent for many potential customers. No mellowing technique used by distillers to date has been able to fully eliminate this unpleasant attribute. Voodoo Scientific identified the scientific cause for this harshness and created their enzymatic solution to give distillers the ability to manage it. Distillers can use this novel enzymatic solution to produce more premium products by creating smooth spirits. Voodoo's ability to make smoother spirits also enables the development of new flavor profiles across the full range of spirits types (e.g., vodkas, whiskies, etc.).

The Voodoo enzymatic solution targets and eliminates only the specific compounds that are responsible for the harshness of alcohol, while not affecting other components of the beverage's flavor profile. Voodoo's enzymatic solution also does not require spirits producers to change their existing processes or equipment as it is added as a processing aid during fermentation so it does not persist into the bottle. Voodoo Scientific's enzymatic solution was recently recognized as a top innovation in the spirits industry at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States' (DISCUS) annual conference.

"Providing distillers with a means to eliminate, or control, the harshness of their spirits products is very gratifying." said Joana Montenegro, co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Voodoo. "We believe we can enable new innovation in this large global industry and in ways that are truly meaningful to consumers seeking premium experiences. Ginkgo was the best choice of partners for us among the ones we considered because of their unique combination of strong scientific capabilities and a business model that fits an early-stage company like ours."

"Engineering this class of enzyme to operate under the unique conditions required for distilled alcoholic beverages is a great application for Ginkgo Enzyme Services." said Jennifer Wipf, SVP, Head of Commercial Cell Engineering at Ginkgo. "Improving the functionality of enzymes underpinning critical production processes - making enzymes work better - is an area we're passionate about because it opens up real business opportunities for our customers, especially as they push into new product development."

To learn more about Ginkgo's work in this space, join us on June 30th from 10:00 - 11:00 am ET for our Functional Food Proteins with Microbial Expression Systems virtual event.

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo's biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to prevent, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and concentricbyginkgo.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as Twitter (@Ginkgo and @ConcentricByGBW), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks and @ConcentricByGinkgo), or LinkedIn.

About Voodoo Scientific

Voodoo Scientific is a company innovating in food technology to create better consumer experiences. Voodoo identified the precise cause of the unpleasant painful harshness in spirits, and has developed a product that enables distillers the ability to fully eliminate this harshness to create truly smooth spirits. Voodoo Scientific's product has been recognized by the leading spirits association, DISCUS, as among the top innovations in the industry. For more information, visit VoodooScientific.com

Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the partnership and Ginkgo's cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (ii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, (iii) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (iv) the unpredictability of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand for COVID-19 testing and the commercial viability of our COVID-19 testing business, (v) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vi) our ability to realize the expected benefits of merger and acquisition transactions, (vii) the outcome of any legal proceedings against Ginkgo, including as a result of recent acquisitions, (viii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs, (ix) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, and (x) the product development or commercialization success of our customers. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's quarterly report on Form 10-Q  filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on May 10, 2023 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

VOODOO SCIENTIFIC CONTACT:
joana@voodooscientific.com

GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:
investors@ginkgobioworks.com

GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:
press@ginkgobioworks.com

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SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks