Can't Go To the Bar? Bartenders Are Creating Home Cocktail Kits
La Trova Old Fashioned
Cocktails to-go are likely here to-stay
Across the United States, many of the current laws pertaining to beverage alcohol are relics of Prohibition. In recent years some of these laws have been repealed or updated, such as, believe it or not, permission to sell alcohol on Election Day in many places, including Kentucky. But the pandemic has necessitated greater progress in order to keep cash flowing to many of the businesses involved in manufacturing, distributing, and selling beverage alcohol—especially bars and restaurants that have been forced to close or greatly reduce business for social distancing purposes—and one of the near universal emergency orders that has been put into effect is the provision to allow to-go and delivery cocktails from non-traditional retail establishments. Different locations across the U.S. have different offerings, but consumers have been enjoying to-go cocktails so much during the pandemic that many states are looking to make takeout cocktails permanent.
Making to-go cocktails legal
The pandemic has necessitated some quick thinking and creativity on the part of all different kinds of businesses including bars and distilleries—the majority of which still have their tasting rooms and onsite bars closed to the public.
“We have been able to pass a lot of laws in recent years to modernize our alcohol laws with little things like cocktails to-go, which were allowed this year, and curbside service, which we got done in 2016,” says Kentucky Distillers’ Association President Eric Gregory. “These are things the distilleries really hadn’t utilized and they were able to utilize them during the pandemic to keep some revenue going in and to help keep their customer base. You’ve got distilleries like Jeptha Creed and MB Roland that went immediately to curbside, to-go cocktails, things like that. In fact, the to-go cocktail thing has been such a tremendous success, not only for distilleries but also for restaurants, that we are going to approach the legislature next year about making that permanent.”
Laws vary from state to state, and even within a single state there are rules about who can sell cocktails and who can’t. In Kentucky and New York state, for example, only establishments that also sell food are allowed to sell to-go cocktails. In Kentucky, in order to sell full bottles of alcohol, those establishments would need to have a package license. That means that the few bars that also have package licenses are able to sell full bottles, but if they don’t also sell food they would not be able to sell a pre-mixed cocktail. If an establishment sells food it can sell a pre-mixed cocktail under the new emergency rules or it could sell a cocktail kit. Bars without package licenses or food service can sell mixers only during the bar service ban. Whew!
How bars handle the shift to takeaway
“We try and do mostly whiskey cocktail bases, so we do an Old Fashioned, sours, and we like to rotate our fruit for that, so like blackberry or raspberry with lemon and lime juice,” says Nic Stippy, co-Founder of Trouble Bar in Louisville, Kentucky. “Then we try to do something that will do well with vodka or gin, so in the month of May we did an agua fresca that you could put with either vodka or gin, because everyone has a different home bar setup. We try to keep it flexible, but we are a whiskey bar so we try to keep it mostly bourbon cocktail bases.”
All businesses had to scramble to figure out how to stay afloat, so after the initial shock of trying to keep any revenue coming in, operators had to get creative about the beverage service they were offering to figure out which drinks best suit the necessary format.
“At first we really just wanted to clear out our refrigerators,” recounts Stippy. “Like most bars, this was pretty sudden and we had already ordered a month’s worth of sugars, juices, and bitters. So we really were able to sell our menu and tell people what alcohol to buy. After that, we came up with a different menu for each ‘Lemonade Stand’. The things that are most popular are the things that are most popular in the bar—a really good Old Fashioned mix, a really good fruity cocktail mix, and a really good mule or something fizzy with a lime or citrus note.”
Silver Dollar Old Fashioned
Despite restrictions, customers still expect a great drink
Customers still want to have a premium cocktail experience when someone else makes their drink. But it’s also possible for a talented bartender to set up a good drink to prepare at home with a premium kit.
“I purchased one from Westport Whiskey & Wine,” says Candace Roberts of Louisville. “Rosseville Union rye, and fixings for a Manhattan. The package was awesome! I killed the rye pretty quick. What I liked about this was I probably would not have tried Rossville Union [a gold medal winner in the 2019 NY International Spirits Competition] on my own, I had not heard or noticed it. There’s a t-shirt as well. Nice presentation and during COVID, a nice distraction.”
“During the most restrictive phase here in Indiana, we got an old fashioned kit from 1816 Kitchen in Corydon,” says Miles Johns of Indiana. “It was really good, but I’d argue a little too much on the sweet side. [To make it] we got a bottle of Old Forester 100, house simple syrup, soaked cherries and a couple oranges for the zest. Instructions were taped to the bottle.”
“The Silver Dollar did some cocktail kits,” says Jessica Miller of Louisville. “Their Old Fashioned was amazing! I'm more of a 'pour my bourbon straight in a glass and done' kind of girl. This cocktail kit came with an ice sphere, orange peel (and instructions on how to use it), a pour of bourbon, and meticulously written instructions. The alcohol hadn’t already been mixed so it was 'assembly required' but seriously! I felt like a fancy bartender making a fancy cocktail. We've even started making old fashioned and whiskey sours on the regular now. Five out of five stars!”
“I bring home Treaty Oak Distilling cocktail kits every week,” says Jamie Biel of Dripping Springs, Texas, who also the Director of Science and Sustainability at that distillery. “Good Juju [one of the cocktails] with Waterloo No. 9 Gin is my fave. My husband likes the Hill Country Dreaming, which is Kentucky Dreaming but with Ghost Hill rather than the Red Handed Bourbon. They come in a Crowler can with dehydrated garnishes. They are as big of a hit at home as they are sitting with friends by the pool. Easy peasy and oh so good! The cans contain the premixed (but fresh squeezed/ made) nonalcoholic mixer. Juju is fresh blueberries, lemon juice, and simple. Hill Country Dreaming is black tea, lemon, and mint simple syrup. The kit includes a recipe card, as well.”
Cocktail kits become a business
This shift toward to-go cocktails and cocktail kits has inspired some serious innovation from long-time bartenders, owners, and brands. And because it will likely be a long time before bar culture can fully recover, this format could be a permanent necessity. Some are even distributed mail order.
In Miami, Tales of the Cocktail Bartender of the Year, Julio Cabrera of Café La Trova, has partnered with Santa Teresa 1796 rum and Shaker & Spoon to create a coffee-infused Old Fashioned cocktail kit, which can be ordered online at Reserve Bar and which ships to more than two dozen states. The kit costs $48, which is the typical retail cost of the bottle of rum alone, and proceeds benefit the USBG Bartender Emergency Assistance Program.
In San Francisco, H. Joseph Ehrmann of Elixir has also co-founded a company called Fresh Victor, which specializes in fresh juice mixers for both bar use and cocktail kits.
“Fresh Victor was born in an earlier business venture from CEO and Founder Ken MacKenzie to meet the need for quick and easy, fresh cocktails for consumers,” says Ehrmann. “Ken and I had worked together on a tequila brand he had in the early 2000s and when he went on to start this second tequila brand he hired me as a consultant to help formulate that product. It did well and when they sold the tequila brand (in Texas) he came home to California to start this concept on it's own.”
Fresh Victor pre-dates the pandemic as a hospitality product. “We launched as a consumer brand in 32oz packaging and in 2018 switched to a larger format package (64oz) focused on large scale business as a solution for bars and restaurants that needed more cost and work efficiency in producing high quality, fresh cocktails. Business was beginning to take off in some key markets like Las Vegas, Orlando, and San Francisco when this all hit, but since that dried up we circled back on our plan to relaunch the consumer line and moved forward. So the original need for consumers to get fresh cocktails took center stage and we now have 6 of our 7 flavors available in 16oz packaging with the 7th (Cucumber & Lime) coming soon.”
The pivot to getting fresh mixers to consumers has proven to be much needed in this pandemic, and currently Fresh Victor ships free to seven states on the West coast and is likely to become available in more markets as popularity grows. The nice thing about this product is that flavors are already mixed together for you, which takes the guesswork out of making the drinks.
“They are different because they are truly fresh, with a clean ingredient list and they are higher quality than anything currently on the market,” Ehrmann says. “There simply is not a single, shelf stable product that compares in flavor and quality. So many products say ‘made with fresh juice’, but they are not fresh juice. Each of our products has perfect sweet and sour balance—sweetened by organic cane sugar and organic agave nectar—so all that is needed is a second ingredient.”
Ehrmann has storage advice. “The 16oz package provides for about 5 cocktails, and once you get them home and open them you've got a week or two to use them or freeze them. I always recommend freezing them in one ounce cubes; then you can pull them and use them one ounce at a time whenever you want.”
Whereas the company initially offered larger sizes for bars, the pandemic led them to offer smaller consumer-packaged sizes, perfect for take-home cocktail kits. “Obviously the 16 ounce package is a great size for not committing to too many cocktails, both from the perspective of finishing the product before it goes bad and drinking in moderation,” Ehrmann says. “That smaller size also makes it easy to mix and match, creating a wider variety of potential recipes for you. So we're seeing the smaller bottles used in cocktail to go kits where one or two bottles are paired with a 375ml bottle or multiple bottles are paired with a 750ml or one liter. Our 64oz bottle has been a surprise hit in grocery and liquor stores because it pairs perfectly with a full size bottle of spirits to make 20-24 cocktails, which can be good for a couple or larger group over a week or two. Both combinations are selling in traditional retail cocktail kits and via bars and restaurants. We're also seeing bars and restaurants using our 64oz package to make batches of cocktails to go.”
As the pandemic wears on, cocktails will be that one remnant of happier times we can hold on to with all our hope. You can certainly learning to make cocktails at home, but if you’re too stressed out to suddenly become a master mixologist, take-home cocktails and cocktail kits can help.
Yerba Buena Sling, photo courtesy Elixir
Yerba Buena Sling
by H. Joseph Ehrmann & Nick DesEnfants, Elixir
1.5 oz rye whiskey
.75 oz Cherry Heering liqueur
1 oz Fresh Victor Three Citrus & Mint
2 maraschino cherries
1 full mint sprig
In a mixing glass, add all liquid ingredients. Fill with ice and shake well. Strain over fresh ice in a tall glass and garnish with the mint spring and cherry.