Cocktail Mixers, Syrups & Bitters Missing from Your Bar Cart

Founded by Sook Goh and Roslynn Tellvik, RAFT Cocktails took home two Good Foods awards, which honor products that taste good and are sourced responsibly. The cocktail and soda syrup brand won in the spirits category for a lemon ginger and hibiscus lavender syrup, brewed out of the Three Little Figs jam kitchen in Northeast Portland. Based in San Francisco, the Good Food Awards, were created to recognize products that hit the markers of most traditional food awards, but constrain competitors to companies that pay fair wages, use organic, seasonal and natural ingredients and have a relationship between the growers and manufacturers of the food.

As legend would have it, while snooping around in his grandfather’s attic, Herb’s grandson stumbled upon a whole treasure trove of cocktail recipes Herb and his friend Lou had concocted back in the 1920s. For all their fondness for mixology, the two didn’t want to spend the night with swizzle sticks in hand. Thus, was born the brilliant freezable mixer we have today.

Featured by Coveteur, Food & Wine and Imbibe, The Bitter Housewife was dreamed up by Genevieve and Dan Brazelton, husband and wife. The brand uses nothing but the highest quality, whole ingredients to craft unmistakable flavors. “Bitters are usually made by male bartenders and shrouded in mystique,” says Genevieve. She crafted the tinctures with her friends in mind: whiskey-loving, go-getting women — many of them moms — who are not always going out to restaurants but often entertain at the house.