Forget tonic water and cranberry juice. Alex Abbott Boyd, founder of Cocktail Crate, has created a line of mixers made of fresh, local and organic ingredients that make serving cocktails much more fun.
Cocktail Crate grew out of Alex’s passion for the aromas, flavors, and histories that make each beverage unique. “In college, I would always play that game with my friends where you sit around and drink wine and guess what the label’s going to say on the back.” Since he graduated, Alex has learned about the world of drinks by spending time on an organic Darjeeling tea estate in India, on soda factory tours in Cairo, and in plenty of speakeasies in NYC.
The obsession with cocktails came about during the past two years. “I would always have dinner parties, and I realized I was spending more time making drinks than I was talking with friends. There were just no good mixers out there so I had to make them myself.”
Enter Cocktail Crate with mixers like “Lavender Bloom,” and “Smoky Hops” that make cocktails as easy as opening and pouring. Below, find Alex’s recipe for a Holiday Old Fashioned, a cocktail made from one of his handmade mixers.
Holiday Old Fashioned
The Holiday Old Fashioned mixer combines cinnamon, fresh cut orange peel, allspice and turbinado sugar into a pleasingly aromatic accompaniment to your favorite bourbon or rye whiskey.
Ingredients:
2 oz Bourbon or Rye
3/4 oz Cocktail Crate Holiday Old Fashioned
1 dash aromatic bitters (keep it local with Hella Bitters Aromatic)
Preparation:
Stir with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass with one large ice cube. Garnish with orange peel.
Cocktail Crate will be sampling drinks and selling the whole line of mixers at What’s Cooking on November 13.
