Imagine you show up at my house for dinner, and as you enter you smell fantastic smells coming from the kitchen. I greet you and bring you towards these aromas, and you think, is that sage? As soon as we round the corner I pour you a cocktail so fast that you wonder if it just appeared in your hand or if I actually made it. You look down at the bar and a there is a single bottle with a handwritten label on it, it’s says, Uncle Tim’s Cocktails, Classic Manhattan. Then a tag on the neck that says “Just pour over ice”.
This is no exaggeration, this is where Uncle Tim’s Cocktails was born. It came from my desire to host and take care of every detail myself. I loved cooking and making drinks, and if you’ve ever tried doing both, it is quite an impossible task running from stovetop to bar each time a guest arrives.
Finally, I started batching cocktails in order to make it easier on myself. Eventually, I got really good at batching and kept making nicer labels, so they became great gifts. I would make batches and give them out for holidays or birthdays.
I was at a cabin up in Tahoe one weekend, and a friend picked up an empty bottle, looking at the computer-printed label, and asked where she could buy more? That’s when it clicked, this wasn’t just a hobby. It was still another 5 years before you could find Uncle Tim’s Cocktails on the shelf, but I knew I was on to something.
My goal is to make it easier for you to host. Just pour over ice.
