Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Latimer.
Andrea, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was a cake designer/pastry chef in 2008 and I was fed up with artificial flavorings & extracts being the only options available so I decided to try making my own extracts but with real, quality ingredients.
Right around this time, I also developed an obsession with whiskey, handcrafted cocktails, and their relationship with bitters. This obsession lead me to begin experimenting with making my own bitters, in the basement of my home, (eventually dubbed “the lab” by friends) to use in my culinary creations. After many years of testing and perfecting recipes, I decided it was time to share these bitters with the community.
In 2014, I created Bittersweet and launched it at the local farmer’s markets. At Bittersweet, I served brûléed fruit made with organic infused sugars, house-made bitters, and a bit of fire.
Over the course of the season, at Bittersweet, I found that people not only loved the desserts I offered, but everyone kept wondering when they could get their hands on these homemade bitters. So, at the end of the Farmers Market season, I decided to close Bittersweet, and re-launched Bitters Lab, Utah’s first premium cocktail bitters company, in January 2015.
We’ve grown from just one employee (me) to a team of 4 and we now teach virtual cocktail classes, and have many other offerings in addition to our amazing bitters!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Running a small business & being an entrepreneur is not easy by any means, but for me, it beats working for someone else, even through the difficult times. Finances were a tricky thing to manage at the beginning coming from a stable job working for someone else I always knew what my salary was going to be, when you work for yourself that goes out the window.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Bitters Lab?
We make cocktail bitters but I think what makes me most proud is our connection to the community.
We have an amazing following of customers and subscribers that support us and come to all of our virtual workshops – which is one of the best parts of my job. We also have incredible partnerships with local farmers, producers, and makers. And our commitment to philanthropy and sustainability has become really important to us.
Year over year we’ve been able to give back 5% of our net profits which is just absolutely incredible and super important for us to continue.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The bar/beverage industry goes through changes and shifts regularly but I do think good cocktails are here to stay.
One thing we’ve seen in the last few years, and I think this will continue to evolve is that people are getting more “hands-on”, they want to know how to make amazing cocktails, as they get at their favorite bar, at home. They want to entertain and share with friends.
So our education platform is somewhere we’re putting a lot of effort into – we’ve known from day 1 that education is the most important thing for our customers because bitters are just so misunderstood. Giving folks the knowledge and tools to make a great drink, dessert, or meal at home is what matters most to us!
Pricing:
- 1 oz bottle $14
- 4 oz bottle $22
- Gift sets range from $41-$65
- Old Fashioned Gift Sets $52
- Virtual Cocktail Class starts at $10
Contact Info:
- Website: bitterslab.com
- Instagram: @bitterslab
- Facebook: @bitterslab
- Twitter: @bitterslab
- Spotify: @bitterslab
Image Credits
Beehive Photography and Nicole Simper.
