Allison Goldberg and Fruitations MARK GARFINKLE
WB: In my former life working in the craft-spirits business, I created a life for myself as a Master Mixologist for a global liquor company. Through this intriguing dialogue of flavor, over sheer intoxication, and through the magic of global events such as the Moscow Bar Show, and Tales of the Cocktail, I came to the realization that most cocktail syrups and mixers are corn sugar soaked messes, without much natural flavor, nor aromatics of real fruit. These ubiquitous mixers that force less than natural flavors upon the consumer are not my focus, nor my friends, as I seek the real thing. Flavor that leaps from that glass sitting in front of you. Color that is vibrant, and natural in scope. There is an unspoken-magic that takes place when a well-crafted cocktail is built with the finest hand-produced ingredients available. This product is Fruitations. My life changed that moment that I started using it in my craft cocktails. I took bottles of this salubrious liquid elixir to the Moscow Bar Show in Russia, and then used them to blast the antiquated concept that all cocktails must be overly sweet, out into space. The back-story is most cocktails in Russia are made to be overly sweet, as this comes from being denied sugar for a hundred or so years, so their deeply potent, sweet-tooth is well-known. When the participants of my master-classes on mixology tried the Tangerine Fruitations, they were astonished. It’s not overly sugared, and then any sugar that exists in the mix is pure cane, instead of corn based sugar! This is brilliant! So I learned, by utilizing Allison’s brilliant syrups in my creative mixology, her flavors were going to make me a star. Later on I discovered that we are both May 20th babies, and the friendship was cemented. Just as I found by utilizing Fruitations in my craft cocktail experiments. I even used Fruitations Grapefruit and the above mentioned Tangerine- (brilliant stuff) in my appearance, making cocktails on the TV Show named Viceland Live recently. Allison’s Tangerine Syrup made me look fabulous! Thank you, my friend for creating such deeply passionate and positive flavors for others to enjoy.