One of the benefits of the cocktail resurgence of the past decade? 
More and better spirits. Major producers and new-wave craft distillers alike have revived forgotten liquors (like rye and aquavit) and rolled out innovative new products, like bourbons finished in sherry casks.
But quality cocktails don’t consist of spirits alone. They also require quality mixers, bitters and syrups.
Enter Cocktail & Sons, a New Orleans-based maker of sugar syrups designed for cocktails and developed by Max Messier and his wife and business partner, Lauren Myerscough. The couple makes flavorful, natural syrups, including Honeysuckle & Peppercorns, a Spiced Demerara sugar syrup, and seasonal King Cake, which combines cinnamon, pecan, and lemon with Louisiana sugarcane.
The idea for the sugar syrups emerged from Messier’s decade-long tenure behind cocktail bars in New York and New Orleans, and the couple’s goal is to allow home bartenders to make drinks at home that could compare favorably with cocktails made at the better craft cocktail bars.
Another of their syrups is Fassionola, a revival of a once-popular ingredient essential to the New Orleans-invented Hurricane. It’s made from Louisiana sugar and strawberries from Johndales Strawberry Farm in Ponchatoula, and given a deep crimson color with hibiscus flowers. It was named best cocktail ingredient this year in Garden & Gun magazine’s “Best of the South.”
Thirsty for a Hurricane but not up for a trip to Bourbon Street? Meet Cocktail & Sons, your new best friend.
Available at Rouses Markets.
