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Craft cocktails are booming, with established brands and newcomers alike competing for cash-strapped consumers. New players in the mixology space are looking to help consumers create a high-end bar experience in their kitchens.
Badger Bevs launched three premium mixers this spring: Ginger Beer, Tonic Water, Club Soda, Sparkling Grapefruit, Sparkling Blood Orange, and Ginger Ale. The brand emphasizes its commitment to high-quality ingredients when compared to similar shelf-stable mixers on the market, and is designed to be used with high-quality spirits. Available exclusively in small liquor stores and high-end bars.
David Vogel, the company’s founder and CEO, brings more than 20 years of experience in the CPG space to Badger. He held several executive roles at Blue Buffalo pet food, which was acquired by food giant General Mills for $8 billion in 2018. Vogel also served as vice president of marketing and sales at The Chef’s Warehouse. He said that experience gave him a sense of where the food and beverage industry is headed: a shift toward higher-quality, premium ingredients.
Fogel said he has seen an opening in the market for premium cocktail mixer brands manufactured domestically.
“A lot of our competition comes from Europe. As we saw the supply chains being disrupted during the pandemic, I wanted to simplify the supply chain so that our customers could make better products here,” Vogel said.
Badger Bev's founder and CEO David Fogel and mixologist Jillian Voss.
Courtesy of Badger Bevs
Mixologist's stamp of approval
The mixer took several years to develop, during which time Vogel brought in renowned bartenders and mixologists to help perfect the brand’s formula. Jillian Vose, a mainstay of the New York City bar scene who has worked at notable spots like Dead Rabbit, Death & Co., and Maison Premiere, came on board early in the brand’s development.
Vose said the resurgence of at-home bartending during the pandemic has seen a rise in adventurous choices alongside a boom in classic cocktails. She said there has been a demand for high-quality ingredients that drinkers can use at home and that don’t waste anything.
“Making fruit cordials in bulk at a bar is one thing, but making them at home is time-consuming, and you don’t need to make as many,” Vose said. “These specialty mixers, especially the flavors we’ve released, are good enough to be available at really high-end bars.”
Badger Bevs competes with major players in the mixer space, including Q Mixers, Polar, and Fever Tree, all of which have national distribution models and have prioritized unique flavor launches in recent years. But unlike those brands, Badger is not currently interested in expanding through mass distribution in large chains, opting to sell only in upscale bars and small liquor stores.
“We think that's part of how we're different and more specialized. Some of the good brands that came before us got so big that they everywhere. It’s important to us to be more local and specific to our fine dining restaurants,” Vogel said. “So if you go to Beef Bar in Tribeca or Principate in SoHo and have a great Badger cocktail, you might decide to add that to your home bar.”
Badger, manufactured in Pennsylvania, initially launched in the Northeast and then expanded into the Midwest, including Ohio and the Chicago metropolitan area. Vogel believes it can focus its resources in this region and continue to expand westward.
The brand’s two main distribution partners are Chef’s Warehouse, where Vogel previously worked, and LPG Family Distributors, one of the largest liquor distributors in the U.S. The CEO believes these partners will be the most helpful in reaching the home mixologist market the brand is targeting.
According to Vogel, the brand is already planning cocktail mixers to be released next year, and it’s all about getting ahead of the curve. Part of that means paying close attention to the innovation pipeline and making sure the flavor profiles are up to bartender quality.
“It wasn’t until version 14 of Grapefruit that I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve got the right amount of extract and juice, and it tastes like grapefruit, I’m happy with it,’” Fogel said.
