Employees Only Lime Cordial and Grenadine
By Francine Cohen
Image by Jill DeGroff
Once again we find ourselves in the unusual position of being more than happy to write about a commercially produced product, this time it’s the Employees Only brand of non-alcoholic cordials (Lime Cordial and Grenadine) which were lovingly created by Jason Kosmas and Dushan Zaric, partners in Employees Only (www.employeesonlynyc.com).
Of course we’re always partial to products handcrafted by the industry for the industry and, as usual, there’s a back story to our favorable impression of these new products – we had the pleasure of first sampling the prototypes last fall while hanging out with Jason Kosmas at the bar during the Manhattan Cocktail Classic Preview(www.manhattancocktailclassic.com). Jason proceeded to share a taste of these all natural mixers that he (and we) was certain would be a hit, both with the mixology crowd and those bartenders who don’t have time/expertise/space to make their own grenadine and are looking for something far better than the existing lime cordials.
A few sips in and we put our names at the top of their waiting list, eagerly anticipating the Lime Cordial and Grenadine’s actual production and distribution. Thanks to the intricacies of mass production the flavor profile shifted a wee bit from what we first tasted but they are still delicious and, more importantly, they’re available now and easy to get your hands on.
What is it about these cordials we liked so much? It’s the intensity of flavor and the philosophy behind their entry into the marketplace that won us over. The piercing tartness of the lime screamed “fresh” to us at our little tasting, though we’ve noticed the recipe has changed a bit since the cordials went into formal bottling stage and now there’s the addition of a round mellowness to the flavor. The grenadine remains the same intense pomegranate flavor. Almost syrupy, this is something that should be used sparingly per drink but in a lot of them on the menu because it’s got great flavor. Heck, we’d build a whole section of a cocktail menu around drinks that contain grenadine, and sweet is not generally how our palate leans. But don’t get us wrong, this is not overbearingly sweet grenadine– the Employees Only product sits perfectly
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