By Gabriel Martins — Correspondent
First, dump the powder into a cup. Next, pour some tequila. Add water, and you’ve got a margarita.
Bar managers wish it were that easy, but a Concord business is making it just that simple.
Mixxers sells DIY cocktail kits using organic ingredients to bring bar-caliber beverages to any mountaintop or beach. Kara Potter, who’s worked with her husband on the idea for two years, launched the company and its products two months ago.
“We do a lot of outdoor activities,” Potter says. “There were a couple of times where we were like, ‘It would be really nice to have an old-fashioned right now, but we don’t have bitters.’”
Mixxers offers two kinds of margaritas (regular and spicy), palomas, cosmopolitans, and mai tais. Soon it will have espresso martinis, and Potter is working on Manhattans and more.
The mixes retail around $17, costlier than products from Craftmix and Batchwell, but Potter believes her organic products set the company apart.
Rocky Mountain roots
Though Potter does all of the management, development, and public relations from Concord, the idea was born out West.
She and her husband, James, brainstormed Mixxers after spending time in Telluride, Colorado, where her mixes are packaged and distributed.
“There’s a lot of music festivals there,” she says. “We’re doing a lot of hiking, a lot of skiing, and all of these were really good use cases to have a Mixxer.”
No business novice, Potter, who has lived in Concord since last summer, had started another company, Relief Scout, which was later acquired by wellness platform Alurx.
When Covid hit, she went full “mom mode,” focusing on her children, then ages 4 and 2, but she needed to stimulate her brain, so she took business courses.
“It was a good reset,” Potter says, “because it did make me realize this is a good opportunity.”
She was ready to jump back into developing something, but because she was expecting her third child, James handled the taste testing.
The initial rounds were horrible, she says.
“There [were] things we learned really quickly,” Potter says. “I wasn’t willing to compromise on the quality of the ingredients and getting as much of it to be organic and high-quality as possible.”
Potter says she has sold a few hundred boxes in the first two months and has gotten positive feedback.
A ‘no-brainer’
Mixxers customer Nathan Barr, 43, says he didn’t like powder mixes he’d sampled from other companies but became interested in trying Mixxers after seeing posts on Instagram. He was surprised with the drinks’ restaurant quality.
“They’ve clearly used really good ingredients, and that has a cost to it, but when you compare it to the cost of a $15 mixed drink when you go out, it’s a no-brainer,” he says.
Barr said the use of organic ingredients is important to him, and he found the idea of a dehydrated powder mix “genius.”
“I think it’s a great gift to give people, too,” he said.
Mixxers can last longer than liquid mixers; they also take up less space and use minimal packaging, making them more sustainable.
Potter has been in talks with Concord Market to bring Mixxers to town. They soon will be sold through Amazon, as well. For now, people can find them through the Mixxers website.
This story is part of a partnership between The Concord Bridge and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
At Eastern Standard, a thumbs-up
It’s bad form to bring drinks into a bar, but what about a cocktail mix? A Concord Bridge writer brought Mixxers’ margarita mix to Boston’s best-known mixologist to put it to the test.
Eastern Standard bar director Jackson Cannon made two margaritas using Mixxers packets: one following the instructions, and one in his restaurant’s style.
For the first margarita, he poured the packet into a metal mixing cup. He added a shot of tequila and measured 4 ounces of water. Then he stirred it and poured it.
For the second glass, he used a jigger to measure, opting for just 3 ounces of water. He put the powder, tequila, and water into a metal cup. Then he shoveled in ice and snapped another metal cup on top. He shook it vigorously over his shoulder.
“This would be perfect on a camping trip,” he said.
He tasted the two. Silence. Then a verdict.
“For a powdered mix, it’s clearly a high-quality material,” Cannon said. “This may be the best [DIY] product I’ve ever used.”
He did have issues with the bag measuring the first time around.
“It feels a little unwieldy at first, kind of like trying to look down the bag and gauge [it],” Cannon said. By the time he was pouring the water, he felt comfortable.
He said he’d know just what to do with Mixxers on a camping trip — although he said he’d probably take a bag of limes and look for a water source.
“I’m sure they don’t drink were they [to] go back to the moon,” Cannon said, “but this would certainly work in an aircraft.”
