Cocktails Signed, Sealed, Delivered
“Where’s the bar?” That question, commonly asked at social functions or parties, inspired Tim Angelillo to found Sourced Craft Cocktails in Austin in October. The premium craft cocktail delivery service opened its second branch in Dallas in April.
A couple of years ago, Angelillo set up a make-your-own margarita bar at his wife’s birthday/Super Bowl party and noticed some guests were afraid of making them incorrectly. He also noted the inconvenience and costliness of procuring the alcohol and different parts required to make specialty cocktails at a party.
“Rather than spending time in the store, what you wanted was quality time with your audience,” Angelillo said. “What we want to do is make it convenient by sourcing the proper ingredients and the finest ingredients.”
Sourced delivers an instructor armed with premium cocktails, such as the Texas mule and French 75, to the customer’s doorstep.
After the client orders the cocktail they want from the website, Sourced delivers all the ingredients – alcohol, juices and mixers, glasses, barware, ice, and the recipe — in an appropriately converted bourbon barrel. A mixologist will check the client’s ID, then walk them through the steps to properly make the cocktail, all the while telling them a bit about its origin.
“For instance, a French 75 is a classic champagne cocktail,” Angelillo said. “We teach people why that cocktail became famous, because it was the drink of Casablanca.”
Once the customers learn how to build the drink, they are left with a written recipe, or, for a small fee, the mixologist can stay and act as bartender for the evening. When the occasion is over, the client packs up the glasses and barware in the barrel, and leaves the barrel on the front porch for Sourced to pick up.
“[Dallas] understands the value of entertaining,” Angelillo said. “Our goal and our mission is to be a service whether it’s just you and your significant other or a part of 2,500 people in 12 hours.”
While Angelillo runs the business side of Sourced, mixologist Brian Floyd tends to the libation business as creative director.
“A lot of bartenders like to hoard knowledge,” Floyd said. “Making a drink for yourself at home is not hard. It just takes somebody showing you how. … I love what we’re doing with Sourced. It’s about the last thing you can’t have on demand from your phone.”
