Apres Beverages of Battle Creek has introduced a brand called Cask & Kettle Brewed Cocktails, which offers artisan crafted cocktails that can be made in pod-style coffee brewers like Keurig, or by using piping hot water.
Apres Beverages partnered with Temperance Distilling in Temperance to launch the first two cocktails, Irish Coffee (76 proof) and Spiked Dry Cider (50 proof), which are available in many stores in Michigan, as well as Illinois, Missouri, and California.
Two additional flavors, Mexican Coffee and Hot Blonde Coffee, will be introduced in August. Distribution soon will expand to Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and Washington.
Cask & Kettle is woman-owned and was founded in 2017 by four colleagues and self-declared hot drink and cocktail lovers who work at Battle Creek-based JPG Resources, a food industry consultancy. The foursome wanted to simplify the process of enjoying artisan crafted cocktails at home.
“All four of us love our hot brews and spirits, but there aren’t any professionals hanging around our homes to make us the drinks we most enjoy sipping,” says Lucinda Wright, co-founder and CEO. “What we have are single-serve brewing machines sitting idle on our respective kitchen counters. So, one of our crew stepped up and figured out how we could use those machines to deliver ready-to-brew cocktails we and our friends love to drink at home. Now our brewing machines are working day and night! They’re also good served chilled on hot summer days.
“It’s an easy and convenient way for anyone to prepare and serve a complete, well-crafted hot cocktail,” Wright continues. “Simply pop one of the single-serve cups into your brewing system and a smooth, aromatic hot cocktail is ready in seconds. Or, it can be made with hot water.
“Bars and restaurants that don’t have coffee going all day or are trying to reduce/eliminate bartenders may be interested in our drinks,” she says.
Wright adds that Cask & Kettle tries to use as many Michigan suppliers as it can and that thecider it uses in the Spiked Dry Cider is Michigan cider and the majority of its raw materials are purchased from Michigan based companies.
