A Lake Travis couple is on a mission to give their customers “effortless entertaining” by way of cocktail mixers, Rocks Premium Mixers co-owner Dawn Langerock said.
“At tastings, everyone always assumes we throw something else in there—but it’s just the alcohol and the mixer,” she said. “We are here to disrupt the market, and we love the skeptics that never buy mixers. They’re amazed.”
Dawn co-founded Rocks Premium Mixers along with her husband, Steve. The company produces four cocktail mixes sans the alcohol—Mai Tai, Ultimate, Margarita and Jalapeño Lime, which Dawn says is the current top seller. Mai Tai was its first concoction, born after years of trying to re-create their Bora Bora vacation’s perfect Tahitian cocktail, she said.
“If you shake [the mixer], you can see the real jalapeño peppers in there,” Steve said. “It has the aroma, flavor and heat to make anything from a spicy michelada to a rum mojito.”
Real juice is added to every type of mixer as opposed to artificial sweeteners, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors, Dawn said. The products are gluten-free and lower in calories and sugar than many other types of mixers, she said.
When the couple began the business, Steve said they focused more on letting their friends try out a delicious cocktail than creating a new venture. Dawn and Steve jumped into the cocktail mixer industry after receiving feedback from friends that they should sell their mixers, he said.
By April 2014, the couple had built up an inventory of 800 bottles of Mai Tai but lacked customers, Steve said. Two weeks later, Rocks was sold locally in Twin Liquors stores.
“There are no better communities than the Lakeway and Austin communities to start a business,” Steve said. “It’s always about paying it forward to help the next person.”
To develop new products, the Langerocks test other brands of mixers on the market by taste, Steve said. Then they “reverse-engineer” by making a new blend out of the qualities they prefer from the mixers tested and solicit feedback on the drink, he said.
“We have friends and neighbors come over to do blind taste tests,” Steve said. “We are very scientific about the process. They take copious notes on everything to describe the taste.”
Ranging in price from $7.99-$10.99, the mixers are sold by Twin Liquors, Spec’s Wine, Spirits and Finer Foods, Total Wine & More, local independent stores and online.
The products will be stocked in local H-E-B stores beginning July 25.
www.rocksmixers.com
844-624-8247
