Centre County bartender mixes up subscription box service model with focus on craft cocktails

If it’s not possible to, or you’re not comfortable with, visiting your favorite bar for a cocktail this season, you can now enjoy unique craft cocktails made with locally-sourced ingredients in your own home, thanks to a new subscription service.

Michael Tedesco, bartender at Kelly’s Steak & Seafood in Boalsburg, launched Happy Valley Nomadic Spirits this fall. The idea for the subscription-based cocktail kit business was planted about seven months ago, he said.

“I have a few friends who really enjoy my cocktails and I like to make things from scratch. I would go home, meddle around, play with some fruits and vegetables, put things together, bring them into work and go from there,” Tedesco said. “I was always coming up with new cocktails. They were like, why don’t you do something like HelloFresh or Blue Apron, but with cocktail recipes and deliver them?”

Facing limited bartending work due to the pandemic, Tedesco took his friends up on the idea and he and his wife sat down to work out how they could make Happy Valley Nomadic Spirits a reality.

“We did a trial and tested things out in September. We gave it to some locals — bartenders, people who work in the restaurant industry, people who own farms — and asked for feedback. They loved it,” he said.

Customers can choose to purchase one cocktail box at a time or a subscription for multiple, subsequent boxes. Each box includes cocktail recipes and the ingredients to make the recipes, sans spirit, for 12 cocktails total. In December, one of the cocktails, for example, was The Charlie Brown, which featured a fig and pear syrup, Regan’s orange bitters and a fresh nutmeg zest.

Other boxes have come with ingredients such as lemongrass ginger syrup and what Tedesco calls a “cold brew concoction.” Some of the cocktail ingredients are made by Tedesco himself, while others are sourced from local providers, such as Tait Farm Foods and Bees Knees Coffee.

“All of these boxes are uniquely designed for our recipes and you’re not going to find them somewhere else. These aren’t copied, they’re our own recipes. They’re very unique,” Tedesco said.

The main reaction from subscribers thus far?

“People are loving it,” Tedesco said. “They’re branching out. Normally, they’d go to a bar and order a cosmo or a Jack and Coke, because they don’t know their flavor profile or their palate. People are saying things like, I don’t like tequila, but that tequila cocktail was amazing and I wouldn’t have known tequila was in it, but I poured it in myself. So people are branching out and trying new things.”

Another perk? Each box is based off one spirit, so there’s no need to make multiple purchases at the wine and spirits store, and each box’s ingredients are perfectly portioned out so there’s no waste or extra leftover ingredients taking up space in your fridge.

For those who aren’t sure their mixology skills are up to snuff, Tedesco promises that each recipe is easy to follow, with additional instructions provided on Instagram (and, in the future, YouTube) for those who need them; and, if you don’t have the correct bartending tools on hand, Happy Valley Nomadic Spirits also offers a cocktail shaker kit in its online store.

You can currently subscribe to Happy Valley Nomadic Spirits and receive monthly cocktail kits shipped anywhere on the East Coast or in the Midwest.

“Every day the goal is to have fun and create some great cocktails,” Tedesco said. “With people staying in, you can do something out of the ordinary (with the family) or for date nights. ... It’s something for everyone to do. People should give it a shot.”

For more information, visit www.happyvalleynomadicspirits.com.