The story of Mission Cocktails began at a charity event when Amit Singh and Marcin Malyszko bonded over their shared passion for a good drink and giving back to the community.
The two friends loved cocktails but didn’t love the art of creating them. After going through an exercise of tasting the pre-mixed cocktails that were on the market, they realized there was a lack of good ones out there. That took them on a mission to create a premium, ready-to-pour cocktail experience using local ingredients and authentic spirits that you could expect in upscale cocktail bars. The art of pouring a good cocktail and the purpose of giving back is how Mission Cocktails came about.
The purpose of giving back is reflected in the 26,000 meals they have provided to families in need through partnerships with local food banks like the Orange County Food Bank, with an expectation it will provide 100,000 by year-end. The company gives back five percent of all of our revenues to local food banks.
So how did two non-industry guys breakthrough in the challenging industry of spirits? Especially with a concept that used real flavors instead of manufacturing them. During COVID, the two families were in each other’s pandemic pod and Amit told me that they tried to make cocktails and the result wasn’t on par with the cocktails made by their favorite bartenders, “We have no right being the cocktail business,” he said. “We are just two outsiders who loved drinking good cocktails and found a lack of pre-made options that were drinkable.”
Fifty percent of the success was due to confidence they could be successful. The rest was the two and a half years they took to find a way to do things differently. They called tequila producers in Mexico and bourbon producers in Kentucky, as an example. They used Google to narrow down options on manufacturers, distilleries, and alcohol sources. They use real juices and fruit sourced from places less than three hours from where they live. They built a network of the right partners to make sure each ingredient, spirit, fruit, and spice and every sip is taste and quality tested.
The biggest surprise was what they found with flavor houses, commercial food laboratories in which flavor scientists create a specific flavor to improve or define the taste of a food product. They were told that they were crazy to set these high metrics and realized they needed to head in a different direction by going directly to the sources and cutting out the middlemen. They told me the reason why the other pre-mixed cocktails they tried tasted bad was because they were watered down in the production process and used flavoring to simulate taste.
The product is a real cocktail – one that you could expect to have from your favorite mixologist. I tried three – all with a 25-40 percent alcohol content. The great thing is that you can adjust the strength to your taste.
My favorite was the Mission Craft Cocktails Jalapeno Pineapple Margarita – a refreshing blend of tequila, orange liquor, citrus, jalapeno, and pineapple. I liked the kick of the jalapeno with the fruit and zest of the citrus.
Mission Craft Cocktails Old Fashioned – a blend of bourbon and rye whiskey with bitters and orange zest. I had to bring in the king of #wetjanuary on this one. It was deemed a solid cocktail.
Mission Craft Cocktails Margarita – a blend of 100 percent agave tequila and orange liquor with lime. A good representation of the drink.
Other cocktails include Cosmopolitans, Manhattans, Mai Tais, and the Old Fashioned. The cocktails are packaged in a magnetic box. My box contained three ready-to-drink bottles – all I had to do was add the ice.
As for the future, they are focused on slowly building the brand for success. Today they are primarily focused on California targeting independent groceries, hotels, event spaces, and, of course, charity events. But as consumers become more conscientious, they expect to grow to bigger like-minded stores. But Amit and Marcin remain committed that the stores need to understand the brand and ethos of what and who they are.
In 2025, key focus states include New York, Florida, Texas, and Illinois and after that national distribution.
Amit and Marcin discussed their commitment to the ‘Pour It Forward’ mission accompanying each bottle sale. “Our aim is to establish a business that not only sustains itself financially but also prioritizes purpose over profits.”
Mission Cocktails serves as an inspiring example that businesses can actively contribute to positive change.
