Take three Gettysburg alumni. Add a city. Make it Washington D.C. Stir in a passion for the art of making high quality drinks, and what do you get?
Embitterment.
It’s a bitters company that produces aromatic products for cocktails—their mission is to simplify and demystify the cocktail-making experience, bringing natural, quality ingredients into people’s homes, serving the “tasters, not just the tastemakers.”
Ethan Hall ’11 started the D.C.-based business in his kitchen, along with fellow alum, friend, and roommate Eric Kozlik ’11. Hall was a medical tech consultant and developed a love for quality cocktails over drinks with clients. Kozlik, on the other hand, originally found his calling in wine. While teaching classes at the University of Maryland and working towards his MFA in poetry, he took a wine and spirits education course on the side.
“Ethan and I have been pretty good kitchen mates since our senior year at Gettysburg, when we shared an apartment in the building next to the Ragged Edge Coffee Shop,” said Kozlik. “When we moved to D.C., the food and drink experiments got incrementally more sophisticated, and Ethan started dabbling in spirits and bitters. After he churned out a couple of progressively tastier batches of bitters, we started joking about making a business out of it. Now, a few years later, here we are.”
Experimentation was part of the equation, but Hall’s vision is also rooted in a deep appreciation for the craft of making drinks.
“In early 2013, I picked up the volume that turned this from a hobby into a bit of an obsession: Bitters: A Spirited History,” said Hall. “The book explains the history of bitters, first as a pseudo-medicinal product peddled by snake oil salesmen, followed by mainstays of the turn-of-the-20th-century cocktail movement, the Mad Men era, and into today.”
Hall received rave reviews from family and friends after giving away his homemade concoctions as Christmas gifts, and the rest is history. Kozlik started developing marketing materials, and the pair developed a few product prototypes, invested in bottling equipment, and found a space to work. By the fall of 2014, they had released their first run of Orange and Aromatic bitters at DC VegFest, which is a food festival for people who are passionate about natural, ethical foods.
“That was an excellent fit because we differentiate ourselves by using primarily organic ingredients and avoid artificial flavors and dyes, unlike our larger competitors,” Hall said.
In April of 2015, Embitterment joined Union Kitchen, a local food incubator that provides businesses like theirs with kitchen space, support, and shared resources. Hall and Kozlik also brought on former fellow classmate Russell Garing ’11 to the team to help expand their reach and operate the business at a commercial scale. Garing recently finished up his MBA at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.
The three met while living together in Huber Hall and stayed close throughout college. They even joined the same improv comedy group on campus, “Shots in the Dark,” inspired in part by their shared first-year seminar, The Zen of Improv. But they also had their own interests throughout their time at Gettysburg—Hall helped form a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, Kozlik was a writer and decathlete, and Garing became a member of Sigma Chi.
Now a team post-Gettysburg, the trio runs the business on the side of their full-time work—Hall is now pursuing his MBA at the Vanderbilt University Owen School of Management; Kozlik is a Digital Content Coordinator at an international trademark and IP law firm in Washington, D.C.; and Garing is a contract specialist with NAVAIR, supporting the U.S. Navy.
“We all have really different strengths, which is what allows us to run a successful business while continuing to develop professionally,” Kozlik said. “We segment the work that we’re individually really good at, and we tag-team the rest.”
“None of us thought we would be doing this, much less working together after college,” said Hall. “It just goes to show that while planning is incredibly valuable, it is equally important to be flexible and receptive when you approach your career and post-college life.”
Hall, Kozlik, and Garing are now focused on placing their product in more distilleries and stores. The trio have just launched their fourth flavor, chocolate bitters, and Kozlik’s wife—2012 valedictorian Carolyn Murphy ’12 —has started experimenting with making candied desserts out of the peels and other flavor-infused leftovers from the production process to eliminate waste.
“[In the future] folks can expect more seasonal and specialty flavors, as well as more curated educational resources to help people discover the joys of becoming their own at-home mixologist,” said Kozlik.
Their blog often features the “drinkonomics” of making your favorite cocktail—for less money than you’d spend at the bar.
“In a way, we’re democratizing craft cocktails” Hall said.
“I’m just happy to be part of a company built by friends and committed to bringing the most exquisite taste to the most people possible,” said Kozlik. “[People] can pick up our product and become an artist without the extra pretense, flash, and dollar signs that normally accompany mixology.”
To learn more about Embitterment, you can listen to Eric Kozlik’s recent interview on the Speaking Easy Podcast, or visit the Embitterment website for product info, recipes, and cocktail insights.
An inside look at the Embitterment kitchen
