We have to give a huge thank you to Lauren Butler & Brandon Alpert over at Yes Cocktail Co. for creating what might just be the perfect zero-proof amaro. We were so excited to feature a full bottle in our July Poolside Service box (now sold out!), as it's become one of our team's go-to bottles for adding depth, balance, and bright botanical flavor to summer pours.
Beyond making incredible products, we loved learning more about what they're building at Yes Cocktail Co., their growing lineup of offerings, the welcoming spaces they're creating, and the role they're playing in this community we love so much. We hope you enjoy this conversation with them as much as we did.
P.S. Before you dive in, be sure to check out the Yes Cocktail Co. website. Along with their zero-proof Amarø, you'll find syrups, mixers, bitter cubes, cocktail garnishes, and more. You can also learn about their tasting room in Paso Robles, California, and their newly released book, The Happy Hour Book. They're an incredible resource for all things zero-proof.
Now, let's jump in!
For someone discovering Yes Cocktail Co. for the very first time, how would you describe who you are and what you're all about?
We're a husband-and-wife team who started Yes Cocktail Co. with a pretty simple belief: a great drink should taste like real ingredients, not fake flavorings. We make all-natural cocktail mixers, syrups, bitters, and now a non-alcoholic amaro, all rooted in real fruit, herbs, and botanicals — no artificial flavors, no high fructose corn syrup, no shortcuts. We started as a tiny farmers' market booth ten years ago and now we're in thousands of stores. But the heart of it hasn't changed: we want every glass to feel like an invitation to slow down, gather, and say yes to something good.
Can you share the story behind the name Yes Cocktail Co.?
It comes straight from our improv days. Before any of this, we were both actor-directors, touring the world directing musicals and teaching improv. And the first rule of improv is always "yes" — you say yes, and then you build on it. That's exactly how this company started. We said yes to trying new flavors. Yes to making our own mixers when the store-bought stuff let us down. Yes to leaving our old careers for a completely different one. The name isn't just a clever word — it's genuinely how we approach everything, behind the bar and in life.
What was the moment when you both looked at each other and thought, "Let's do this"? What gave you the confidence to take the leap?
Honestly, it wasn't one dramatic lightning-bolt moment — it was more like a slow accumulation of "wait, why doesn't this exist yet?" We'd traveled the world chasing incredible bars and drinks, and then we'd come home and try to recreate that magic with what was on the grocery store shelf, and it just wasn't there. At some point we realized we already had the skills to fix the problem ourselves — we just hadn't pointed them at a bottle of mixer yet. The confidence came from knowing the product gap was real, not imagined. We weren't guessing whether people wanted better mixers. We were the people who wanted better mixers.
Looking back, what is one moment that still makes you smile when you think about building Yes Cocktail Co.?
Standing behind our first little farmers' market booth, watching a total stranger's face change after their first sip — that's the moment that started it all, and it still gets us every time someone tries something for the first time at the tasting room. There's nothing quite like watching someone's eyebrows go up mid-sip.
Before we dive into the cocktails, we'd love for our members to get to know you a little better. Can you each share three fun facts about yourselves?
Lauren:
1. I'm a former professional actor and director — musicals, mostly.
2. Amarø exists because I was pregnant, craving an aperitivo, and refused to accept that sparkling water was an acceptable substitute.
3. I will always order the weirdest, most bitter thing on a drink menu just to see what it's doing.
Brandon:
1. I am an actor/singer who has performed professionally all over the US and abroad.
2. I love NBA basketball and I'm a lifelong LA Clippers fan
3. I LOVE savory cocktails- I'm a sucker for drinks like a Gibson or extra dirty martini.
When you're creating something new, where does the inspiration usually begin? Is it an ingredient, a place you've traveled, a memory, or something completely unexpected?
It's almost always one of two things: a place we've been, or a craving we couldn't satisfy. Our travels gave us a mental library of flavors — bourbon halls in Kentucky, aquavit dens in Copenhagen — and we're constantly pulling from that. But just as often it's personal. Amarø is the clearest example: it didn't come from a trend report, it came from Lauren standing in her kitchen, pregnant, missing aperitivo hour, and deciding to just build the thing herself.
Is there one ingredient you're especially excited to work with this summer?
Prickly pear. It's vibrant, a little earthy, gorgeous in color, and feels distinctly Californian — which is exactly the kind of ingredient we love building a seasonal product around.
Creating drinks often becomes a reason for people to gather. What do you hope your products help create around the table or in someone's home?
We hope it lowers the bar to gathering (while still raising the bar on quality) — pun fully intended. You don't need to be a trained bartender or have a fully stocked home bar to make something that feels special. We want our mixers to be the thing that turns "should we hang out tonight?" into an actual plan. A good drink gives people a reason to linger a little longer at the table.
What do you think a beautiful beverage has the power to do? What kinds of moments or conversations does it make space for?
A great drink slows people down. It gives hands something to do and a reason to sit still for ten more minutes. Some of our best conversations — with friends, with each other — have happened over a drink that was good enough to make everyone stop checking their phones and choose to be present.
If someone is opening your Amarø from our Dry July box for the first time, what do you hope they experience with that first sip?
We hope they're surprised by how much flavor is in there — bitter, herbal, citrusy, complex — and that nothing about it feels like a compromise. Amarø isn't "the non-alcoholic option." It's just a really good drink that happens to be zero-proof. We want that first sip to feel like permission: permission to still have your aperitivo hour, your ritual, your moment to imagine you're somewhere else for a minute, whatever the reason you're not drinking that day.
Your tasting room is gorgeous. What inspired you to create that space, and what do you hope people take away from their visit?
We wanted to build the kind of place we were always searching for on our travels — somewhere warm, super playful, and genuinely fun, not just a counter where you sip and leave. A place you want to take a picture in. That's where the hands-on mixology classes came from. We wanted people to leave not just having tasted something good, but having made it themselves. We hope people walk out with a new skill, a new favorite flavor, and the sense that good drinks don't have to be intimidating.
The design itself was created by SF Bay Area artist Ayça Kılıçoğlu. I met Ayça while selling YCC goods at an event and quickly became a huge fan of her scarves (which were later featured on the TV series The Bear). One day, I pitched the idea of a collab — honestly convinced there was no way she'd say yes. She said yes immediately.
The scarf design we use, and the mural she later created from it, is her first draft. I mention that not because the process was rushed, but because it speaks to how perfectly she captured our brand right out of the gate. It's magic when that happens. 
What does a perfect evening look like for the two of you? Who's around the table, what's in your glass, and what's being served?
Honestly, pretty simple: close friends, something good on the stove, and a round of drinks we're testing out — half cocktails, half zero-proof, because we always want both on the table. There's usually a debate over the recipe (we usually have different opinions at first but tend to arrive at the same answer).
Travel has played such an important role in your story and the inspiration behind Yes Cocktail Co. Is there a place that's left a lasting impression on you, and is there a drink that instantly takes you back every time you think about it?
Copenhagen, easily. The aquavit & G&T culture there is so different from anything in the States —herbal, deeply traditional, and full of botanicals. Any time we're working with bittersweet, herbal flavors, some part of our brain goes right back to a tiny bar there. It's funny how a single sip can be a teleportation device.
If someone wanted to make better cocktails or zero-proof drinks at home, what's one piece of advice you'd give them?
Taste as you go, and don't be afraid of bitter and acid — most home bars lean too sweet because sugar feels "safe." A little bitterness and a squeeze of fresh citrus is usually what separates a flat drink from one that actually wakes up your palate. Build it, taste it, adjust, and trust your own taste over any recipe written in stone.
Finally, if you could raise a glass to anything today, what would you be toasting to?
To saying yes — to the weird flavor combination, the leap of faith, the new city, the drink you've never heard of. Ten years in, that's still the whole philosophy. Cheers.