Todd Brutcher, Photo Provided
Southside Alchemy Sangria Mix
For nearly three years, Southside Alchemy owner/founder Todd Brutcher has been selling award-winning, homemade Bloody Mary mixes. Now, the local business is adding sangria mixes to its product line.
Based in the heart of south St. Louis, Southside Alchemy started when Brutcher began selling frozen sangria mixes at pop-ups and the Tower Grove Farmers' Market in March 2019. “I would go to these pop-ups in the winter that friends would host,” Brutcher recalls. “I was unsure, but during the first one, I sold out. The second one, I sold out. The third, I nearly sold out. I went from, ‘Oh, this is a good idea,’ to, ‘I just made $800 at a pop-up market.’”
Today, the local business is the maker of the two-time Drunken Tomato Awards Gold Medal–winning Bloody Mary mixes Sweat & Tears and Mild Mannered Mary. South Alchemy products are distributed by Craft Republic and Fox River Dairy.
The process of creating Southside Alchemy’s first sangria mix started in April with trial-and-error recipes and determining how to design the packaging. “My big thing was getting the labels made and getting the recipes down,” Brutcher says. “Now that we know how much sugar to add, the labels are made and I can get the nutritional facts easier, it won’t take long [to create a new flavor] because we are closer to knowing what we want to do.”
The company’s first sangria mix, Paradise Plum, was released September 14 and is in stock at Edibles & Essentials, Southside Wine & Spirits, and LeGrand's Market. The wine and spirits business plans to release another flavor, Raspberry Mango, in the coming months, with others to follow.
"Getting the sangria mix shelf stable was the next logical step,” Brutcher says. “I'd get emails and DM's from people in St. Charles, West County, and Chesterfield asking what stores the mix was in, because they couldn't make it to the farmers' market. Now I can focus on getting it in stores." (An 8-ounce jar of Southside Alchemy’s sangria mix is enough for a 750-ml bottle of wine and makes about four to five servings.)
As for future plans? "I hope St. Louis keeps appreciating and liking what I make," Brutcher says, "and I’ll keep making it.”
