In the South, we say “Well, isn’t that precious.” Sometimes we mean it, and… well, sometimes we don’t. In the case of Post Meridiem Spirits’ canned cocktail, I mean it. These are the most precious little cocktails in a can.
When it comes to timekeeping, you may not have realized that PM is short for Post Meridiem. So the idea behind Post Meridiem canned cocktails is to enjoy them “After midday. The afternoon. The moment you move from work to play. It’s when you go from their time to my time,” says Atlanta native and co-founder of the company Andrew Rodbell.
Two months ago, this first-of-its-kind Ready to Drink (RTD) won The Grammys of alcohol. It’s called the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and it is the be all, end all of booze. Chiefly, out of the hundreds of RTDs, the judges had two faves in the cocktail category: Post Meridiem’s Old Fashioned. And its Espresso Martini. This little company set in a 30,000-sq.-ft. building on the Westside, has two of the best canned cocktails in the entire world! (Enter mind. Blown.)
“See, the cute can is the hook, and then we surprise you with what’s inside,” says Rodbell, who is a fifth generation Atlantan and attended The Westminster Schools and graduate school at Emory University.
That makes it Two-Sided Southern in my mind. It’s definitively five-star AND dive bar: It’s made in the South as well as winning world-class competitions. You can find it at Zero George Hotel in Charleston as well as at the Marriott Courtyard down the street.
“All our employees are here [in Atlanta] and everything is made here,” says Rodbell, who previously worked in brand management and new product development at The Coca-Cola Company, Georgia-Pacific, and Cartoon Network/Adult Swim for 20 years. Turns out, even he’s Two-Sided Southern. Rodbell grew up in Atlanta but went to undergrad in Philadelphia, and later lived in Beijing, Washington D.C. and Manhattan.
Furthermore, he met his co-founder Charles Sain in Atlanta. Sain grew up in Knoxville and they had mutual friends who went to Wake Forest University. It was during a Yacht Rock concert that the friends realized the only thing missing from the experience was a good Mai Tai. The music created a certain vibe and there was nothing like that on the menu. “A moment of frustration created inspiration,” they thought. Could they get a Mai Tai that was portable, effortless to be enjoyed and of right proportions? They decided to find out if they could make the best canned cocktail.
“The Post Meridiem Mai Tai is Trader Vic’s original formula. It’s got Curaçao, funky rums and real lime juice,” says Rodbell. “We couldn’t be prouder of how it came out.” Since you can pour the can out over ice, the cocktails can be dressed up but also dressed down. “Snobs can like us, but so can the average person,” he says. Again, Two-Sided Southern.
“We think hard about the south,” says Rodbell. “First, we’re from here. Second, even if I drank in Philly and NYC in my twenties, I still drank like a Southerner. It was always bourbon on the rocks. Brown-liquor forward drinks. And as my tastes matured, I started drinking craft cocktails.” (For anyone who spent game days drinking Makers and Cokes in the Southern sun, you know what he’s talking about.)
So what did he do? Firstly, he put his canned cocktail company in the south. Secondly, his mixologists are from the south. Thirdly, “even in our little logo, we wanted the sun and moon with a Southern pine tree. We wanted it to look Southern,” he says. “The south has played a key in what we do.”
Hence, it’s validating for Sain and Rodbell that they’ve done it all on their own terms, not compromising on ingredients or packaging… and it’s working. “We will never put in an artificial juice or fake bitter. We will only use real high rye bourbon,” adds Rodbell. “For instance, We only use cold-brewed coffee in our espresso martini and it smells amazing.”
Overall, they have eight (and counting) incredible cocktails, with Rodbell and Sain overseeing every aspect of the company, from product development to manufacturing, marketing, sales, and everything in between. They bucked industry trends at every turn: novel package, real ingredients, building their own canning line.
Spirit-based RTDs are the fastest growing category in all of spirits and this Atlanta company is at the forefront as the leader in the category. They were the first cocktails in cans and are in ten states and counting. Pretty impressive. You’ll find Post Meridiem canned cocktails in liquor stores, hotels (like think Epicurean Atlanta), concert venues and festivals.
It’s incredible because the company is only three years old. Consequently, these guys created something out of nothing. “It’s a moment of happiness for me,” says Rodbell. “I feel lucky and blessed that consumers have connected with it.”
Now you can take the Southern idea of a Road Soda. Or a Toter. And level it up. Just pop a top.
Amen to that.
