It's beginning to feel like a season of 24 or Game of Thrones because one of your favorite people seem to be safe, anymore. Adapted from a recipe on the St-Germain website. The partnership, which was finalized in 1933, helped transform Jacquins into one of the worlds leading producers of liqueurs and cordials. They wanted something different they could work with that had integrity. When Robert returned from London and approached his father about creating an elderflower liqueur, his father was immediately skeptical. ", "St. Germain Liqueur: What It Is, And What To Do With It", "The Story Behind St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur", "Robert J. Cooper, 39, Creator of Popular Elderflower Liqueur, Dies", "Liqueur Saint-Germain (St-Germain): concept, how to drink, cocktails", "The Cooper Spirits Company - Linked In profile", "St-Germain Elderflower Liquor Acquired By Bacardi, Plans To Go Global", "St-Germain Launches Holidays Series, Salon St-Germain", "St-Germain Is Ushering in New York City's Creative Renaissance", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=St-Germain_(liqueur)&oldid=1135574548, This page was last edited on 25 January 2023, at 14:37. The couple owned homes in Palm Beach and Aspen as well as their residence in California, and sold their New York City apartment located in the West Village in 2013 for $2.25million. The Cooper family as a whole has been heavily involved in the spirits industry since the early 1900s when Maurice J. Cooper, a merchant of imported supplies and beverage, partnered with the St-Germain was created by distiller Robert Cooper, son of Norton Cooper, the owner of Charles Jacquin et Cie, after trying an elderflower-based cocktail at a London bar in 2001. Though he would ultimately settle next to the Pacific, it was Cooper's experiences in Europe that would inspire his most successful business idea. It was his love affair with straight whiskey that led him to Alberta, Canada to find, taste and buy barrels of rye whiskey. Mr. Cooper proved to be a savvy marketer. I really cant even think of a modifier in my era that had more influence, says Brown, who well remembers the impact of the liqueur in his bars. By his account, his father, Norton J. Cooper, gave him the cold shoulder when he suggested creating an elderflower liqueur like the ones he had encountered in bars in London. Chris Pleasance For Dailymail.com, The ultimate sign of respect: Revered Buddhist monk is mummified and covered in gold leaf to become a shrine in China, It really is last orders! Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. But one of its best-known roles is in the not-so-creatively named St-Germain Cocktail, which was invented by the company itself and has been unusually, enduringly popular for a drink of such provenance. To print a list of all the drinks in which St-Germain appeared over the years would probably require at least the full Food section. He didnt fail. By 2008 it was ubiquitous. He was 39. The comments below have not been moderated, By Already connected with a vast network of liquor and liqueur producers due to his familial relationships, Cooper decided to explore the possibility of creating his own elderflower liqueur. Coopers other cocktail creations included Crme Yvette liqueur and Hochstadters Slow & Low, a throwback to the Rock & Rye, a 19th-century cocktail of rye sweetened with rock candy. It was a little bit pear, a little bit litchi, a little bit like youd stuck your head into a roadside hedgerow and inhaled air thick with early-summer honeysuckle. The Weird (and Wired) Truth Behind Whats Really in Coca-Cola, Why Coca-Cola contracts with a chemical company to manufacture cocaine in New Jersey, Robert J. Cooper, 39, Creator of St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Dies [NY Times], one of the most influential new cocktail ingredients of the past decade, Liquid Deaths New Tea Tallboys Are Coming for AriZonas Neck, If You Took the Drag Away, Then Its Just Another Boring Bar, How to Make Misis Iconic Ricotta-Filled Occhi Pasta. For centuries, Pariss Saint-Germain-des-Prs neighborhood has been widely recognized as one of the worlds most prominent meeting places for artistic creation. He curried favor with influential young mixologists, sponsored cross-country bartender exchanges in which New York bartenders would guest-bartend at San Francisco bars, and vice versa, hired prominent bartenders as brand ambassadors and held an annual Jazz Age lawn party on Governors Island. Cooper Spirits sold St-Germain to spirits giant Bacardi in 2013, but Cooper continued to work with Bacardi as a brand guardian, and his company brought back several other historic spirits, including Hochstadters Slow & Low (a bottled rock and rye cocktail) and Crme Yvette, a mixed-berry liqueur. Sad news for the spirits world today: The creator of the wildly popular St. Germain elderflower liqueur, Robert J. Cooper, died Monday at the age of 39 in Santa Monica, Calif.,according to the New York Times. Photo courtesy of Cooper Spirits Company, used with permission. This gave Cooper an in to introduce mixologists to St-Germain, which was instantly a hit. Cocktail bartenders, hungry for new ingredients and flavors to work with, tossed it into every other new drink. Asked how much money he had received, Cooper said it was 'more than I expected to see in a lifetime'. View Details. Furthermore, St-Germains multitude of complex flavors allows for mixologists and novices alike to experiment with it, leading to its nickname, the bartenders ketchup or the ketchup of liqueurs.. Doch der Erfolg hat Robert J. Cooper, der am 25. The St. Germain brand was acquired by Bacardi in 2012. If a drink lacked mystery, if a drink lacked that certain je ne sais quoi, for a while St-Germain was a bars cure-all, so common a source of drink-patching that industry folks began to refer to it affectionately as bartenders ketchup., You hear that all the time, bartenders ketchup, and its just so true. In broader terms, it helped resuscitate the dormant liqueur business. Robert J. Cooper, founder of St-Germain liqueur a staple for any self-respecting bartender died this week at the age of 39. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a bachelors degree in English and creative writing. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. Brown disagrees: Cooper worked incredibly hard, he says, and would have been successful regardless. "What Drinks Should You Use St Germain Liqueur In? 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St-Germain (now wholly owned by Bacardi), an artisanal French liqueur made from fresh elderflower blossoms. In 2006 Cooper introduced the burgeoning cocktail industry to his new liqueur and it quickly became known as 'bartenders' ketchup' because of its popularity. Obama whines to students about being 'picked on' by the pr Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, Buster Murdaugh got 'very drunk' with dad 2 months after mom, brother murdered: source, I'm a professional cleaner ditch these 4 household products immediately, Tom Sandoval speaks out on Raquel Leviss affair: I deserve your anger, Shoeless Ariana Madix awkwardly tries to avoid cheating Tom Sandoval, Prince Harry was scared to lose Meghan Markle after fight that led to therapy, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly flashes gun at a strip club, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval have awkward moment amid cheating scandal. The freshest news from the food world every day. Instead, a year after its release, St-Germain was already a staple on bartenders back bars. Due to the delicate nature of handpicking and the finite yield harvested, limited batches of St-Germain are produced every year. By The drink itself is made from flowers of elderberry plants that grow in France and bloom for just one month of the year. The younger Mr. Cooper persisted, however, going so far as to leave the family business to pursue his dream. We've received your submission. And St-Germain served as the rising tide that lifted all bottles: Theres little doubt that its popularity helped escort older, obscure liqueurs back into the glass. In the early 2000s, Robert Cooper was visiting a London bar where he ordered a cocktail that featured elderflower syrup as a sweetening agent. St-Germain, packaged in a striking Art Deco bottle, landed like a thunderclap in the then-burgeoning cocktail world. That company introduced the raspberry liqueur Chambord domestically and later sold it to Brown-Forman. They wanted something different they could work with that had integrity. This distilled beveragerelated article is a stub. St-Germain has grown to become one of the most valuable bottles in a bartenders arsenal. In 2007, Cooper launched the elderflower liqueur, similar to ones he had seen in London, and by 2008, bartenders across the country considered it a staple of their repertoire. The St. Germain brand was acquired by Bacardi in 2012. All things ebb and flow.. St-Germain was created by Robert Cooper, the son of Chambord inventor Norton "Sky" Cooper. He was an avid surfer and loved collecting esoteric wines from obscure regions. By his account, his father, Norton J. Cooper, gave him the cold shoulder when he suggested creating an elderflower liqueur like the ones he had encountered in bars in London. [3] [4] The brand was named after Saint-Germain-des-Prs, and the bottle shape is influenced by Art Deco motifs associated with the Belle poque history of this area. In the wake of that development, Cooper went out on his own to start Cooper Spirits and launch St-Germain. interview. Though he had never viewed elderflower as a cocktail ingredient, the floral concoction changed his perspective. Anticipating high sales, Cooper purchased a number of barrels of Canadian rye and aged them for 13 years before releasing Lock Stock & Barrel in 2013. His brand Cooper Spirits also makes Crme Yvette, a violet liqueur brought back from obscurity, and serves as the U.S. sales arm for Ilegal brand mezcal. The effort was met with scrutiny by his father Norton "Sky" Cooper (the inventor of Chambord), forcing Robert to launch the Cooper Spirits Company in 2006. Now you can go to Whole Foods and get elderflower soft drinks., Robert J. Cooper, 39, Creator of Popular Elderflower Liqueur, Dies, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/business/robert-j-cooper-39-creator-of-st-germain-elderflower-liqueur-dies.html. Now you can go to Whole Foods and get elderflower soft drinks., Robert J. 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Cooper, St-Germain founder, has passed away aged just 39. Robert J Cooper, the man who created the incredibly popular elderflower liqueur St Germain, has died at the age of 39, his business partner has confirmed. A 1994 graduate of Aspen High School, and a former, two-year member of the U.S. The sudden death of the St-Germain founder was confirmed by Robyn Greene, senior vice president at family-owned business, the Cooper Spirits Company, in a statement to the New York Times. St-Germain is an elderflower liqueur. St-Germain, which was inspired by the neighborhoods essence, took on the name in hopes of encapsulating the same energy. Mr. Cooper was a scion of the family that owns Charles Jacquin et Cie, an old cordials and liqueurs house based in Philadelphia. 13:17 EST 29 Apr 2016. Once you create a new homepage, apply the "solar" page layout to the new homepage. The UCLA Santa Barbara grad introduced St-Germain in 2007 to great fanfare. Mr. Cooper went on to return to circulation bygone bar ingredients like Crme Yvette, a berry-violet liqueur, and Hochstadters Slow & Low, a form of the common 19th-century drink rock and rye. St-Germain quickly became a huge success, favored by bartenders and customers. Anyone can read what you share. [5] St-Germain was launched in 2007 by Cooper Spirits Co,[6] a company founded 2006 and headquartered in New York. In addition to being a great aperitif to throw in a spritz, St-Germain is considered to be a great modifying liqueur, altering the flavor profile of the liquor it is added to. It was a good product, and people would have picked it up in time, but Rob was a constant presence. The Cooper family as a whole has been heavily involved in the spirits industry since the early 1900s when Maurice J. Cooper, a merchant of imported food and beverage, partnered with the Charles Jacquin et Cie cordial business. The Art Deco-esque appearance of the bottle also serves as a nod to the bustling Parisian quarter the brand hopes to provide an experience reminiscent of the Roaring Twenties, when Saint-Germain-des-Prs was at its creative peak. Launched in 2007 by third-generation distiller Robert J. Cooper, St-Germain elderflower liqueur launched an elderflower craze that would span the next decade and a half and revived a dormant liqueur industry. A vague, anti-drag bill in Tennessee has bar and restaurant owners worried for their future, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Creator of St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur Dead at39. Vermouth was starting to come back, crme de violette came back, but St-Germain was new. He would have turned 40 on August 3. You can do this by clicking on "Pages" at the top, select the homepage on the left, and under "HEADER TYPE", select "solar". We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Even if you thought you were too good for St-Germain, you were going to have an army coming in and demanding it., I asked Brown about my impression that the use of St-Germain has been dialed back a bit over the past few years, that there was a mild bartender backlash against its ubiquity. As such, he was hesitant to allow Robert to use their companys resources to produce the spirit. Tragic news for the bartending community Robert J. Cooper, the creator of the elderflower liqueur St. Germain, passed away on Monday, April 25. Now owned by Bacardi Limited, St-Germain is one of the most commonly used liqueurs in the world and even garnered a host of media attention after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their lemon elderflower wedding cake. View Stephanie Tara St Germain results in Charlotte, NC including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. He was 39. Those who had the pleasure of meeting him noted his kind personality. . Robert J Cooper, the creator of elderflower liqueur St-Germain the he sold to Bacardi back in 2012, has died at home in Santa Barbara, California, aged 39. Robert St Germain We found 100+ records for Robert St Germain in FL, VA and 33 other states. Mr. Cooper was a scion of the family that owns Charles Jacquin et Cie, an old cordials and liqueurs house based in Philadelphia. ST-GERMAIN COCKTAIL A rare modern classic that comes from the company behind its titular ingredient, the elderflower liqueur St-Germain, this cocktail is refreshing and floral, a perfect spring drink. Robert James Cooper was born on Aug. 3, 1976, in Manhattan. [2], St-Germain was created by distiller Robert Cooper, son of Norton Cooper, the owner of Charles Jacquin et Cie, after trying an elderflower-based cocktail at a London bar in 2001. It was lucky, Cooper told The New York Times. Oops. It wouldnt have sold itself. St-Germain, packaged in a striking Art Deco bottle, landed like a thunderclap in the then-burgeoning cocktail world. . Junior National Snowboarding team, Rob Cooper joined the family business in 1999, just after finishing his college career at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Note: You can hide this box under "Theme>Theme Options>Automation [Editor Only]". It was Robert Cooper's passionate work that made the elderflower liqueur wildly popular. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. [7] In 2013, the company was sold to Bacardi, and Robert Cooper agreed to work with Bacardi as a "brand guardian" and spokesperson. He said, Ill hire you back in a year when you fail, Mr. Cooper once recalled. Activates Owl carousel slider, ticker, breadcrumbs and latest posts (e.g., https://www.mysite.com/blog.html). Years later, he pops up in the court of French king Louis XV but, after a brief bout with serious political influence and infighting, he fled back to England. In 2012 drinks giant Bacardi came knocking and bought St Germain for an undisclosed sum. Robert J. Cooper, the creator of St-Germain, the elderflower liqueur so ubiquitous that it eventually became known as "bartender's ketchup," has died at the age of 39. Something went wrong. Nearly a decade ago, as the cocktail renaissance was gaining steam, a lot of drinks started developing a particular flavour note. . When Cooper responded by leaving the family business behind, his father allegedly told him, Ill hire you back in a year when you fail. As his luck would have it, he did not fail. Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Part of HuffPost Food & Drink. He was also a terrific. 21:10 EST 28 Apr 2016 [8], In 2016, Robert Cooper died at the age of 39. Rob Cooper St-Germain - YouTube Bacardi Limited acquires St-Germain liqueur. (His older brother John, also independently, brought the popular ginger liqueur Domaine de Canton to market.) It pairs well with almost every spirit, making it incredibly versatile behind the bar. Beloved by bartenders everywhere, St-Germains delicate floral notes and natural flavors of pear and honeysuckle make the liqueur a savvy addition to a number of cocktails as well as a great stand-alone aperitif in simple spritzes. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. St-Germain creator Robert Cooper shares why he thinks the brand will truly be an international brand as part of . Activates category 1 section on 'Solar' page layout (e.g., https://www.mysite.com/blog/category/dog.html). The elderflower liqueur was an instant success, and chances are that if you like cocktails, you've probably had one that included St-Germain. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Please try again, Derek Brown met Cooper when they sat next to each other at the Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR) Educational Program nearly 10 years ago. Robert Cooper was a businessman who built his company on humility, positive thinking, collaboration, a creative approach to problem solving. ), Now the owner of multiple D.C. bars and the president of beverage consultancy Drink Company, Brown says St-Germains success was hugely due to Coopers dogged work. The death of Robert J. Cooper, the creator of elderflower liqueur St-Germain, is tough news for cocktail lovers everywhere. Sure, Brown acknowledged but the most popular Beatles songs probably get a backlash, too. I would see him everywhere D.C., New York, New Orleans supporting the product and getting it off the ground., Elderflower syrup has been a thing in Europe for centuries; Cooper first came across it in bars in England, where he was inspired to develop it into a liqueur. St Germain was inspired by other elderflower liqueurs that Cooper encountered in bars in London. Cooper was born into the spirits world. Cooper came from a family that has been making beverages since 1884, when Charles Jacquin et Cie Inc. of which his father is president was founded in Philadelphia. He didnt fail. St-Germain was created by Robert Cooper, the son of Chambord inventor Norton Sky Cooper. I'm just a nice lady who likes cocktails and traveling. They wanted something different they could work with that had integrity. Thus, Cooper credits the two bars with skyrocketing the liqueurs success. Paul W St Germain, age 54. 2023 National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. He is survived by his wife, the former Kaitrin Cramm, and their two children, William and Charlotte. [4], St-Germain introduced a pop-up series, 'Salon St-Germain', based on the historic French salon, in 2020. Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. St-Germain was invented by distiller Robert Cooper and launched in 2007 by Cooper Spirits Co, founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. In order to activate this feature, simply add the URL of your blog, and the URL of 3 categories from your blog, to the input boxes below. Brown at the time trained primarily as a sommelier, and there to improve his skills behind the stick says he and Cooper shared a bond: Neither of us were very good bartenders. (Both initially failed a practical component of the program and had to make it up later. St-Germain was created by Robert Cooper, the son of Chambord inventor Norton "Sky" Cooper. The cause of his death has not yet been determined; he leaves behind a wife and two children. The Times notes that it became so ubiquitous, some took to calling it "bartender's ketchup." The sweet spirit is made from hand-picked elderflower blossoms that only bloom for a month each spring in France; it has been heralded as one of the most influential new . Twist the lemon peel over the drink (to express its oils), then drop it into the cocktail.makes one serving, Nutrition | Per serving: 200 calories, 0 g protein, 18 g carbohydrates, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 10 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fibre, 17 g sugar. It was lucky, he said. According to " A Dark Muse ," this is the first confirmed mention of Saint Germain, who was kicked out of England after his release. He said, Ill hire you back in a year when you fail, Mr. Cooper once recalled. Robert J. Cooper, founder of St-Germain liqueur a staple for any self-respecting bartender died this week at the age of 39. Liqueurs had been a near-defunct category in the United States, but the intrigue of St-Germain inspired many drinkmakers to delve into neglected European liqueurs such as Chartreuse and various amari to see what theyd been missing. Founded byChristine Sloan Stoddard. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. Each bottle of St-Germain contains up to 1,000 elderflower blossoms, all of which are handpicked annually. ice 2 ounces champagne or other dry sparkling white wine 1 1/2 ounces St-Germain or other elderflower liqueur 1 1/2 to 2 ounces club soda or plain seltzer twist of lemon peel, for garnish, 1. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited. The cause of his death has not yet been determined; he leaves behind a wife and two children. Mr. Cooper proved to be a savvy marketer. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. It had behind it the passion and energy of Robert Cooper, who at the time was only in his early 30s. Each year when the flowers blossom in late May, farmers spend roughly three to four weeks gathering the blooms that will be used to produce the liqueur. With its mysterious flavour, its gracefully grooved art deco bottle and a lovely brand mythology about how its elderflowers were harvested by little old men on bicycles in some idyllic French-speaking location way prettier than wherever you were, it wore a costume of age and continental elegance but was actually a newcomer. He was generous with his time and with his recipe for a new drink, the St-Germain cocktail. It was more [money] than I expected to see in a lifetime, Cooper admitted at the time. Robert J. Cooper, 39, the founder of the award-winning St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur, died this week of unknown causes. Launched in 2007 by third-generation distiller Robert J. Cooper, St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur kickstarted an elderflower craze that would span the next decade and a half and revived a sleepy liqueur industry. http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/the-real-20, http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/the-unreal-20, http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/news-from-the-nest, http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/quail-bell-affiliates, Distill My Heart:Remembering Robert J. Cooper and His St-Germain, Press & Productions, 2021. Cooper, whose family owns Charles Jacquin et Cie, a Philadelphia-based spirits distiller and producer founded in 1884, left his family . In fact Cooper Sr. was so convinced the product would flop he told his son he would hire him back in a year 'when you fail', the New York Times reports.