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Let's start with a loud 'n' clear DISCLAIMER: Lest anyone accuse us of nepotism, our readership should be plainly reminded that Chris Onstad is both a friend and alumnus of the Portland Mercury. However, we really like his new cocktail and soda syrups, irrespective of the fact that he was our beloved food critic for so long.
I got together a while back with Onstad when he was between gigs. He'd recently escaped a soul-crushing corporate job, and had been dicking around with his neighbor Dan McLaughlin, home-brewing root beer and ginger syrups. They were really tasty, I thought, and how novel to make one's own soda syrups, right? This was some next-level DIY.
Cut to a year or so later, and he and McLaughlin had gotten their syrup game seriously dialed in, thanks to space provided by Reverend Nat West (at his namesake cidery) and equipment loaned to Reverend Nat's by Steven Smith of the similarly eponymous Steven Smith Teamaker. Onstad and McLaughlin developed a snappy label, their syrups were showing up in local stores, and they started collaborating with breweries. In addition to the aforementioned root beer and ginger, they added three more products: hibiscus-cardamom, vanilla-rooibos tea, and Water Avenue coffee syrup.
