Owl and Whale were eighteenth-century slang terms used in taverns and inns around America.

The Owl was the wise one, the late night drinker who would close the bar with the proprietors.

The Whale was the heavy drinker, the big tipper; the big spender. He was the one who would often buy a round for the entire bar.

Owl & Whale have adopted these symbols as totems for our work, being nocturnal ourselves and endowed with the wisdom of our years, while maintaining strong appetites for new flavors and new experiences on both sides of the bar.


Bitters

Although ancient Egyptians mixed wine with botanicals for medicinal purposes, and Europeans made stomach cures using herbal infusions during the Renaissance, it wasn’t until Colonial American times that the mixtures we understand as modern bitters emerged.

These bitters often were used as antimalarial treatments, as they were made from bark containing quinine. The bitters were added to forfeited wine, and eventually to harder spirits.

The term cocktail can be traced to 1806 where it was defined as a combination of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters.

Bitters currently are made using a wide variety of flavors from all over the planet. We believe our bitters to be unique in flavor profiles and rich in formulation. We process them at the highest level of maceration, extracting the maximum amount of flavor in every drop.


Acid Phosphates

These are weak, food-grade acids used to acidify drinks without adding highly perishable citrus juices. Our phosphates provide tartness unavailable outside of fresh squeezed juices. They are a fun and easy way of adding acidity to a cocktail or mocktail without adding a cloudy citrus juice.

Phosphate sodas became very popular in the late nineteenth century. These fruity beverages had an acidic flavor pop, were made at soda fountains around the country and remained popular into the mid-twentieth century. Acid Phosphate is still used today in many modern sodas and colas to provide their acidic flavors.

Like our bitters, our phosphates have a long shelf life.