We were lucky to catch up with Once Upon a Cocktail’s Katie Brightside and Sarah L.M. Mengoni recently, and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Once Upon a Cocktail – West Hollywood veers from the industry standard in many ways. It features recipes from an area that is not known for its cocktail scene. While West Hollywood is a destination for restaurants and nightlife, it is not a go-to for fancier libations. We aim to change this by bringing attention to all of the cocktail magic that is happening in venues that are walking distance from one another. Another break from the norm is that Once Upon a Cocktail is one of only a small number of modern cocktail books that are fully illustrated; having a history nugget about each venue, side by side with the cocktail, on a two page spread slathered with illustrations, is unique and stunning. The way the illustrations are presented is another break from the norm as it is very much an art book, designed to have a home on your coffee table. Outside of contents and design, Once Upon a Cocktail is a successful self-published and self-funded book, with 70% of the first print run being sold before it even hit the ground. This independence from publishers and use of small sponsorships instead of large allowed us much more freedom to create the book we wanted, and to shape it to our ideals.

Katie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Katie: In 2018, I was between clients when the infancy of Once Upon a Cocktail was noodled. As work picked up, the concept was set aside, awaiting a more opportune moment for the project to come to fruition. Then, the unexpected stillness of the pandemic descended upon us, and suddenly the world became a blank canvas for creative endeavors. It was during this invaluable period of introspection that the idea of Once Upon a Cocktail gained momentum. I refined the concept, crafting a pitch deck that I presented to my longtime collaborator, Nick Rimedio. 2022 was a perfect time to green light such a project, to bring support to the hospitality industry which had been starved of affection.

That very first pitch meeting was where Nick introduced me to Historically Drinking’s Sarah L.M. Mengoni. Sarah’s infectious enthusiasm and vast knowledge immediately resonated with the vision I had for growing Once Upon a Cocktail. Together, we saw the potential to not only celebrate bartenders but also foster a sense of unity within the community. The pages of Once Upon a Cocktail were destined to connect people through a well-crafted drink. The book launched in Fall 2023 and it was a long road traveled with very many twists and turns. We did it, we created a business that we never imagined!

Sarah: My first cocktail book was Mr. Boston’s, I got it at the recommendation of my boss when I first started bartending. I was already a bookworm, so it was natural I would find this one fascinating. Many of the recipes were confusing (how many people know what superfine sugar is?), but it was still so interesting to read all of the recipes. Fast forward years and I was introduced to the craft cocktail movement. I was smitten not just by the drinks, but also by the books that my mentor advised that I read. Recipe books and history books, I read them voraciously and in the years since then I have collected many more. With this love came a desire (goaded on by friends) to write my own. I had ideas, but nothing that felt like quite the right one.
Then I was introduced to Katie Brightside with her idea for Once Upon a Cocktail. Its combination of cocktails, history and illustrations was the perfect fit for me.

Two years on from that meeting and I’m a published co-author! In addition to the work I do now do around Once Upon a Cocktail, I work as a consultant through my brand, Historically Drinking. I provide staff training, open new bars, and build cocktail programs for venues large and small, near and far. The two keep me very busy, and this is just the beginning for Once Upon a Cocktail. We have much more to bring to our readership. We’ve started giving cocktail classes, working on a cocktail contest in conjunction with the industry giant Tales of the Cocktail, we’ll soon be pitching a TV show, and of course there is another book in the works. It’s all a dream come true.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Sarah: A few months into doing research and development for Once Upon a Cocktail, my husband and I decided to buy a van and spend a year traveling the US. We were in the privileged position of not having anybody to care for at home and having some money in the bank, so we decided to take advantage of the situation. We planned to leave at the end of September when the lease on our Honda CRV would be up and I would be done working on the book.

Ha! We did leave at the end of September, but my work on the book was far from over. I had no idea just how much work I had left. The recipe pages I thought would take 20 minutes each, took hours and hours. In fact everything that I did took hours and hours longer than anticipated. And it wasn’t just writing. One of my recipes in the book is for vegan jello shots. I wasn’t happy with the presentation and so decided to change it. The new presentation altered the flavor of the shots, so thus began the endless making of jello shots in my tiny van kitchen and extra tiny van fridge. I did eventually get them to the point where I was very happy with them, but the journey was long. My husband got so tired of them! The amount that I had to throw away because there just wasn’t anybody to consume them should be a crime. Making jello shots and sitting at my laptop was hardly how I envisioned spending our precious year of travel, but there I was. When possible I fell into a rhythm of going hiking or exploring with my hubs during the daytime, then coming back to the van and working in the evening. There were many days when the time the book consumed was incredibly frustrating. We occasionally stayed in one spot for a week while I didn’t do anything but get caught up with my writing. There were times when I was frustrated with my husband because I was trying to work but he was on the phone with friends or playing guitar. There’s nowhere to hide in a van, no door to shut to block each other out.

Then there was the internet. I could only do so much of my work without connectivity, and in some of the places we camped there just wasn’t any. Zero. No bars (when I said no bars to Katie she thought I meant bars like the ones in our book, shows where our heads were at!). And power. The living space of our van (Vangoni) operated solely on solar power. This meant that we were able to be off grid and saved us lots of money. We had plenty of power for our day to day needs. Unless I needed to charge my laptop at night. Then we had no power. If I needed to charge it a second time after dark (solar depends on the sun to charge the batteries) I was just completely out of luck. One week in the south it rained non-stop and the cloud cover meant that the solar couldn’t do its job. We spent days camped in a Walmart parking lot so that I could go to the near-by coffee shop from morning until close to plug in and work.

Despite all of the time spent on the book, my husband and I had a great time! We hiked trails, visited country bars, saw friends and family, and just saw and did so so much. And the book got finished! As tough as it was in the moment, I’m so proud now that we were resilient and made it work.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Katie: I have lived in and around West Hollywood for eight years since I arrived in the USA. During this time period the city has awarded the business an artist grant and several business accolades and awards. It was in those years I attended local networking events, developed relationships in the community, that I was able to leverage to create and sell the book. This all happened organically and made the transition for Once Upon a Cocktail seamless. For example, the team at the Andaz, West Hollywood are dear friends of mine. When I needed a delivery address with a palette jack for the production of the book I was able to make a call and have the truck delivered to the hotel. When we wanted to host a book launch, eleven venues stepped up to host. This may seem an obvious shoe-in but no-body gives anything to anyone unless they believe in the overarching purpose. We have a city who has taken ownership of this book as if it was theirs and it is! It took a village to create this project and that village is West Hollywood.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.onceuponacocktail.world/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onceuponacocktail.world/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/AKL5BDaY56s?si=aFoSxneGODllpox2