Potionotics

The Cocktail Startup I Never Started

This essay got started in a bar with a cocktail in hand—a fitting setting for a reflection on creativity, experimentation, and the joy of crafting something unique. Sitting in Key’s Lounge, I tried to recapture when the idea of Potionotics first sparked. It’s a project that never left the brainstorming phase, but one that helped shape my perspective on creativity and the challenges of turning an idea into reality.

When we moved to Portland in 2009, my interest in cocktails and spirits transformed into a full-blown passion, fueled by the city's love of happy hours and its thriving craft scene. With Potionotics, I wanted to explore how the flavors I loved in cooking could find new life in cocktails—bitters inspired by pho, syrups with the complexity of black pepper, even mixers that hinted at tom yum soup. It was an ambitious idea with a clever name, borrowed from a friend’s childhood.

But like so many creative ventures, life intervened. New parenthood, work commitments, and the realizat…