Nicky Hines’ Brown Girl Mixers sweeten social experiences!
Nicky Hines was a longtime corporate food and beverage veteran with almost 30 years under her apron. But 10 years ago, she began an event and catering company, A Dining Diva, on the side. “I’d take a vacation day and host dinner parties, which translated into me doing cocktail classes,” she says.
She was doing so well with her side hustle that she eventually left her corporate job in 2019 to pursue A Dining Diva full-time. The timing was not great; the pandemic followed swiftly after she had made that decision.
Hines did not let world events derail her, despite feeling hopeless. “Everything we did was social; the whole concept of the company was to be social,” she says. But customers continued to ask her to show up, even in the most precarious of times, including a customer who requested she do an online cocktail class.
“People from all over the country joined me for this girls’ happy hour,” she says. In advance of the event, Hines sent participants mixology boxes that included homemade cocktail syrups. Customers loved the concept and the syrups. Her business grew from there, eventually leading to a 100-person, two-day, online event with Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey.
While the events were fun, the main feedback the Upper Westside resident kept getting was that her attendees wanted syrups in bigger bottles. So in 2022, she found a commercial kitchen, applied for a Department of Agriculture license and began commercially bottling her Brown Girl Mixers line.
Brown Girl Mixers offers eight year-round syrup flavors based in citrus, spice and heat, and four seasonal syrups such as raspberry grapefruit in the spring or peach in the summer. She bottles seven shrub flavors akin to drinking vinegars that add complexity to cocktails, plus three non-alcoholic bitters. Finally, there are two salts, including a Tajin-style spicy salt, a rimming spice and a rimming sugar called Cosmo Sugar that mimics the flavor of the popular beverage. Hines tries to use local ingredients as much as possible in her creations.
These products are not only for those who like to imbibe. “Every Brown Girl Mixers bottle, except the bitters, features mocktail recipes, with the last two lines showing how to make it into a cocktail,” she says. Her products can go far beyond beverages for those willing to stretch their imaginations. Hines loves using her products in baking and savory recipes, and encourages others to do so through recipes on her website. “I use them as extracts, as sweet finishers and in other ways, such as using rosemary hibiscus syrup on Brussels sprouts as a glaze,” she says.
While she is busy with Brown Girl Mixers and is focused on growing her business this year, Hines still produces events through A Dining Diva and often incorporates Brown Girl Mixers. For example, she recently hosted a virtual cookies and cocktails class based on Girl Scout cookie flavors.
For now, customers can find Hines at farmers markets on Peachtree Road and in Sandy Springs. She hopes to add more retail locations in the future.
browngirlmixers.com
@browngirlmixers
PHOTO: Joann Vitelli
