Meet Kim Creekmore | Entrepreneur

Everything happened so quickly for us.

In 2020 we were both in jobs that were shuttered due to the pandemic. We made it through 2020, skinned up but surviving. During the holiday season I had received a cocktail recipe book and called Brittany to come have cocktails with me. As we were thumbing through the book we stumbled on the syrup recipes . They were simple syrups, a demerara, a lavender, nothing fancy, Kim said to Brittany, “we could make cocktail syrups like this and sell them”

Within a week we had developed several complex flavored {not so} simple syrups, a brand name, website, logo and an opportunity to do a tasting for a Understory Del Mar that opened in June 2021.

It was like this seemingly innocent idea  had momentum all on its own.

We had no idea what was ahead of us, but we both knew that we were invested into our new endeavor 100% and no matter what would get things figured out. There was no turning back, we needed this to work.

Like any food business, we dove into the world of the health department, the FDA, licensing and all the accouterments that go into it. We had a timeline, May 10th was the day our first order was supposed to be delivered. Our licensing was finalized on May 6th.

Our brand of {not so} simple syrups are complex in flavor, meaning, you don’t need a lot of extra ingredients to create a beautiful drink. We have blended flavors from our home town, like tamarind+chili+lime for a nod to my hispanic heritage. We’ve made an intoxicating charcoal+grapefruit+jalapeño that is hauntingly black and bitter. Perfect with a smoky mezcal or tequila margarita.

Our most popular flavors are the blue lavender, a beautiful purple lavender syrup & the hibiscus+lemon+mint, with its vibrant red tones and tart, minty flavors that takes you away to a sandy spot by the water.

There are a lot of syrup companies out there. A growing number of small batch fruit syrups that are local to different areas. But I think what we are most proud of is the fact that we’ve created flavor profiles that don’t exist on local market. We are proud that bars and restaurants are seeing how they can support local, lower their overhead and offer fantastic cocktails and mocktails using our syrups.

Our goal is to offer something bartenders are proud to use while creating consistency for every drink. Not only do they make fantastic cocktails and mocktails, they make a stunning to look at drink that wows the customer.

What we are most proud of is how far we have come in such a short period of time. We have procured accounts in many of San Diego’s best bars and restaurants and looking forward to connecting with many more.
Our dream client’s are high end restaurants and bars that want to wow the customer with unique drinks that people come back for over and over again.

I’m proud that we are woman owned and run and have a business that pays for itself the first year.

Our biggest challenge is the person who tells us that they make their own syrups in house and don’t entertain a tasting with us. We have found time and time again that once we connect with the GM/Bar Manager in person and do a tasting; their eyes light up. That means everything to us.

In May we took home 3 awards for our {not so} simple syrups from the SIP awards a *consumer based international double blind taste competition. {blue lavender} took Platinum. {hibiscus+lemon+mint} won Gold and our {tamarind+chili+lime} took Bronze.

We won’t settle for using cheap ingredients we know that real food matters and thats how we intend to compete and scale in the market.
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We also should let you know that we sell our syrups straight to the customer at www.curiousjuniper.com and in specialty stores like Collins and Coupe in San Diego, CA

Our retail bottle is 8 ounces and makes approximately 8-16 drinks depending on how strong in flavor you like it. you can also find it on Amazon and on Etsy.

We encourage you to connect with us on social. We love seeing your creations.