The sweet spirit is made from hand-picked elderflower blossoms that only bloom for a month each spring in France; it has been heralded asone of the most influential new cocktail ingredients of the past decade. Robert J. Cooper, whose unusual elderflower liqueur, St-Germain, introduced in 2007, was so completely embraced by the cocktail community that it became known as "bartender's ketchup," died. Considered a pioneer in the cocktail world, Cooper was lauded by the liquor industry for years before he sold his uber-popular elderflower liqueur, St-Germain, to Bacardi in 2012 for an undisclosed sum. Robert J Cooper, Creator of St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Dies at 39 If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The sudden death of the St-Germain founder was confirmed by Robyn Greene, senior vice president at family-owned business, the Cooper Spirits Company, in a statement to the New York Times. Twist the lemon peel over the drink (to express its oils), then drop it into the cocktail.makes one serving, Nutrition | Per serving: 200 calories, 0 g protein, 18 g carbohydrates, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 10 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fibre, 17 g sugar. Cooper, who later went on to reintroduce several 'dead' liqueurs back to the market. As such, he was hesitant to allow Robert to use their companys resources to produce the spirit. Read more about cookies here. The cause of his death has not yet been determined; he leaves behind a wife and two children. In 2013, the business was sold to Bacardi, and Robert Cooper agreed to work with Bacardi as a "brand guardian" and spokesperson and died in 2016 at the age of 39. The Real - QUAIL BELL MAGAZINE The partnership, which was finalized in 1933, helped transform Jacquins into one of the worlds leading producers of liqueurs and cordials. St-Germain has received nearly every major accolade in the spirits industry, and has been hailed as one of the most influential cocktail components of the last decade by the New York Times. ), Now the owner of multiple D.C. bars and the president of beverage consultancy Drink Company, Brown says St-Germains success was hugely due to Coopers dogged work. The cause of his death is so far unknown. The cause of his death has not yet been determined; he leaves behind a wife and two children. Where Do I Start? - The LUSHious Life . The Cooper family as a whole has been heavily involved in the spirits industry since the early 1900s when Maurice J. Cooper, a merchant of imported supplies and beverage, partnered with the That young entrepreneur was Robert J. Cooper, who sadly passed away this week at the early age of 39. Cooper was born into a family with a rich history in the spirits business, but instead of. Robert Cooper is survived by his wife, Katie, and their two children William Thor and Charlotte Rose. Add the champagne or sparkling white wine, then the elderflower liqueur. It was a little bit pear, a little bit litchi, a little bit like youd stuck your head into a roadside hedgerow and inhaled air thick with early-summer honeysuckle. Cooper, whose family owns Charles Jacquin et Cie, a Philadelphia-based spirits distiller and producer founded in 1884, left his family business to pursue the creation of St-Germain, an idea dismissed by his father, Norton J. Cooper. Something went wrong. The cause of death is unknown. He is survived by his wife, the former Kaitrin Cramm, and their two children, William and Charlotte. The St-Germain was delicious, and Robert Cooper was warm and affable, enthusiastic about his product and about the spirits business. With its mysterious flavour, its gracefully grooved art deco bottle and a lovely brand mythology about how its elderflowers were harvested by little old men on bicycles in some idyllic French-speaking location way prettier than wherever you were, it wore a costume of age and continental elegance but was actually a newcomer. So many spirits get launched, and many of the ones that fail are decent but never get the market penetration Cooper got with St-Germain. He curried favor with influential young mixologists, sponsored cross-country bartender exchanges in which New York bartenders would guest-bartend at San Francisco bars, and vice versa, hired prominent bartenders as brand ambassadors and held an annual Jazz Age lawn party on Governors Island. [9] A second iteration, Fleuriste St-Germain, opened in New York City in August 2021, in collaboration with ballet dancer James Whiteside and director Laura Kim. Around the time that St-Germain was introduced, the craft cocktail revolution was gaining traction and a new, creative crop of bartenders were eager to experiment with exotic ingredients. PDT and Death & Co, two prominent New York cocktail bars, opened around the same time he introduced St-Germain. He said, Ill hire you back in a year when you fail, Mr. Cooper once recalled. Cooper died April 25 in California at the age of 39, leaving behind a wife and two. View Details. And St-Germain served as the rising tide that lifted all bottles: Theres little doubt that its popularity helped escort older, obscure liqueurs back into the glass. The brand was eventually sold to Bacardi in 2012, but Cooper wasn't content resting on his laurels. Launched in 2007 by third-generation distiller Robert J. Cooper, St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur kickstarted an elderflower craze that would span the next decade and a half and revived a sleepy liqueur industry. Paul St germain - Public Records He also reintroduced Hochstadters Slow & Low to the whiskey market in 2010. Photographer captures a series of eerie pictures showing abandoned pubs in the Australian outback, Why it's IMPOSSIBLE to be a vegetarianfrom a self-professed vegan, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, TN residents say Jack Daniel's distillery spews black mold, Incredible footage of Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russians in Bakhmut, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' St-Germain The native New Yorker passed away Monday in. Robert Cooper was a businessman who built his company on humility, positive thinking, collaboration, a creative approach to problem solving. Sad news for the spirits world today: The creator of the wildly popular St. Germain elderflower liqueur, Robert J. Cooper, died Monday at the age of 39 in Santa Monica, Calif.,according to the New York Times. In 2012, he sold St-Germain to Bacardi for what was rumored to be a seven-figure sum. The freshest news from the food world every day. We have enabled email notificationsyou will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. For centuries, Pariss Saint-Germain-des-Prs neighborhood has been widely recognized as one of the worlds most prominent meeting places for artistic creation. Mr. Cooper attributed his success in part to timing. [10], The spirit won a Grand Gold Medal at the Monde Selection in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012 and the "Chairman's Award" in the Liqueur category at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2010.[11][12]. (His older brother John, also independently, brought the popular ginger liqueur Domaine de Canton to market.) The flowers are all picked in the mornings, when temperatures are at their lowest. It was Robert Cooper's passionate work that made the elderflower liqueur wildly popular. In addition to being a great aperitif to throw in a spritz, St-Germain is considered to be a great modifying liqueur, altering the flavor profile of the liquor it is added to. Chris Pleasance For Dailymail.com, The ultimate sign of respect: Revered Buddhist monk is mummified and covered in gold leaf to become a shrine in China, It really is last orders! Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Oops. [8], In 2016, Robert Cooper died at the age of 39. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. He was an avid surfer and loved collecting esoteric wines from obscure regions. They wanted something different they could work with that had integrity. Robert J. Cooper, 39, Creator of Popular Elderflower Liqueur, Dies Mr. Cooper was a scion of the family that owns Charles Jacquin et Cie, an old cordials and liqueurs house based in Philadelphia. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a bachelors degree in English and creative writing. In 2012, he sold St-Germain to Bacardi Ltd. Mr. Cooper proved to be a savvy marketer. . If success in the competitive world of spirits marketing is a cocktail, its 1 ounce product, 2 ounces elbow grease. . Founder of St-Germain liqueur dead at 39-years-old - New York Post 5 Cocktails to Honor St-Germain Creator Robert J. Cooper The Weird (and Wired) Truth Behind Whats Really in Coca-Cola, Why Coca-Cola contracts with a chemical company to manufacture cocaine in New Jersey, Robert J. Cooper, 39, Creator of St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Dies [NY Times], one of the most influential new cocktail ingredients of the past decade, Liquid Deaths New Tea Tallboys Are Coming for AriZonas Neck, If You Took the Drag Away, Then Its Just Another Boring Bar, How to Make Misis Iconic Ricotta-Filled Occhi Pasta. After all, if youre a chef, do you want to build your reputation on your use of ketchup? Kylian Mbappe became Paris Saint-Germain's all-time top scorer with his 201st goal for the club in their 4-2 win over Nantes in Ligue 1 on Saturday.PSG had also blown a two-goal lead in their last . In fact, St-Germains unique coloring does not come from any artificial additives, but instead is a result of the pollen from each bud blending with the liqueurs liquid components. Robert James Cooper was born on Aug. 3, 1976, in Manhattan. He was 39. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. You can create a new homepage by going to "Pages" at the top, click on the "+" icon and select "Standard" page. But one of its best-known roles is in the not-so-creatively named St-Germain Cocktail, which was invented by the company itself and has been unusually, enduringly popular for a drink of such provenance. 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