It is said that behind every man with a good idea is a woman with a better one. And no one knows this better than Doug Mulford, founder and creator of Drift Cocktails. Not long ago, he stood in his kitchen juicing blood oranges, meyer lemons, limes and passionfruit for cocktails at home. Pouring one of the citrusy, frothy concoctions over ice and lifting it with sparkling water, he handed it to his wife, Stephanie, for her approval and enjoyment. Taking her first sip, she lingered over the passion fruit and island rum, the tart, floral notes on the palate, the caramel and vanilla notes of the rum on the finish. One sip turned into two, then three. Pausing, she studied him a moment with a question begging to be asked: Why, she queried, were sophisticated cocktails made from excellent ingredients like the one in her hand not available already packaged and waiting in the fridge for a reason to slow life down and enjoy them? 

Sitting outside in the Charleston eventide, they shared ideas, combinations and recipes that floated on the sultry summer breezes like leaves on a river, meandering, swirling as they found direction, until coalescing and coming to rest at the bottom of a glass at the bottom of the evening. In the air were aromas of lime, blood orange, passion fruit, guava, meyer lemon and rum, and in their minds was a burgeoning company offering up pristine, sustainable ingredients perfectly blended with vodka, rum and sparkling water into a cocktail packaged and ready for enjoying no matter the locale or the occasion. The name of the company, like the coastline and breezes that first inspired it: Drift Cocktails.

Drift offers cocktails that are packaged in aluminum cans to protect the delicate flavor notes of the organic fruits from sunlight, and to allow Drift to travel with you onto pool decks, into the wild, on the beach, and in the boat as well as in your favorite restaurant and bar. Completely mixed and ready in the can, the only thing you need to enjoy them with is ice, a straw, or nothing at all. Fill a chest or fill a glass with Drift’s myriad expressions, unplug from the day, tune out the hum of the world, open your sails….and drift.