Jack Rudy

Brooks Reitz is building a Charleston empire…

Brooks comes from the proper restaurant pedigree, having run the cocktail program for FIG and served as general manager at The Ordinary.

He left The Ordinary to open Leon’s (which is in our City Guide), followed by Little Jack’s Tavern, then Melfi’s. All three restaurants are within a few blocks of each other… and all three are thriving.

But before any of that, Brooks created Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. - a line of premium mixers, tonics and bitters. And Jack Rudy’s success allowed Brooks to start Leon’s.

Brooks conceived Jack Rudy while working as head bar manager at Proof on Main in Louisville, Kentucky (one of the best bars in America) and continued serving the product wherever he worked.

Then he officially launched the brand in 2010 with another FIG server named Matt Burt (they got the initial $3,500 in funding via KickStarter).

Now Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. is a burgeoning giant in the craft cocktail scene - available across the nation.

While, like Bittermilk, the concept behind Jack Rudy is to help make craft cocktails more mainstream, we still enjoy their nonalc products like the Small Batch Tonic, Sweet Tea Syrup (which is great with sparkling water) and the Elderflower Tonic. In fact, they even supplied us with two amazing mocktail recipes below which happen to both be perfect for spring and summertime.