liquid assets
RAISING THE BAR
Sierra Valley farmer Gary Romano creates organic juice mixes. Just add alcohol, or not.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY AMY HARRIS
Gary Romano is known for his vibrant organic leafy greens and robust vegetables. He grows them at 5,000 feet in the windy and extreme weather of the Sierra Valley. It might seem surprising that Romano also has a line of cocktail mixes. But when 90-mile-per-hour winds are blowing and frosts hit in early August, it makes sense to crave a cocktail, or two.
Five years ago Romano developed a line of five organic cocktail mixes. Named in the theme of Life of the Organic Farmer, the concoctions are: Rooster’s Crow (a bloody Mary mix), Naked Scarecrow (a tequila Maria mix), My Tie (a mai tai mix), Sierra Breeze (a pomegranate and cranberry cosmo-martini mix), and Too Few and Fargarita (a margarita mix).
When Romano first developed his mixes he was surprised no one else had tapped the organic cocktail mix market.
“In 2007 we really thought this was the next big thing in the industry,” Romano says. “No one was really making organic cocktail mixes.”
But the initial buzz around the mixes ebbed without investors and then Romano’s original organic juice source, Pyramid Juice, went out of business. Without a wholesale organic juice supplier the project went on the back burner for a few years.
This summer, Romano plans to bring the mixes back. He discovered R.W. Knudsen Family sells its organic juices at wholesale prices to small farmers. With a juice supplier and plenty of spicy horseradish growing at his farm, Romano has everything he needs to make his creations. Romano’s favorite blend, the Naked Scarecrow, is a zesty carrot-orange mix that serves well as a morning drink (without alcohol), a robust cocktail with tequila, or a marinade.
“Moody’s (restaurant in Truckee) used the Naked Scarecrow not only for cocktails but also as a marinade for its barbecued oysters,” Romano says. “And this mix pairs really well with grappa.”
Tastings of the mixes will be available at local farmers’ markets this summer, including Romano’s weekly market held 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. each Friday (June 1 – Sept. 21) on his farm in the Sierra Valley. For details, call 530-832-0114 or visit www.Sierravalleyfarms.com.
Amy Harris is a writer who also has worked at Sierra Valley Farms. She can’t wait to try all of Gary’s cocktail mixes this summer after a long day of working on the farm.
RESOURCES
Romano Organic Cocktail Mixers
Rooster’s Crow (Organic Bloody Mary Mix)
Ingredients: tomato juice, veggie juice, hot sauce, horseradish, black pepper, lemon and lime juice, and garlic salt
Naked Scarecrow (Organic Tequila Maria Mix)
Ingredients: carrot juice, tomato juice, orange juice, horseradish, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, hot sauce, and black pepper
My Tie (Organic Mai Tai Mix)
Ingredients: pineapple juice, papaya juice, orange juice
Sierra Breeze (Organic Pomegranate/Cranberry Cosmo-Martini Mix)
Ingredients: cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, orange juice, and grapefruit juice
Too Few and Fargarita (Organic Margarita Mix)
Ingredients: raspberry lemonade, lem
