document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. The cause of his death is so far unknown. A 1994 graduate of Aspen High School, and a former, two-year member of the U.S. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. Cooper, whose family owned Philadelphia liqueur firm Charles Jacquin et Cie, launched St. Germain in 2007. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a bachelors degree in English and creative writing. Nearly a decade ago, as the cocktail renaissance was gaining steam, a lot of drinks started developing a particular flavour note. 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 bartenders ketchup, died on Monday in Santa Barbara, Calif. He would have turned 40 on August 3. It's beginning to feel like a season of 24 or Game of Thrones because one of your favorite people seem to be safe, anymore. The cause of his death is so far unknown. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. [5] St-Germain was launched in 2007 by Cooper Spirits Co,[6] a company founded 2006 and headquartered in New York. 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! 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. Robert J. Cooper, the creator of St-Germain, the elderflower liqueur so ubiquitous that it eventually became known as "bartender's ketchup," has died at the age of 39. 2012 verkaufte Cooper St-Germain an Bacardi. It was lucky, Cooper told The New York Times. Mr. Cooper attributed his success in part to timing. [2], St-Germain was created by distiller Robert Cooper, son of Norton Cooper, the owner of Charles Jacquin et Cie, after trying an elderflower-based cocktail at a London bar in 2001. Activates category 1 section on 'Solar' page layout (e.g., https://www.mysite.com/blog/category/dog.html). 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. Those who had the pleasure of meeting him noted his kind personality. That company introduced the raspberry liqueur Chambord domestically and later sold it to Brown-Forman. Sure, Brown acknowledged but the most popular Beatles songs probably get a backlash, too. Mr. Cooper proved to be a savvy marketer. Something went wrong. The St-Germain was delicious, and Robert Cooper was warm and affable, enthusiastic about his product and about the spirits business. This distilled beveragerelated article is a stub. St Germain was inspired by other elderflower liqueurs that Cooper encountered in bars in London. 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. 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. 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. Once you create a new homepage, apply the "solar" page layout to the new homepage. 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. He was also a terrific. Remembering Robert Cooper, who turned elderflower liqueur into a global sensation, Chris Selley: Calgary mayor's would-be crackdown on free speech should alarm everyone, Shania Twain still doesn't speak to ex and former best friend after affair, John Ivison: Even Liberals sense the China scandal could spell the end of Trudeau, NP View: Chinese interference shows Trudeau can't run a functioning government, 'I've lost a lot': Prince Harry tells Canadian trauma expert Gabor Mate in streamed interview, With its four-part harmony, the Last Word keeps on speaking, Cocktail capital of Canada? For St-Germain, liqueur is thicker than water. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. St-Germain was created by Robert Cooper, the son of Chambord inventor Norton "Sky" Cooper. [7] In 2013, the company was sold to Bacardi, and Robert Cooper agreed to work with Bacardi as a "brand guardian" and spokesperson. It was a good product, and people would have picked it up in time, but Rob was a constant presence. Come back to this screen and fill in the input boxes with the URL of your "Blog" page and 3 category URLs from that blog. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Already connected with a vast network of liquor and liqueur producers due to his familial relationships, Cooper decided to explore the possibility of creating his own elderflower liqueur. [3] [4] The brand was named after Saint-Germain-des-Prs, and the bottle shape is influenced by Art Deco motifs associated with the Belle poque history of this area. Mr. Cooper attributed his success in part to timing. 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. Back in 2007, Cooper launched St. Germain, packaged in a distinctive Art Deco-style bottle which found instant success. While St Germain was named by the likes of the Times as one of the most influential drinks of the decade, it also helped to reintroduce enthusiasm in liqueurs to the cocktail market. The partnership, which was finalized in 1933, helped transform Jacquins into one of the worlds leading producers of liqueurs and cordials. Junior National Snowboarding team, Rob Cooper joined the family business in 1999, just after finishing his college career at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He launched St-Germain in 2007 and currently imports Creme Yvette and Illegal Mezcal. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Cooper, whose family owns Charles Jacquin et Cie, a Philadelphia-based spirits distiller and producer founded in 1884, left his family . Chris Pleasance For Dailymail.com Mr. Cooper went on to return to circulation bygone bar ingredients like Crme Yvette, a berry-violet liqueur, and Hochstadters Slow & Low, a form of the common 19th-century drink rock and rye. St-Germain has grown to become one of the most valuable bottles in a bartenders arsenal. It's no understatement to call him a genius or pioneer (as other. Cocktail bartenders, hungry for new ingredients and flavors to work with, tossed it into every other new drink. St-Germain (now wholly owned by Bacardi), an artisanal French liqueur made from fresh elderflower blossoms. His loss is being widely grieved in the bartending and cocktail world. Launched in 2007 by third-generation distiller Robert J. Cooper, St-Germain elderflower liqueur launched an elderflower craze that would span the next decade and a half and revived a dormant liqueur industry. Coopers other cocktail creations included Crme Yvette liqueur and Hochstadters Slow & Low, a throwback to the Rock & Rye, a 19th-century cocktail of rye sweetened with rock candy. Read more about cookies here. 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. They wanted something different they could work with that had integrity. Now that you know the basics, here are eight more things you should know about St-Germain. Cooper was born into the spirits world. Those who had the pleasure of meeting him noted his kind personality. Robert J. Cooper, founder of St-Germain liqueur a staple for any self-respecting bartender died this week at the age of 39. Anyone can read what you share. Brown at the time trained primarily as a sommelier, and there to improve his skills behind the stick says he and Cooper shared a bond: Neither of us were very good bartenders. (Both initially failed a practical component of the program and had to make it up later. Even if you already have a home page, you'll need to create a new one since Solar needs a blank page to automatically pull and display your blog posts in the magazine layout. Mr. Cooper went on to return to circulation bygone bar ingredients like Creme Yvette, a berry-violet liqueur, and Hochstadters Slow & Low, a form of the common 19th century drink rock and rye. In broader terms, it helped resuscitate the dormant liqueur business. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Founded byChristine Sloan Stoddard. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. The cause of his death has not yet been determined; he leaves behind a wife and two children. He didnt fail. But success was not guaranteed. In fact Cooper Sr. was so convinced the product would flop he told his son he would hire him back in a year 'when you fail', the New York Times reports. Add the champagne or sparkling white wine, then the elderflower liqueur. Cooper launched St. Germain, packaged in a distinctive Art Deco-style bottle, in 2007 and it found near-instant success. St-Germain was created by Robert Cooper, the son of Chambord inventor Norton Sky Cooper. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, His death was confirmed Thursday by the New York Times. The cause of death is unknown. Mr. Cooper was a scion of the family that owns Charles Jacquin et Cie, an old cordials and liqueurs house based in Philadelphia. 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. [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. The cause of death is unknown. He is survived by his wife, the former Kaitrin Cramm, and their two children, William and Charlotte. The flowers are all picked in the mornings, when temperatures are at their lowest. He was an avid surfer and loved collecting esoteric wines from obscure regions. You can create a new homepage by going to "Pages" at the top, click on the "+" icon and select "Standard" page. If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, unlimited online access is. The UCLA Santa Barbara grad introduced St-Germain in 2007 to great fanfare. Each year when the flowers blossom in late May, farmers spend roughly three to four weeks gathering the blooms that will be used to produce the liqueur. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Though he had never viewed elderflower as a cocktail ingredient, the floral concoction changed his perspective. Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. He is survived by his wife Kaitrin and the couple's two children William and Charlotte. Cooper came from a family that has been making beverages since 1884, when Charles Jacquin et Cie Inc. of which his father is president was founded in Philadelphia. Robert J Cooper, the man who created the incredibly popular elderflower liqueur St Germain, has died at the age of 39, his business partner has confirmed. They wanted something different they could work with that had integrity. Thus, Cooper credits the two bars with skyrocketing the liqueurs success. In the wake of that development, Cooper went out on his own to start Cooper Spirits and launch St-Germain. I'm just a nice lady who likes cocktails and traveling. The Times notes that it became so ubiquitous, some took to calling it "bartender's ketchup." Robert J. Cooper launched the popular spirit back in 2007. Two such cutting-edge cocktail bars PDT and Death & Co. had just opened, and bartenders at each were itching to experiment with new ingredients. The younger Cooper struck gold with the perfect storm of professional curiosity and timing, launching St-Germain in 2007. , updated Instead, a year after its release, St-Germain was already a staple on bartenders back bars. View Details. The remaining brands within the Cooper Spirit Co. Hochstadter's Vatted Straight Rye Whiskey, Lock Stock & Barrel, another rye whiskey; Crme Yvette, a berry fruit liqueur; and Ilegal Mezcal, an artisanal Mexican mezcal for which Cooper Spirit Co is the sole U.S. importer. St-Germain was invented by distiller Robert Cooper and launched in 2007 by Cooper Spirits Co, founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York. Fort Collins. 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 food and beverage, partnered with the Charles Jacquin et Cie cordial business. When Robert returned from London and approached his father about creating an elderflower liqueur, his father was immediately skeptical. 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 food and beverage, partnered with the Charles Jacquin et Cie cordial business. In 2006, father and son duo Norton and Robert created the Cooper Spirits Company, which today houses labels like St-Germain, Crme Yvette, and many more under its umbrella. Best Match Powered by Whitepages Premium AGE 70s Robert Germain Leesburg, FL Aliases Robert Thomas St Germaine Robert Thomas St Germain View Full Report Addresses If your site doesn't have a Weebly "Blog" page, then create a new "Blog" page. The freshest news from the food world every day. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. He said, Ill hire you back in a year when you fail, Mr. Cooper once recalled. . View Stephanie Tara St Germain results in Charlotte, NC including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. For centuries, Pariss Saint-Germain-des-Prs neighborhood has been widely recognized as one of the worlds most prominent meeting places for artistic creation. Petals are collected annually in the spring over a period of three to four weeks, and are often transported by bicycle to collection points to avoid damaging the petals and impacting the flavour. Brown disagrees: Cooper worked incredibly hard, he says, and would have been successful regardless.