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Whiskey neat is not for everyone, and Cliff Couvillon was out of options. He and his buddies were camping in sub-zero temperatures at the top of Mount LeConte and, although they had some good whiskey, they had nothing to mix it with, except snow…and Tang. It didn’t take long for Couvillon to put things together (literally), and the group spent the remainder of their mountain vacation with orange tongues.

While the makeshift recipe was not ideal for the discerning drinker (they also oversteeped tea for the bitters and named their drink the Mountain Fashioned), the act of mixing a flavored powder with spirits in a remote location gave Couvillon and long-time friend Matt Curtis an idea. Why not curate all the ingredients that go into a great cocktail, powder them, and make the mix available to people who want to enjoy their favorite drink without the hassle? That was in February of 2016, and by September of the same year, Leisuremann’s Cocktail Mixes launched with its flagship flavor, the traditional Old Fashioned.

The company name comes from a friend of Matt’s who was in the Army Reserves, stationed in South Korea. He’d met a member of the South Korean military, whose army division name loosely translates to “The Leisure Men,” which Cliff felt exemplified the nuanced vibe of his customer persona. “Put those together, add another ‘N’ and I bought the domain that day.”

Initially the mixes were meant to be a solution for campers, but Cliff and Matt soon realized their product was for everyone: campers, yes, but also tailgaters, travelers, festival-goers, corporate or individual gift-givers, and people who wanted the option to drink their favorite cocktails without having to stock all the ingredients.

Dynamic Duo

While Matt has since stepped away from the business to devote more time to his new baby, Cliff and wife Michaella are now at the helm of operations. The thirty-somethings are both from New Orleans and first met at a high school dance. “He was in the middle of a circle dancing with friends – big ears, shaved head,” she says. “Unapologetically me,” he adds with a smile. Then in college they met again, when each of their close friends set them up based on their similar personalities. “My godfather was like, ‘How did these goobers find each other?’” Michaella remembers.

Now, 15 years since they started dating and after 6 years of marriage, the couple lives in Lafayette with their dog Bramble (named for Michaella’s favorite cocktail), who is also “a complete goober,” according to Cliff. (“Her official name on Instagram is Lady Bramble Muir of Leisure,” they say in unison.) By day, he’s director of product marketing for a healthcare company in Lafayette and she’s an ultrasound technician at the hospital. “Leisuremann’s is essentially a side hustle for both of us still, but I am actively trying to make it full-time,” Cliff shares.

Cliff in particular has been the entrepreneurial spirit behind the brand, conceptualizing the product, fine- tuning the flavors, and designing all the branding and product packaging. In fact, he can tell you the exact time and day (4:00 am on a Wednesday) the final design came to life – after 12 iterations. They’ve been through packaging iterations, as well, adding threads to the jar lid to prevent spilling, switching from metal to plastic, and adding scoops for easy measurement. They’ve tweaked, adjusted, and simplified, evolving over time based on user feedback to land on a cohesive, impressive presentation with a product that does what it sets out to do: make Happy Hour a lot easier.

Leisure Couple

It doesn’t take long visiting with the Couvillons to realize they are, in fact, the personification of their brand – the face of the company, yes, but more than that. Leisuremann’s, like the Couvillons, is about making you more comfortable – it’s about taking away the fussy parts, letting you relax, paving the way to a pleasant experience. The brand, like the couple, is just familiar enough to put you at ease, but so colorful and shiny, you want to be around it for as long as possible.

They work tirelessly to achieve the type of product they feel the brand promises. “We do all of it. We do the packaging – single-serve and jars – the labeling, shipping,” Michaella says. “That’s been part of the journey for five years,” Cliff adds. “I’ve talked to co- packers and they just can’t do what we want to do.”

And what they want to do is keep their footprint more personalized, less corporate. “Every order we send out has a hand-written message in it. I don’t care if I get a thousand online orders, I’m going to send a message. Because that’s what sets us apart,” he says.

They also strive to use small businesses for all of their outsourced products and services whenever possible. “At the beginning of 2018, I started thinking about how I was going to position the company for the next year, five years, ten years,” he says. “To me it was very important to try to go counter to what my competitors were doing. It’s grown beyond what I could have imagined, but our competitors were chasing that big box store. I thought, there are so many small boutiques, so instead of supporting a CEO buying a new Ferrari, we would support an owner buying cleats for their kids to go to a soccer game.”

There are few competitors to Leisuremann’s, as other powdered mix companies have either not been able to navigate the business end or have products that don’t compare to the organics and freshness of theirs. According to Cliff, the industry is saturated with liquid mixes, but they say because a liquid is so far from the original ingredient, the products are full of preservatives. “I have a lot of dietary restrictions in general,” Michaella says, “so I didn’t want to add to my problems and drink those.”

Flavor Forward

Another reason the Couvillons believe competitors have failed where Leisuremann’s finds success is the couple purposely makes mixes that are the standard base cocktail, allowing the customer to add additional sweetener or special flavors (rosemary, coconut etc.) if they wish. Other companies, says the couple, have to use too many chemicals in their formulas or over-specialize their flavors too much. “We have all natural flavors. No preservatives. No anti-clumping agents. If you want to add something, you can add it,” Cliff says. “I’m never going to come out with a cherry Old Fashioned.”

Michaella explains their commitment to the original recipe, saying, “If we are researching new flavors to add, we go back to find where [the recipe] was first published. So like with the Old Fashioned, it first ran in 1860 in a Macy’s catalog, so we went back to that recipe and derived ours from that,” she says. “We try to stay true to the original as much as possible.”

Good enough is not good enough for these owners, and R&D is a huge part of the process for both. When they consider launching a new flavor, they go to local bars known for their craft cocktails and sample different ones. Cliff has been known to test and retest powders at home, refusing to settle for anything less than something he would enjoy. “If I’m not comfortable with it and I don’t want to drink it, then I’m not pushing it out.”

Speaking of R&D, the Leisuremann’s logo, which some assume is an ice cube in a glass, is actually a hint to the iterations the company traversed. “The initial concept for Leisuremann’s was going to be a cocktail in a cube, so like a sugar cube that was flavored,” Cliff explains. But he found that was too limiting, not allowing the customer to add a little more flavoring or make a glass-and-a-half of the recipe, for example. “Within that timespan, we also messed around with liquids, but discovered with liquids you have to have different manufacturing processes, canning and bottling processes, and we decided we wanted things more under our control,” he says. “We make it a loose mix, so people can tailor it to how they want to make it and take it anywhere.”

A Word About Mocktails

While the benefit of Leisuremann’s for people who enjoy adult libations is easy to see, the owners say mocktailers are also a huge part of their business. “We have a client who buys the Bees Knees just to put in her tea,” Cliff says. “We had another lady at one of our events buy the Bloody Mix to use in a pot roast crockpot dish.” Michaella uses many of the flavors in her sparkling water, instead of mixing with spirits. “Anything with any floral note (think: elderflower) is great with something that calls for gin,” she says “And our margarita mix goes really well with a watermelon sparkling water.” Cliff adds, “We just tell people to find their own balance.”

Next Happy Hour

For now Leisuremann’s is mostly an online operation in Louisiana, but they’ve been in 100-plus boutiques across the United States and Canada, remaining loyal to their support of small businesses. Sales went up during COVID, because of Virtual Happy Hours and Zoom celebrations, and now the owners have an eye to the next phase.

There are currently nine flavors in the product line: Old Fashioned, Classic Daiquiri, Bees Knees, The Original, Margarita, Cosmopolitan, Bloody Mary, Mai Tai and Paloma. They’ve introduced two limited release flavors: Gold Rush (a lemon-honey cocktail with 24K gold flakes that they introduced at the New Orleans Bourbon Festival) and the Turkey Gravy (a Thanksgiving tradition that tastes somewhat like pumpkin spice, but resembles gravy). As of this publication, the duo was planning to release their tenth permanent flavor, the Mojito, with an expected launch for October or November 2021. It’s been in development for four years – “the longest developed flavor we’ve ever had,” says Cliff. Then, slated for 2022, he says, “My goal is to bridge the gap of what most people think is a drink mix and we’ll come out with a Sangria mix,” he reveals.

A brick and mortar facility is also something they think about, envisioning an education component, including cocktail classes. “Like a bourbon night where we’re going to teach you how to make five bourbon cocktails and you’re going to leave with a bottle of bourbon, bitters, oranges, some of our mix,” Cliff says. “Just help them explore and learn and open their eyes.”

In the meantime, you can learn more about Leisuremann’s or order products online at leisuremanns.com – and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on Lady Bramble Muir of Leisure’s social media status.