Arts
H. Joseph Ehrmann is the owner of Elixir San Francisco, and co-founder of Fresh Victor, a range of cold-pressed juice-based mixers. H. has a background in public relations, business and as a chef. In the early 2000s, he decided to leave all that behind while putting the knowledge he'd gained into practice, by taking over San Francisco's second-oldest Saloon bar. He gave it a lick of paint and a new name: Elixir. But for the first few months, Elixir struggled. Slowly, H. began to unravel the reasons why, coming to the conclusion that he hadn't put enough emphasis on hiring the right people, or investing in the quality of his drinks. When he then suffered a sudden pulmonary embolism, which had an effect typical of near-death experiences, it wasn't long before he had totally upended the bar's staff, drinks and prices. It hasn't looked back since. H.'s newest venture is Fresh Victor, a direct-to-trade and -consumer range of premium, juice-based cocktail mixers. Fresh Victor aims to make US bars' and bartenders' lives easier, by increasing efficiency and consistency of craft cocktails.