Our Story

The Cool Hand Co. story began in 2014, when our founder Lucas Ryden started bartending during his senior year of college at UC Santa Barbara. Lucas loved using seasonal ingredients from local farms in his cocktail recipes, but found it difficult to rely on them for cocktail menus due to seasonality. He set out on a mission to find the best way to preserve seasonal ingredients in a convenient but natural way.

After experimenting with different preservation methods Lucas discovered that shrubs were the perfect medium for adding fresh, organic flavors without artificial ingredients or stabilizers. He decided to move back to his hometown of San Diego in 2015 to start a legitimate shrub business at the age of 24.

Our Products

Since the early days, we’ve formed partnerships with local organic farms like Be Wise Ranch, Stehly Farms, and Nopalito Farm to source the majority of our base fruits. We macerate them whole with other herbs and botanicals in our base of organic apple cider vinegar and organic cane sugar to make our products.

The result is a vibrant line of fresh, complex, and concentrated shrubs that make it easier for everyone to enjoy craft cocktails. We currently produce 4 “core” flavors that are available year-round, and 2 limited seasonal flavors:

We’re proud to be one of the only San Diego food and beverage brands to win a Good Food Award; and we’ve won one every year since we started entering in 2020.

Our Founder

Lucas Ryden founded Cool Hand Co. shortly after graduating college from UC Santa Barbara. As someone who loved being in the kitchen as a child, he always knew he wanted to pursue a career in food and beverage.

While learning to bartend in his early 20s Lucas discovered a serious passion for craft cocktails and spirits and decided that was his path. Since then he’s worked in leadership positions in many notable San Diego bar programs such as Kindred, Realm of the 52 Remedies, Vulture, and Dreamboat. He also hosts a cocktail pop up at local bars under called Acid Drop, which features Cool Hand Co. shrubs on a rotating menu of adventurous and exotic cocktails.