Better Mixers, Better Drinks! Shaking things up with Ken Mackenzie of Fresh Victor
A quick update from Nikki
Hello and welcome back to Sip With Nikki — I’m Nikki Lamberti coming to you from Sonoma County.
Before we dive into today’s episode, a few exciting updates from Sollevato Wines:
We released our first-ever Petite Sirah (2023) and our 2022 vintage.
Our first-ever Grenache has a special pink-accented label and wax to commemorate my victory over breast cancer, with a portion of proceeds benefiting V Foundation for Cancer.
We also landed our first restaurant placement — you can now find our Sangiovese at Bottega Napa Valley in Napa Valley (and it’s a dream pairing with their raviolo situation: sage + brown butter + egg yolk + truffle).
If you’re not traveling anytime soon, you can order online and ship to most states — and I’ve got a discount code for listeners.
Why mixers deserve the same respect as the spirit
Ken said something that instantly made me rethink the whole “mixer aisle”:
If the mixer is two-thirds of the glass, why would we splurge on a great bottle… and then pour in a cheap, syrupy shortcut?
He’s right. For years, mixers were treated like an afterthought — neon, cloudy, overly sweet, and full of ingredients nobody can pronounce. Meanwhile, our taste in spirits has evolved a lot. The mixer should’ve evolved too.
Meet Ken Mackenzie and the story behind Fresh Victor
My guest is Ken Mackenzie from Menlo Park, with a deep background in the spirits world (including launching a premium tequila brand before “premium tequila” was even a thing).
His goal with Fresh Victor wasn’t to make “another mixer.” It was to make hosting easier without lowering the quality — so you can actually be in the party, not stuck behind the bar all night.
And the name?
Fresh = it’s truly refrigerated, cold-chain, preservative-free.
Victor = it’s a “win” (for taste, ingredients, and the fact that it even exists as a cold-chain product).
The ingredient philosophy: “grandma’s shopping list”
Ken’s north star was simple: build mixers from ingredients you’d recognize instantly — the kind of list your grandparents would’ve had.
That means:
No preservatives
Kosher, non-GMO, fair trade (where applicable)
Refrigerated from production to your doorstep (yes, the cold chain is the whole point)
The payoff is huge: cleaner flavor, and often lower calories, because you’re not masking everything with syrup and additives.
Cocktail, mocktail, or even dinner: what makes it so versatile
This part surprised me — Ken doesn’t talk about Fresh Victor like it’s only for cocktails.
These mixers work with:
Tequila, mezcal, vodka, rum, gin, whiskey, bourbon, pisco
Sparkling wine / champagne (hello)
Still wine for sangria
Sparkling water for mocktails that don’t feel like an afterthought
Even culinary uses like ceviche, marinades, and salad dressings
And I love his point about hosting: when some people are drinking and others aren’t, mocktails made from the same base bring everyone back into the same experience — nobody feels stuck with a sad soda while everyone else has “the fun drink.”
Consistency is the real flex
Nikki confession: I asked, “Why not just batch your own mixers in pitchers?”
Ken’s answer was blunt (and it makes sense): raw ingredients vary constantly. Citrus sweetness, acidity, heat level in jalapeños — it’s never identical from one batch to the next.
Fresh Victor standardizes flavor by checking things like:
pH
Brix (sweetness)
acidity
Scoville levels (heat)
So when you make the same drink next week, it tastes like the one you loved this week — not a “close enough” version.
What we mixed on-air (and how you can do it too)
1) Mexican Lime & Agave Margarita (fast + balanced)
I started by tasting the mixer on its own (winemaker instinct — I needed a baseline). It was bright, layered, and mouthwatering… and honestly, I could drink it solo.
Simple ratio to start:
1 part spirit (about 1.5–2 oz)
2 parts Fresh Victor
Shake hard with ice 10 seconds (froth matters!)
Pour over a big cube (yes, my “sexy cube”)
Garnish with lime
Then I did a little mezcal “floater” and… yep. Smoky magic.
2) Cactus Pear + Pomegranate with Vodka (vacation in a glass)
Same ratio, new vibe. It’s bright pink, totally poolside, and immediately made me want to experiment with blends (because yes, my brain goes straight to “what if we layer flavors like a wine blend?”).
Ken also shared that some customers mix flavors and call it “sweet heat” — like combining jalapeño & lime with a fruit-forward blend.
A shoutout-worthy moment: Food & Wine recognition
Ken shared that the Mexican Lime & Agave earned #1 “best overall” in a taste test of margarita mixers by Food & Wine — and the description matched what I tasted: true lime flavor, no bitterness.
Where to buy + listener discount
You can order directly from their site with cold packs shipped to your door (lower 48, and even Hawaii).
Listener code: SIP20 for 20% off.
You can also find them at some retailers — I’ve seen it at Whole Foods — but the website is the easiest way to get exactly what you want.
Post-episode: I took Fresh Victor on vacation (and cooked with it)
After we recorded, I brought it with me to Walt Disney World for a birthday trip (yes, including EPCOT). Poolside at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the cucumber & lime with gin and jalapeño & lime with tequila were absolute favorites.
And here’s the twist I didn’t expect: we used the remaining Mexican lime & agave to marinate chicken for fajitas — and it actually paired ridiculously well with the cocktails.