Tippleman’s
Chicago-area craft syrup company specializing in the bar staples that are hardest to make well at home—orgeat, falernum, and ginger syrup. Affordable enough to be a workhorse, quality high enough that a craft bar might use it without apology.
Tippleman’s sits in the affordable-craft sweet spot. Founded in 2015 outside Chicago by Bert Ricci, the company makes the syrups a home bar actually goes through fastest—orgeat, falernum, ginger, demerara—at a price point under Small Hand Foods but above the supermarket pour-spouts. The quality holds up: real almonds in the orgeat, real ginger in the ginger syrup, no artificial colors or flavors anywhere in the lineup.
For exotic cocktails, Tippleman’s Falernum Syrup is the standout. It’s the most accessible commercial falernum—balanced almond, lime, ginger, clove, with restrained sweetness—and it’s the answer to I need falernum and don’t have time to make Don’s Mix from scratch. It works in Mai Tais, Corn ’n’ Oils, and any Caribbean recipe that calls for falernum. Tippleman’s Almond Orgeat is the middle-ground orgeat: not as dense as Small Hand Foods, more almond-forward than Liber, and priced to be replaceable on a busy home bar. Tippleman’s Double-Spiced Falernum is a heavier-spiced version for cooler-weather drinks and stronger funk-rum applications.
The company also does a Tippleman’s Burnt Sugar Syrup—essentially a dark caramel made with cane sugar and butter—that’s interesting for certain rich rum drinks but not strictly necessary.
For a home bar that wants to stock craft syrups without the Small Hand Foods price tag, Tippleman’s is the daily driver.
Buy: Amazon (broad selection, fast shipping); Total Wine carries a selection in some regions; direct at tipplemans.com.