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When you’re in the mood for a good drink, where do you go? It’s likely your answer may be the name of a posh bar or restaurant, but Kim Hunter, owner of the mobile mixology service Potent Pours, is on a mission to change the way you think about consuming cocktails — and where you consume them.
“I would have drinks at my house after work with my sister and my friends, because getting off of work at 5 and trying to find a happy hour when I live way out in Timbuktu (Forney) was kind of hard," Hunter says. "And I love a good cocktail. So I literally started throwing stuff together at the house.”
At that time, Hunter was working as a recruiter at a bank. But it was the nudge from her sister that got Hunter’s entrepreneurial wheels turning. And while she didn’t know exactly how she’d get her foot in the mixology door just yet, Hunter, a mother of two, knew she couldn’t work at a bar until 2 a.m. So she took her at-home happy hour hobby and turned it into a hustle.
“The first name that I came up with was Lavish Libations,” Hunter says. “I was obsessed with the word libations and I have a thing for alliteration. But I felt that was a mouthful, especially if you’re drinking. That’s too much to try to say or remember. I thought about the way my drinks are and the fact that they are potent and I just came up with Potent Pours.”
Hunter wants her mobile mixology business to stand out from other home bartending services.
“We don’t just show up with liquor and an array of mixers and just pour rum and Cokes,” Hunter says. “It’s really craft cocktails.”
Really pretty and well-garnished craft cocktails, we might add. And Hunter is adamant about putting just as much emphasis on quality as she does creativity.
“I use real, natural ingredients,” Hunter says. “I don’t use pre-made mixers and things like that. And you can taste the difference.”
Potent Pours offers mobile mixology bar services, cocktail menu consulting and mobile mixology workshops. Pricing for mobile bar services starts at $11 per person with a minimum of 20 guests for a minimum two-hour party.
After two years, a Black Restaurant Week award and many events and collaborations under her belt, it’s easy to see why Hunter has a glass half-full outlook on the future of her blossoming business.
“There’s a lot more that I’m working on with Potent Pours aside from me coming to your event making drinks or hosting a workshop for you,” Hunter says. ‘There’s an array of things I want to include under the umbrella of the brand.”