By ARIELLA MONTI
With no experience in the liquor or restaurant/bar industry, his son Tom McNicholas, Jr., who owns Kasey's and Madison Hall in Rockville Centre, lent an experienced hand in the creation of the unique beverage.
"About four or five years ago, right around St. Patrick's Day, dad and I were saying how there were no good premium green liqueurs on the market," said Tom, Jr. noting the family's Irish roots. "After doing some research I realized there were no lemon-lime liqueurs on the market at all."
The idea was brought to the rest of the McNicholas clan and before they knew it, Tom Sr. and Tom, Jr. were meeting with consultants and flavorists and came up with the 70-proof lemon-lime liqueur, Cryptonic.
"It is very time consuming," said Tom, Sr. of the beverage creation process. "When you're a small start up company it's very difficult to get distilleries and so forth to look at you because you're not one of the big people. So, it's intense trying to get people to take you on."
Cryptonic, according to the McNicholas', has a citrus flavor and the consistency of Jagermeister or Southern Comfort. The pair notes that the versatility of the drink lends itself to over 45 different concoctions that are listed on the drink's Web site, drinkcryptonic.com.
"It's exciting to see other bars in other states that send in their recipes that their bartenders came up with," said Tom Jr. who has over 20 years in the restaurant/bar industry. "It's really cool to see what their people are making and mixing with it."
Tom Sr. has taken the reins as president of C-Tonic Corporation, with his daughter Kerinne using her finance background to keep the books and doing all the leg work for the home-based Rockville Centre business. Tom Jr. is involved in the company on a consultant basis.
The liqueur can be found throughout Rockville Centre and in many places in Nassau County. Working with major distributors, the family was able to market the spirit, which hit the shelves in March 2008, in New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Indiana.
Its name, shrouded in legend, comes from the tonics that were peddled by salesmen hundreds of years ago to awaken the soul and revitalize the body.
"We just kind of thought of that and come up with this because it's so good it could raise the dead," said Tom Sr. "Our slogan is '"it's going to change the spirit world forever.'"
