Jared Hirsch and Absinthia Vermut founded Nickel Dime Syrups to solve a problem. Jared, staff mixologist at Oakland’s Sidebar needed help finding a way to produce the secret ingredient in his cult favorite cocktail, the award winning Caged Heat.  The spicy tamarind, and cardamom cocktail became so popular that he could no longer produce the flavor packed syrup in the restaurant’s kitchen.  He called upon his friend Absinthia, founder of Absinthia’s Bottled Spirits to start a syrups business so that they could produce the award winning syrup for Sidebar. They launched a Kickstarter to crowdfund the business, and met their goal in 7 days. Once all their backers received their rewards, they set about to sell Caged Heat to the larger cocktail loving world. The awards and accolades kept piling up, including a full page spread in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sunday Food section. With syrups now available coast to coast, the duo grew their business, adding three new flavors, Fairy Dust, Cherry Bomb, and Crimson Smoke.