Career Women Trading in Offices for Kitchens
The collective recipe for success that each of these women share is a strong bond of supportive family and friends.
PASSION PRODUCTS
Savouré Sodas
Small-Batch Drinks with Flair
It was through a casual friendship that began at a bistro at the famed Montreal farmers’ market that Savouré Sodas was conceived. Her friend needed someone to provide drinks and condiments. Enter Jess. With access to a plethora of produce and fruits, Jess began perfecting her craft for the bubbly drinks infused with fresh herbs and whole foods.
Unique. Flavorful. Thoughtfully curated. Whole food and herb-infused soda and seltzer? Meet Jess Messer of Savouré Sodas. Black Currant Rosemary, Celery Lovage Cardamom, Grapefruit Tarragon, and Rhubarb Pink Peppercorn. These are just 4 of the 10 total flavors of bottled sodas that rotate throughout the year—available online, at certain specialty stores, and from tapped kegs at selected establishments.
Another product, canned Lemon Verbena Coffee soda, features fresh, chilled espresso made in collaboration with Brio Coffeeworks. Also available are four flavors of canned vegetable seltzers created with whole produce grown by neighbor farmers, mostly from “farmer-grade vegetables” that are too big, small, or ugly to sell. She also uses parts of the vegetable usually composted, including carrot tops, fennel fronds, and celery leaves, one of the ways to assist in reducing food waste.
Jess graduated from UVM with a double major in Russian Language and Eastern European and Russian studies, followed by a summer language immersion program at Middlebury College. She also spent a year in Russia. Jess was a former international human rights administrator and researcher who lived in New York City and Boston. When her family relocated to Montreal for her husband’s work in 2010, she took a break from her previous professional life. Her three children attended school in Le Plateau-Mont Royal, offering an opportunity for cultural immersion into the French language.
It was through a casual friendship that began at a bistro at the famed Montreal farmers’ market that Savouré Sodas was conceived. Her friend needed someone to provide drinks and condiments. Enter Jess. With access to a plethora of produce and fruits, Jess began perfecting her craft for the bubbly drinks infused with fresh herbs and whole foods.
Jess’s free-form creativity hails from her dad while her mom modeled preservation skills, thrift, and a deep respect for the importance of methodology and food-safety protocols.
(left)Jess with her daughter busy at work. Photography Dylan Griffin; (right)All the beverages start with a colorful batch of fresh herbs and whole foods. Photography Jess Messer
The youngest of eight children, Jess grew up in a small town on the south shore of Boston. She loved her time spent at her family’s second home in Starksboro, which her mom also ran as a seasonal bed and breakfast. In 2015, Jess and her husband relocated to Vermont and eventually purchased her parents’ beloved quirky farmhouse, transporting her business as well.
She credits her parents with her culinary heritage. Her mom, who had never eaten a fresh vegetable until college at Middlebury, later taught herself French-style Julia Child–inspired cooking. Her dad, a free-form chef-savant, lived in Europe as an army doctor, worked as a butcher in Boston, and opened a German meat market during her childhood. He made pickles, dandelion wine, and homemade sausage and roasts. Jess’s free-form creativity hails from her dad while her mom modeled preservation skills, thrift, and a deep respect for the importance of methodology and food-safety protocols.
Beverages—bottled or canned— with artistry of family members’ portraits on labels designed by her talented daughter and designer friend add a spirit of playfulness. Look for her Fennel-Verbena and Celery-Yuzu-Lemon seltzers as they are finalists for the 2023 National Good Food Awards. She has found her niche creating Vermont-inspired beverages, one pot at a time.
Savouré Sodas in their distinctive bottles bear hand-drawn portraits of Jess’s family members. Photography: Jess Messer
TANDEM PRODUCES
Jess has many reasons that her bubbly, nonalcoholic, lively, and bright beverage business found a home on Bristol’s Main Street. It’s here in Tandem, her production kitchen, that the zany delicious sodas and seltzers are made. Tandem, which she co-owns with her friend Lauren Gammon of Nomadic Chef Catering, started in 2015. This industrial-style kitchen is also rented to other creatives such as Downhill Bread, and past successful businesses created their products here including Ariel’s Honey Infusions and V Smiley Preserves. The earthy, rustic, eclectic space with long, wooden farmhouse tables also hosts Footprint Farm CSA and offers room for pop-up events.
RELATED STORIES:
Communities Near You
Related Stories & Recipes