Created by Fox Cities natives, Tingala liqueur gives buzz button flavor to cocktails

The latest buzz in the cocktail world comes from two Fox Cities natives and their liqueurs, Tingala and Tingala Gold.

It took five years of recipe development for the Colorado-based couple, Susan and Bob Tews, to bring their tongue-tingling liqueur to market. Susan’s roots are in Neenah, while Bob grew up in Appleton. Both started their careers at TV11 in Green Bay. The couple moved to Colorado and continued in broadcast journalism. A few years ago Bob started distilling as a hobby. He wasn’t quite ready to retire, and eventually his interest in distilling grew to inspire his second act.

Tingala and Tingala Gold get a tongue-tingling uniqueness from hand-picked spilanthes flowers, also known as "buzz buttons," which are native to Brazil. Officially launched in 2016, the 100-proof Tingala won a silver medal with 93 points at the New York International Spirits Competition. In May of this year, the Tews also launched the 70-proof Tingala Gold.

Current suggested retail price for Tingala is $39.99 and $29.99 for Tingala Gold. Both come in 750 milliliter bottles. Tingala and Tingala Gold are produced in Golden, Colorado, and now distributed by General Beverage in Wisconsin. The liqueur is on the menu at several local bars, including St. Bibiana, 1327 E. Brady St.; The Tin Widow, 703 S. 2nd St.; and The Bottle, 1753 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

Susan Tews shared the story behind the business, and her favorite ways to drink Tingala.

More: 14 great cocktail bars in Milwaukee to visit for a fancy drink

From home brewing to a business idea

We met in college at UW-Green Bay. We both had careers in television news. That includes careers in Colorado. We had our families here and our children. As we approached retirement, Bob was a hobbyist brewer. He worked with our college-aged son, Eric, and one thing led to another.

They initially hoped to open a business together; they wanted to call it Tews Brews. Their idea was to offer coffee in the morning and beer in the afternoon. That never worked out. But as time went on, Bob heard about this flower, spilanthes ... on “No Reservations" ... Bob got some seeds and grew it, just for fun. In addition to home brewing he’d received a hobby still. It was very small. So he’d been exploring home distilling. He got an internship at a local distillery, and he began experimenting with the flower to see if we could get this flavor.

The first time he made it, we made Jell-O shots we took to a party. Friends were wowed and told us we had to develop it.

Expanded Tingala distribution in Wisconsin

He had the time then and we worked with a local distillery and Eric contributed. We had a soft rollout in 2012. I joined the company eventually, and came up with the name of the company, Tingala. We’ve had great support from the Colorado spirits community to allow us to be a family spirits company, just the three of us, and a partnership with our distillery.

We work with a local distillery that also produces Vanjak Vodka. ... My husband, Bob, is our spirits master. For years he would go into the distillery and make the product himself. Now he has people helping him.

Last year we were able to expand (distribution) statewide and to other states, and we had the opportunity to expand in Wisconsin. We’ve been amazed by the sales and support in the state. We started in July 2022. Things really picked up in the last month. General Beverage doubled our sales and we’re now in 100 accounts in Wisconsin.

Developing a buzz button liqueur

The flowers (spilanthes) are otherwise known as buzz buttons. As far as we know, we’re the only ones in the U.S. (making it into liqueur with the flowers). I think people have tried to make this product.

It took us five years of development to create our own proprietary process of extracting this tingle and make the product taste good. It can be hard to get it to taste good, and we have a supply which I think not everybody does. Others may work with extract. Some others use the szechuan peppercorn flavor, which is used in Chinese cooking. It is a hot spice that also has that tingle. That is the closest thing that we’ve seen.

Tingala really does tingle

The product has what some people call an allspice flavor. There is cinnamon but a little citrus quality. Part of the effect of the flower is to make your mouth water a little bit. One of the traits of this flavor that people aren’t always aware of is it is really taste-expanding. It makes other things taste better. That is a benefit of the fun part of it, that intense tingle. People get a kick out of it and there is really nothing else like it.

Our 100-proof Tingala original product, we designed it to make sure it had that strong tingle. It is designed for mixing in cocktails, or a cocktail float, in a gin and tonic, or Moscow mule. They get that tingle.

We found people were wanting to sip it and drink it straight. It is a bit of a big flavor and high proof for that, so we designed Tingala Gold as a lighter version. It is 70 proof, a little more complex flavor. Original Tingala is savory; we didn’t want it sweet to make in cocktails. The new Tingala Gold is sweetened with agave, not overly sweet, still a balanced profile. It has a little touch of vanilla in it as well.

An unexpected flavor find

People are wowed by the flavor. They’ve never had anything like it. Yet on the other hand, it is not for everyone. Some people are surprised at the tingling. People who love it absolutely love it, but everyone wants to try it.

Learning about liqueurs

When Bob became interested in learning more he went to Downslope Distilling in Colorado and did an internship and learned. We joined the American Distilling Institute and just learned. ...

All liqueurs are made with a blended maceration process using a neutral base spirit. What makes it different is what you do to the recipe after that. Those are the things Bob and Eric worked on, and we came up with what we think is a superior recipe that delivers what it promises. It really tingles.

Fresh flowers are what sets Tingala apart

It is proprietary where we get the flowers from, but they are U.S. grown, hand harvested and shipped to us fresh overnight. We process the day we get them.

Behold the bottle

Our logo is a wasp, and we’re very proud of our bottles. They’re beautiful silk-screened bottles which are actually made in France.

Tingala is popular in tiki drinks

We’re seeing a lot of people using it in tiki-style drinks with rum. It goes really well with tequila, so a Tingala margarita is always popular. Tingala Gold, though it is really sip- and shot-friendly, it also works great in cocktails where you want a little extra sweetness.

Susan Tews' favorite Tingala cocktails

My favorite Tingala liqueur cocktail is a Negroni. One of Bob's is our signature Electric Daisy. We both also love the Tingala Gold Margarita. The recipes are on our cocktails page (tingalaspirits.com/tingala-cocktail-recipes).

To make a Wisconsin old fashioned with Tingala spirits, people can use a split base of one-half each brandy and Tingala or Tingala Gold. In place of maraschino cherries, they also could upgrade to locally made Door County or Michigan cocktail cherries.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tongue-tingling Tingala liqueur taps into buzz button trend