For Bitter For Worse

For Bitter For Worse creates non-alcoholic cocktails for discerning drinkers who are abstaining from alcohol for whatever reason, and who seek both complexity and the highest integrity of ingredients. The company uses a multi-step process to create layered, robust drinks. One step in the process is a “reverse bootlegging” distillation technique, through which the alcohol is removed from a mixture of organic botanicals. This patent-pending method was developed to maximize depth of flavor without the use of natural or artificial additives. The company was founded in 2019 and has already begun generating revenue. As of July 2021, For Bitter For Worse has recorded more than $172,000 in sales since inception with 700% growth year-over-year thus far. The company is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and is run by the wife-and-husband team Shelley Elkovich and Jeff Heglie. For Bitter For Worse has been featured in two New York Times articles, and other publications, including GQ and Self Magazine.

Featured in publications such as the New York Times, Self Magazine, GQ, Imbibe, NYT Wirecutter, and SevenFifty Daily
Online return customer rate jumped from 17.5% in Q4 2020 to 29.6% in February 2021
Submitted a patent application for the reverse bootlegging process it uses to create its alcohol-free beverages; the patent is currently pending
When compared to the same period in 2020, revenue for 2021 has increased 700% through July 2021

Shelley Elkovich, Co-Founder and Majority Managing Member
Shelley Elkovich is responsible for For Bitter For Worse’s strategic direction and corporate affairs, which include the duties of chief executive and marketing officers. Elkovich is the company’s taste maven, otherwise known as a super-taster. Prior to founding the company, she was a community organizer and activist, and an author and writer from 2014 to 2018.

Jeff Heglie, Co-Founder and Managing Member
Jeff Heglie is responsible for For Bitter For Worse’s administrative affairs, which include the duties of financial and operational officers. Heglie is the company’s reverse bootlegger. His former career was as an environmental remediation consultant. He believes his background in experimentation and equipment hacking prepared him well for the creative challenges of pioneering processes in a new beverage category.