nothin Moon Rocks Gets Rhythm With Beer Cupcake | New Haven Independent

Moon Rocks Gets Rhythm With Beer Cupcake

Brian Slattery Photos

It’s a cupcake, infused with beer and citrus, soon to be available at Moon Rocks Gourmet Cookies. How it came to be is the story of a collaboration between two women-run businesses — more specifically, two mother-daughter teams, who have broken barriers and found success in New Haven’s vibrant food scene by being creative, working hard, and supporting one another.

Alisa Bowens-Mercado of Rhythm Brewing and Marni Esposito of Moon Rocks met a few years ago through a mutual friend, Anaika Ocasio, a massage therapist who runs The Serene Spot. Bowens invited Esposito onto her WNHH radio program, The Talk-Sip, to talk about Moon Rocks, which was then located on York Street. The two hit it off immediately.

Bowens, Bowens-Mercado, Esposito, Deceglia, Rae.

We hugged it out,” Bowens-Mercado said of their first meeting. We knew we needed to work together and support each other.” At the time, Esposito had just started Moon Rocks with her mother, Cynthia Rae, as baker (they opened for business in 2014). Bowens was running Alisa’a House of Salsa, so it was unclear what such a collaboration might look like.

Bowens-Mercado and her mother Millicent Bowens then opened Rhythm Brewing in 2017. With both Bowens and Esposito working in the food industry, the opportunities for collaboration got a little clearer.

You can put beer in anything,” Bowens-Mercado said.

I bake bread with beer,” Rae added.

They came up with the idea of a beer-infused cookie. Rae got to work developing it, trying a few different recipes. We worked on for about a month, Esposito said. But it didn’t work.” Rae, who had attended culinary school in the 1970s (when she was the only woman in her class), knew why. A cookie couldn’t absorb moisture, which either meant that the cookie wouldn’t hold together or didn’t retain the beer’s flavor. Other experiments with dry malt powder and hops also didn’t do the trick.

It lost its rhythm,” Bowens-Mercado said.

But a cupcake can absorb moisture,” Rae said. And someone thought of the pipettes,” Esposito said — which would let the customer inject the beer into the cupcake itself just before eating it, making the cupcake even richer. They also wanted to put the beer in the actual icing,” Esposito added. Rae worked on that recipe as well.

The icing is different from anyone else’s. Nobody is making icing this way. It’s my biggest secret,” Rae said. I started with French buttercream and I fixed it,” she added slyly,

Recipe For Success

Bowens-Mercado attributed the success of the partnerships, both in developing the recipe and in getting their respective brands into the local food market and beyond, partly to their creativity. We all think outside the box,” she said. I don’t think anyone at this table has had a normal thought…. We knew this was going to work because we’re all on the same page.”

The stories of their lives and businesses, though, are also about tenacity. Rae raised Esposito as a single mother. She worked three jobs and went to culinary school when Esposito was a child. Bowens-Mercado grew up seeing Bowens working side by side with her father in a construction company. The two mothers cultivated their own spirits of independence in their daughters.

There was never a thought in my mind that we couldn’t do anything we put our minds to, and that came from our mothers,” Esposito said.

Bowens recalled that Bowens-Mercado as a child was always dancing and singing and moving — and speaking her mind.”

And she nurtured that,” Bowens-Mercado said of her mother.

Rae recalled teaching Esposito to crochet at the age of six. From the minute I taught her, she was better than me,” Rae said. “‘You’re wonderful’ — that was all I said to her. I love you more than life itself.’”

The tight bonds between mothers and daughters translated easily to being business partners. In Moon Rocks, Rae handled the recipes and baking while Esposito handled the business side of things. As the business expanded — they moved from York Street to Dixwell Avenue in Hamden and now to Whitney Avenue in Hamden, in their biggest space yet — they took on a third person to help with the baking and developing recipes, a post currently held by Trisha Deceglia, herself a culinary school graduate. When Bowens-Mercado started Rhythm Brewing, Bowens came on to run sales. Together they acquired their first 15 accounts within the first week. We sold 100 cases of beer in the first four days,” Bowens-Mercado said. Restaurants loved the beer, and they loved our story,” Bowens-Mercado said. We’re the first African-American females to brew in the state.”

Women either support each other or we tear each other apart,” Esposito said. There was more power, however, in collaborating and helping each other out. Rae felt that had been true her entire life. She had relied on Esposito’s grandmother to help take care of Esposito while she worked and attended culinary school. It was uplifting,” she said; it was support when she needed it. You need people to support you. It’s usually the mother. But it also takes a village.”

Bowens agreed. She still runs the office in the family’s construction business in addition to doing sales for Rhythm Brewing. We do a lot that people don’t see. We’re always putting people up on a ladder somewhere.”

But working together as mothers and daughters also made the business joyful. You get the calls, you know, your daughter’s going to kill you. You’re too old to be doing this,’” Bowens, who is in her 70s, said with a laugh. I just go, click,’” she said, miming hanging up a phone. I have never been to so many bars and restaurants. I’ve been to the Bahamas for business … I’m having more fun than anyone can have. Give me the beer festival and the salsa nights.”

Rae, who is in her 80s, agreed. I knew in my head that I was a success, But I didn’t really feel it until we looked at each other and said, look what we did,” she said, surveying the bakery.

Moon Rocks is continuing to develop its line of cookies and cupcakes, now with Deceglia as collaborator as well. Now I don’t have to do it alone,” Rae said. Her mind works in flavors, like mine does.” Esposito continues to run the business side of things. You don’t want me in the kitchen,” she said with a laugh. Rhythm continues to contract with Black Hog Brewery for brewing and packaging as it expands its base, looking as far afield as the Caribbean. She’s always looking for the next opportunity,” Bowens said of her daughter.

Meanwhile, the two businesses will be rolling out their new cupcake with a launch party; afterward the beer-infused dessert will be available at Moon Rocks’s Whitney Avenue location, at its food truck (wherever it may be), and at beer festivals around the state.

The cupcake is delicious,” Bowens-Mercado said, but it’s bigger than the beer and the cupcake.”

Check the websites of Rhythm Brewing or Moon Rocks for the date of the launch party.

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