Straightaway Cocktails Adds Nora Furst as Director of Innovation

Straightaway Cocktails, a Portland, Oregon-based, mission-driven cocktail company, has hired award-winning bar owner, speaker, and beverage consultant Nora Furst to spearhead the brand’s next phase of innovation.

Nora has devoted her career to hospitality at the highest levels. For Nora, “Food and hospitality are the lens through which I understand everything in the world.” She opened the iconic San Francisco bar BUDDY in 2021 (earning a spot on Esquire’s Best Bars in America list), is a partner in the new Chicken Fried Palace bar and diner, and has activated nearly 30 bar programs around the world, from San Francisco to Delhi. Across those projects, she has developed a palate shaped by global flavors and ingredients, a foundation she brings to Straightaway’s next wave of innovation.

She is also the co-founder of the beverage consulting firm West Bev, a Michelin-recognized Bay Area firm, and serves as a spirits judge for the ASCOT Awards and the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, among the nation’s most prestigious. Nora has also been a fixture at industry events such as Tales of the Cocktail and BCB as a speaker and educator.

In her Director of Innovation role, Nora will lead Straightaway’s north star mission to build world-class cocktails by overseeing liquid innovation and setting the standard through technique, technology, sourcing, and beyond. She will be working within Straightaway’s vertically integrated model that brings R&D, batching, and scaling under one roof. With a deep respect for provenance, terroir, and process, she brings a distinctly creative approach to cocktail making.

“At all points in my career, the consistent, yet straightforward goal has been to simply create things that taste good, and working with Straightaway Cocktails allows for innovation without guardrails. There’s an opportunity to think outside of the box, experiment with unique ingredients, but also tap into classic cocktails and mixology history to craft award-winning drinks that are crowd-pleasers in spaces big or small,” shares Nora Furst, Director of Innovation, Straightaway Cocktails.

Commenting on Nora’s new role, CEO and Co-Founder Cy Cain said, “Nora’s leadership, creativity, knowledge, and incredible talent will take Straightaway to new heights. Her alchemist skill set is uncanny, and her views on how to express flavor and balance in a cocktail are inspirational. I am beyond excited for our customers to be able to sip the new cocktails we have coming online this year.”

About Straightaway Cocktails

Straightaway Cocktails is singular in its pursuit of the perfect cocktail. This pursuit includes sourcing real ingredients from farmers and purveyors they trust while also producing its own house liqueurs, amaros, and vermouths under its bartender-beloved Accompani brand.

That commitment has earned global recognition. Straightaway continues to garner the global industry’s highest honors for their spirits, spirit-based cocktails, and wine-based cocktails, including Best of Show from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Best RTD at the New York World Spirits Competition, and in 2025, winning RTD of the Year by Bartender Spirits Awards and BevNet’s Wine Cocktail of the Year.

Straightaway continues to expand its role as a mission-driven innovator in the cocktail space. Since 2023, Straightaway has committed to donating to the environment through its partnership with 1% for The Planet and back to the community with 1% for Human Rights. Straightaway was honored to join the B Corporation community in 2024, alongside only 43 distilleries worldwide. In 2025, the brand released a series of new cocktail collaborations with local makers, farms, and charity partners. This May, Straightaway will open its first-of-its-kind flagship bar experience in the Portland Airport, building on its developing partnerships with airlines such as Alaska Airlines and Breeze Airways.