BevNET's Cocktail Showdown

Ray Latif [00:06] Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to Bevnet's inaugural cocktail showdown. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Bevnet's Taste Radio podcast, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. Bevnet's cocktail Showdown is a pitch competition that showcases the most innovative and disruptive brands in the rapidly emerging category of ready to drink cocktails and ready to pour cocktails. The competition features 10 entrepreneurs representing early to mid-stage brands who will each have 4 minutes to present their business plans and products. Following each pitch, the judging panel will provide 5 minutes of immediate feedback, immediate and constructive feedback, that is. After all of the brands have presented, the judges will convene, pick a winner, and we will announce that winner live just after 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. We'll also have a short interview with that winner after the announcement. The champion will take home an engraved trophy and a grand prize, an advertising package valued at $10,000. I mentioned our judging panel. Let's meet our esteemed judges, beginning with Heidi Dillon Otto, who is the managing director for the North American division of Distill Ventures, an independent drinks accelerator backed by Diageo. She brings 20 years of expertise in the natural and organic beverage and food categories. As a seasoned brand marketer and innovation strategist, she's led several startup companies from inception through launch and in-market success. Very, very honored to have Heidi with us. Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you. Uh, up next is Tony Abugene, who is the owner of the Modern Mixologist. Tony is widely regarded as one of the pioneering and leading bar professionals in the world. He has made dozens of national TV appearances on shows including Today, Iron Chef America, Good Morning America, CNBC, Fox News, and more. Tony is the author of The Modern Mixologist Contemporary Classic Cocktails, which offers readers an in-depth look into spirits and ingredients available to today's mixologist. He also operates his own beverage consulting firm specializing in bar staff training, product education, and cocktail development. Also very honored to have Tony with us. Tones, I, I almost called you tones. We don't know each other that well yet, but Tony, so glad to have you. Tones works. All right. Uh, our final judge for this panel is Molly Horn, who is the cocktail strategy manager and mixologist for Total Wine and More, the country's largest independent wine, spirits, and beer retailer. Molly's many responsibilities include tasting, recruiting, branding, and marketing, new first to market spirits and RTDs. With over a decade and expertise in developing and managing bar programs in the Washington metro area. Molly supports customer education, brand launches, events, and digital marketing to drive revenue. Total wine spirit sales year to date have already crossed the $1 billion line. Molly, really excited to have you with us as well. Just, this is, as I mentioned before we started recording, the best in the business that we've got here is our judging panel, and we are so excited to have you all with us. Thank you.

Speaker 2 [03:15] Excited to be here.

Ray Latif [03:17] All right, I think it's time to get to our first contestant for this competition. Judges, you ready to hear from them. Yes. Fantastic. That first contestant is Kyle Cook, who's the founder and CEO of Lover Boy. Kyle, how are you? Excellent. Excited to be here. Honored to kick this off. Yeah, and we're honored for you to kick it off. Thanks so much. Uh, you got 4 minutes to present. Are you ready to go? Right there you go. Fantastic. Your 4 minutes begin now. All right, my name is Kyle Cook, founder of Lover Boy, and this is our espresso martini. A little bit about Lover Boy. Over Boy is one of the fastest-growing alcohol brands, and according to Business Insider, the 5th fastest-growing CPG brand in the US. We are known for our progressive, better for you adult beverages, starting with our sparkly hard teas, which we launched, uh, really as the first hard tea meets hard seltzer, the now 2 hard tea in the country. Uh, we launched our spritz as a better for you alternative to the sugary Aperol Spritz. And the Espresso martini represents our first RT cocktail clocking in at 12%. Uh, but we're more than just an alcohol supplier, we're a true lifestyle brand with 1.1 million followers across our team and our brand's Instagram page. But there's plenty of brands with big followings. I think really what distinguishes us is the level of excitement and engagement, every post, every product launch, every merch drop. Uh, as a testament to that, I mean, we've done $1.5 million worth of merch sales alone in the last 12 months, and I think that's a result of consumers gravitating towards us because we are on a mission to show the world a good time in an archaic industry. No offense. Uh, now, a little bit about the espresso martini. We found ourselves ordering this as a replacement for our Aperol spritz when we were out and about. It packs more of a punch, it's more complex, it's harder to make at home. In fact, some bartenders cut corners and use a coffee liqueur, for example. So if we can pull off a better for you version of this in a can, it really would be one of the first of its kind. Um, but lots of better for you brands can, you know, put up a bunch of clean ingredients. The question is, Does it check all the boxes that today's modern consumer demands, um, starting with taste. And so we start with real espressos. So yes, there is a touch of caffeine. We use maple water to naturally sweeten it and to deliver, uh, a creamy mouthfeel, but keep it non-dairy. We use MCT oil. And I think the end result is when you taste it, Um, you know, you feel almost like you're treating yourself and it's indulgence. Um, but then you look at the nutrition facts and you don't even feel guilty. And that's what we're all about here at Lover Boy, all about flavor and none of the guilt. Now we sell these in 8 packs for $49 direct to consumer. So that's about $3 per martini. And this is a true DTC play. Instead of, you know, most, um, you know, RTD cocktails using spirits, we use the proprietary base. That allows us to actually have a direct relationship on Shopify with tens of thousands of our customers. Um, We can't keep them in stock. You know, we launched this in April. We, we did it via text, sold $100,000 worth to our diehard fans on a text basis in the 1st 24 minutes. Um, a small restock in June after we sold out in 4 days, um, that immediately sold out. And then just two weeks ago, we processed 3000 orders off our waitlist in the first day. Um, and I think what's great is, you know, I, I assume all the brands today have an amazing tasting product. We have a very viable business model. We use direct to consumer. It's kind of like a Trojan horse into 44 states. Um, and now all the retailers and wholesalers are knocking on our door. And we're getting noticed. So I think, you know, the beverage, you know, itself, the espresso martini is spiking popularity. It's always been a top 10 cocktail. Wasn't always on everyone's radar, but now there's this nostalgic resurgence and the espresso martini is having its moment and we're taking full advantage of it. We're the #1 and #2 Google search for canned espresso martini. Um, so with that, coming up on 4 minutes, uh, again, thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to the judge's questions. All right, well done, Kyle. And indeed, stick around, the judges might have a few questions for you. Uh, a lot packed into that presentation, well done. Uh, I want to start with Molly, uh, a couple of points there. Um, Kyle mentioned that, uh, lover boy checks all the boxes for the modern consumer or that the modern consumer demands and that retailers are knocking on their door asking for their product to be Uh, put into their stores. Uh, both true? Both, uh, where do you stand on, on both comments?

Speaker 2 [08:16] So, uh, I'm actually glad you bring that up because one of my, um, first questions, and Kyle, uh, I happen to be a, uh, Bravo television watcher, um, and I wonder, um, meaning, again, to your point, no disrespect, but I wonder how much of your current business, um, and, and fans seeking attention is from, uh, right name recognition versus, um, People really wanting this exact product. And the reason I mentioned that is I, I'm curious about the, uh, considering it's a, the concept of lover boy in general, is this kind of better for you cocktail. Um, I, I, I, I think it's a, the espresso martini is, is more of a luxury. It's an indulgence. Um, so I, I'm just kind of wondering, uh, if, if you think the growth of this is sustainable or if it's kind of tied more to your current. Fame, if you will.

Ray Latif [09:16] So, I mean, look, absolutely we have a platform, we've really built a community. Um, but I think, you know, when we launch a market for, for example, with our teas, you know, we're more often than not a top 5 or top 10 hard seltzer. So we're clearly capitalizing on much more than just our audience. You know, right now, with the New York Times and Thrillist and Vice, you name it, calling me, because this is not, it's not just lover boy that's, that's pushing the espresso martini to the forefront. It's having a moment and, you know, sure, maybe we're a part of it. But I think that, you know, as we look back to these classic cocktails and add a modern twist, you know, we have others in our pipeline and I think we're just trying to be a trendsetter. I don't know if I'm answering your question, but I think it's, it's really about, you know, when people come up to me and say, oh, now I watch Summerhouse because I drink Lover Boy, that's like when it comes full circle. All right, Tony, I'm sure you've tried your fair share of espresso martinis. Uh, what do you think of Lover Boy, um, espe particularly as it relates to its, uh, it's positioning as a better for you and lower sugar version of the espresso martini. Uh, thank you. Yeah, well, I had the pleasure of having Dick Bradel make me an espresso martini at Dick's Bar in London, so. Um, I was just a little, uh, not put off, but by the comment of bartenders cheating using a, uh, coffee liqueur and the original recipe had coffee liqueur in it. So, um, curious a little bit about Two things. One, the claim of no added sugar. I find it to be a little bit on the sweet side, and if I follow the directions on the can and just pour it into the glass, that sweetness is really almost cloying. I found it. Uh, diluted, shaken, and it looked like in the picture you've got achieved that froth through shaking as well for the photo. Um, it's softened that sweetness. But could you speak to me a little bit about the sweetener and the proprietary alcohol that you spoke of? Sure. I mean, look, this would have been a lot easier if I just use vodka, but then I'm stuck to the traditional three-tier system. And we use our, you know, our direct to consumer channel as a real way to innovate and also test the consumer's appetite. So we use other than Standard Orange wine with a proprietary blend that allows us to classify it as a wine product, um, because technically speaking, it's wine. Um, we sweeten it with maple water. So it's, you know, it's a reduced version. So it's probably closer to maple syrup, quite frankly. Um, And that allows us to sweeten it with, you know, something that's low in the glycemic index. If you haven't tasted a drink that's That's sweetened with maple syrup that might catch you by surprise. And to your point, by putting it on ice is a, is a nice way to actually kind of tone down that sweetness. So we actually recommend, you know, hey, you can drink this a variety of ways. But I think shaking, just like you normally would with a martini is the way to go. And, and to your point, look, there's a lot of different ways to make an espresso martini, but there's a lot of bartenders, you know, cutting some corners too. Bartenders wouldn't do that. But when you're, when you order 10 of them at once, I mean, do that and, and, and tell me you don't get an eye roll. Heidi, uh, Kyle talked about, uh, Lover Boy's success online as a direct consumer brand. How much does that move you when you are considering investment, uh, in a ready to drink cocktail brand, uh, like the ones we're seeing today? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we're clearly coming out of the, the other side of the pandemic, this is where it's been at for the last year and a half. So great job on, you know, everything you've achieved there. I think one of my primary questions, well, actually twofold, um, here you are focusing mostly on the espresso martini in your presentation. So if that's really. Kind of the halo you're leading with, um, I, I guess I wanted to clarify a little bit for the consumer how you're walking them through your cocktails and then you do have this online experience. Are the other two kind of a side driver of the espresso martinis first? I think I just wanted to clarify how you're presenting yourself, you know, digital forward, what that looks like. Yeah, so I always wanted to be an omni-channel brand. Um, so our sparkling hard teas are sold through, you know, beer wholesalers. It takes 500 to cover the country. So one of the reasons why we launched the direct to consumer line was a way to leapfrog that, um, and kind of, you know, like I said, own that consumer data in the vast majority of the country. And, um, you know, it's our, it's our sparkling hard teas that drive the majority of our revenue. Um, I mean, we did 3/4 of a million of the espresso martini in the last 4 months. And so when we see a ton of demand, we take a DTC product and start to talk about traditional distribution. So it's, it's really thinking of it both ways. I will admit, for the average consumer, they wonder why they can't buy our hard teas online, but they can buy our spritz and our espresso. There's a bit of an educational process, being an omni-channel brand in alcohol, you know, it's not, it's not easy because You know, you can't educate someone with one Instagram post. Well, uh, really interesting stuff, Kyle. Thank you so much for the presentation and happy birthday. Is, uh, is it your birthday? I see the balloons behind you. Uh, yeah, last week they're still going strong. Oh nice, thank you. 39, baby. Yeah, it's typically helium doesn't last that long, but well done. All right, thank you. Thank you. Let's move on to our next contestant for the showdown. That's Pete Nenglosky, who is the co-founder and CEO of Drifter Cocktail Company. Pete, how are you? Good. How are you? Fantastic. Thanks so much for joining us today. Really excited to hear your presentation. You've got 4 minutes. Are you ready to present for 4 minutes? Ready to go. Fantastic. Your 4 minutes are going to begin now. Excellent. Hi, judges, how are you doing? Uh, Pete Devannglosky from Drifter Cocktail Co. A few key pieces of what we do here. Uh, it's all about discovery, the traditions of spirit production and cocktails, uh, of all these amazing places around the world. Their riffs on classics as done with amazing bartenders, uh, from around the world. So unique takes on that. Uh, and they're rooted in beautiful spirits, uh, where we really talk through the provenance, uh, and all natural ingredients. So we got here. This is actually uh one of my co-founders, Nate Whitehouse and myself at, uh, at our cane field in Brazil. Our first product was Avoacacha, so we actually launched it in Milk and Honey uh with Sasha Petrovsky. And uh so we got into the game of beverage alcohol, um, in craft spirits and really fell in love with Uh, the way bartenders were taking phenomenal ingredients, discovering those, riffing on it, etc. and telling those stories. So we've been telling those stories for the last 10 years throughout the US, Europe, and beyond ourselves. We have a growing spirits portfolio that plays into the cans. Launching Avalon in 2013, we formed Drifter, which is kind of the portfolio in 2017. Uh, we launched an Aquabeat in 2019, uh, which is really kind of an homage to the tradition of that that we make in Brooklyn, New York with a gentleman named Alan Katz. Uh, but we worked with two guys who worked under Klaus Meyer, uh, who opened Noma with Renee. So very culinary forward, and these spirits are the basis of our cocktails. Um, and then we launched, uh, cans in 2021. I'll get you into that. Uh, we have a, a tequila coming, which is already in the can, uh, before it goes live that we make with the Orendine family. Uh, so one of the original five families, uh, the only current independent called Palladar. Uh, the other thing that we did is we're really engaged with the bar community. This is actually, uh, me presenting at an event called Tiki by the Sea. Uh, but what we do is we're really close partners with a number of amazing bartenders that we've gotten to know, uh, and we wanted to tell their story as well through this product. Uh, so, kind of three key points about it. One quality, and this is really everything, right? Amazing spirits is the basis, right? Uh, and we believe in spirits and a canned cocktail as being the differentiator from a malt-based beverage, um, as well as the all-natural ingredients, and they're all listed on the back where we source them, super transparent. Uh, renowned is about amazing bartenders from Mirena Mercer in Las Vegas, to Nico De Soto in New York, to Michael Neff in Houston, Texas, and then Discovery is really this mission of telling the story of both the spirit, the way it's produced, and the bartender and their interpretation. So here's an example, the passion fruit caipaninha, which includes agua prata, again, uh, made by a 3rd generation woman distiller in Brazil with a state grown cane. The other elements, unique notes here, vanilla, cardamom and lemongrass. So we're going a bit beyond what might be expected or what might be seen in the market currently. Uh, this is Mirena. She's amazing. She ran the Cosmo and now runs the Wynn. So really brilliant, really creative bartender. We start with a recipe from those bartenders. We work with a food scientist crew to make sure it's shelf stable, um, but still, uh, kind of pays homage or, or, or is true to form to the recipe idea as it stood, uh, that we originally received. And then Avo prata Kashasa, uh, They've been produced in Kashasa Katia since 1923. The cane is grown on the estate. It's wild yeast fermented, it's single pot distilled, and no electricity used in this process. So it's a key part of telling these components of the story. Uh, the next, the next product, I'm so sorry you're out of time, but wow, sorry, yeah, no, no problem. Hey, I think you guys got the vibe on, on what we're doing here though, and of course you've tasted it. Well, uh, I, I, I believe all the judges have tasted it, and I'm excited to hear what the judges think. Uh, Tony, let's start with you. I have a feeling you probably Know some of the bartenders that have worked with Drifter. What are your initial thoughts on the 4 skews that you that you tasted, and do they live up to this, to everything that Pete talked about in terms of premium spirits and really mixologist forward formulations? Well, first off, uh, hi, Pete. My hat goes off to you for engaging these great bartenders in the creation of the drink recipes, as well as celebrating these spirits. Uh, I love that you identify them and tell the story. So thank you for both of those things. Um, I, I know your kushaa well. I love it. In the Caipirinha, that's what was missing for me was A little more of that beautiful cashasa flavor. And I understand at 7%, it's probably difficult to really push the spirit, but any thoughts on getting both that and in the margarita and your Moscow mule of all the mules that I've tasted was my favorite. So congratulations on the mule, but Any thoughts on my concern with bringing up the spirit content? Yeah, good to see you, Tony, and thank you very much for the kind words. Yeah, I mean, honestly, this category, it's considered a cocktail highball, right? So we tested 79, 11%, uh, 12 is kind of the north end of it. We actually didn't get much more of the spirit, even at 12%, and obviously you lose on viability and sessionability with it. So I think the reality is based on the concept of where we're at, unless we were to make a smaller can that's true to form cocktail at call it 25, 30%, you're probably not going to get all that nuance. That said, I think what you get is very amazing balance, right? You can taste. You're maybe getting less of the great, but you're getting none of the bad, and I think even at 7%, if you're using bad ingredients, it comes through. I mean, you have amazing palate. All the judges here have an amazing palate, and consumers are getting a lot more sophisticated. Yeah, let's talk about consumers for a second because Pete mentioned that they're building through the bar community, which is kind of the opposite of what we heard from our last presenter. Heidi, what do you think of that approach as it relates to ready to drink cocktails specifically? You're reading my mind. This was exactly my question. Um, I wanted to just hear a little bit about your kind of, yeah, on versus off-premise strategy. I really liked how you touched on the culinary notes. I also had questions on sides the can, which you touched on. So maybe just take it from that approach of how you think you'll work with the on-premise versus off and what your vision. Totally. Uh, I mean, clearly off-premise is the place where consumers are going to pick this up. This is going to be the heaviest volume channel, but we've been living in the on-premise for a long time. We think it's a great place to drive trial and interest and, and this is a category that's now become a category that is now seeing itself. In usage in high-end restaurants, hotels, etc. So we're working with MGM, we're working with the Cosmo, we're working with golf courses. So these kind of in-between quick service environments, this is a great tool to provide something really high quality, uh, but still a year of shelf stability, etc. So we think the bulk of our business, you know, probably 60% plus, will still be. Um, you know, off-premise accounts and, and we're starting to build in that universe both in independence and corporate retail, uh, including a bit of Total, uh, which we'd love to do more. Uh, but, uh, but yeah, no, and we, we, we certainly think that direct to consumer, quote unquote, uh, will be relevant for us. That's still running through. Uh, brick and mortar legally because of the spirit aspect, but we can ship to 40+ states through a network that we've created. So all three of those are relevant channels for us, um, and you know, kind of the on and the direct to consumer, quote unquote, are really great trial drivers and awareness drivers. They're going to make sure the product is moving at high velocity in the off-premise. And Molly, you know, authenticity is a big part of what Pete talked about in terms of how this brand is positioned and marketed. How much do consumers factor authenticity in a, in a brand story when they are buying products like these?

Speaker 2 [23:55] That's such a great question, Ray, because I think that um one of the interesting things that I've noticed from this whole competition is that we have a lot of high-end RTDs, which is really kind of an innovative approach to the RTD sector. There's not that many in the market currently, so everyone who's entered this competition is already ahead of the trend. Um, but I think one of the things I'd like to see in that area and particularly with. Considering it, um, Pete, that you guys have this relationship with Sasha Petrovsky and Milk and Honey, and I mean, these are all people I've looked up to my whole life and have had the honor of learning from some of his apprentices. Um, I, I would love to see that more, uh, prominently displayed in the packaging. I think that when you and I'm curious about how you, how you think about who you're marketing towards, but I think the consumer who is going to be interested in these high-end RTDs is an educated consumer who would be very drawn into that aspect. So I think featuring it in some way in the packaging would very much be to your benefit, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that.

Ray Latif [25:07] And Pete, we're, we're, uh, we're a little short on time. So if, uh, if you can, uh, keep your, uh, keep your comments brief, uh, that would be great. Totally. Um, to me, craft beer is the analogy here. We're entering a new territory. What I will say is, and I don't know if you could see that, the, the bartender and their story is on the back of the can. That said, a chunk of our effort, both from press and social media is telling their story. So we really do want to highlight that their unique take on it has really helped make this a unique premium product along with how it's produced. All right, well, Pete, great job on your presentation. Uh, we're looking, really looking forward to trying this product, uh, like I said, after the show, uh, but, uh, I look forward to staying in touch. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. All right, up next we have Brana Scillo, who is the founder and CEO of Fisher Island Lemonade. Brana, how are you? Excuse me, Fisher's Island Lemonade. Thanks, Ray. Good to see you. Great to see you as well. It's been a while, but I'm very happy that you're joining us as part of this competition. All right, your 4 minutes will begin now. Very

Speaker 3 [26:14] nice to meet you all. My name is Bran Ycillo. I am the founder of Fisher's Island Lemonade. I just want to say thank you to the Bevnet team for putting this all together. It's been a long time coming, and I'm excited to be included in this. Thank you to our judges, and I hope you guys all enjoyed our samples. If not, enjoy them later. Uh, but I'm here to tell you a little bit more about myself and the Fisher's Island Lemonade brand. Um, I created this company back in 2014, so we're on to our seventh year here, and our mission was to create the highest quality, best tasting drinking cocktail in the United States. I think we're well off to our way with that. One of the things that we're really proud of is connecting with our consumers, whether that be in person, at events, our bartender friends on the on-premise accounts, all the way down to our social media platforms. And that's definitely something that we're very proud of and continue to uh engage in. Something else here that I just wanted to call out is that we were one of the first, uh, canned cocktails to hit the market, like I said, back in 2014. This is something that I had my aha moment behind the bar, uh, that my family owned out on Fishers Island called the Picott Inn. One thing that makes us fairly unique is the fact that we are one of the only dual spirit-based canned cocktails on the market today. Uh, that consists of our family recipe that has been served and known for generations. And that consists of vodka, barrel aged whiskey, a little hint of lemon, and honey. And that's an uncarbonated product that's been around for generations and I started canning in 2014. The difference is this is a very delicious, full-flavored product that you can see is the difference between a lot of the uh RTDs, FMBs, seltzers that are starting to come on the market. Uh, we've entered into a handful of competitions and it definitely racked up some nice medals and awards and pressed to go along with that. We're very proud of some of these that we've, uh, gotten a chance to participate in. And one of the other finding factors of this uh product here is that this comes from a real person, a real place, it is the real ingredients. So hopefully you guys get a chance to enjoy this in your happy place this summer. A little bit more about our story. Fishers Island is actually part of New York State. It's a little island off the coast of Connecticut. It's been around, um, you know, I've been going there my entire life and my family has owned the bar out there, and this is where it really got its start. It's very well known for its natural beauty, oysters, sailing, fishing, golfing, your traditional New England summer. So we're really excited to have launched this at our community and having it be a part of other communities wherever canned cocktails will let you go. A little bit more about our success in 2020. It was definitely a bit of a breakout year for Can Cocktails. We sold over 100,000 cases, uh, almost reaching triple-digit growth. We also racked up a couple of titles being the number one selling spirit-based lemonade in, um, the RTD category, not only in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. We do have a small footprint, uh, starting out in our backyard, a mile deep before a mile wide approach is our strategy. Uh, very proud of the Hot Prospect Award that we received from Impact and Chankin. As well as Drizzly's ranking us as the top three, sorry, top three selling RTD brands in 2020 as well. Uh, we have actually increased our distribution to 14 states this year, adding in, uh, Maryland and Delaware in the last month or so. So we're really proud to be coming down the East Coast and answering, you know, everybody's demands for the hottest lemonade out there. In April of 2021, we're really excited to launch our newest family members. So for the last six years, we have been pretty much trekking down this course, uh, with one SKU. I think that's a pretty great accomplishment for any brand to be able to go about, as well as being in such a new canned cocktail category. So we're really excited to share with you what we brought to market, uh, which is our spiked tea, our pink flamingo, our Fishers Island Fizz, and the Fishers Island Spirit Pop, which I'm about to go through a little bit more on here.

Ray Latif [30:15] Uh, I'm sorry, Brian. I wish you could go on a little bit further, but your time is up. Uh, thank you so much for the presentation. Well done. You definitely made me want to go to Fisher's Island like now. Uh, so thank you. Should I? Oh,

Speaker 3 [30:29] you already did it for me.

Ray Latif [30:32] Heidi, let's start with you. You know, Fisher's Island lemonade seems to have already kind of proven itself in the market ahead of the trend. I think, you know, there might be a question out there about potential, you know, where can this brand go from here after it's already done as much as it has. Do you see even greater potential for Fisher's Island at this point? Yeah, I think this kind of gets to my two key questions, and Ronnie, really cool to hear your story. Thanks. Wanted to ask you around where you saw kind of moving west, so to speak, because I'm based in California and I didn't have any clue what Fisher's Island was and was such an anchor point there, how do you tell that story and Kind of move west so that maybe you could touch on that and then within that too you've launched several new SKUs, um, great job on those. I do think they could be pulled apart a bit more like differentiated more they were a little too similar to me. So again with your sort of consumer build and the product build, how do you see that coming together?

Speaker 3 [31:31] Sure, thank you, Heidi. So, uh, great, great question. We're definitely excited to expand further west as well as further down south. Um, you know, for the last 6 years, really been educating a lot of people of what canned cocktails are, as well as our distributor partners, retailers, consumers. So I felt like in the last 2 years, things have really just become, you know, known as to what we're putting in a can and saying what you are versus what you aren't, you know, like uh a spiked FMB. Um, so we absolutely are answering a lot of distributor demands as well as putting on DTC so that we can try to expand out there and get people a little bit of a flavor of, of what we have to offer. Um, as for the lemonade skew, um, just being, you know, carried across each of the products, that really is Roots and you know having coming from a real on-premise place and identifying a bit of an efficiency play and trying to create the canned cocktail sort of segment as it is today, that's something that is really just identifying piece of who we are as a brand and

Ray Latif [32:30] carrying

Speaker 3 [32:30] on

Ray Latif [32:31] the

Speaker 3 [32:31] lemonade

Ray Latif [32:31] flavor throughout all of our products. Molly, you know, consumers fairly or not, are going to look at, uh, hard or spiked lemonades and compare one of the two. I mean, do you see, do you see that as a fair comparison? Do you see that as a fair sort of trade-off in that, uh, consumers are going to be, um, looking at Fisher's I in the same way they might as Mike's or are they doing that?

Speaker 2 [32:56] I think that's another great question. I think that one of the challenges that this brand will face, especially to Heidi's question as they expand into areas that maybe haven't heard of this region or don't know what the brand association means, um, is that because they are canned cocktails, but, but aside from the effervescent fizzy tall can. They're, they're still, um, I think there's, there's a a slightly confusing message there to people who aren't expecting that, and I think that ties back to um what you're asking. So I, I'm curious about why the choice to have them all be still. So when something like Mike's uh does so well in the national brand category of, you know, it's been around forever and it's still a lot of uh Gen Z and millennials kind of go to, and, and I'd imagine that's probably your, uh, clientele. So I, I, I'd wonder, um, your thoughts on that.

Speaker 3 [34:01] Sure, absolutely. So, um, You know, overall, the, the roots of their brand having started the on-premise and already having a consumer base is definitely something that's really key to our already pre-existing, you know, customers. So they already knew it as a cocktail, similar to, you know, some of the other bartenders that had been showcased. So we really want to make sure that we stayed consistent and didn't sort of disregard what they already knew as Fisher's Island Lemonade, because we just simply canned the recipe that has already been Served, honestly, you know, with my uncle and his kids and everything. So I wanna make sure that we stay true to that. You know, given the whole seltzer craze and everything that is, you know, carbonation, um, I think that there's definitely a strong point there, but this is definitely a differentiator for us, and it's incredibly satisfying. I really do think as much as our story is authentic and key and a really major, like, icing on the cake, The liquid does quite, you know, well sell itself. And you pour that over rice, you pull that out of the cooler out of the fridge, and you crack that, and it's an over, I think it's, you know, a very refreshing beverage to crack and to share, and it's diversifying, you know, the fact that it's not just another carbonated, you know, cocktail, and it's a unique recipe that's not like anything else you guys have seen out there.

Ray Latif [35:16] Yeah, Tony, we only have a few seconds left, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on that recipe. Vodka, belied, whiskey, honey, and lemon. Did it, uh, did it fit the bill for you? I, I loved it, absolutely loved it. And Ray, when you said it took you to Fisher's Island when the package arrived and I opened it up, it took me somewhere. I didn't know where Fisher's Island was, but I imagined this beach community and everything from the story to the history and the are behind it and the flavor and at 9%, it really developed uh in the glass over ice. It stood up. Um, I, I, I thought it was fantastic and I enjoyed the journey. And I love your little tag phrase. Uh, here's the summer never ending.

Speaker 3 [35:56] Love

Ray Latif [35:56] it.

Speaker 3 [35:59] Thank you. Find your island, everybody.

Ray Latif [36:01] Thank you very much, Brana. Well done, and uh I look forward to, uh, having some Fisher's Island lemonade, uh, in a little bit. Thank you. All right, on to our next contestants for Bevnet's cocktail showdown. That's Darren Grea and Julian Mohammed, the co-owners of Wandering Barman. Darren, Julian, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having us. I'm excited to be here. Your 4 minutes will begin now. Hi, I'm Darren. This is Julian, uh, our co-founder Roxanne. I will be tuning in with terrible Wi Fi from the village in Corsica. We are wandering barman, and we make a lot of handcrafted cocktails. As hospitality veterans, we have an overarching belief that this industry is always in need of solution-driven products, not just CPGs, and that's the case now more than ever. Right, uh, COVID has laid the hospitality industry vulnerabilities completely at bay. A little story, a brief story about us or our story. We opened a New York Times acclaimed restaurant, and that restaurant had a comprehensive craft cocktail program to match, but we quickly found out that it was impossible for our bartenders to keep up with cocktail service during peak hours, and at that time we were planning to open a craft cocktail bar right next door. So now we're hyper aware of the time it takes to make a cocktail massively impacts the online. Slow speed of service means frustrated customers and lost sales. So we hit the road and after years of R&D we figured out how to make batch cocktails as good as made to order. We put them in kegs and we opened an all draft cocktail bar with 21 cocktails on tap and one bartender single-handedly attending a 50 seat bar. From there we bottled out cocktails for wholesale and sold them to other bars and restaurants that were also struggling to maintain their own craft cocktail programs. For other bars and restaurants to want to serve our cocktails and for their customers to actually want to drink them, we knew that we had to make them as good as made to order. So we made the focus of our brand 100% about the drink, not just our rock star bartender personalities or parents' values. Our drinks are handcrafted from scratch. We make our own bitters, amaros, mousse. We make our own syrups and infusions. We do all of it in-house. Complexity and balance is key. Every ingredient listed on the bottle you can taste, and it's important to us that our drinks are as complex and flavorful as the food that they may be consumed with. We use all natural ingredients. Even the acids we use are naturally occurring food derived acids. Vertical integration means we can ensure quality at every step of the chain from R&D to batching to bottling. We do it all in-house, and transparency is key for us. What's in the bottle is listed on the bottle. We've got nothing to hide. All of this plus our strategic on-premise focus is bringing a solution to many of the pain points experienced in the provision of craft cocktail programs in the hospitality industry. We help bars and venues offer craft cocktails with less waste, less training, greater consistency, increased speed of service, and easier inventory management. And all of this combined with us setting our cocktails at the right price so bars and restaurants can maintain a 4 to 5 times markup means increased profitability for them. What's that I hear you say? What about all those people at home that could be enjoying the drinks? Well, what we've found is that an on-premise focus has actually driven our off-premise sales. In the beginning when we were self-distributing, we put zero energy into securing on-premise accounts. But after experiencing our cocktails in their favorite bars and restaurants, consumers were asking their local wine and liquor stores about our products. Before long, those stores were contacting us to carry us. We're seeing Bob craft cocktails as the perfect opportunity to expand the market for RTDs. The wins that we're most proud of are when we open up new channels that have never before served craft cocktails, uh, co-working spaces and, and golf courses, for example. Another win, we are opening a 5000 square foot production space, uh, and cocktail brasserie, a sort of cocktail group pub if you will. Here we'll have a cocktail lab and a bar and we'll be running, uh, batch and cocktail seminars. We see that as another way to further legitimize batchcraft cocktails. And to summarize, with the market for spirits-based RTVs increasing 39% to 489 billion in 2020 and could reach up to $7 billion in the coming years, it is our time to shine. Our strategic goal is to help grow this category in a way that is sustainable while adding value to the supply chain wherever we can. Thank you, thank you. We did it. You did indeed, Darren Julian, very well done. Great presentation. Uh, let's take it to the judges. Tony, uh, there was something that really stood out to me, uh, uh, in the presentation. It was, it's all about the drink. If, uh, they didn't taste as good, uh, as, as they did, uh, to order, we wouldn't be doing this. Um, did you feel the same way? Were these drinks the same, uh, quality that you would get from a bar? Pretty much across the board. I, I was pleased with that. I mean, the use of ingredients, the complexity. I almost question uh if they might be a little too complex for the average consumer. Um, a lot of interesting ingredients, uh, as the gentleman mentioned, they do all stand out, some a little. Uh, maybe out of balance in the case of the smoke, I found was just a little off-putting, uh, not off-putting, but a little, it, it kind of took away from the whiskey for me. But the, the creativity on these and the names and the art and the packaging, um, it, it takes me to a craft cocktail bar for sure. Well done. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, you know, Tony brings up an interesting point, Heidi, about, you know, how does this fit into the average cocktail consumer's purchasing habits, and I wonder, you know, do you see this as a scalable brand given the complexity of their operations, given the complexity of the cocktails? Are these the solution-driven products that Darren and Julian described? Yeah, no, great question. I think the way that you guys have presented this is great because you really are looking at it from a bartender need, starting with the on-premise and you've got sort of this specialty channel, you know, you have that slide up at the end of a lot of different ways that this can come to life. You know, scalability from a grocery, liquor, off-premise might be different, but I think there's a different way to crack this one, which is really intriguing to me. Um, totally agree. The recipes, the cocktails, the form, the bottle, the artwork just delivers something really unique. And look, I think consumers are looking for elevated experiences. They're curious about ingredients, and they want to have really interesting choices across the board, and we're seeing that more and more, and you guys have really nailed all three of those. So super interested. Um, I have plenty more questions to ask, so, uh, we'll leave that for another time, but great job. Super interesting proposition. Well, let's hear from Molly, and then we can come back to you, Heidi, if you have some additional questions. You know, Molly, it's interesting because typically we hear brands going from on to off, excuse me, from well on to off, and I wonder, do you see, you see the same sort of path for Wandering barman? Is it as simple as as we've seen in the past?

Speaker 2 [43:06] You know, it's interesting because as someone who went from restaurants for the last 15 years and being a beverage director, uh, to now being at Total Wine and being off-premise, I've really kind of seen, um, the way that changed. Changes your consumer base because when you're talking about on-premise, you have a fairly educated consumer who knows what they like. They're, um, they're, they're, they have fluidity, uh, or, or like, um, spoken language that that shared with the bartender about what the ingredients are. If somebody says like, oh, it has rose hips, you're like, oh, I know what that means, versus a Uh, average person who shops at a store, um, they're maybe not quite as eloquent. So, um, I'm, I'm, I think this product is fantastic. I think the branding is excellent. I think you guys did such a great job with the packaging. I'm curious about a couple things, um, one of them being what the suggested retail is, with the size of it. I think that, like, it being kind of flask shaped is a great, like, buy-in for the average home consumer. Um, but considering people aren't necessarily super familiar with the ingredients that you have listed on the back, like, how are you going to bridge that gap to the consumer who isn't super educated?

Ray Latif [44:31] Um, well, most of our drinks are plays on classics, um, so, uh, we, we kind of elevate the classics, but you'll recognize an old fashioned or a daiquiri, for example, so that's part of, part of that. Um, we're also finding that by focusing on premise, the, uh, bartenders, restaurant owners, bar owner, uh, bar owners, uh, uh, end up being kind of ambassadors and doing a lot of that bridging. For us, um, people trust what they receive or the, uh, uh, the recommendations of their bartenders, and they're open to new experiences in that way. Um, yeah, I don't know, so some of the education comes from the on-premise, yeah, uh, which they can then take to, you know, their liquor store or, or grocery store and, and, you know, find the product that they, that they have and, and, and like. We're definitely focusing on boutique stores to begin with until uh mainstream cat catches up with with classic cocktails. Um, yeah, yeah,

Speaker 2 [45:29] which will always take some time.

Ray Latif [45:33] Heidi, I'll give you 30 seconds if you want to throw one of those questions in there. Yeah, I mean, same thing, question on the kind of pricing and margin structure, like how do you see the sustainability of that and also shelf life because that's where you run scalability issues is around pricing and shelf stability. So those are two of my big ones. Um so we will. We can off screen we can tell you about our price and breakdown of the cost to us, but suggested retail price in liquor stores is between $5.08 dollars. Bars and restaurants, they sell them for 10 to $14. We bars and restaurants sell them at the same price as their regular cocktails. That gives us more legitimacy. And there was one more thing in there shelf life. Store them the same way they store, uh, beer and wine. Like these, they will age in the bottle, but they, they won't go back. Um, and we kind of, we wanna put these in high volume situations. We're finding that the greatest volume for us happens to be in, in on premise because if they put it on the menu, it just sells. But if it goes into liquor stores and people don't know who we are, it will just, it will just sit there. Uh, so that's, yeah, that's our, our idea. Yeah, OK. All right, thank you very much, Darren, Julian, thank you so much. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's move on to our 5th contestants for this competition. We have Christy Noonson, John Noonson, and Ken D, the co-founders of Brodie's Crafted Cocktails. Christy, John, Ken, how are you? Good. How are you? Doing great. Doing great. Looks like you're ready to go. Uh, you have 4 minutes to present. Are you ready to go? I think we're ready to go. Fantastic. Your 4 minutes begin now. Hi, I'm Christie, founder of Brody's Crafted Cocktails, and I'm here with my co-founders John and Ken. Brody's was created in my kitchen when John worked to perfect my favorite cocktail, the French 75. I'm not a beer or wine drinker, and it was always, I was always looking for a consistently good cocktail but was having trouble finding it, so John decided to make it for me. Although this was very sweet of him to do, there were still two issues. One, it was time-consuming to me. Every time I wanted a cocktail or we entertained guests, John was stuck making drinks, and two, I couldn't take it anywhere with me. Since John and Ken have experience in the beverage industry, they were discussing different brands and launches one afternoon, and it struck me that if we bottled something like my favorite French 75, we might be onto something, and that is when the concept of Brodie's was born. And so we proudly introduced Brody's, a unique line of authentic crafted cocktails with properly balanced flavor profiles. We designed these cocktails to be enjoyed on their own, or adding a sparkling component to make them really shine. We gave the consumer this choice because everyone has different preferences for the sparkling, as well as the added benefit of not having to drink go flat once opened. We have a line of 5 cocktails that range from 16 to 25% ABV with a suggested price range of $12 to $14. Knowing that they had to be perfect, we took our time in making sure that the taste and flavor profiles were accurate and authentic. Our initial five offerings consisted of two gin-based cocktails, the French 75 and Touch of Gray, 2 vodka-based cocktails, the Black Orchid and Minted Mule, and one rum-based cocktail, the Air Male. Our target demographic is older millennials and Gen Xers, a group that together has a spending power of nearly $3 trillion annually. This demographic enjoys more intimate gatherings with those they love, like small dinner parties at home, days at the beach, camping trips, and many events with their kids. They're busy in their daily lives with work and youth activities and relish the downtime they have and the moments they make in that time. They're extremely loyal, they're extremely loyal to brands, and Brody is appealing to them because we are convenient, consistently good, customizable, all-natural, and mission-driven, which we'll talk about in just a bit. With the formulation set, supply chain ready to roll, and a fresh set of awards from the annual Soup Awards in New York International Spirits Competition, we were ready to execute our three-phase sales and marketing launch plan. Phase 1 began on May 1st of this year and primarily focused on proof of concept in our local market with retailers as well as consumers. Our small yet ambitious team personally placed Brody's with several dozen independent liquor stores and small chain locations with a success rate of nearly 90%. With confidence that retailers were indeed looking for products like Brody's, we were then able to gauge consumer acceptance through sampling events. Once again, our try and buy success rate was nearly 90%. With phase one nearly complete, phase two is already underway. Focusing on traditional distributor relationships and engaging with strong sales and marketing partners, Brody's has already committed to a multi-market phase 2 strategy targeting Florida, Louisiana, and Connecticut, which are already under agreement with both distribution and retail, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Our near term target for phase 2 is to obtain at least 200 committed locations by the end of the year. Phase 3, which can run concurrently with the other phases, focuses on innovation for the 2022 season. After launching with gin, vodka, and rum, we recognize the need for equally superb offerings in bourbon as well as tequila. Quite often we are asked why Brodie's, and we always enjoy sharing the story. Many years ago, our first puppy, Monty, a Brittany spaniel, who was featured on the French 75 label, was an incredibly important member of our young family. While we consider that as a basis for the brand, we've realized that each of our founders has an equally inspiring relationship with their canine companions. So as a way to honor them all, we combined letters from their names to create Brody, everyone's favorite companion. Speaking of the dogs, our adoptive mission at Brody is to give back to our community the way, in a way of improving the lives of pets in need. We love our dogs and hate seeing any dogs suffer, so we're getting back up to 5% of our proceeds to assisting shelters, vets, and other organizations that help animals in need. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well done. All right, this is the first multi-serve, uh, cocktail brand that we've seen, I guess, you know, you could probably swing this in one sitting, but, um, you know, to each his own, right? Um, Molly, I'm interested to hear. I mean, what do you think of the potential for multi-serves like this? We've seen multi-serve cocktail, uh, ready to drink, ready to pour cocktail brands in the prep, in the past, uh, you know, do you see some of the, do you see some, some runway for success for a brand like Brody's?

Speaker 2 [51:46] Uh, so, great question. I think with the price point and the alcohol percentage, that is definitely something that consumers would be drawn into because they have, you know, that's, that's something that people look at when they're walking down the shelf is like. How much value are they getting for their dollar? Um, I do think, uh, personally, uh, based on the flavor profile, having tasted them without, uh, club soda or sparkling wine and on their own over the rocks. I, I, I think that they, it, it might almost behoove you guys to, uh, maybe focus on it being something that needs a little bit of dilution. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's, it's kind of awesome, and there's nothing on the market like it, where it's like, this is the base of a cocktail, you just have to add club soda or sparkling wine. Uh, I, I almost think that's more unique, and I think it's, it's difficult to find the right balance of flavor of something that will taste, you know, equally full bodied on its own or with sparkling wine, and I'm not quite sure that it's, it's there in this, in this package, so that would be my one. One piece of advice, but in general, uh, I think it's fantastic. And the one other thing I would say is, um, I would love to see something about the fact that you guys are giving back to the adoption animal community on the packaging. I think that's something that people will really be drawn to. And if I hadn't known that, I maybe wouldn't have picked it up.

Ray Latif [53:21] OK. Thank you. Thank you. Definitely great suggestions. I think one of the things you pointed out about the product being very citrus forward is we were trying to find that proper balance between being citrus in its base, but also in a way that once it gets diluted, Added with a sparkling component or a club soda that it's not over diluted and tasting watered down. So there's a fine line there and we're right walking on the edge of that. But definitely with the mission based piece we'll definitely take that under advisement. Appreciate that. Tony, did you get to try Brody's cocktails and the three ways that they suggested chilled over ice and add or to add bubbles, um, you know, and if so, what are your thoughts on the taste of these beverages? Well, first of all, French 75 is one of my favorite drinks, so I was very, very excited. To try that. Um, I did not try it with the bubbles, uh, because I, I approached all of these as a ready to drink. I did try it over ice, all of them over ice and chilled meat. Um, I also seem to feel the acidity pretty much across the line was a little high. Uh, and again, when I think of ready to drink, if I'm gonna get the bubbles and add that, it, it becomes more of a part of the overall drink. Um, so, frankly, if I'm making a French 75, I'm gonna squeeze a little lemon juice, put some simple in there and gin, and add the bubbles. Uh, that said, I would like to see more information on the bottle also. Uh, it doesn't really, you know, serving 5 if If I don't finish it, do I refrigerate it? How long will it stay refrigerated after opening? Um, a little more of the story. I love the dogs. I'm, I'm a big dog person. So thank you for doing that. That, that's, that's huge. And I think you should share that. But, um, uh, pretty much across the board, I, I I, I think it needs a little, I don't know what, uh, balance maybe is the word that I'm looking for, but, uh, even the dilution on ice intensified that acidic nature that I get, uh, after finishing it, so. OK. OK. Um, as far as the shelf life goes to refrigeration, it does not need to be refrigerated after opening, and that's one of the reasons why we made it still because you wouldn't have to choose, drink the whole bottle the entire time. Uh, it's got a two-year shelf life, uh, so it does, it can last for, for a while. Again, it's only in a 375 mL bottle. So, um, we were, we were again initial offering, we weren't sure we don't wanna give too big of a size for somebody to, um, who didn't know what we were offering. So, uh, we know we have the education of the consumers that we're working through, and I appreciate the feedback. Heidi, you get the last word and last questions to, uh, Christy, John and Ken. Uh, go for it. Yeah, I mean, I think um both of our other judges have hit on similar space that I had was just really helping the consumer get through uh how to use this product. I struggled to, you know, know, I, I tried all the variations and some were better than others. Um, so I think, you know, making a bit of a decision to get pointed on that and be clear with the consumer of, you know, how you would actually suggest that for sure, um, sort of, I guess to that end with the consumer. Um, maybe what you could do is just share a bit about where you think some sweet spots are to really educate the consumer and if this is a lifestyle brand, you know, I think it's really about how to, you know, when and where and how do I drink this, and nailing that how to drink seems to be an area we're all touching on. So curious about the other thoughts. Um, you know, as far as the, the concept, and again, thank you for, for your feedback. Um, you know, we, we definitely have been learning that as we engage with the consumers and sample with, uh, with an added component to it and showing them how how to enjoy it, and that's usually what happens. Somebody buying a bottle of Prosecco, hey, we've got an opportunity for you to pair this with Prosecco, and it really does hit home. And that was really the, the, the genesis of the, of the project was how do we have a French 75 that's shelf stable without the bubbles that Christie tends to like a very specific type of champagne that most people would say do not put that in a French 75, but she does. Some people don't like bubbles and some people would rather just have seltzer. Agreed. That really ends up being more of the focus of the brand. Each of these actually originates from a sparkling style cocktail, um, but engaging with the consumer and having them become a part of the process as opposed to just giving them something that's complete and ready to go. Yeah, yeah. Run with that. That's what's working. Run with it and be more specific, I would say, on that sparkling piece for sure. Excellent. Thank you. Yeah, great feedback. Great presentation. Well done, Christy, John, and Ken. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, on to our next contestant for this episode. That's Neil Cohen, who's the co-founder of Tip Top Proper Cocktails. Neil, how are you? I'm doing great, thank you. How are you? I'm doing great, great, uh, great to see you and excited to hear your presentation. You got 4 minutes. You ready to go? Sure, yeah, fantastic. Your 4 minutes will begin now. Thank you to BevNET and to the judges for the opportunity to highlight our growing category of prepared cocktails and specifically my brand Tip Top Proper Cocktails. I'm Neil Cohen, one of the founders of Tip Top, along with my childhood friend, Yoni Reisman. We're on an exciting journey and I'm glad to be able to share some of this with you today. Um, our journey began as music festival producers, and we spoke to consumers, concessionaires, and to our inner monologue and decided we needed a better solution for serving a quality cocktail in high volume spaces like music festivals. And so we launched in the market a little less than 2 years ago and we're well on our way to laying a foundation to create the world's most loved cocktail brand, which is our vision. We're differentiated and you know the way that we're going about this is that we've got 100 mL single serve cans. We're doing high ABV, non-carbonated cocktails, and it's positioned as an accessible luxury. We have a Delta Airlines partnership on all domestic flights and we're seeing traction that's got us estimating over $10 million in revenue in 2021. That's up from $600,000 in 2020. As we built this brand, we're really focused on classic and iconic. Even the name Tip Top sounds like something maybe one of your grandparents might say. Um, after all, we're doing cocktails that have always been in demand. We're just making them available on demand. So when you go to taste a cocktail that says Fashion on it, better tastes like an old fashioned. People know what they like there. So we enlisted the help of Miles McQuary, James Beard recognized mixologist from Kimball House here in Atlanta where we're based, and he's developed all of our recipes and tasted every single batch of our cocktails before they go to Cannes. We started with a stirred line in order to position ourselves to that cocktail connoisseur that may be skeptical, skeptical of this category. Starting with a Manhattan old fashioned and Negroni, felt like a good way to earn the trust so that then we could bring on a shaken line in March 2021 with a margarita, daiquiri, and Bee's knees. No one really needs another. Margarita in a can, but if it's a trusted brand, it'll be worth tasting. Um, as far as the way we're merchandise, you can see our counter rack there, uh, great for impulse buy and for trial. People get one or two cocktails, then they graduate to 4 to 6, and the retailer knows to bring in these 8 packs that we've designed to sit on the, on the shelves as well as in the cold box. So while we started off really aiming for a solution in the festival space, this is Yoni and I backstage at Bomaroo. We were really going and what we've seen now that with the disruption in the space with White Claw and people premiumizing to High Noon and so forth, Tip Top is awaiting them on the other side of this journey. We know what we don't know. We come from musical music festival productions, so we've really developed a team of great beverage, uh, experts and supply chain experts to help us, uh, really attain our vision. Tip Tops found a sweet spot of accessible luxury, great quality cocktail in a beautiful package, uh, at only $4 to $6 a can, depending on the market and where you're purchasing. We've seen incredible traction. The Delta partnership, uh, Delta Airlines. has yielded us massive awareness. We're on the back of everybody's seats when they sit down to fly, and the trial has been great. It's now profitable. We've been approved in hotel chains Hilton and Marriott, an e-commerce business we started up in November 2020 is now seeing $300,000 plus in consumer sales, but without, and that's all organic traffic. And in traditional distribution, we're at 30 plus cans a day in our top accounts. Great press and accolades. New York Times to Bon Appetit, Bevnet's given us some awards and Garden and Gunn, uh, you know, Big Boi has, uh, shouted us out on his Instagram as well as, um, you know, uh, chef Michael Simon. So plans going forward, meet the demands of our airline partner as well as really, uh, take advantage of the exposure that we're getting by produce, produce, produce. That's our number one focus. So cheers to a bright future ahead for Tip Top proper cocktails. All right, Neil, well done. Thank you very much. Heidi, let's start with you. Obviously Neil outlined quite a bit of success and growth over the past couple of years, more specifically over the past year. Can they keep it up is the question. I want to go to a point he made about the theory that they have that consumers will trade up from White Clawn High Noon to tip top. Do you see that happening? Is that less of a theory and more of a reality? Yeah, absolutely. I would say totally agree with your sentiment there. I think that that's a bit what I was talking about earlier around consumers trading up, maybe drinking fewer cocktails, but really enjoying what they have and what you've come up with is, you know, really true cocktail, great spirits based, great recipes, um, excellent job. Um my question was a bit on scale too as we, you know, as this expands and you go, I really like your hospitality focus, the airline, brilliant, right where I was seeing it too. Um, scalability from you have this amazing can and pack which is pretty unique to the market, you know, we're not seeing much of that. So any question in your mind around the ability to continue to produce that at really high volumes because the can world is pretty tricky right now, so wanted to hear that. Sure, absolutely. Um, we made a decision early on to work with CPAC with a C-packer on our production and we never would have been able to get to the scale that we're at in the time we have otherwise. Um, we are scaling up, we're adding more shifts. We're looking for more, uh, people to be able to work shifts, of course, and adding lines to our co-packer partner in order to meet the demands. Right, and then I guess to that scalability from your team perspective, you know, you mentioned looks like you have a great advisory team where do you think you need to put your energy next for that scalability? Sure, uh, we need to continue to focus on production, absolutely, um, and then if we can meet, once we meet those demands, um, it'll be marketing. I mean, so much of what we've done has been due to organic reach and we've barely even pulled the lever on any traditional marketing, um, so that, that's really where I think our focus will be once we solve for meeting the demand with production. Thank you. Tony, uh, Neil described Tip Top as, uh, attempting to achieve this, this, uh, positioning as of classic and iconic, and, you know, for someone who is and could be described as both classic and iconic, I wonder how, uh, you see Tip Top, uh, as fitting into this growing set of ready to drink cocktails. Well, uh, I love the packaging. I love the feel of it. It has this classic representation. Uh, it kind of jumps off the shelf at me. I love that you're doing higher proof cocktails, boozier cocktails. Um, what maybe some of my, you said it should taste like the cocktail. Tail. I don't know how familiar you are with the negroni, but do you think your negroni tastes like a classic negroni? Sure, I think that what we were aiming for, obviously that's not actual Campari in there. We've made our own bread bitter apple cheese, and that's a secret recipe, but You know, as far as the Negroni, I think we're achieving a balance that sometimes Negronis don't always have that bitter wallop that happens. It's still recognizable as a Negroni, and I think we still have some room for improvement, and we actually have a formulation that'll be going in the can in the future that I think kind of ups some of that bitterness that may be a little bit lacking for the true Negroni, like bitter thing. Yeah, I, I kind of live by the sword that no Campari, no Negroni, but um I know that's hard to do with proprietary. I, I, I hear you. Um, but your, your old fashion was spot on. Uh, I, I finished the whole thing over ice, it just got better. Um, if I had any negative, you know, I did find a little, uh, acidic, uh, aftertaste in the bee's knees and the daiquirib, but, um, I, I would have liked, I mean, the rum comes through beautifully in the daiquiri. I would have liked a little more gin in the bee's knees at 26%. That gin character got a little bit muted, but overall a home run, guy. Thank you. I really appreciate that. We've only been in the market with the shaken line since the spring, so, you know, we're always tweaking these cocktails. We're always working with Miles to improve the recipes, so that's really helpful feedback. Yeah, Molly, you get the last word here. You know, Tip Top markets a variety of cocktails, a pretty wide variety of cocktails. Is that something you'd like to see out of producers, some of the brands that you work with, or do they need to be a little more narrow focused to work with you guys?

Speaker 2 [1:07:23] Well, first of all, speaking of last word, if anyone wants to bottle that,

Ray Latif [1:07:29] that would be,

Speaker 2 [1:07:31] um, no, I think that variety is, of course, one of the key elements to being successful. Um, obviously you don't want to overindulge, but it's important to, um, have, you know, a range of things that are gonna engage a range of consumers. Um, I am. Interested to hear about the uh financial, the, the suggested retail of these and kind of how that would present itself to consumers because I love the packaging. I think it's adorable and actually I was, uh, somebody walked by the office when I was tasting them. They were like, oh my God, that's so cute. What is it? Um, and so I think it very much like appeals to, um, like you said, the music festivalgoer, the, the, the young woman or, or gentleman who, um, whatever, wants to carry something with them, but I'm curious about how that financially translates to the consumer because these are higher proof and they're small.

Ray Latif [1:08:30] Um, yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, it is a small can. As soon as someone tastes it, they recognize that, you know, in this can, there's over 22 ounces of spirit, and you're, you're getting really high proof. Um, you know, I, I think it's all about accessibility, like I said, and accessible luxury. So at $4 to $6 depending on the market that you're in. We're really able to capture trial and also, you know, attract a higher end consumer. So it's really feels like it's in the sweet spot and once you're tasting it, it really, you know, is equivalent to some of these really high level cocktails that you would get at a cocktail bar.

Speaker 2 [1:09:12] 4 to $6

Ray Latif [1:09:14] yes, per can. That's, you know, depending on the market. All right, Neil, thanks so much. Uh, well done on that presentation and, uh, hope to catch up with you, uh, in person soon at some point this year. Great, look forward to it. Thank you. Fantastic. Thanks so much. All right. Up next we have Tom Dufik, who is the co-founder and president of Plain Spoke Cocktail Company. Tom, how are you? I am wonderful. How are you, Ray? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I'm excited to hear your presentation. Are you ready to give it? Fantastic. Your 4 minutes will begin now. So, uh, my name is Tom Dufek. Like Ray said, I'm, uh, one of the co-founders of Plainspoke Cocktail Company based in Madison, Wisconsin, and, uh, I wanted to just You know, thank you guys for having us first and foremost, and then tell you a little bit more about our cocktails here. So, I'm a recovering bartender. I spent about a decade behind the bar, running cocktail programs, drinking cocktails, making cocktails, and we launched Plain Spoke about 3 years ago. Um, we saw the need for a better canned cocktail. Um, I think, you know, in the terms of our, in the timeline of RTDs, we're probably a little bit on the older scale, I guess, you know, 3 years. The space has changed so much in that time. When we came out, there was not a ton of cocktails that were made with real spirits, real ingredients. So what we really wanted to do was take the convenience of a canned cocktail and put it in a format that actually had quality ingredients. If you go to a fancy cocktail bar, you're not going to get a Moscow mule made with lime oil and citric acid. So why do you want that in your, your canned cocktail? So we really wanted to up the quality game when it comes to what is available in a convenient format. We use, again, like I said, real ingredients, nothing preservative or no preservatives, nothing artificial, and we're proud to be from the Midwest. We try and use Midwestern spirits whenever possible, and we have 4 different cocktails that we, you know, make these days. We have a Moscow Mule, we have a mojito, we have a bourbon smash, and we have a Wisconsin favorite, the brandy old fashioned. We have two facilities. We have a, we call it the cannery, which is our own facility. It's one that we operate. We do all of our own canning. We do all of our own recipe production. There's no flavor house or anybody in between us. And then we also have a tasting room in Madison, Wisconsin that's really dedicated to trying to push the limits of what we can accomplish and see if there's other things out there that consumers want that eventually end up in package. Um, went through those cocktails there. Um, what really differentiates us from a lot of other folks out there is that, you know, we like to say we're born behind the bar, not the boardroom. So the, the, the, the, the impetus for creating the company was that there was a way to do it better. We really liked the convenience, but the quality options that were out there just, just didn't really cut it. Uh, so we, we've been in the market now about 3 years. We sell in 4 packs at 250 mL per cocktail, uh, primarily in the off-premise. That's really where our focus is. We do have some on-premise accounts, but we really want to be the cocktail for people who have an active lifestyle and are on the go, and, and simply want to enjoy a better cocktail in places where a cocktail shaker is not necessarily available. Um, I made cocktails for a living for a long time, and I'm certainly not bringing a cocktail shaker on the boat every time I want to make a daiquiri or a mojito. Uh, so we really wanted to put that, that same cocktail bar experience in a convenient package and let people try them wherever they were. And uh thank you for your time. All right, well done, Tom. Uh, let's take it to the judges. Uh, Tony, let's start with you. You know, uh, Tom piqued my interest with the, uh, brandy Old fashioned. Did you get to try that and what are your thoughts on, uh, that product and the lineup as a whole? Well, um, I love that you celebrate the Midwest. I'm from the Midwest and they're celebrating spirits and ingredients from the Midwest. Thank you. I was just in Wisconsin drinking brandy, uh, uh, uh, old fashions, and they are a little sweeter and they do add the soda water, and I think you hit all those notes. Um, I would have liked to see a little more brandy. Um, pretty much across the board, I would have liked to see a little more of the character, uh, and flavor of the base spirits. And I was just curious if you experimented. With different percentages of alcohol in your drinks. We did actually. We, we originally sold these in 200 mL and they were 10 to 11% ABV. Now they're at 8% ABV except for the brandy old fashioned, which is still at 10. We didn't want to cheat the the loyal Wisconsinites. We like our brandy here, but Actually, we got a ton of feedback that people really wanted something that was a little bit more approachable in a larger format. So that's, that's one of the reasons we went to the 250 mL size. I, you know, as a former bartender, I prefer a little bit higher ABV as well, but that was some of the feedback that we were getting from the market and kind of why we made that change. Molly, as we're seeing more and more ready to drink cocktail products come to market, uh, packaging is really going to be important. Uh, can you talk about the packaging for plainspoke, uh, your thoughts on it, uh, in terms of this growing set?

Speaker 2 [1:14:47] Yes, so when one of the first takeaways that we had, um, when I, when I went through all of these packages with my, my buying team here at Total Wine was, uh, that it's very arresting. Um, I think it's disruptive. I think it's visually, it's gonna stop you when your, when your eyes are scanning through the shelves. So that's fantastic. I love that you have the name. The cocktail, it's a relatable name that people can feel. They, they don't like there's no gatekeeper sense to it because you know what a mojito is supposed to taste like. You know what a brandy old fashioned is supposed to taste like. It's, it's not intimidating. So I think a lot of those things you guys are doing really, really well and um kudos to you on that. Uh, I, I do think the, the one thing I would say is that from the, I, I, I, I feel like you're kind of toeing the line between high-end, um, or like craft RTD and, uh, uh, of relatable to all of the public RTD, and I, I, I, I wonder if, um, you know, you, you spoke to this a little bit a moment ago, but, um, as far as the flavor goes, It's almost like it's, it's just easy and it's not, it's not picking a side. It's like, I guess my question is, who are you trying to target with this? Who's your ideal audience?

Ray Latif [1:16:09] Great, great question, and I'm glad you're picking up on that. You know, like I said, we started about 3 years ago, so the RTD market was nowhere kind of near as developed as it is these days. So we really wanted to come out with cocktails that first of all, people knew of, um, that they'd heard of, and then we didn't want to. You know, go super crazy with house-made ingredients, and, you know, things that people were, could kind of push people off. We really wanted to start to introduce people to this concept of it can come in a can and it can actually taste good and it can use good ingredients. One of The things that we're starting to do this year, we actually did it, we released a new cocktail about one month ago, and we made a bee's knees with cardamom. So we added a little bit of a twist on that one. And that's one of the things that we're really looking forward to

Speaker 2 [1:16:59] is that was actually my favorite. Oh, was it?

Ray Latif [1:17:01] OK, good. Um, yeah, so we're, we're going to partner with other local companies, whether it's, you know, this one we partnered with Bestor Gin out of Cambridge, Wisconsin, but kombucha companies, soda companies, uh, and do things that are a little bit more off the wall now that we have the core lineup that people, you know, know. are used to and recognize and see as something that they, they trust. We really want to kind of branch into some of those more aggressive or off the wall flavors, but you're, you're 100% right. It was an intentional choice kind of out of the gates a couple of years ago. And Heidi, we have a little bit of time left. Born in the Midwest, but can plainspoke be available everywhere? Does it have that scale potential? Yeah, you know, I think this is what I really like about this is we're seeing a lot of, you know, RTD brands born on the West Coast specifically, and I think there's something around this kind of like convenience and um on the go, healthy lifestyle that sort of exudes from this, but it's actually really interesting to see something coming from the Midwest because I think this can speak to a, you know, a broad base of the population and the fact that you've got some anchors there with the cannery and the tasting room. Found that to be really interesting and perhaps quite um unique because you are cutting out a little bit different space here and I um agree with the other judges around, you know, the, the pack is really pops on the shelf and I think you did a great job with the graphics, really, you know, highlights some interesting things. Had the exact same feedback on the liquid. I really wanted to go somewhere. And it was a bit kind of adult soda, um, to me and missing kind of a bit more of the depth with the spirits, but, you know, look, I don't know if that's the, I'm sort of debating, is that a bad thing because of, you know, where you are if you really got, if you're really getting some anchors in the Midwest and you can be approachable with the mainstream consumer, I think the way you've explained the lattering of The, um, you know, now bringing on the bee's knees, and I'd really like to call it down there. I think there's some interesting things you've gotten. So, you know, probably one of the things I would ask and even recommend is, you know, as you lay out your strategy forward with that, how do you see that rolling out as you expand? So I'll ask you the question and, um, if not fully fleshed out, maybe something to think about going forward. Yeah, yeah, well, for us it really starts at the tasting room, kind of seeing what people respond to. It really gives us this kind of lab, if you will, to really see what people are interested in. And then the plan for us is to really roll it out in Madison and then kind of expand from there. So take those things that are working really nicely that people seem to be gravitating towards and then start to expand that across the state and then the other states that we're, you know, currently distributed in and via off-premise, is that what you're Yep, yep, exactly. I mean, technically on premise in the tasting room, just kind of, but then, yeah, exactly in the off-premise. All right, great presentation, great feedback, great questions, great overall. Tom, thanks so much for taking the time. Excited to see where Plainspoke goes from here. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. All right. All right. Up next we have Jenny Griffo, who's the co-owner of Griffo Distillery. Sounds about right, Jenny, how are you? I'm doing great, thanks. Excited to be here. Well, I am very excited to hear about you're ready to drink cocktails. I see you've got your presentation ready. You've got 4 minutes. You ready to go? I am ready. Fantastic. Your 4 minutes due begin now. Hi, everyone. I am Jenny Griffi, co-owner of Griffo Distillery located in Petaluma, California. We're just 45 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge, and we are a grain to glass and now a grain to can distillery. Founded in 2013, my husband and the head distiller Mike, brought his PhD in physics and his decade distilling nanoparticles for next-generation solar research, and I brought a degree from Stanford in International Development and a decade of managing large teams and programs internationally to our Crazy Distillery project. The use of science and precision to hone craftsmanship is our signature approach to crafting beautiful and replicable spirits. With 6 spirits on the market, including our newly released vodka and now our 2 newly launched canned cocktails, we have distribution in 3 countries and 14 states, primarily along the western and eastern coasts. Our facility is 13,000 square feet, has a 4 million annual can production capacity, and cans cocktails and custom distills for over 50 nationwide brands. We have a full event program and barrel program open to the public with food, wine, beer, and of course cocktails. In 2016, when the California ABC changed the laws now allowing distilleries to pour cocktails and sell bottles, we immediately built out our tasting room. To start, as you can see on the left, I set up a folding table in the corner of our space while construction was still going on, and I poured out now locally famous tamales Collins. Spirits can be inaccessible sometimes, and so it was a great experience to be able to share our world-class spirits with our community. With over 45,000 customers through our front door so far, we have learned a lot about which cocktails keep people coming back for more. But when COVID hit, we lost our ability to make our cocktails accessible. Our tasting room and events shut down, and our family of 5 spent weekends finding air and space along our beloved Northern California coast. During this time, we decided that we were perfectly situated to bring what we had learned about cocktails and about canning to our own ready to drink cocktails. Introducing the Tamales Collins and Whole Lotta Sunshine, launched in July of 2021, these products were developed to bring bar quality cocktails using Griffo Distillery's award-winning spirits to market and a love of fresh flavors, complex undertones, and the Northern California coast, sold in 4 packs of 250 mL cans. These cans each contained only fresh juice, 2 ounces of Gritho spirits, Flora Luna organic syrups, and water. That's it. The Tamales Collins. This is our spin on the classic Tom Collins. It is a refreshing, lightly citrusy drink crafted with our Scott Street gin, fresh lemon juice, blood orange juice, and a touch of cardamom clove syrup. Now you don't have to be at the distillery to enjoy this Griffo cocktail and taste a part of our Sonoma County story, and bonus points if you enjoy it near Tamales Bay. Whole lot of sunshine. Now this special drink is like running through a field of wildflowers into a citrus grove directly followed by a spontaneous splash in the Pacific Ocean with uplifting grapefruit, light floral notes, our premium vodka, and the perfect touch of amaro. This balanced spritzer is sure to be a summertime or literally anytime favorite like California in a can. In honor of a world that we can pass on to our 3 children, we donate a portion of all sales to climate action groups, the first being Coral Reef Alliance, a fan of our 8-year-old son Henry. Um, we are currently testing market sales locally in a few large key accounts that we've partnered with since the very beginning of our distillery, and we are looking to a larger spring 2022 release focusing on coastal communities along the western and eastern seaboards. For reference, 26.7 million people live in coastal communities in California alone, so our penetration need not be nationally broad but deep within the ideal coastal niches. Thank you for learning more about Grippo Distillery and our new canned cocktails. Please drink with purpose. All right, well done, Jenny. Thank you. Uh, let's hear from the judges. Uh, Heidi, we'll start with you. Um, you know, Griffo's cocktails, as Jenny outlined, were born out of COVID. Um, born out of COVID is one thing, but where do they go from here? Um, do you see a runway for the cocktails as they stand today, as their, uh, position today? Yeah, Jenny, great job. Um, really like the cocktails. I think there's some really unique flavors in here and does a great job of delivering an interesting cocktail and the aroma and some interesting notes, as you say, I really like them. Um, this is exactly my question. How do you, um, as you're looking at your business and expanding, Where do you see putting your energy? And I think as we'll often see, you know, really like when you've got um your spirits going into the can because there's something about that whole, but it also really creates complexity with where you focus and how you, it's almost two different businesses. So curious to hear, yeah, just that. How do you see this evolving? Yeah, you know, um, luckily our distributors are really on board with bringing these to market, um, and they're doing so right now in small ways to kind of test, uh, where we're most successful, but in, in, in particular focusing on the Sonoma County, Napa, Mendocino areas, um, these products are being really well received by premium. Um, boutique hotels, um, we have tons of hotels all along our coast that we have deep and long-term partnerships because they all serve our spirits within their bar, and they're moving them right now into their mini bars in their hotels, and it's been exciting to see that, you know, we don't have to sell millions of units for us to be successful with these SKUs. It's more about deep penetration within the ideal kind of clients. Well, let's, let's explore that a little bit more. Uh, Molly, I mean, do you agree with that strategy? Do you see, you know, a brand going deep uh along the coast as, uh, giving, giving it potential to be national at some point, um, or do they even need to be national at some point, as Jenny mentioned?

Speaker 2 [1:26:18] Well, of course, we all always want to get as much, you know, exposure and uh sell as much as we can. I, I imagine nobody would say no to the opportunity to go national. I, you know, it's, it's funny, uh, one of the things I was most curious about comes down to the, the packaging and branding of the, um, actual visuals of the, the case on the shelf, like the 4 pack on the shelf, as well as the cans themselves. Um, and one thing that I learned, I'm a little older than some of the people I work with. With, but somebody walked past my desk who's in her young twenties, and she was like, oh, that's grand millennial. That's grand millennial chic. Um, and I didn't know what that meant, and she informed me, but, um, I'm wondering like what your ideal kind of customer is and how, uh, how you see that developing or, or how you're targeting them.

Ray Latif [1:27:12] Yeah, thank you, um, and I, I mean I think that your colleague is right in that, um, it, it, we do have a large, um, appeal to quite a different demographics out there and we've been able to, we, we've been able to launch locally out of our tasting room and serve our current customers and we have a range from, you know, seniors and graduates from our local colleges to, um, you know, retirement groups here and all of them seem to be responding to the packaging. Um, I think our love of the coast and our love of craft beautiful ingredients really comes through for them and makes the price point, um, kind of really worth it to them.

Speaker 2 [1:27:51] And what I'm sorry, Ann, what's the price point?

Ray Latif [1:27:53] $5

Speaker 2 [1:27:54] a can depending on which market.

Ray Latif [1:27:58] Uh, Tony, uh, Jenny described the Whole Lotta Sunshine as California in a can. Um, well, she had a, a much more beautiful description before she said that. Um, what, what are your thoughts on The Whole Lot of sunshine and the one I'm holding my hand, the tamales cocktails? Well, I mean, I, I love the package. I love the feel. I love that part of California. I'm a Bay Area guy, um, rode my motorcycle up there, so it really kind of took me to the place and first thing I wrote down was fresh citrus like sunshine in a glass. So, uh, I agree with that, um. Uh, and on the, on the coins, uh, well-balanced, uh, the gin, even at 10.5 was there. It was in balance. It was in harmony. Um, my only negative was the fizz dissipated rather quickly in the columns. I love that tickle of the bubbles. And especially when I poured it over ice. I, I preferred it chilled right from the can, the best, but I was just curious, did you have any issues with carbonation? Or maybe upping the carbonation. And you know that's really great feedback. And since we do it in-house, it's really simple for us to just increase that carbonation level. We're always looking for that gentle balance where I don't want the carbonation that can be almost aggressive in your mouth where it doesn't allow you to experience the the flavors, but I do agree, I think a notch up on our next run would kind of improve, improve it. But well done. I, I enjoyed both of them. Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to trying the spirits on their own. Yes, and come visit us next time you're riding north. There you go. Outstanding. Once again, great feedback and a great presentation, Jenny. Thank you so much. Uh, Hopefully I can get out to Petaluma to your distillery, uh, at some point in the near future. Please do. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. All right. Up next we have Lawrence Cisneros, who is the CEO of Drinksmith. Lawrence, how are you? Good, Lawrence, you have 4 minutes. Uh, your 4 minutes are gonna begin as soon as you say go. My name is Lauren Cisneros, and I'm the co-founder of Drinksmith. And my business partner and I, Brandon Schwartz, about 7 years ago, uh, set out to create a cocktail that would recreate the Live craft cocktail experience in a bottle. Um, great cocktails are hard to find and they're hard to make, and everything we would see on the store shelves was not to the same level of caliber of quality and freshness, uh, that you would get at the world's best bars. Um, so we set out to create Drinksmith, the world's first fresh bottle cocktail. Now, the citrus are unpasteurized. They're cold pressed. There are no preservatives, and the spirits we import from around the world and are the same exact ingredient builds you get in a, in a bar, we put them in a bottle. No acids, no additional, you know, anything. Um. Now, what's special on top of everything is our bottle, uh, is a two-chamber bottle that separates the spirits from the fresh ingredients. You rotate it, and it opens a valve on the inside, and you can shake yourself and make a freshly mixed cocktail in a bottle, recreating that live craft cocktail experience in a fresh citrus mixed fresh, as if it were made for you by a world-class bartender. Um, now, the citrus, even though it's unpasteurized, uses a unique technology called HPP or cold pressurization. Uh, 85,000 PSIs is put on the bottle, which gives us about 5 to 7 months of refrigerated shelf. Um, Now in doing this, we were able to attract world famous bartenders because they wanted to work with a company and create cocktails that tasted as if they were made in their bar. So we work with, you know, different bartenders who have, you know, followings from 20,000 to 200,000 followers. They earn commissions on those drinks. So it's kind of a give back program. And for a lot of bartenders, they're always trying to figure out kind of what's the next step for them after working in the bar scene for, you know, maybe a decade or two. Um, you know, we've made about 25 different skews to date, um, you know, some ranging from more simple cocktails like margarita and our bourbon sour, which are still kind of our top sellers, uh, to more exotic cocktails that, you know, like our spiked lemon tea, which is basically a recreation of the Philadelphia Fish House Punch recipe, which really takes a lot of time and effort, and we're able to bottle that. So really kind of taking kind of, you know, almost ancient cocktail specks and bottling those as well. Um, and so what's really cool about, you're not only making a, a, a product that people can taste the difference of because that's citrus, we've done, gone to so many lengths to really kind of preserve it, um, preserve the freshness essentially. Um, you know, we kind of created a moat around our product. There's not, not, not really anyone who's gonna be able to do it because of all the lengths of, of the, you know, cold chain from bottling to distribution, uh, that we've done, you know, we've been able to actually Get a patent, um, on our bottles. It is actually a little, a little older the slides so we were just recently granted that. Um, and one of the special things was the manufacturing component. So we, we're actually able to join a venture with one of the largest fresh juice, uh, co-packers in the country. And we created a JV where we have the only facility in the country that has the FDA and TTB compliant, um, you know, licenses to bottle both fresh citrus and bulk spirits all in the same facility. Um, to date, uh, you know, we launched about 2 months before COVID, even though it was like a, a 5-year development. And we do about 99% of our sales through the website. Uh, on the back end, there's, we've worked through an app called Cloud Bar where orders are essentially routed to different retailers around the country that fulfill those orders. Um, we move about 25,000, you know, drinks a month through the website. And, you know, as we kind of we're leaving COVID, we're, you know, having our eyes towards brick and mortar distribution. Uh, we're actually in a test store, um, And Total Wine, we actually just green lit um to do all of Southern California this, this past week, which is exciting. Uh, we just shipped our first pallet out to a distributor in Georgia, about 2 pallets, and we're able to move about through 1 pallet, um, you know, to a number of their retail partners, um, you know, in, in a matter of days, um, and we're greenlit to have brick and mortar Latribution. I'm sorry, I have to stop you there. Your, your 4 minutes are up, but thank you very much. Great presentation. Yep. Um, Molly, let's start with you. Um, you know, Lawrence mentioned that the brand has already gotten into Total Wine. Um, you know, what's interesting is you mentioned earlier, the ability to sell a lot of product is really of key importance, given the fact that this does need to be refrigerated. Do you see this as being limited in comparison to other RTD cocktail products? Um, oh, I'm sorry, that's a question from Molly.

Speaker 2 [1:34:35] Well, I'm gonna follow up on it and I'm gonna ask you a question, so don't worry, Lawrence. Um, you're up to bat in a second, uh, and I think that's a very good point that you make, Ray, because, uh, one of my biggest takeaways. And I, I was talking to our ambassador who actually brought it into the stores that we are currently carrying you guys in, um, and our, our biggest concern is the, not, not just the fact that it has to be refrigerated, sure, so does beer if you want to buy it and have it ready to go. Um, but the, the concern that we have and that I have is, is really more of the shelf life and, and the range of skews. So, it's like, how do you decide, how does the store decide which ones to carry? You can't necessarily carry all of them with the range of, um, Expiration dates because they're not all the same, which is very valid, but that my biggest concern would kind of be like how to approach that, how you're pitching that to who's gonna carry you and and how you picture your ideal clientele outside of just the direct to consumer market.

Ray Latif [1:35:42] Yeah. So, I mean, the Ranger SKUs was really kind of a, you know, an e-commerce dimension of the business where we can make it and then get it out to customers really quickly. In the brick and mortar channel, like in Total Wine, you know, we only have 5 SKUs, and I think we probably only go out to maybe 6 or 7 max, um, in the store. It's almost been a great kind of trial and feedback generation kind of, you know, um, program that we've had, where we find, OK, this cocktail that is not part of the Classics is doing exceptionally well. Maybe in this particular market in Georgia or New York, California, you can kind of tailor those kind of additional SKUs for those markets. Um, you know, the, the drinks last actually 7 months now. We actually did a recent shelf life study. So they really have a lot of shelf life. Um, Additionally, you know, we, we were able to find through a recent study that, you know, even being out, uh, you know, unrefrigerated for even a number of days in kind of warm temperature, there's no microbial growth. Um, and so that's kind of a testament to the kind of the acid and the HVP combination. So, um, you know, there's definitely, you know, a little bit of challenges here or there, but over time, given that there's such high demand, we're moving about 8 drinks, uh, per day at the store. So there's really a lot of pull-through, uh, of the product. So, you know, even though there is a bit of a, you know, shorter shelf life, the fact that it's such high velocity and that 7 months really hasn't proved to have been an issue for, you know, the, uh, the total wine store we're at.

Speaker 2 [1:36:57] And I've, I'm sorry if this is OK, I have a quick follow-up question, which is, out of curiosity, having bartended for years, the logic of separating the spirit from the other ingredients seems odd to me because the spirit usually keeps the other ingredients fresh for longer. What I like, I understand the idea of mixing it and that's kind of cool for the consumer, but did you guys ever think about like, oh well, you know, it's gonna give it a shorter shelf life?

Ray Latif [1:37:26] I mean, adding a little bit of spirit to a citrus, like for like, um, like an horjat or some other kind of like, you know, kind of stabilization methods, you're really just adding just a little bit. You're not adding the whole kind of cocktail's worth. So in a bar, they could pre-batch all their cocktails, but they mix it right at the last moment because it adds a certain crispness, and kind of if you don't do that, It's kind of doles it out. Um, just like, you know, there's a lot of kind of draft cocktail programs, you've seen it in a lot of on-premise locations now. You know, that's maybe like maybe 1 to 2 weeks max of all the ingredients that are, that are together. So, if you're really wanting to have something that has that 7-month shelf life and keep that crispness, um, that 2 chamber really kind of comes into play, especially over an extended period of time. Heidi, Lawrence said that we own the category we created. Is that a good thing? Is that something that attracts your attention as an investor? I guess I would ask Lawrence, tell me more. What do you mean? For sure, yeah, so I mean, I could maybe the assumption of the question is like, you know, do you own, you know, a little playground that, you know, no one else really kind of cares about. But I think, you know, what we've seen over the past year and a half, you know, people really appreciate fresh, whether you're black or white, young or old, even rich or poor, people appreciate fresh, and they can, they know it immediately, whether you tell them about it or not. They can tell whether something's fresh or not. And so the fact that we're able to accomplish that through a unique combination of licensing, intellectual property, and doing it in kind of an innovative way where the packaging kind of matches the inside of quality of the juices, you know, we think that that is a huge opportunity because it's something that not only plays in the United States, but it's played around the world, and the drinks that we're making really are kind of, you know, 400 year old recipes. So if we're able to do that and people, you know, liked it back then and they like it now and we're able to kind of protect that through, you know, intellectual property, we think that has a lot of upside. Great, um, follow-on question would just be, you know, almost to that end of if you are the category creators, you're juggling quite a bit between, you know, the IP, the co-packing relationship, the fresh, the JDV, all these bartenders, multiple routes to market, supply chain. How do you prioritize all that? Yeah, I mean, that's what, you know, 78 years of, you know, working on it does for you. Um, and so, you know, building it step by step, getting the bottle situated, getting the licensing situated, getting the recipes and the bartender situated, launching with e-commerce first, then now brick and mortar distribution, uh, really kind of getting our chops, making a lot of different kinds of drinks. We have a lot of kind of familiarity with making it. Um. And so we've been able to, you know, scale relatively fast, you know, from 0 drinks to about, you know, 30,000 drinks, you know, in a 12-month period, we're really able to learn a lot. Um, but I think it's, it's a really important point, but thankfully, we've kind of, you know, COVID or otherwise, you know, technology problems, you know, numbers of years ago has kind of forced us to be patient, um, and do things in a very kind of incremental, but, um, um, kind of, you know, as fast as we can kind of way. Tony, uh, you get the last word. Uh, does Drinksmith's proprietary technology really move the needle for you? Is it as much of a differentiator as Lawrence Outline versus other RTD cocktails that you've tried in this competition and outside this competition? Absolutely. Um, this is the only one that we've tasted that uses HPP technology. I'm very, very familiar and I love HPP. I think it allows you to bring fresh, cold pressed juices to, uh, RTD and, uh, you know. Some of them hit better than others for me. I like the ABV. Um, overall, I, I think conceptually, this is a great way to go and you definitely, at least for me, you can taste that freshness in the final product. Good job. All right, great feedback once again, Lawrence. Great seeing you. Uh, thanks so much for the presentation. I'm sure we'll see you soon. Likewise, cheers, thanks everyone. All right. All right. Our final contestant for the competition is Andrew Rodbell, who's the co-founder of Post-Meridium Spirit Company. Andrew, how are you?

Speaker 3 [1:41:24] I'm doing great, thanks so much for having me.

Ray Latif [1:41:27] Thanks so much for joining us today. Uh, I'm excited to hear your presentation. Are you ready to give it?

Speaker 3 [1:41:33] I'm ready to give it. Let me share the screen. I'm Andrew Rodbell from Post Meridian Spirit Company. Um, I'm a cocktail nerd. I'm also a Coca-Cola trained brand manager and new product innovator, and I left corporate America to follow my passions. And as a beverage geek, I've really enjoyed the last few hours. I think all of us in this competition have a goal of lifting this category beyond its suspect reputation. Specifically, I'm most impressed with those like us who toiled and used cutting edge technology to use 100% real lime juice. That breakthrough is finally bridging the quality gap between barmaid cocktails and pre-made cocktails. It's really an exciting future. And I feel what we created is the best for everything you've just seen with the added benefit of making cocktails truly accessible, democratic, and scalable. Anyway, the presentation is about how Post Meridian created a big innovation in a little tiny can. Um, the driving force behind what we do is we want to make authentic ingredient cocktails full strength, accessible as beer and wine, and in order to accomplish that, we took a no compromise approach. If you remember one thing about Post Meridian today, it's that there's intentionality in every decision. The end result is that we created the first line of cocktails in 100 mL cans, and we've been growing rapidly. It seems obvious, but you know, great cocktails start with great ingredients, and we're uncompromising. No substitutes. Our bourbon is barrel aged, not accelerated. Our bitters are steeped, not engineered. Our liqueurs are imported, not recreated in the flavor house, and most critically, we use 100% real lime juice. Why? Because 100% real lime juice tastes 100% better. We make recognizable cocktails because consumers buy familiar. We believe simple, well done is more appealing than fanciful concoctions. We want quality, not hype, just execute well. To that end, we use timeless recipes at the right proportions, hence the 100 mL size, hence the high ABV. The end result is that we make well loved cocktails by the book. Protecting our ingredients is a critical element to what we do. Yes, the can that we created is cute and it's novel and it's a great marketing hook, but in reality its primary function is that it's a vessel to protect our quality ingredients, especially 100% real lime juice. In terms of manufacturing, our commitment to authenticity led us to building our own canning line rather than doing contract manufacturing. While this requires more work, Uh, you know, contract self-manufacturing has many benefits, and all this is done to better serve the distributor, the retailers, and of course, the consumer. And we wanted the label to tell our whole story. Um, so the design is very intentional. The most prominent feature is the name of the cocktail. Next, we list out the amounts of, and the, and the ingredients because we believe in full transparency, and that's the best way to prove that you're authentic. And we frankly stole this idea from other categories, uh, as Bevnet people will know, and Spindrift and RX Bar, um, but really, we think it's a way to connect with millennials. Also, you know, there's a high ABV. And we think that is of value for consumers. And lastly is our branding. So post Meridian, it's the long form of PM, which means afternoon, and it's meant to mark the time of day when you transition from work to play. What better way to unwind than with an effortless bar quality cocktail anywhere, anytime. Again, our goal is to make great cocktails as accessible as beer and wine. That's why we have the 399 per single can SRP. Affordability makes us accessible, and we're honest enough to know that many consumers will initially try us as an impulse buy. And we do love working through our distributors and our retailers. It's our bread and butter. But we're also excited to work with new direct to consumer routes like e-commerce and delivery because our compact cans are sturdy and excellent for shipping. And to date, you know, we've scaled up well beyond our initial pilot in our home state of Georgia. We've duplicated success in multiple states and we have many more lined up. Um, we're investing

Ray Latif [1:45:56] and you unfortunately, uh, your, your time is up, but, uh, sorry about that. Thank you very much. Great presentation. And we end on Bevnet magazine. How perfect is that? It is,

Speaker 3 [1:46:05] and we were flattered to be on the cover, uh, as y'all were starting to pay more attention to our little niche in this world. Thank you.

Ray Latif [1:46:11] And we're paying even more attention, uh, even literally as we speak. Um, Heidi, let's start with you. You know, it's interesting how much, uh, Andrew talked about accessibility and affordability, um, and that customers buy familiar. Um, can you break down, you know, your thoughts on, on, you know, this strategy for tackling this space? Yeah, absolutely. Um, thanks for the question. And Andrew, interesting to know your background. Um, clearly some of your many years at Coke and Brand strategy are coming through here, which is great. Um, my question actually is a bit of a twist on that because I think there is something to what Ray is saying around this, you know, having a methodical approach and really being clear with consumers. I actually Take that back to what we see a lot in the drinks categories. People really resonate with founders and those authentic stories behind the scenes. So how do you take these two things and blend them together, like a really methodical brand strategy approach with connecting with the consumer and how do you think the brand can achieve that?

Speaker 3 [1:47:12] No, that's a great question. You know, I'll say this when, when I first started, you know, even in the PR world, I always told my people I was working with, I'm not the hero, the product's the hero, and I've quickly learned that people want to know more, they want to see more, and they want to live behind the scenes a little bit more. So we're trying to tell people a little bit more about that. You know, we are from Atlanta. We started here in Atlanta. Um, we have a strategy to be very deep here in the South, and, and, uh, it's paid off really well to start to build those relationships and build that. Hometown feel, but also scalability in which we know that we can repeat the success in places even outside of the South. Um, so, yeah, it's an always balance, but I will always go back to, you know, taste is king. And if the product delivers on, you know, what it's supposed to deliver and people start to talk about it and have a quick way to talk about it, that's the, that's the victory we're looking for.

Ray Latif [1:48:01] Great, great, thank you. I did appreciate the nuances in the uh product that you're bringing out to just subtleties that really made it hit home so great job. Taste is indeed king. Uh, did Post-Meridium do the job for you, so to speak, Tony, um, and I'm particularly interested in hearing your thoughts on the daiquiri and mai tai because you don't see too many of those. I haven't seen too many of those in ready to drink cocktails. Well, I love everything about this. Uh, had a few comments and the daiquiri was actually my favorite. Brought up one of my questions. You're featuring a lot of fresh lime, and I, the lime shows itself differently to me in the daiquiri than it did in the mai tai or the margarita. And definitely in the vodka gimlet, but Hemingway daiquiri, I was just curious, did you play with a little fresh grapefruit, or did you just think we're going to stick the line?

Speaker 3 [1:48:51] No, thank you for saying that, and that actually points out to a real point of difference for us. Our original recipe did have grapefruit, as that is indeed a Hemingway daiquiri. Um, but because the grapefruit did not have the shelf life that we needed it to have, we had to make the tough decision to pull it out. And so that shows you our level of commitment to the quality of ingredients. We are not going to make any substitutes. And that's really a great story to tell. So, no, um, we do know that people like to add a grapefruit, uh, you know, uh, Toco chico on top of it, and it really makes it a perfect Hemingway, if you want to have a little lighter version of it. But no, um, again, I think that the way to answer that question is yes, uh, ingredient integrity matters and following the true recipes matter. And in this case, we had to make a slight sacrifice for shelf stability.

Ray Latif [1:49:39] All right. Uh, Molly, I believe you're gonna get the last, uh, piece of feedback or the last opportunity to offer feedback in this competition. Um, Andrew talked about intentionality in every decision they make, um, you know, from a packaging standpoint, do you appreciate that intentionality?

Speaker 2 [1:49:56] Uh, great question. I think that, um, as far as the like straightforward branding and labeling, I love that. I think it's very accessible to the, um, to everyone from the educated to the not as educated consumer, and that's really important when You're trying to scale up, of course. So I think they, uh, you guys have done a great job of that, Andrew. I think that's really fantastic. Um, I do think that the, uh, unique twist that you have put on each of these could be slightly more, um, expressed because otherwise, you know, you wanna make sure that it's clear that you're standing apart from. Uh, you know, an average, whatever, uh, everything else on the shelf, basically, because there's a lot of competition in this, uh, market segment. Um, so I think, you know, the lemongrass on the vodka gimlet, for example, or the Hemingway on the, um, daiquiris is so small that it almost like one would miss it. So if you're gonna try and target the high-end consumer, I would, I, my feedback would be maybe make that a little bit bigger. I wonder if you guys have thought about that. Um, and then the, the flip side of that is for something like what you were saying, and I'm sorry, I know we're running out of time, um, like what you were saying about the Hemingway. If it's not going to actually be a Hemingway daiquiri, did you think about changing the name of it or removing

Speaker 3 [1:51:22] that from? We are changing to the name. Thank you, we're changing to the number 4 daiquiri because that is indeed what it is now that we took out the grapefruit. And again, at one point we kept it Hemingway because we thought we might play with grapefruit bitters or something else to kind of solve it, and we spent a long time with R&D and we came out with a solution that no, we like to drink where it is, it's fantastic, and we'll change the name to the number 4. So that's what we're doing. Um, but yeah, no, I think the subnames and the subtleties of it are very important for the people to get into it. But again, I'm coming at this from trying to not steal share from the craft cocktails for people, the people we're talking about today. I'm trying to steal share from your high noon drinkers and your people who are looking to trade up. From something that's not quite as authentic as what we do. So that's why I still think recognizability of the drinks and accessibility in the way that we communicate is key. And then having those subtle moments there to kind of reinforce that it's well thought out and authentic will really help drive home and build loyalty.

Ray Latif [1:52:20] All right, well, Andrew, uh, thank you so much for the presentation. Uh, excited to try your entire lineup of, uh, drinks. Um, once again, really appreciate it, and, uh, let's stay in touch. Thank you

Speaker 3 [1:52:32] so much. I appreciate this and thanks for this whole competition. I really enjoyed every minute of it.

Ray Latif [1:52:37] As have I. Thank you. Thank you. Well, how lucky are we that we get to hear from all of these brands in the midst of this, I guess, just beautiful moment for an emerging space, and I, I, I just, it's, it's really remarkable to hear from all these different brands, all these different approaches to this category, um, and kudos to all of the 10. Uh, contestants that participated today, this is not an easy thing to do, to share your business plan, your passion, your products in 4 minutes, but I think everyone did remarkably well, and I think our judges did remarkably well. Thank you so much to everyone involved. Right now our judges are going to go and convene and decide who is going to win this competition. I know it's going to be hard because if they have if they have half as many notes as I have. There's a lot to, uh, there's a lot to talk about. So stay tuned. Don't go anywhere. We're going to sit down with the winner of this competition. We're going to announce the winner of this competition and sit down with that person at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. Uh, don't go anywhere. It's going to be exciting. Uh, but once again, thanks so much to the judges and contestants. Uh, this was a fantastic start to what we hope will be a series of cocktail showdowns in the future.