BevNET's Cocktail Showdown 2 - Golden Rule

Speaker 1 [00:03] All right, we're halfway through Bevnet's Cocktail Showdown 2 competition. Right now, I'd like to bring to the stage Hunter Sproll and James Mock of Golden Rule Spirits. Come on up.

James Mock [00:17] Hello Bevnet judges. My name is James Mock and along with my cousin Hunter Sproll we are Golden Rule spirits. Similarly to many of the other great brands here today, we started this journey with the notion that Ready to drink and ready to pour cocktails could be better and more convenient than what was commonly being sold in the market. I also grew up in the restaurant industry, uh, and despite my appearance, uh, the restaurant that garnered the greatest amount of attention was my family's Mexican restaurant, uh, Tequila Mockingbird. Tequila among other things, Tequila Mockingbird was known to have an excellent list of tequilas and an outstanding margarita. We used to joke, if you could only make this margarita to go, you would have a booming business. Well, fast forward to a camping trip many years later. Uh, that set the wheels in motion for this original thought to take shape. We literally could not pack any more beer. Canned wine was just becoming a thing and uh trying to pack in all those glass bottles to make cocktails in the backcountry. That didn't work either. Upon return, Hunter and I put our heads together and wrote our first business plan, scraped together whatever funds we had, and, uh, a few government shutdowns later, We had our first product on the shelf, the Golden Rule, Margarita Original.

Speaker 3 [01:49] And this whole idea began with just wanting a better option and so we knew we needed to start with great base spirits and so we headed down to Mexico, um, to find the the best tequila for the job. And a few distilleries and a bit of drinking later, uh, we happened upon our distillery and tequila of choice. And so we actually began importing our own brand of 100% agave tequila in 1.75 L bottles. Uh, we coupled that with our homemade, uh, triple sec and lime juice. We then followed that up with arguably the second most popular cocktail, uh, the old fashion. And Again, spirits were critical for this, and so we found a beautiful high rye bourbon at 3 years old to balance out our Angostura, orange and simple syrup. And so cocktails in hand, James and I actually licensed ourselves as distributors, and that allowed that allowed us to get out and really pound the pavement and knock on all doors that we deemed a good fit for our cocktails. And we were able to, we, for the first year, we really want to prove our market fit and really be out in the market ourselves. And so we focused on Northern California and we were able to find our way into over 100 accounts. And then we did recognize though that California is far too large of a market for us to tackle by ourselves. So we actually partnered with a distributor in our 2nd year and we're able to just help expand our footprint. And so we now find ourselves in just about 400 accounts statewide. Um, and we, we also had kind of a focus on retail to this point, but we've identified alternative on-premise options such as golf courses, hotels, arenas, transportation, all as being a perfect fit for our cocktails and a huge focus as we continue to expand. And I mean, geographically, we also have plans to expand into a few new states here in 2022. And so, with all that expansion and growth in mind, we, of course, have some line extensions on the horizon as well. And these will all follow in the same path of being recognizable cocktails that we love to drink. And so we'll lead off 2022 with our espresso martini, a drink that's seeing a huge resurgence in the market today, and one that allows us to really focus on our love of great local roasters. And we'll follow that up immediately with our tequila Paloma, uh, in the spring. Uh, it'll be a bit of a different take in that it'll be a still cocktail similar to the rest of our lineup and just different than what you might find on the shelf today.

James Mock [04:16] And you'll recognize that, uh, we've spent a lot of time on our brand's aesthetic. Um, we drew inspiration from old, matchbook art that bars and restaurants used to give out to cigarette smoking clientele and, uh, just as simple to go marketing swag. Uh, we wanted to capture that imagery on the can of our destination cocktails and also, uh, on the 4 pack, which we designed to be, uh, like a matchbox. Um, and it also was throwing it back to the restaurant days where this idea originally was hatched. Um, so, The ready to drink, the spirit-based ready to drink segment has seen explosive growth over the last two years, and we couldn't be more excited to be a part of this. Uh, next time you find yourself out on that camping trip, because people do go camping, Carlton, uh, or just headed to the beach or, uh, kicking your feet up after a long day of work, reach for some golden rule and drink unto others. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [05:21] Well done, well done. Sorry, Carlton. You know, we'll start with you. Just, yeah, I

James Mock [05:27] couldn't

Speaker 1 [05:27] thank you

James Mock [05:27] for that.

Speaker 1 [05:28] Um, you know, we've seen a handful of brands, cocktail brands in this package, and inevitably they're going to be compared. Golden will be, will be compared to them. I mean, you, but do you see it that way? Are they competing against that type of package or that type of brand with that package size, or are they Do you see them as having a competitive landscape well beyond that?

Speaker 4 [05:47] I, I think it's early enough that, that no one owns this format yet, um, and, and they're, they're certainly in the running, um, just as a, a comment, adding the espresso martini, terrific. Good, good, great choice. Um, I, I guess one question I have is, I mean, I think we all get the utility of the 100 mL, um, all the way to your point side when we're inside that you can take it on an airplane. Um, uh, and go after, go after Delta, go after United, go after American Big. I've, I've seen how big their purchase orders are. We,

James Mock [06:15] we might be talking to a couple of good,

Speaker 4 [06:18] um, the flip side of that, you, you know, you know, how do you go about educating consumers that 100 mL is enough, um, you know, once they put it the right, because it, it doesn't, I, I think to a lot of consumers it doesn't feel huge even though it is the proper amount that those things are dangerous. I know personally, um, so how, how do you, how do you go about that? Yeah, I think

James Mock [06:37] that's a great question. Um, education is key for us moving forward and I think that all 100 mLs are facing this exact thing. So, uh, I know TipTop and Post-Meridian have been in the same situation. We know TipTop's on Delta as well, and we see that as a great way to introduce, I mean, what a segment, right? You have a captured audience there on an airline. Oh, these things are good. Oh, you can have a real cocktail in a can. And so we're looking at those kind of avenues to educate the consumer and really enforce our brand as, you know, a real option in the market, um. You know, it's gonna be a challenge. That is one of the things we see going forward is education because we think that the liquid's there, but as long as we can get to the consumer to understand that there are real drinks in these cans, I think we have a shot.

Speaker 1 [07:23] Sebastian, thoughts on the presentation. And have you been to To Kill a Mockingbird yet?

Speaker 5 [07:27] Um, it took me a little bit to get the joke. Um, I'm, I'm German, so please, you know, like forgive me for that. Um, but, but first of all, the packaging, the branding is beautiful, right? I think it really stands out, so good job on that. And then just to the audience, I mean we tasted 10 different cocktails, um, with 3 different flavors, most of them, and then there, there's a 40% cocktail coming along, right? But the others were 5%, this is 40%, so, um. Like, tell me, like, like, do you mean that to be watered down a bit because like that's extreme, right? The, the, the, the margaritas are 27, that's a bit more palatable, right? But what's your thought on that? Like, like with the 40% and how many people do you think will understand what to do with it?

James Mock [08:07] So the old fashioned, yes, is at 39.5%. It's To the point that you're gonna know you're drinking a cocktail. Um, that being said, when you go to a bar, most people don't realize an old fashioned is mostly whiskey. There's a little bit of other stuff in there, but it's mostly whiskey. And so we want to emulate exactly what you're getting in a bar, and then we're just gonna give it to people. You pour it on ice, you'll get it watered down a little bit, but don't try and dumb it down too much. The consumer also is a smart individual, so.

Speaker 1 [08:37] Easy segue there. Saeed is uh what you got in the can exactly what you would get in the bar?

Speaker 6 [08:41] Absolutely. Um, yeah, I mean two of these things, I was gone. Uh, I mean, at least back to back. I mean, Jesus Christ. But I mean, yeah, as a from a bartender bartender's perspective and making the cocktails from scratch, this is so ideal for me is like, like taking this on the plane. I used to take little things of syrup, little things of simple syrup, make my own cocktail on the plane, but now I have the answer. And it's I'm stoked that it's I can't, I'm, I'm I'm intrigued to that I'm

Speaker 1 [09:26] I haven't seen that either. You know, I think a lot aren't all cocktails portable Tiffany? I mean, what, what's so special about the portability of this one, you just take it out of his pocket.

James Mock [09:36] They're pocketable.

Speaker 1 [09:38] Um, and in terms of the, the presentation, do you have any questions? Uh, we're just about out of time. Yeah, the only other thing I would say is just, uh, what is it gonna look like on shelf? Are you gonna wrap it in plastic? What are you gonna do with it? Because that, you know, if you, for the off-premise, uh.

James Mock [09:52] So for off-premise, which has been our focus, it, we have individuals that we merchandise kind of as add-on purchases near the register. And then the 4 packs let us take up a little bit more shelf space. We can merchandise them, do some POS that allows it to take up, again, more space. You want to be present on there. Um, but yeah, we're working on that and then off-prem or on-premise it will be all individuals, obviously, but we're not going after the bartender, by the way, like bartenders are awesome. They do their thing. We just want to make it accessible for people to take real cocktails elsewhere.

Speaker 1 [10:24] Mention you can stack it because that's important in the off-premise. Yep, that's what I mean. All sorts of ways you can stack for the off-premise. That's a solid play at like at anywhere. The stackability is a is a big selling point for them.

Speaker 4 [10:37] When it comes time to make some higher-end swag, I'm here for the Pez dispenser. If the Pez dispenser comes out, like I'll be like the first to buy it.

James Mock [10:44] We'll talk.

Speaker 1 [10:45] Fantastic. Good stuff, guys. Thanks so

James Mock [10:47] much. Thank you.