Brewbound Live 2023: Pitch Slam Semifinal Round

Ray Latif [00:12] Good morning and welcome to Brewbound Live Winter 2023. My name is Ray Latif. I'm the editor and producer of Bevnet's Taste Radio podcast, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. We've got a lot in store for the next couple of days, and we're kick things off with the 15th edition of the Brewbound Pitch Slam. Presented by Ollie. The Brewbound Pitch Slam is a one-of a-kind business pitch competition. It gives entrepreneurs behind the beer industry's next breakout brands an opportunity to sample their innovative products and showcase their business plans to a panel of expert judges in the audience watching here at Brewbound Live. The entrepreneur with the best overall pitch and product will be awarded a $10,000 industry awareness package from Brewbound. They'll also receive free entry to the 2024 Brewbound Live conference or event. Our marketing team makes us say that. The excuse me, the pitch lane begins with a semi-final round in which entrepreneurs from 12 brands will have 2 minutes to deliver their best elevator pitch. Our judges will provide approximately 2 to 3 minutes of feedback following each pitch. If the presenters attempt to go over the 2 minutes, they'll hear the dreaded gong. It's a sound you don't want to hear, folks. The judges have already sampled the products yesterday, not this morning. Otherwise I don't know how good they'd be at giving feedback. After all the brands have presented, the judges will pick 5 brands to move on to the final round, which takes place tomorrow. The 6 finalists will be chosen by audience vote. At the end of today's semi-final round, we're going to show a list of all the participating brands and a number next to their name. Live stream viewers and those here in attendance will have an opportunity to vote by texting the number corresponding to their favorite brand to a phone number that we'll provide. You, we're going to show that number just to be clear, we're going to show the number at the end of the semifinal round. You'll have until 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to vote. We'll announce our six finalists on the main stage here at 11:50, 11:50 a.m. just before we announce the winners of the Best of Brewbound or Best of 23, 23 Brewbound Awards. All right, let's meet our panel of esteemed judges, beginning with Carrie Juncker, who is the executive vice president of Bell's Brewery. Don Bixel, who is the founder of Three-tier beverages. Michelle Abdallah, who is the category manager for alcoholic beverages for Extra Mile convenience stores. And Ya Yair Tigal, who is the founder of Sunboy and the winner of the 2022 Rebon Pitch Slam. I'm really excited for our judges, really excited for our presenters. Let's get started, beginning with Joshua Rood, who is with Dr. Hops. Hello. Hey, thank you. You're welcome. Please keep an eye on your timer.

Speaker 2 [03:11] Good morning. My name is Joshua. I'm chief rabbit at Dr. Hops, which I co-founded in 2015 with brewmaster Tommy to produce the ultimate recreational beverage. The pinnacle of taste, vitality, and intoxication, and Tommy and I succeeded launching Dr. Hopp's Real Hard Kombucha in early 2020. It's so good that almost 4 years later it continues to sell well at Whole Foods, Arawan, Bevmo, and over 580 great retailers. A refrigerated hard kombucha, however, comes with many limitations, and Tommy and I wanted something that could reach and refresh all the drinkers in America. Tommy, obsessed with the taste component, began making hard seltzer at home to see if he could make something of truly excellent taste and balance, and myself, obsessed with the vitality component, began mixing the real hard kombucha with other probiotic beverages. And today I bring you something totally new. The pinnacle of taste, vitality, and intoxication in a mainstream shelf stable format, Dr. Hopp's spiked living seltzer. It's a hard seltzer spiked with superior functional ingredients real fruit, live cultures, fresh organic acids, and hops. A beverage that the up and coming drinkers of America will love with better taste, more health conscious functional attributes, and a modest amount of alcohol. My team and I have already built the structures to scale this quickly and efficiently. We're raising $3 million to launch this new line, get Dr. Hopps to break even, and catapult us on towards our five year goal of $42 million in revenue. We invite you to support this once in a lifetime opportunity and vote us on to the finals. Thank you.

Ray Latif [05:10] Well done. Thank you very much. Uh, Carrie, let's start with you. Doctor Hopps spiked living seltzer. How'd it taste? So I thought it was, it was great. It's a super interesting concept, particularly the shelf stable idea of taking what drinkers love about kombucha, which is an ever growing category, and thinking about how you translate that. I appreciated that. The piece that I would say like when we get later into looking at the packaging, so I think there's some packaging optimization pieces that I'd love to be able to see and talk about should Dr. Hops make it to the next round. Don, Joshua talked about how hard seltzer is a massive growing category. Everybody drinks it. Do you see it that way? Do you see a big opportunity for the living seltzer in particular? Yeah, I like the way that they're kind of moving out of just being focused only on the kombucha and bringing those current clients and customers along for the ride. I think that this opens them up to an awful lot of new consumers that probably might be a little. leery to be able to step into a category that they don't know. I think it checks so many boxes when you start to talk about chef stability, the fruit, the organic nature of it. I think the taste and the profile was fantastic. Ah, fruit, very easy to drink. Michelle, Would your consumers be looking for products like this? I definitely think that there's a stronger lean and interest for the health conscious consumer, although we have seen in recent years, in the past year especially, seltzers start to plateau. So it's quite a saturated segment already. So I'd be interested to understand better how they will differentiate themselves with their can and be able to kind of educate that consumer on this new approach to seltzers, being that it's Less than traditional, you know, normal seltzer and more health conscious, very easy drinking and great liquid. Yeah, can I ask you about the package and presentation that you heard today? Sure, I thought the presentation was great and I really enjoyed the drink yesterday. I will say the can stands out. It jumped out at me, literally, rabbit, and I'm curious for the big presentation if you make it to the final round. Everyone drinks it as a broad demographic. I would love to know who the real target is for this product. All right, good feedback, great presentation. Let's keep going with Chris Garrett of Trusted Gut. Come on up, Chris. Hello. Please keep an eye on your time. Good morning. My name is Chris Garrett. I am the CEO and founder of Trusted Gut. Trusted Gut is an emerging craft beverage company born in Long Beach, California, and, uh, influenced and inspired by, our hardworking community and coastal, uh, scenery. Trusted Gut is the perfect balance of, perfect balance of better for you and just plain better. Our tagline is Feels right. We, let's talk strategy, specifically our multi beverage strategy. We brew a delicious, delicious craft beer that is gluten reduced and low ABV. We brew hard seltzers that are low calorie and use real fruit juice. We also brew hard kombuchas that are gluten free and low calorie and also low ABV. We currently self-distribute in about 100 retail locations in LA County and Orange County. We also own our own brewery, microbrewery in Taproom where we've developed a strong local following. For an emerging brand, we've done a lot of brand work and brand development, and what we've discovered is that we not only have to be better for you, but we have to be better to you. And what that means specifically is we need to create a memorable brand experience for every touchpoint, including our taprooms, our, our, our packaging, and our social media where we're currently engaging with about 100,000 consumers monthly. As an entrepreneur, I trusted my gut to start this brand, and uh it is our goal to become the healthy choice for craft beverages. Thank you guys for uh introducing and uh allowing us to introduce our brand. Thank you. Thank you. OK. Yeah. The healthy choice for craft beverages. Don, your thoughts? Yeah, I like it. I was grinning because I thought it was a great way to finish. I think it's a great tagline. I really enjoyed the packaging on the brand itself. I like the stand out of the very simple word beer. I really enjoyed the flavor profile. I think as a A person that doesn't normally gravitate to beers that are gluten reduced or gluten-free. I probably went into the tasting thinking that it wasn't going to have the full flavored notes that it did to it. I thought that the beer poured very well, and I think it stood up against other comparable styles. Michelle, retail buyers are often proxy for their consumers. Um, is this a product that you would reach for and would you consider it for your stores? I think that the taste is great, but being that it is kind of a lesser known brand, I think that there needs to be something a little more that pops on the can that kind of educates the customers. I'm a little unclear in terms of like what gluten reduced would really mean and whether someone who is, you know, unable to have gluten could drink this, so I definitely think that. It's a great liquid, but it needs to get in the hands of the consumer, and there needs to be something that kind of speaks to them a bit more. Yayer, what do you think of the name Trusted gut? I actually love the name. I liked. I thought it was, it was clear. I want it to be clearer to me what it means with the gluten reduced. I want to reiterate what Michelle was saying is that can people who don't drink gluten, are they able to drink it? Can I trust my gut to drink it? Um, and I, I really love the, the taproom concept. So I think it's, it's a good idea to build community locally as you grow. Gary, is this a growth opportunity? I mean what do you think about the potential for a brand like this? So I think the potential is out there, particularly if you're going to position this in the sort of better. And it sits, you know, adjacent to things like NA and so on. Like if, if you're looking to capture that consumer, I would be interested to hear, you know, how do you plan to scale up if you're self-distributing. So I think if you make it to the final round, what's market readiness look like from that perspective as you're getting ready to sort of launch this in a bigger way. Fantastic. All right, our 3rd presenter for the round is Shannon Harris of Urban Jungle Brewing. Come on up. How are you doing? good morning. Good morning. All righty. Well, let's get right to it. Uh, I know that first impressions is always a good impression and time is limited. So my name is Shannon Harris. I'm founder, owner of Urban Jungle Brewing, which will be the first, uh, black-owned majority-owned, uh, crab brewery here, I'm sorry, there in Austin, Texas. We're also gonna specialize in our own coffee house program as well. Um, a little bit about Urban jungle. We're based in Austin, Texas, as we all may know or may not know. You know, the craft beer market, less than 1% of it is actually owned by African American owners, so that's my change that I want to bring to Austin, Texas on a smaller footprint to where I can help bring more awareness to that and also open the doors and gateway to other brewers that want to be coming up and coming and help get that percentage spiked up. Uh, we currently operate out of a 3, barrel program system out in Austin, Texas, uh, to where we're producing low ABV beers that's welcoming to those who may be connoisseurs and crab beer nerds such as ourselves, but we're also looking for those who may be new to this industry, uh, when it comes to crab beer drinkers and people that may want to be welcomed or feel welcomed in the tap room where there's people that look like them. Um, so the biggest thing that I'm doing now is one of the initiatives that I started in Austin, Texas, which is called As One, where we do a lot of charitable beers that are donated to organizations or a majority of the proceeds are donated to organizations that help uplift and bring up the BIPOC communities in Austin, Texas. We're brewing everything from coffee. We're doing culinary inspired beers because we also plan to be a bakery as well too. Um, being a semifinalist here at the Brewbound is more rewarding than ever. It's actually a stepping stone to help deliver the message of what Urban Jungle plans to do in Texas and hopefully we can expand outside of that with the help of this, but I appreciate everyone's time and look forward to meeting all of y'all, but Urban Jungle is coming to Austin, Texas, and we just want to keep that move going. So hopefully the judges did enjoy those beers that we sent out this time. Awesome, thank you. Well done. Uh, Michelle, Shannon's asked, you know, I hope that you enjoyed the beers that you tasted, did you? And so I know that there are 2 under urban jungle. We had the fruit fight and we also had the crisscross, so I'll kind of speak to both, but the fruit fight, I thought that the flavor was very, a very nice smooth drinking sour beer, nice full body, grapefruit hints. I do feel that the packaging and the can positioning. I would prefer to see it more bold colors that kind of speak to that younger audience. It was a very subdued, canned coloring, more of like a watercolor coloring that I think would appeal more so to women, something that really kind of calls out the fruit forwardness. We're seeing a lot more consumers lean heavily on fruit forward items, fruit forward IPAs, so I do like that it's a very unique. sour and then for the crisscross it was kind of just a mixture of German malts. I'm not really sure what was going on there, not something that I felt was very smooth drinking especially the canned artwork also is a bit confusing in terms of what it was exactly positioned as. Yeah, let's follow up on that. You're, I mean, in terms of the package and the branding, did you get the sense of what this brand was all about and given the presentation that we just saw? That's a great question. I think what's very exciting about the presentation that we saw is that we're growing the pie, bringing people into the beer space that aren't generally in the beer space. I think that's a great mission. The packaging didn't speak to that to me, and I think leaning harder into that would be a good selling point, right? Carrie, Shannon outlined a pretty ambitious plan for urban jungle, urban jungle brewing. You know, what are your thoughts on that plan? Yeah, I think that it is really good to have aspirational goals. We call them go-gets. And also, particularly when you're starting out, what's your main focus, right? What's your story? What are you going in? You're doing a competition like this? What's the pitch? I love the idea of building a place of community, and so I, you know, really like that further outlook at coffee and bakery. I, I would say that as you know sort of my fellow judges have talked about some real clear focus on if beer is the leading force there, then that's, you know, that's what we should be leading with making sure the packaging, the flavor, the story, all of that comes through and is clear to the consumer, which then allows you that opportunity to bring in other consumers, you know, for your morning. Hm. if Shannon were to make it to the finals tomorrow, what would you want to hear in that presentation? What about? I think adding on to what Carrie was saying as well, is what is the clear focus. I think the two products were very dissimilar from each other. They, they didn't play adjacently, so I didn't understand, you know, the connection between the two. I did enjoy the fruit forward one the most. I thought the packaging was playful and light and And, and I kind of got the concept of, of, of the name and the branding and the packaging, but I think I'd like to know a little bit more about, you know, what the long-term focus is and, and what brand and what styles. Great. All right, up next, we have Austin Corgan of Single Fin Cider. Come on up. Good to see you again.

Speaker 2 [17:45] Good

Ray Latif [17:45] to see you again, Ray. You know the timer.

Speaker 2 [17:49] Hello, good morning. My name is Austin Corrigan. I'm the co-founder and brewer at Single Fin Cider in Santa Barbara, California. Single Fin cider serves as a beacon for shared experiences and human connection by crafting a crushable, craveable cider made drinkable by anyone, anywhere. My wife and I embarked on this journey to meet a need in the in the growing cider market by crafting an approachable, accessionable introductory cider. Our brand is more than just a beverage. We are about creating, pardon, about creating connections and cultivating shared experiences with a single fin in hand. As an homage to the West Coast way of life, our crisp, dry cider is consciously crafted using only 3 organic, gluten-free ingredients fermented, almost dry to 5.5%, refreshingly light and unfiltered. Our cider is dry hot for added character and a balanced flavor profile. Available in 4 packs, 16 ounce can formats, our ciders are priced to be accessible for both retailers and consumers. In a landscape where cider sales are booming nationwide, single fin cider stands out as a craft high quality alternative. We differentiate ourselves through our organic and gluten-free ingredients coupled with a compelling non-traditional brand aesthetic. Pardon. Our goal is to be a leading cider producer in the growing market. Yeah, through our unforgettable branding and superior liquid. In our first month of business, we've sold over $10,000 in case sales and acquired 50 plus accounts, reflecting a successful first month reorder rate of 98%. To further expand our footprint, we are in the final stages of on boarding with Ewan and Whole Foods Markets and to continue our growth and expansion across the West Coast, we plan to partner with larger grocery and beverage outlets, increase our production volume through the use of co-packing facilities, and increase sales velocity through distribution channels. Thank you for your time and here's to crafting more shared memories with Singleton cider. Cheers.

Ray Latif [19:49] A year, a year. Let's start with you. Are you a cider consumer? And if so, did you like what you tasted yesterday? I am a cider consumer and I did like what I tasted. I thought it was a good flavor. It wasn't too sweet, a bit thin, but really easily crushable. Yeah, I think it's, it was, it's good packaging, good, good, good liquid. Well, if it was crushable, it's, uh, the advertising is correct on the front of the can indeed, uh, Carrie, um, I, I wonder, I'd love to get your thoughts on the organic nature of this product. Yeah, I think that that's, I think that's a real differentiator here, right? And I love that it is, they should honestly play more into that. Like that's the tiniest font on here, but Big part of the presentation. And so how do those things, those things really match up and speak out. The other thing that I really like is sort of this idea of coastal cider, which is different than sort of this orchard apple orchard kind of farm feel. So again, how do you know, like how do you envision that? How do you activate that in the market? What are those consumers because it's, you know, it's different than maybe say the pack Northwest or Midwest, for example. Don, um, I mean, is there a big opportunity for cider, given, you know, where we are in, in the industry right now, and, you know, what do you think about Single Fin within that, you know, potential? Yeah, I think the cider business continues to be strong regionally and locally. I think that any point of differentiation that you can carve out, leaning more into the name play and the lifestyle, but adding on to what Carrie said as well, as far as with the presentation leading with organic and gluten-free, I think I'd like to see that bolder and talk about that and Maybe lean into the lifestyle a little bit to be able to separate yourself. I thought, you know, the description of crushable and introductory and cider, I mean, goes exactly with the flavor. I think the flavor was there. I think I would like to see it a little bit maybe sweeter, a little stronger. I think it was a little thin as well as far as the taste profile, but I do like the branding. I do like the play on words, and I think if you Messaging I think Trinity. Michelle, is this a product that would stand out in cooler than yours? I actually have a very different opinion from some of my fellow judges. I felt the packaging was a bit a bit boring. It didn't really pop in any way. The liquid, in my opinion, didn't really have a very crisp or refreshing taste. It didn't really taste like it was leaning towards any type of fruit specifically. I do feel ciders still, you know, plays a growing, you know, role in, you know, the market. It shows, you know, some sort of lean locally, especially, and I think kind of leaning into more of that lifestyle on the packaging would be very helpful. But there is like a big transition specifically towards imperials and some of those higher ABV ciders, as well as some of those ciders that are a little bit more fruitful, so. You know, I'd like to understand better what they're exactly positioning themselves as in terms of this liquid being a little bit different. I felt it was slightly stale and it had a bit of like a bubble gum aftertaste in my opinion, OK. Let's move on to our 5th presenter for the round. That is Craig Bowers of South Los Angeles Beverage Company. Come on up. Hello. And please just keep an eye on your timer.

Speaker 3 [23:19] Uh, good morning. My name is Craig Bowers. I'm the CEO of, uh, South Los Angeles Beverage Company. Uh, my fellow co-founder in this is Sam Chuy Chiwenga. Uh, he's the original founder of Boomtown Brewery in here in Los Angeles, which is the 5th largest, uh, craft brewery in LA by volume. Um, what I'm here to talk about is our beer. I think we make great beer. We have 7 beers, uh, released into the market. Um, but nothing else I'm about to talk about matters unless we make a great, uh, quality product. Um, but what we're doing is kind of, uh, bold. Um, we're building a 24,000 square foot craft brewery in South Central Los Angeles. Um, Just to describe South Central Los Angeles, LA is divided into 15 council districts. South Central is the poorest council district in the entire city of Los Angeles. What that means is 39% of the people in this district live below the federal poverty line. And just to give you an idea of what that numbers are, for a family of four, that's $30,000 a year in household income. Um, another fun fact is 41% of the residents in South Central, are, are suffering what's called severe housing burden, uh, which means that they're spending over 50% of their income on housing alone. Um, so what we're doing is kind of pivoting and responding to a lot of trends that we've seen, particularly post-COVID in the craft beer space. Um, you know, uh, recent headline craft beer is a mature market now. Uh, on-premise hasn't returned since COVID. Um, hyperlocalism, what's going on with regional breweries. Um, so we've decided to, you know, really kind of bring those things together and really create what's, um, uh, kind of like a new model for, um, An employee social enterprise brewery. Um, so we're hiring people from the community that have traditionally had trouble finding employment and pumping them through the system. So, you know, the great things that I've experienced in, uh, in craft beer and bringing that to a community. So we want to make LA's best. And have you come to South Central LA.

Ray Latif [25:36] Uh, carry some powerful data and information in that presentation. Do you see consumers, beer consumers, A voting with your dollars for a brand like this, you know, given the presentation you just heard, yeah, I think I mean this beer was delicious. I just want to start with like I really enjoyed this beer. It was really great and I think to his point that that matters. I also think this is a cause people are going to rally around, you know, and really can feel good about supporting. I think the piece. Around like you know there's a little bit of, you know, as I look at this packaging around here, there's 4 hazy, 4 hazy IPAs in this lineup, right? So how are we differentiating the beers themselves individually, I think is something that I'd like to hear, you know, should they make it to the next round. Donn, what do you think about the packaging? I liked it a lot. I'm trying to figure out which one of us judges is going to steal the line that we had yesterday. I mean, I, I need to start off as well by saying the liquid was spectacular. I actually was talking to one of my good friends at Revolution Brewing back in Chicago this morning and actually specifically talked about how incredible this liquid was. Loved the nose to it. Loved the flavor profile. I'm still remembering it this morning. I think the packaging is great. I think you've got a lot going on with that you're trying to do and it's gonna be quite difficult to get all of that on a package and get it out there. I think this has opportunities within the community and uh it's whether or not you can get that to resonate into a larger audience, uh, but the liquid is definitely gonna help you get there. Michelle, how much of an impact, um, does the mission, does the focus of this brand have on your decision to bring in or maybe not bring in this particular line of products? Uh, I think it's a great, um, You know, social impact cause that they're linking with this brand and I also just think that it's, it's, you know, something that will probably resonate with the community that they're in in terms of locally. I do think that the packaging is spot on, very bold and artistic, and I, you know, I would also like to see how they're going to kind of like tie in that social impact on the packaging itself so that consumers are aware. I thought the liquid, you know, tasted very easy to drink, not, you know, something that I typically drink IPAs, but it was a very unique type of style, specifically the ones that we tasted. Yeah, your thoughts on Craig's presentation? I thought it was a great presentation. I would love to know how as the brand grows, you're going to translate that bigger, right? The can speaks for itself, uh, the liquid is good, we already talked about it, um, but outside of the local community, how do you get that message, uh, across? So it's exciting to see, uh, if you make it to the finals. All right, great feedback. Up next, we have Camilla Bailey with Crooked Owl Hard Tepache. Come on up. Hello. Please keep an eye on your.

Speaker 4 [28:39] Hi everyone, I am Cam Bailey, co-founder of Crooked Owl Hard Tapache. Crooked Owl is the first commercially brewed, naturally fermented alcoholic tpache on market. Our 5% ABV Hard Tapache is probiotic, gluten-free, 100 calories per can, and has zero added sugar, which also maintains our shelf stability, a feature that is unique to beverages in the functional space in the alcohol and non-alcoholic industries alike. For those of you who are not familiar with tappache, it is a fermented pineapple beverage from Mexico traditionally made from the scraps of a pineapple, so the rinds, the core, pilencio's sugar, water, and aromatic spices, usually things like cinnamon or ginger, dried hibiscus, dried tamarind, to give it a little bit of an extra flavor profile. The naturally occurring yeast and bacteria on the rinds of the pineapple cause a wild fermentation which results in a beverage that's a little bit tart, a little bit sweet, a little bit funky, pineapple forward, and is not alcoholic, less than 1% ABV. Crooked Owl hard tpache is craft brewed in the spirit of tradition. With organic pineapple, pilencio sugar, cane sugar, and a proprietary tapache culture that we extracted from the rinds of a pineapple, we combine the best attributes across the brewed world to bring to market a sessionable, shareable beverage that's truly one of a kind. Our three skews are inspired by flavor profiles that you'll find across Mexico and offer something unique and enjoyable for every palate preference, ranging from slightly sweet to just a touch of heat. But our job wouldn't be done without uplifting the culture that inspires us. We are proud partners of 1% for the Planet, an organization that allows us to donate 1% of our profits to causes that support sustainable agricultural practices and underserved communities in Mexico, and we aim to source as many of our ingredients as we can from small local producers in Mexico. Thank you very much.

Ray Latif [30:42] All right, Donn, are you familiar with hard tapacha or tapacha in general? I was not until yesterday. It was the first time I'd heard of it. And what did you think? You know, it was the one thing that stood out for me as far as just from trying the product was that the nose on the product didn't necessarily match up with the taste profile. The nose was very intense on both of the brands and the taste profile was very sweet and very easy to drink, very kind of lightly felt lightly carbonated and really approachable, but the nose was very intense on both of them. Michelle, given that tapache isn't very well known among American consumers, do you have any concerns about consumer education and getting people aware of what this is? Yeah, I think, you know, they obviously call out tapache on the can, which is really bold, but folks won't really know specifically what that is. I think maybe calling out more so the probiotic side somewhere where, you know, it's very clear would send the messaging of something that's a little bit more fermented. The can itself really appears more so like one of those canned RTDs or like Mexican style tequila based RTDs is what I would expect if I was just a customer, you know, glancing over at it. I think it's beautifully done, very artistic, a bit busy with customers know what they're. And similarly, I do agree that the nose was very strong, a bit of a, it, it turned me away from wanting to drink the liquid. It was so overpowering that I couldn't enjoy the liquid. Um, let's follow up on that. Yair, you're, you know, you're no stranger to educating consumers about a new concept. You know, what do you think about the potential for a brand like this? So I think it's a heavy lift. I think that the can is absolutely beautiful, and I think that they look incredible together. So they make for, we were talking about it yesterday, they make for a really nice billboard all on the shelf. I think they're quite stunning. It's a drink that I really actually quite enjoyed the pineapple, the pina, but it is a drink that I want half of or I want to enjoy over a period of time. It's not something that I'm going to drink multiple of, so I would expect it to be something that you're going to cultivate education and have a higher price point expecting people to only have. Small amounts. Carrie, you get the last word on Crooked Owl. Sure. So I think one of the opportunities, I agree the billboard effect is wonderful from the packaging perspective, but Crooked Owl is a new brand, so that's really bold on the packaging. There's an opportunity to take that and sort of in some ways really educate the consumer and highlight the hard to pacha part of that. I would, I would almost flip. Those things so that you have that opportunity for that space there. The other thing that I think I really like the 1% for the planet, that's an organization we support as well. So I think again getting behind the why and the authenticity that they really put into both the sourcing and you know, giving back to the community, I think that's also sort of missing from the packaging specifically. All right, good stuff. We are halfway through. The semifinal round of the Brewbound Pitch Slam. Let's keep things going with Ryan Schrumek, who is with Big Country Organic Brewing. Come on up. 910.

Speaker 5 [34:08] Alright, well, 2 minutes, not a lot of time, right, but historically it's a lot longer than the time people spend thinking about the impact of the products they're going to buy. But that's changing right now. People want to buy beverages that represent their beliefs and something they're proud to hold. 78% of consumers want to know they're buying from an environmentally sustainable company. 57% of people buy organic for food safety and to avoid chemicals. Howdy, Ryan Schromnick with Big Country Organic Brewing Company. We're Texas's only certified organic craft brewery. Just like everyone else here, we're trying to move this industry forward, and we're doing it by solving 3 problems. First, artificial sweeteners, unnecessary additives, generally nasty stuff. 2, packaging that is unsustainable, not recyclable, and ends up in landfills. And 3, the people that make and serve beverages are often underpaid, underappreciated, and lack access to benefits. At Big Country, we use high quality organic ingredients, no nasty stuff. We're proud to put it on our label. Our hard seltzer is the only hard seltzer on the market to carry all three certifications, USDA organic, Fairtrade, and non-GMO. Our Tex-Mex lager is the first widely distributed Mexican-style lager to carry an organic certification, Texas, Colorado, and California. All of our packaging is sustainable, aluminum cans and kegs, no glass, no plastic. Everyone at Big Country earns a living wage and has access to medical and mental health benefits. Nobody works for tips to earn their paycheck. And through our Fair Trade USA partnership, we've given back over $91,000 to the farmers and the families that grow the cane sugar that we use in our seltzer. Our goal is to become the household name for a granite craft beverage and to do it while being a brand that people support because we support them through our pledge to people and planet. Thank you and enjoy the journey with Big Country.

Ray Latif [36:13] Um, Michelle, let's start with you. You know, it's interesting. There's a lot of information in that presentation, and I wonder for consumers how much of the organic certification, the non-GMO Project verified, and the focus on providing a living wage moves the needle for consumers. I think um you know it is an important factor for consumers, but at the end of the day, really our customers are looking at, you know, something that is easy to drink and that really like stands out to them as number one, being that this is specifically these are, um, these are the non-alks, correct? I just wanna make sure I'm no, OK, OK, so I'm mixing it up here, um, so. I may have my notes mixed up, OK. Important in terms of the style of this drink specifically, I did feel that it was a bit watered down. Um, it did have somewhat of like a medicinal taste to it. Um, so I do think that the the can positioning, the coloring is very retro looking. I do like how that pops on the shelf, but um, I was a bit confused in terms of what it exactly is geared as, whether it's more of like a Mexican lager, is it more of like a craft, is it more of a seltzer? So I think that needs to be called out a bit more. Uh, again, quite a bit of information in the presentation. Uh, Yayer, did you see enough of the presentation on the front of the pack or around the can? I thought the cans were really compelling. They, they drew me. I feel like I might be the target audience for, for this product, um, and I didn't actually catch, uh, when I was looking at it yesterday, how many great things the brand is doing, um, and I feel like that's, again, we're back to the education component where it, it takes a lot to get consumers to really know the great things you're doing. I think this can gets me to want to drink it, but I don't know that it does all the job educating me about um the, the mission. Carrie, as Michelle touched upon, you know, that the liquid has to be great. What do you think of the beer? So I thought that the beer itself, the Mexican lager, had a little, a little bit of a banana sort of clove taste to it, which was surprising, and I'm not sure if that's intentional necessarily. The seltzer itself was a little bit thicker in body than some of the some of the more sort of like really highly carbonated effervescent seltzers, so it had a little bit thicker body. Again, not sure if that is intentional and certainly can be from the, you know, you could correlate those things with it's intentional because these are the ingredients we're using, but that wasn't necessarily clear on the packaging. I would just want to double down on what the judges said the packaging itself is like it's beautiful, that sort of retro look matte finish. Like I really think that, you know, that billboarding effect on those specifically on the beer side was wonderful. Don, are you more inclined to carry beer, a brand like this, you know, given their emphasis on mission? Yeah, if you can be able to tell that mission to enough people, I mean, I think the difficult thing is I kind of missed as well. Now that I know a lot more about it, I didn't see all that on the packaging, so it's going to be, I think, difficult to decide exactly what they're going to focus on and to be able to convey that message, I guess. If I can triple down on the packaging, I think that the packaging is great. I think it really stands out. I like the pack holders as well. Um, but I would say that the liquid, both, both brands that we tried was a little on the thin side, didn't really have anything that kind of stood out for me, but, but I think the messaging is strong. All right, good stuff. Next up we have Spencer Hoddison who is with Gay Water. Come on up, Spencer. Hello. Good

Speaker 6 [40:07] morning, everyone. OK. Um, so, as he said, I'm Spencer Addison. I'm the CEO and founder of Gaywater. I'm sure you're all thinking, what the hell is Gay Water? So Gay Water is a mission-driven lifestyle brand. We set out to create a product that drives representation for the LGBTQ community in places where there virtually is no representation, right? Like, think of your liquor store, bar, restaurant, grocery store, convenience. Store concert venue. These are places where queer consumers shop, queer consumers work, but there are no products on the shelves right now that really represent this community and, you know, indicate that these, these spaces are safe and inclusive. Um, so Gay Water itself, the name is actually a, a longstanding colloquialism within the queer community for a vodka soda. Um, so that's exactly what our first product line is, uh, for fruit. For, uh, vodka sodas, um, that are 4% ABV, sugar free, gluten-free, made with real vodka and only 80 calories. Um, I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, you know, why a product like this? This is a niche community. It's a small audience, but I want to get ahead of that. You couldn't be more wrong. The LGBTQ community has doubled in size in the last 10 years in the United States. Um, right now it's larger than the Asian American community in the United States. Um, same spending power as the Asian American community, the African American community, the Hispanic American community, um, and a community that drinks at a 2 to 4 times rate its heterosexual counterparts. So definitely an audience that's primed for a product like this, um, and, you know, as you can see with some of our community that we've grown just in the last 4 months since launched, it's definitely a product, uh, where there is a need from the, uh, a need for it. Numerous times from the comments from our community, so we're hoping to just continue creating products that spread joy. Ha. Thank you.

Ray Latif [42:23] Maybe tomorrow we'll learn more about the bullshit remover detergent there. Yair, when you first saw this package, you know, what do you think of the packaging? What do you think of the label? I dig it. I think the packaging is really strong. I like that they leaned into the rainbow but didn't go its typical rainbow colors. I think it's quite compelling. I think it is exactly what it says it is. It's not trying to be anything different than Gate Water. Like it's very, very, very clear. I think that it was good to jump on. What is clearly going to be the pushbacks, which is it's a niche community. I think it was smart in the presentation that he just addressed it right off the bat. Yeah, let's stay on that. I mean, you know, Spencer outlined a pretty big opportunity for this product. Carrie, do you agree? Yeah, I agree. I really appreciated that he was able to really, you know, lay out for us who his exact target audience is, what their, you know, what their buying power is, how they spend their dollars, how they want to spend their dollars. I think that's a solid selling story when you're walking in to see someone like Michelle, for example, you know. know who their audience is. I think the other piece here is that it's wonderful, it's wonderful to see. And if you have not, I would highly recommend you go to the website, go check out some of the social. I love the if you're going to go, I love the hard lean all the way in. I think that that, I think that that was great. Don, do you drink many vodka sodas, and if so, you know, what do you think of Gay Water? So the answer is I used to drink a lot of gin and sodas, but don't drink either anymore. But I, I thought that it was great. I would have liked to have seen the carbonation on both of them be similar. I think the carbonation on the lime was a little light on the Peach, it seemed like it was a little stronger. I don't know if that was just me picking up stronger flavor profiles, but I want to jump into the other judges. Very well done on addressing any concerns that I have as far as reach, how far out you could sell this product if you are limited. No offense to anybody else who's presenting today. But the second brand that I talked about with my friend this morning was to make sure that you went on and checked out this website leaning all the way in. I know that Carrie just said that as well. The packaging is spectacular. I mean, it's got so many different little nuances to it when you open it up, but I love the lean in. I really enjoyed this product. You know, let's talk about product attributes for a 2nd. 80 calories, no sugar, 3 ingredients, 4% alcohol. Is this in line with what consumers are looking for, Michel? Definitely when it comes to vodka, sodas, and, you know, ready to drink cocktails, which is on the rise, absolutely I agree that you know packaging is on point and I do appreciate him addressing, you know, the market and target audience and how he's, you know, how big of a segment or share that is. I do feel it's going to be slightly polarizing. There's either going to be folks that love it and then folks that just shy away from it completely. I do think that it's one that is very catchy and kind of fun and you know it's going to appeal to a certain audience that want to play into that. However, at the same time, I didn't feel that there was anything that uniquely differentiated the liquid itself. The liquid, I felt, was very generic in terms of what we're seeing within the ready to drink cocktail, vodka, soda category. It was a lot of the core flavors that we already see with High Noon packages. I'd be looking for a more unique flavor profile for it to stand out. All right, great stuff. Next up we have Kemet Coleman from Vine Street Brewing Company. Come on up. Hello. All right, hello, my name is Kimmit Coleman. I am, uh, the founder and, um, director of marketing and experiences at Vine Street Brewing Company. Vine Street Brewing Company is located in Kansas City, Missouri, and we craft beers fermented in the spirit of jazz and hip hop. So in that vein, speaking of hip hop, I'm a rapper myself. I was rapping for the last 15 years before I started this company, so it's only what I do best. So I'm gonna drop a verse for y'all if that's cool. Yes, all right. Ah, we're gonna pretend we're in the booth. All right. All right, here we go. My name is Kemet. Let me tell you in a minute the story of a rapper that'll keep your head spinning. In June of 23, I started Vine Street Brewing, the first black owned brewery in Missouri. The building that you're seeing is a brewing facility in the Jazz District downtown Kansas City. I'm about to drop facts. Hope that you listen. Did you? Prohibition I moved to 18th and Vine. My neighborhood is where Kansas City came alive. It thrived with black businesses like mine, but geographic racism made it decline. I'm a musician. You can tell by my rhymes. I used to be a boulevard beer tour guide. When I learned that when I learned that beer was an African invention, I got my wheels turning and I sat on a mission. I failed 3 times, but I found the right team, invested in our branding. It was all from a dream. We sent shock waves through the craft beer scene. I got invited to the White House to meet the VP. We're top 5 breweries in Kansas City now. Never would have thought they would be so proud. No flutes, but I hope you like my style. If you want to hear more, send me to the next round. Right. That's great. All right, that was great. Carrie, let's start with you. What do you think of the presentation in terms of, you know, your interest in this brand? Yeah, I want him to be the halftime show. It's nice to talk about something other than Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey coming out of Kansas City, I think so. I really liked it. I loved the packaging. I really liked the way that it popped. Now, when you meet the folks who are behind the beer, I think that it really makes sense. Like that brand story really resonates. I love the fact that it is anchoring itself in downtown Kansas City and sort of where that movement sort of started and thinking about how it's revitalizing that space. I yeah, I just, I really enjoyed, really enjoyed the rap. Thanks for the entertainment this morning. Yeah, I think Kennet nailed the rap. Did he nail the liquid, Don? The presentation was fantastic. I think that the liquid, let's start with the oatmeal cookie, spicy, strong finish were my notes. I thought it was great in that it really differentiated itself. I think it was a little strong on the spice as far as being able to drink more than just one, but I did enjoy the uniqueness of the spicy brown. I think it was a very unique product that I had not tried something similar before. On the Mexican lager, I've used the word thin a couple of times. We'd probably look for that to be a little bit more full bodied. The packaging is busy, but I think now knowing a little bit more about the brand now it makes more sense to me, and I think it works. Yeah, I'll stay on the packaging for a sec, Michelle. You know what are your thoughts on what you saw in those cans yesterday? Um, in regards to the packaging specifically, I, I was a bit confused in terms of the packaging. So with the Mexican lager, um, if it was to be geared more as a Mexican lager, I was not getting that sense. It was, um, it looked a lot more like an artsy craft can, in my opinion. Um, it had more of that golden lager taste to it. Didn't really taste like a. Hispanic lager than I'm traditionally used to. I did not feel like anything really stood out or differentiated in the can. Did not really tell that story of what it was inside. For the spice brown ale, I agree. I do think it had a very unique, nice, uh, you know, flavor profile. Bit spice heavy and I would prefer to see, you know, the can kind of like speak to those flavors and spices more. It had more of like that seventies groovy look to it. It was a very bright orange and it didn't really, you know, resonate with that, you know, that spice flavor profile. Yeah, your, uh, kind makes it to the next round, maybe we'll get a 5-minute wrap, which would kind of be kind of great, um, but what would you want to hear in that rap? I, I guess I, I wanna, I mean, reiterate what Michelle was saying. I think that there is a lot of story there that I didn't get from the can. I want to know more of the story. I want to know more of the origin, how, I mean, he said he failed 3 times. I want to know that. Uh, I think that's really fascinating, and I think telling that, uh, will move the needle. Outstanding. All right, up next we have Tara Shaver from Pulbeans. Tara. Maybe not Hey guys, I'm Terrace. All right, what's up everyone? I'm Eric Shaver, co-founder and Terra's husband of Palmy's, your new favorite anti-Seltzer. Palmy's began with a mission to change the drinking game as we know it. We wanted to stop the bloat, start the buzz, and do it all naturally with tons of flavor. You're probably looking at our slim can on the screen and thinking, shit, not another seltzer. Listen, we get it. We have it too, and the medical term for that is seltzer fatigue. Um, in 2019, the hard seltzer craze was sweeping the nation. Consumers were excited to have a beer alternative that was somewhat healthy, according to the nutrition panel. But now you walk into every grocery store and you're overwhelmed by a ton. Flavorless drink You, you're tired of the bloaty bubbles, the fake wannabe ingredients, and the lame out percentages, and we were too. That's why in June of 2022, my brilliant wife, Terry and myself founded Palmy's, and we wanted to fill all the holes where hard seltzers are falling a little bit short, consensually, of course. So what is the cure to your seltzer fatigue? Palmy's. It's a 6% hard tea and lemonade, you guessed it, without carbonation. Packed with flavor from real tea extracts and real fruit purees, this is an incredibly chuggable drink without the bloat and burps. Our better for you seltzer alternative has real cane sugar minimally added to give you that lemonade flavor, but not the sugary hangover. It's all packaged together in a dope looking can with a mullet sporting flamingo. Palmy's is currently available in two flavors. Our original Arnie Palmy combines smooth black tea with citrusy lemonade, and it's called Post Lamone, named after the musical genius himself. And the new addition to our lineup is Razz Daddy. It's a juicy raspberry lemonade mixed with a lighter flavor of green tea, named after myself. With RTDs projected to hit 40 billion by 2027, the hard tea category is taking off along with it, and Palmme's is ready to ride the wave. So whether you're hanging out with your buddies on the golf course, doing backflips off a boat, or just chilling around a bonfire, Palmy's is here to cure your seltzer fatigue with a bubble-free alcohol option that's as full of flavor as you are of life. Let's drink up beaches. Drink up, Peaches. All right. Uh, Don, let's start with you. Um, you see a pretty big opportunity potential for spiked tea and lemonade, and what do you think of polomaise in general? I, I see a pretty good opportunity of the rest of you having to deal with me saying drink up beaches for the rest of the day. That's going to stick, you know, yes, I think that there's an audience for it. I think that I would like to see more of a call out of the spiked tea. I think that it's interesting sitting and hearing the presentations now and how much more you learn about a brand than just on the packaging. So I think I'd probably want that. Streamed out a little bit more and maybe I'm wrong Carrie, but wasn't this one the way we were confused that it felt like we were getting some bubbles out of it? I think that no bubbles, but I think that we felt like there was a little bit of a carbonation to it and I don't know if that was the flavors that we were getting out of it. The first one, the Post Malone. Uh, the lemon, um, a little sour sweet, um, and then I thought that the flavor profile could come up with the Razz Daddy a little bit too. I thought that that one is a little bit weaker on the flavor profile, but fun, fun packaging. Yeah, Michelle, do you see more consumers buying products like these and looking for products like these in your stores? So, uh, in terms of, you know, this new wave being like the spiked, you know, hard tea lemonade, I definitely think that's kind of where the trend's headed, but we're, you know, you're, you're headed into a very, uh, competitive, highly saturated type of segment that, you know, a lot of folks are kind of battling for right now, um, given, you know, you're entering a space. For twisted tea, New Belgium now has a hard like lemonade tea. You have, you know, Lipton coming out with one. We have Ninkasi. I mean, a lot of main dominant brands in this space, so you really need to differentiate. You really need to stand out, and the flavor needs to be spot on. And I think when I look at this can I think of like, you know, a senior golfer, you know, kind of kind of sipping this at the golf court. with like the, you know, flamingo, it's a very laid back vibe. I do think that it'd be nice to lean more heavily into that laid back feel and also some of like the better for you aspects that this, this hard lemonade tea brings to the table. I think, you know, going with like a green tea base would be is great because there's a lot of folks kind of entering that space with that. Black tea, but personally I felt that the liquid itself had a bit of a bitter and overly sour taste profile. Most folks in this space obviously are going with that sweet, you know, leaning in more with the sugars. It's a bit tricky when you're doing something like a lemon or, you know, a sour base profile to make it healthy as well, because it becomes a bit too bitter. Yeah, you, can I ask you about the packaging for Palmy's. Yeah, I really dug the packaging. I thought it was clear, clean, screamed what it is, agreed, laid back. I, of the two, I really liked Post Limone. I'm not a trademark lawyer, but I would be nervous about the name, and I also think it was not about packaging, but about the flavor. I thought it was interesting to go with 6% as opposed to the standard. It's like generally 5% in the space, and it was. The Post Lamone specifically, I thought it was a nice balance. I didn't taste the booze too much, and so good job, Carrie. Don touched on carbonation. You want to Sure, yeah, I think some of that's like how is it handled in transport and all that, you know, you don't, as a producer, you don't always get to control all aspects of that. So you know, but I do think that when we opened it and poured it out, it certainly had some of the sort of effervescent carbonation aspect to it. So I think you're going to have to be really careful if you if you're saying that it is non-carbonated at all. It really needs to show up as more of a lemonade. flavored, you know, sort of flat lemonade flavored tea flavored drink. I think that that's important. The other thing that as I look at this is like I love the look here. I think you may have a hard time like if it's produced in Bend, Oregon with such a beach vibe, you're going to want to think about how you, you know, how do you speak to a consumer, which markets are you going to? You're going to have to really think hard about like where, where are you going and maybe how much do you want to talk about that it's made in Bend, honestly. Not that I don't love Ben, but I love Ben. I, I've never seen that, uh, scene in Ben, but, yeah, good stuff. All right, up next we have Alfred Rotimi from Joy Hound Beer Company. Come on up. Hello. Good morning, everyone. I'm Alfred Rotemi. I want to tell you about Joy Hound Beer Company. We're a family-owned premium craft beer business out of Baltimore. Our products are produced under contract and distributed throughout Maryland and DC. They've been picked up by independent local shops and national brands like Total Wine and Trader Joe's. We take pride in every style of beer being flavorful and drinkable and accessible even to non-traditional beer drinkers. We're a family of scientists and creators. Uh, both sides of my family have a history in making beer and making alcohol. Uh, my background is in psychology and neuroscience. Maybe that's why I've been told that my recipes are magic backed by science. We launched late in 2019 and it was draft only, so the pandemic threw a big wrench in our plans, but we're able to remain resilient and pivot into canning our beer, and that's why we're here today. I'm mostly a one-man show. I do all the, uh, recipe design, marketing, selling, and distributing for Joy Hound Beer Company and myself, even though I have a mobility disability, but I'm determined to make it work, so I just work past it. Uh, we've brought over 7 products to line up. Currently we have, uh, tail wagger Golden Ale, while Chesapeake double IPA. It's got tangerine lime and lemon and plum power sour available, and, um, we had great reception with all of those. So the response to the brand has been amazing. Everyone likes the logo. They like the name. They like the labels, which are great. They like the beer, the liquid itself. We've gained notability for being a black owned company in a space where there's not that many of us. We've had some cool achievements like our beer was featured recently by Patagonia, Baltimore this past summer. Huck Berry magazine declares the best brewery in Maryland, and we don't even have a taproom yet. So we're doing a campaign to raise money to build our own taprooms so we can go to the next level. We've already raised over $70,000 of our $205,000 goal. We want to start off small by building just a nano brewery and bringing our contracted stuff in and grow from there. Thank you. Uh, Michelle, let's start with you. I think yesterday you tried the foggy Chesapeake and the tail wagger. Uh, what are your thoughts on those two products? Uh, so in regards to the tail wagger, I felt that it was um very easy drinking. It tasted like, you know, a golden pilsner as it says it is. Um, it didn't feel like there was much that really stood out. The, um, the can itself doesn't really tell the story of, you know, what this, you know, brewery is or, you know, the, I mean, the, the kind of like the origin of it, you know, um. So I'd like to understand that a bit better. Um, and also I found it interesting that it was packaged in like a 12 ounce can. Typically crafts we see like in 16 or 19.2, so I'd wanna, you know, better understand why they went that route. Um, yeah, those basically are my thoughts around it. Nothing that really stood out too much. Um, I did feel like the can had kind of like a, a cute, you know, logo to it. Yeah, you're a premium craft beer for nerds, by nerds. What do you think of that positioning? I think there's so much that I loved about the presentation and the story, and I got none of it from the can. Um, so what Michelle was saying basically, like I, I think it has a lot of legs as a brand that people could get behind, um, but I didn't get that from the packaging or the liquid really, um, and so I would love to see that expanded upon. Carrie, if they were to move on for tomorrow's tomorrow's round, what would you want to see in that presentation? Yeah, I think that I'd love to hear a little. Crowdsourcing, you know what exactly you're doing. I understand bringing that innovation in-house. I do want to double down and say that I think particularly there's something catchy about this sort of science, you know, the the line around magic backed by science and like how does that really shine through in all aspects. So in packaging, in the presentation, how would you, how would you activate that in the community and, you know, where this taproom is going to be? There's just, yeah, there's something about, about that particular part of it that's really catchy and different. Don, can I ask about the name Joy Hound Beer Company? Yeah, kind of piggybacking on everybody else, I, I like the name. I think it's light, it's playful. I, I'm missing the connection of how this all connects together, hearing the presentation and where the brewery is from, ownership of the brewery. I think there's a lot more that can be portrayed in the packaging to be able to make it resonate. And then as far as the flavor profile, I thought the flavor profile could be a lot bolder and maybe stand out, especially if we're leaning into science and maybe some other point of differentiation. All right, good feedback. Are we really down to our last presenter for the round? We are. That person is Timothy Dwyer from Headlom. Come on up. That Quick, quick. Alright, great, thank you. My name is Tim, and let me tell you up front, I love drinking great beer. For over 2 decades, it's been part of my lifestyle from carefree college days to the rewarding chaos of parenting. But as life shifted, a growing job, a growing family, the evolution of time. So is my approach to beer. And I had to adapt and with the slow innovation in the category. It didn't really appeal to my taste buds. I've been fortunate enough to have a long career in beverages, being part of many great teams and people building great categories and brands. And I found this an opportunity that I personally can relate to, and that's why a year ago my partner and I embarked on a mission. Beer is iconic and nostalgic. Most of us have great memories with a beer in our hand, whether it's a concert with our friends, laughter is filled with Moments with our family. But those experiences I never wanted to lose, so Hedlund was born, born in New York. With the desire to modernize the beer experience. It's more than just a name for me and our team. It's a commitment to bring great beer with no booze to life, something I could personally relate to. Our journey began with two outstanding IPAs launched in Long Island this year. We have nearly 1000 locations across the East Coast, including Total Wine, Whole Foods, Shoprite, as well as many great local retailers. With a brand focus of discipline and execution, we've been able to see already 70% repurchases. But what truly sets us apart is our commitment to taste and craftsmanship. Beer making is an art. We're curating a community of best of best brewers, tapping into legends who perfected the craft, and this community allows us a journey to move fast with excellent liquid. Thank you. Where are they based? All right. Yair, uh, see a lot of interest in, uh, non-alcoholic beer, but the liquid's got to taste good for it to work. Does it, does it do it for you? Uh, so I thought the liquid was good. I thought it said there was juicy, if I remember the juicy boom. I didn't get the juicy boom components of it, but I liked the drink. Um, and so I think that there was a little bit of a disconnect for me between the name and what I was consuming, but I enjoyed it. I really like the label. I just want to talk about how clean it is from the front, and I did. Go to the website and I really enjoyed a lot of the videos there. I want to be, uh, I wanted to ask if it does make it to the final round to focus on who the actual target is because NA is a category that's exploding, um, but people are very specific about who they want drinking their, their beverages. Yeah, let's talk a bit more about the label. Carrie, what do you think about the label in terms of the hierarchy of descriptions? Yeah, I think there's, there's a little bit of like when you talk about, um, and if it's going to be an NA beer, and again, that needs to, I think that needs to be bolder and bigger. Certainly you want to make sure it's showing up in the right set. Um, and again, as you lose control down the supply chain line, like where you place your beer and in the set in the right set really matters. So I think you want to what I do love is the colors. So the other, we had the other blue can, sort of this like baby blue, almost the color of the table can, and when you put that together, they looked really great. They stood out on the shelf, certainly blues, greens, that's sort of the color of NA beers, if you will. So for it to not be a really busy package, I think will help it stand out in that NA shelf set. Don, I mean, do you see continued growth and potential for NA beer and, you know, where do you see Headlam fitting into that set? I, I I think that you really need to stand out and have something that's really different. I know that there's only some space available at retail. The packaging, I think, really does stand out, that billboard effect. I didn't know until now that blue and green were the colors of non-Ak beers, but thanks Carrie for that. But I did think that the packaging stood out and definitely separated itself. Whether or not there's an opportunity for regional or local only non-AC players that are standalone and not extensions from existing players, I don't think that's shown itself yet. All right, Michelle, you get the last word for the round. I think that if you're going to go into a non-alk beer or any non-alk alcohol liquid that you really need to be exceptional to stand out. Retailers have limited space on the shelf, and NA is still only just 1% of that dollar share. So you know there is a lot of competitors entering the space. You know, we're coming out with like non-alk based RTDs, non-alk-based seltzers, non. Milk-based beers, folks aren't going to be able to put maybe more than just one or two items on the shelf, and it's going to have to be items that really have proven itself out. I think the packaging really does pop, but I think the liquid is going to polarize slightly because it's a very strong IPA taste. Not that many people who don't typically drink beers are going to, you know, drink IPAs, especially, so it needs to be a little bit more consumer friendly, so to speak, a little bit lighter. You know, it's like going into a wine and starting off with a very bold wine versus like a soft Riesling. So I think that it needs to be a little bit more consumer friendly as a non elk. All right, good stuff. As you might have seen and as you might know if you're a presenter, it's really difficult to get up here on stage and present your business plans, your passion, your life's work perhaps in 2 minutes, and I think everyone did an amazing job today. Very well done. Before we show the leaderboard and the number that you can call and the numbers associated with each brand, I just want to do a very, very quick debrief with the judges. We talked a bit about some of the things that you'd want to see if these brands were to move on to the next round. In general terms, what are some of those things that they need to highlight? Uh, if they are to be in tomorrow's round, Carrie, I think you want to, who's your clear consumer and your target audience? What are your plans, you know, what are your plans for growth? And there's a lot of these brands that had sort of a community connection to it, and I think that's got to show up in the rest of the pitch tomorrow. How does, how does the beer, the liquid, you know, tie into the community work that you're trying to do? Yeah, very similar, you know what I mean, the kind of the back to the ABCs and the 12, 3's of the business is just, you know what I mean, who are your number one accounts that you're going for? Who's your number one distributor? What's your route to market? What's your price point? What's your consumer, you know, what's your fallback plan, you know, who's the next growth that you're going to look for the next step down and just really understanding that and understanding the need that you might need to do slight pivots in your brand and kind of being able to show you what your next steps really are. Michelle. I think it's consumer packaging, messaging, how you're calling it out, and then what's differentiating you from others. Yeah, you're, I mean, they said it all, but I would say to add on to it, I want the why. I want the origin. I want to understand why you're the right person to do all of these things. I love our judging panel. Aren't they amazing? Very well done. Great job. OK, we are now going to show that leaderboard. The audience vote is very, very important. The audience will pick the sixth brand that goes on to the finals. So, once again, there's going to be a number corresponding to each brand. You can text that number to that, uh, text the code to that number 213-722-3546. If you're here in attendance or watching on the live stream, you can vote. Uh, you have until 10:00 a.m. to vote. Um, in between now and 10:00 a.m. We have some great live stream content, so for folks are watching at home, please stay tuned. Um, but we'll be back here on the main stage at 10:00 a.m. with our amazing Rebound Edit team, excited for all the content today. Thank you all and see you at 10.