Latest / Brewsers / Brewsers #402- Write Off

Transcript

Brewsers #402- Write Off · Brewsers

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Bruisers, a podcast about beer, coffee, booze, and Bruisers.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rody John, and today we talk to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Lauren and Josh with Ride Off. We talk about starting
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Ride Off, what the reception has been like, and so
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: much more. Ride Off is an incredible martini ready-to-drink cocktail
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: that is new on the market, and you are definitely
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: going to want to check it out. So you don't
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: want to hear from me, you want to hear from them.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: So without further ado, here is Lauren and Josh with
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Ride Off. I would like to welcome the show, Lauren
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and Josh with Ride Off. How are y'all doing today?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Doing great.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: How are you, John? Doing well. So for those listening,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: kind of paint us a word picture. Where are you
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: at and what's going on around you?
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: We just launched six weeks ago, officially on July 28th
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: in Charleston, South Carolina, which is where Josh and I
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: went to college. We met and we have been ever since.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: So we have distribution all across the state of South Carolina,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: six weeks in, and we've almost sold around 3000 cans.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: So It's been a lot, but we officially started in
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: April of 2023. We've learned a lot. We didn't think
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: it would take three and a half years to get
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: to this point with like, we didn't know what a
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: co-packer was. We didn't know how hard it would be
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: to get distribution, but we're really excited to see where
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: we'll go from here.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Well, let's go all the way back in time. What
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: is your earliest memory of alcohol?
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Earliest memory of alcohol for me is I guess a
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: little scary in a sense was probably a Four Loko.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: That was probably the first.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: The original one or the newer one?
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: I think it was before they had the caffeine issues.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: So it was one of the things that was really
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: easy to sneak when you were like 18 because it wasn't,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: it was paper. So if you put it in a
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: backpack when you're sneaking out of your parents' house, it
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: wouldn't clang around. So that was probably my earliest thing
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: of alcohol. And I thought it was super cool being
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: able to sneak around my parents without them catching me. Yeah.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I think I, I would say my, my, my earliest
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: experience was probably Pabst Blue Ribbon. I always remember PBR
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: as being such a, such a prominent big beer, you know,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: growing up and just started drinking. Fireball was huge back
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: in the day. But we we've always been, you know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: not sound like alcoholics, right? We've always been around alcohol.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Going to school at the College of Charleston here, Charleston's
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: a really boozy city. So, you know, there's champagne everywhere, cocktails,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: rooftop drinking, wine. It's just a, it's a really boozy town.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: So we thought no better place to launch write-off in
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: a space like this.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Now, before we get into write-off, I have to ask
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: a selfish question as a fan of Bravo. You guys
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: are from Charleston. Have you guys run into any of
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the Southern Charm people?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, frequently. We're also good friends with some of the
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: folks on Southern Hospitality, which is one of the spinoff
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: shows in Charleston.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, don't watch that one.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: It's good.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: You should give it a try. It's less polished than
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Southern Charm, but it's a good watch as well.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one of my friends will be a quote-unquote friend
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: of on the next season of Southern Charm, so she's
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: very excited. She's kind of telling you everything that's going on.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: And it's a very big production. I mean, for as
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: long as they've been doing it, it's one of the
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: longest standing Bravo shows. But yes, we have run into
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: them at bars, restaurants, and it's always entertaining because I
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: actually haven't watched the show, but just being in Charleston,
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, there's so-and-so, there's so-and-so. So it's fun
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: to have little celebrity sightings.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, if it happened to show up on the show,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: that wouldn't be a bad thing.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: We did actually drop off some write-off for one of
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: their shows or episodes that they were filming for a
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: pool party. So we won't know if it's actually in
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: the show until it gets released. I don't know if
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: it'll be Q4 of this year or beginning of next year,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: but I think it'd be really cool if in someone's
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: hands there's a write-off. And even if it's not that,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: we're going to keep trying to push it on Bravo
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: for sure.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Oh, without a doubt. Yeah, especially, you know, you're already
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: in Charleston, plus, you know, watch what happens live. Andy
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: always has Somebody from the alcohol world is our bartender,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: so there you go.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh. Yeah, that would be a really cool
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: bucket list thing to do.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: I would love to be on that show, too. Maybe
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: one day. Andy, if you're listening, first off, let us know.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: And then second off, we all want to be on
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the show.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: If you need three bartenders, we'll give you a deal.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Perfect.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Well, let's go right into it. So you guys said
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: you guys started this, what, in 2023?
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: But this kind of went back to COVID, right? Because
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: you were wanting this, you know, a martini RTD, but
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: there wasn't one around. So obviously, you know, you guys
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: filled the void by creating your own. Where did the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: actual idea come from though?
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: So it's kind of a funny story. What we kind
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: of think back to most of the time is Lauren
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: was on the beach here in Charleston and craving a
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: lychee martini and by the way for the future we'll
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: probably say either way lychee or lychee it just depends
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: on where you're at and i'm.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Glad you said it because i knew i was going
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to mess it up at some point.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah it's it's it's 50 50 um yeah john whatever
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: however you say it we'll go with it but i'll
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: say or i'll say lychee excuse me so lauren was
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: on the beach craving a lychee martini just a really
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: popular martini is you know before it was even very
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: popular actually um.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, Lauren, I'll find it for you when
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: we go to the beach next. I'll find it in
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: a ready-to-serve or ready-to-drink format. And it just didn't exist.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: And we were kind of surprised by that. I'm like, well,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: I guess we could like pre-batch them and bring them
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: to the beach or something like that. But that's not
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: too feasible. And then we kind of thought up the idea, like,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: let's just make it ourselves. Years down the line, we've
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: come to learn how complicated that would be. And now we're,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: you know, now we're here, but.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And after Lychee Martini was definitely the first one.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: And as we started looking at Lychee Martinis, we also
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: realized that there's such a white space of just specialty
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: martinis in general that are in a can format. I mean,
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: really the only one you see is an espresso martini
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: that like Cutwater has, Tip Top has, Postmarnium has, Loverboy
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: has one now. But other specialty martinis just weren't really there.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: And so there's so many specialty martinis that people order
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: at the bar every day. The martini actually, they just
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: came out with some data that it's about to pass
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: the margarita and demand. And so you have so many
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: brands that have built lines of margaritas, right? I mean,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: you have like, I can probably name, I mean, there's
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Sip Margs is definitely the biggest one because I am
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: always on social media. But there's just so many brands
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: and lines of margaritas, but then where was the martini?
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: So the light gene definitely initiated the thought. And then
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: once we started doing the data digging, we were like, oh,
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: the numbers are showing that there is a white space
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: for this and that there is demand.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: So what was, so you guys have a vodka based martini.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Was the thought at any point a gin one as well?
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Or did you guys just want to stick with the vodka?
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: We only have stuck with vodka. One of the things
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: that we, tried to do but didn't work was we
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: did try to release an R & D, a dirty martini.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: That did not work so well because we realized you
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: have a really good dirty martini. It needs to be
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: absolutely ice cold with some ice chips in it, which
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: is really hard in a can format. So that's when
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: we realized everything else is perfect, as cold as a
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: can can get. But the dirty martini was the only
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: one that we were like, We don't think that that's
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: going to work for us. And so that's how we
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: kind of shifted away. But to answer your question, no,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: we haven't looked at any gin martinis yet, but we
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: have gotten some reach outs on our website for gin
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: and tequila based martinis.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, I have heard tequila martinis. I haven't had one,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: but I've heard of them. Yeah.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Tequila based espresso martini.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Is very popular in Charleston. So when you're in Charleston,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: they'll ask when you order espresso martini, a lot of
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: bartenders will say, do you want tequila or vodka? So
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: it's also really interesting to see the trend there.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Old fashioned with tequila is fantastic as well.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Well, how did you guys figure out this with that
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: lineup you guys wanted? Because like you said, you have
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the lychee or lychee and you have the apple and
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: then obviously espresso because it is literally one of the
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: most popular drinks for the past decade now.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: So there's so many specialty martinis. So we kind of
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: wanted to encapsulate those and just, you know, we're going
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: to release three SKUs. We want them to all have a,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: you know, a different flavor profile. So your lychee martini
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: is floral. It's slightly sweet. There's the hints of elderflower
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: in it. And then on the opposite end, we have
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: your appletini, which was super popular, you know, in the 60s, 70s, 80s.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: even 90s, the appletini was wildly popular and it's gaining
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: popularity again as people are kind of gravitating towards more
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: tart and sour flavors. So we're like, let's bring that
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: one back and incorporate the sour, tart, green apple with
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: a little bit of lime in there. And then, you know,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the most familiar cocktail, the most familiar specialty martini is
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: that espresso martini, more indulgent, coffee forward. We had a
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: hint of dark chocolate in ours. So you get a
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: little bit of everything, light, tart, and indulgent. So there's
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: there's something for everybody that's, you know, that's looking for
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: a specialty martini experience. Yeah.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: And the great thing about that is that when we're,
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: when we ask our friends, what's your favorite, they say, well,
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: it just depends on the time of day or it
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: depends on my, like what I'm feeling. So kind of
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: some other canned cocktail lineups are very similar. Like, do
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: you want a pineapple or a watermelon? Like they're both fruity,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: but ours are very different, which is also fun because
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: people like to try, like they're open to trying all
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: the flavors and once maybe for like daytime, nighttime, some
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: people like I have a lychee getting ready and then
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: I have an espresso when I come back from the bar.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: So it's kind of always fun to see that. But yeah,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: as Josh said, it kind of, pulls from the sweet
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: and floral the tart and then the dessert forward and
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: we were talking about some of our next flavors that
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: we want to launch next and we kind of want
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: the same thing every flavor to be very very different
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: so that none are really overlapping.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I will not ask what the new flavor is going
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to be because you guys are six weeks old so
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: but no it really makes sense like if you were
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: going to the beach espresso martini probably not the best
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: thing you want to have at a beach but like
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: you said later in the day perfect.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Exactly Which is great. We have had some questions about
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: mixed packs, which we haven't launched yet. But to the point,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: it's also tricky because if someone only drinks canned cocktails
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: during the day, maybe they don't want espresso martini. But
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: we do see the demand too with people. They're not
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: wanting really mixed packs anymore. So I think it was
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Dave Portnoy released a video and he was like, we're
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: finally releasing eight packs of single SKUs. Because once people
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: find their favorites, they stick with them.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: And it's an interesting point, too, that Lauren brings up, John.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: With mixed packs, with a product like specialty martinis, each
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: SKU is incredibly different from the next. So if you
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: think in the RTD world, take a vodka seltzer, for example.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: It's vodka, seltzer, flavoring. And they're all kind of the
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: same thing with just a different flavoring. So it makes
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: sense to do a mixed variety pack. With right off,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: each specialty martini is wildly different from the next. So
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: it's kind of harder to justify selling it in a
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: mixed pack format.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: I will do the devil's advocate probably here. And I
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: enjoy the variety pack because let's say I've never had
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: you before. I want to know what everyone tastes like.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, I completely understand. Also, like
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: with a production standpoint, like putting everything together is a pain. But,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: you know, as a consumer who enjoys trying all the flavors,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: I would also, I still enjoy the variety pack. But
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: like you said, the numbers say otherwise, where people do
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: find their favorite and they just want, yeah, like eight
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: or 12 or whatever it is.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not to say it's out of the question. We
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: toyed around with the idea of creating a three martini
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: lunch pack where you would have one of each flavor.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Like a little trial pack. Right.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: So it's not out of the question, John.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, it goes right into the names, which
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: I love the name of Ride Off, which especially with
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: what people will find out here in a second what
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: it came from. So please tell us the story about
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: the name Ride Off.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, write-off is great. It's an ode to the three-martini
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: lunch era that was really popular from the 60s through
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: 80s when businessmen and women in really big cities would
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: go out to lunch, have three martinis each, and be
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: able to 100% write it off as a business success.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: So we really like that because we wanted to pull
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: the history of the martini into the name. And the
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: funny thing about that is we were researching, and there's
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: actually not an agreed-upon origin story of where the martini
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: came from. So that's where we originally wanted to pull
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: the name. And we said, you know what, okay, let's
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: keep doing research. And then we found the three martini lunch.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: And then we started talking to our grandparents. And then
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: they started telling us about their three martini lunch stories.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: And we were like, this is really, really cool. So yeah,
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: write off is an ode to that, which we also
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: like because putting martinis in a can is bringing a
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: traditional drink into a more convenient format. And so there's
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: a nostalgic piece to it, right? So the nostalgic piece
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: also comes through the name. So we have some really
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: fun marketing that we hope to do with Three Martini
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Lunch because some of the stories that we have heard
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: from some people in my grandparents' retirement home are really iconic.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I think having them drink it and then tell these
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: stories sounds like a great video for social media.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Exactly. I'm trying to I'm trying to work on it.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: I just I'm waiting for a grandma or grandfather to
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: just tell me some crazy story about some drunk work
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: lunch that they had in D.C. or New York, because
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: I feel like that would be a hit.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Oh, without a doubt. Who doesn't love hearing those stories,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: especially from back those days? People love Mad Men. Why
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: wouldn't they want to hear those stories again?
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Well, so when it came to obviously you guys figured
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: out what the lineup was going to be and you
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: had somewhat of an idea of the taste in your mind.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: but going through and actually getting the, the whole recipe
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: right and how you're going to do it and the ingredients, uh,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: you got to go through multiple tastings. So how was
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: the tasting process for each of these flavors?
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: It was a long process. I think we're at Virgin
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: like 40 of each one. It started with Lauren and
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: I identified our favorite specialty martinis at whatever bar restaurant
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: that we liked it at the most. So, um, The Appletini,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: for example, is modeled closely after the Appletini from the
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Thoroughbred Club bar here in Charleston at the Charleston Place.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: They added a little bit of lime juice to theirs,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: and we thought that was great. So Lauren and I
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: went home. We played around with making these martinis in
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: our house, bought all the ingredients, tried those for weeks.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: And then we're like, well, how do we scale this
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: up into a commercial format? So then we worked with
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: our co-packers formulator to get the flavors right. you know,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: we went up there multiple times in person to, to
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: try these iterations of each formula, you know, sent product
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: back and forth to get it just right. Let's, let's
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: tweak the flavoring up and down and tartness and sweetness
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: and tried various different sweeteners. And, and now, now we're here.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: So definitely a much longer process than we thought. You
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: can't just kind of like make your martini. And again,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: we're scaling up to 12 ounces. So You're not really
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: getting a four-ounce concentrated martini. We wanted to make it
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: into a drink that you can enjoy in a larger format.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the other thing. How did you guys
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: end up deciding on, obviously, what the can was going
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: to look like, but the size of it as well?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we thought that, like Norm was mentioning, this white
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: space in the RGD market. Specialty martinis are wildly popular.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Why has nobody really built an entire brand around them?
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: A lot of the smaller format RTDs that, you know,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: they have the espresso martinis are wonderful, but they just
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: don't fit in a lot of occasions where people want
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: to be holding a 12 ounce can and enjoying a
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: drink of that size. So we thought that the 12
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: ounces is just, it's a, it's a great size, but we,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: we made the ABV 8%. So you're still getting that kick.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: of a martini, and I encourage you to try them, Jon.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Each one is really smooth where you'll want to go
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: back and have another. You're not bloated from carbonation. There
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: wasn't too much sugar. The flavors are just right. So
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: we thought that this 12 ounce really suits the drink.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think another thing is when you go out
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: to a bar or you're at a concert, you don't
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: really see anyone drinking anything other than a 12 ounce can. right?
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: Whether it is a 12 ounce slim or your 12
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: ounce regular, like a long drink. So if you do
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: have any of the smaller formats, not that there's anything
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: wrong with that, but one, a lot of the smaller formats,
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: you also need to dilute it. You need a shaker
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: and glassware, which that's not feasible at a concert. And two,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: if it is those smaller cans, I just think the visualization,
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: like you never see the smaller cans. I personally have
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: never seen a smaller can at a at a hair
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: styles concert, right? It's always 12 ounce cans. So I
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: think that also just, we wanted to be sitting next
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: to the competitors of the other RTDs. So people just
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: assume that we were one of them.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: No, that makes sense. Well, so how did the, I mean,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: when you're creating a brand, you'd have to think about
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: obviously the name, which you guys nailed the, what you
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: guys wanted to do. And then the size, how did
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the artwork and everything else come together?
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: The artwork was we pretty much went to Total Wine
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: every single weekend. And we would say, why do we
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: like this? Why do we not? And then, of course,
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: we were reading the data of a consumer. It's I
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: think it's like three something seconds. A consumer will look
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: at your brand and if they don't know what it is,
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: then they won't buy it unless they've maybe seen a
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: marketing campaign for it. Or obviously it's a celebrity brand.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: So they've just seen it automatically pushed for them. So
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: for us, we knew what we needed to do the
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: most was put a fat martini on the front of
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: every single box and every single can. Because even if
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: you are tired or have bad eyesight, whatever, you will
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: know what that is in the first two, three seconds.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: So we did see some cans that were just very
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: chic looking, say like a white can with really minimalistic lettering.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: But we were like, what is that? And sometimes it
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: would be beer. Sometimes it would be a THC drink.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Sometimes it would be a tequila drink. That's great. Again,
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: like if they have huge marketing teams and they're really
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: well known and people are already looking for them, that's perfect.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: But for us that we're, we're self-funding this whole thing,
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: the marketing team is both of us. We just needed
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: the can to also be able to speak for itself.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: The logo artwork is really fun. So obviously the name,
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: but the logo is a written, like right off written out.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: And then the line under that is kind of like
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: a strikethrough. So it's meant to look like ink on
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: a piece of paper. So back to kind of the
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: ode of someone writing off on a business receipt, like
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: a business expense. So those are two of the biggest
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: things that we wanted. And then on the back, which
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: we might do bigger, it says developed in Charleston. So
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: a lot of people love seeing that, that buy it
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: around us in our hometown. But yeah, I think those
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: are the two biggest things that we wanted. And That
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: was a new thing for us. We'd never, we'd never
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: worked with a graphic designer before. So it's always hard
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: to tell her what we're looking for, what we don't like,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: what we like, but I think we're much more well-versed
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: in it now for when we do our next iterations
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: or any sort of brand update. Yeah.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, so getting into the alcohol world or the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: packaging world in general, it can be like drinking from
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: a fire hose, especially the alcohol world where all the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: rules are different in every state and it makes no sense. what,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: when you guys were figuring all that out, obviously, like
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: you said, you figured out what the logo, the name,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the artwork, but then there's a bunch of other little
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: things you have to put on there because it's alcohol.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: How did all that process work for you guys?
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. In the beginning, we didn't know what the TTB was.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: So that, that was a lot of fun to navigate. Um, yeah, you,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: you have to make sure that your label is, is
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: COLA compliant. Um, You have your alcohol by volume, your
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: package size, your surgeon general's warning.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: In the back.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: So honestly, John, none of that was overly complicated from
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: the straight up label compliance side. I think the complicated
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: part became with registering with the local South Carolina Department
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: of Revenue and looking at your distributor contracts and making
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: sure you're compliant in every other aspect of the business
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: rather than the actual label and can itself.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: But the label did have a ton of requirements. Like
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: you have to have certain font sizes and you have
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: to have certain things on the front and certain things
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: have to be facing the front. Other things don't have
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: to be facing the front. And online on the TTV,
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: that PDF is one of the largest PDFs I've ever
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: had to go through. Thankfully, we had a lawyer when
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: we first started out. I had listened to one of
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: her podcasts. And I had been kind of working with her.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: I called her before I even knew that I wanted
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: to do this. I kind of called her. She was
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: really nice. Her name's Nicole. She picked up my phone call,
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: which is insane, right? A lawyer from like a huge
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: alcohol company and really helped talk through it and said,
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: as long as you follow the instructions online, you'll get it.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: So we just had to read a thousand line items
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: and check it and make sure that we got everything done.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: And yeah, they gave us our COLA approval on the
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: first pass, which was great.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank goodness.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Because we did our due diligence beforehand, so it didn't
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: feel like crazy back and forth with the federal government
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: to get that done. Yeah.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: That's hilarious. Yeah, it's funny because we all drink it
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: the same, but every state is going to be different
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: and it makes no sense to me. Never will.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: But no, I love that you guys touched on it earlier,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: how you put, you know, founded in Charleston because people
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: here in Texas, anything Texas related, we love it. So
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: it's good that, you know, obviously starting in Charleston and
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: then going from there is going to be a huge thing.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah. But Charleston is one of the hardest cities to launch.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: And we had people asking us in the industry, why
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: are you launching in South Carolina? I was like, well,
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: I'm realizing that as we go into more of these
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: legal like talks, it's very complex compared to like New
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: York or DC or California or Florida. And, but it's
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: hard because it's, it's our home. I mean, we've had
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: so many people help us make this brand that live
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: here in Charleston, whether it's our old coworkers, our faculty
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: from the college of Charleston, which is where we met.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, and like Josh said, the bartenders that live
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: up the street. So even though it is the hardest, um,
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: We're really happy that we were able to launch here
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: and find a distributor here. But we think we might
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: do North Carolina or wherever next. We're not really sure.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: But then that's a whole other ballgame because North Carolina,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: all of their alcohol distribution is state owned. So that's
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: going to be our next fun game to play is
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: understanding how that looks. So it is, to your point,
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: we did not know how complex that it was going
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: to be, that it was state by state different.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's bonkers. Well, so who are some people that
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: did kind of help you guys out along the way?
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Because again, getting into a whole industry that you were
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: never a part of or didn't really know anything about beforehand,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and then starting something new and just everything in general.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: But yeah, who kind of helped you out along the way?
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: There's two people I'll reference specifically. This is kind of
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: later down the line when we were getting closer to
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: launch where we were looking for a distributor. um, Morales
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: beverage group is our, is our distributor in South Carolina. Um,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: they have a phenomenal team here, but it's hard pitching
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: to a distributor when you have no sales and without sales,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: you know, they won't, they won't take you on. You
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: can't get distribution without sales and you can't get sales
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: without distribution. So it's the kind of chicken and the
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: egg issue here. Um, when we were pitching this distributor,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: they originally were like, well, you know, we, we don't
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: have any sales for you guys. We can't take you
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: on like, you know, thank you. Come back in a
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: little while. And we're like, well, hold on. You know,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: we have two liquor store owners that really believe in
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: us and the product. Like, would you, would you just
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: talk to them? Like we, you'll have at least two
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: accounts if you.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Take us on.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: So general manager for Morales Beverage Group, South Carolina gave
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: those two, two accounts a call. They vouched for us.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: They vouched for the product with the samples that they've tried.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: And specifically they, They really told the general manager that
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: we are a founder led team and that we're going
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: to be boots on the ground doing whatever it takes
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: to push this product. And that really spoke to him.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: And pretty much he called us back not a few
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: days later and said, you know what? I believe in
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: you guys. I'm going to take a risk here. And
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: these accounts really vouch for you guys. And like, let's go.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: And we had a contract that Friday.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was, without them, we wouldn't have been able to,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: we wouldn't be where we were today. We wouldn't have
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: been able to launch because we wouldn't have had distribution.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: That was crazy.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Dave and Vidit, if you're listening, thank you.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, shout out to Dave and Vidit. You have saved us.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: We wouldn't have been able to launch, be here without you.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: And they are probably our two biggest advocates and we
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: can't thank you enough.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, finding a good distribution company can be
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: very difficult because you don't want to get lost in
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the shuffle, but you also want to make sure you
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: get enough attention and actually be put where you needed
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: to be and things like that. So it's good. You
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: guys actually found a good one.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And we were in the midst of a lot
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: of distributors were having to like, that was actually the
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: same month that R and D C had been bought
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: by Reyes. So a lot of other suppliers were also
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: trying to find new homes. So we were also competing
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: with a ton of other suppliers trying to pitch to
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: distributors in the area. So that also was a very
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: stressful time. 60 days.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I worked for RNDC here in Texas, not when
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: all that happened, but years ago. And it was none
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: of that kind of surprised me, but it, the way
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: they handled everything was not the best either. So who knows?
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: That's not for me to judge. Well, so, I mean,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: so Lauren, I saw that you posted on LinkedIn about
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: actually like being at some of these tastings and actually
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: getting the reception straight from the people. What is the
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: reception been like from everybody?
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: I think the first thing that we're seeing is when
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: we're doing tastings and we say that we're the owner,
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: they'll turn around and say, wait, you're the owner. Because
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: I just don't think a lot of owners and founders
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: do tastings just because, I mean, they're working on the brand.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: So I totally understand that. Um, but making that connection
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: that we're the owners and we tell them we went
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: to college Charleston, we tell them that we're local and
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: they also were just shocked of how young we are. Um,
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: that's always really fun. Um, another thing in Charleston, just
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: how the city is, is everyone's really supportive. So it's
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: a big city that supports local. We've had a lot
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: of people be like, um, like I've had a lot
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: of people I am like not super close with, but
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: I know they'll, they'll text Josh and I like, Hey, um,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: I am really good friends with this hotel group. I
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: could really see you guys in there. Um, Or we're
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: looking on our 2027 initiatives for this concert venue would
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: love to have you drop off samples. So it's really
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: cool to see how people are one loving the drink,
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: but to seeing where it fits in the same white
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: space that we saw. I got a text today of
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: my friend that I went to college with and she said,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: I'm at this really nice hotel in DC and they
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: have martini glasses and everywhere. And I just don't want
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: to do that. And I wish that there was a
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: canned martini in the main fridge in my hotel room.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: So it's also cool to see that not only people
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: like the flavors that we chose, but they also see
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: where it should be fitting, which not only makes us
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: feel good, but it also has kind of initiated already
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: some like partnership opportunities, hopefully that will be starting in 2027. 2027.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: So that's great. And also it's great to see your,
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: like all your friends coming out to support you because
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: it really, it really shows you who your closest friends
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: are being able to come and support you through all
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: this because they know how much we've been working on it.
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: And it's also cool when you reached out, I was like,
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, we've never done a podcast before. And
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: this is, it's really cool to see how social media
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: works because you can really get connected with anyone, not
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: only in the U S but literally all over the
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: world to talk about the product. Yeah.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite things is especially talking to,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: you know, especially new brands like yourself, but any mama
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: pop RTD or brewery or whatever it is, people are
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: always like, how'd you find us? I'm like, Instagram? I
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: don't know, you just showed up in my algorithm because
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: it's all, you know, everything I talk about, so it
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: makes sense.
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, your algorithm is probably all alcohol, new alcohol brands.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Alcohol, pro wrestling, MMA, and that's about it.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Love it.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not awful. Some coffee sprinkled in there.
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not a bad situation. My personal one, probably
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: a mess. More motivational stuff, it's awful. But this is
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: y'all's first time entering the alcohol world and your first
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: time going through, as they call it in the industry, OND,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: which is October, November, December, the holiday time. What do
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: you guys kind of have going on for the rest
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: of the year?
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: We have a few activations planned at some larger accounts
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: here in the Charleston area. We're going to see if
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: we can maybe sponsor a few parties for the Halloween
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: time and hopefully get some placements, um, with, with some
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: larger groups here before end of year. And it's funny
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: you say OND, um, Laura and I didn't know what
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: OND was. We're just getting started on this brand. Now
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: we're very aware of what OND means as we schedule
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: our next production run here in about 30 days.
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah. We were originally talking to this one, um, Guy
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: who started a tequila company. And we're like, we're not
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: really getting a lot of responses from distributors. And he said,
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: you know, it's O & D, right? And we're like,
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: this was last year. And then we said, oh, that's
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: a new phrase that we've been trained in. But I
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: think a big thing for us to push into O
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: & D is us at corporate events. So we see
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: write-off really for corporate events where exactly it's an elevated
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: occasion for an elevated RTD, which there's really no other
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: elevated RTD on the market. That's fully ready to drink. Um,
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: there are a few others that are ready to serve,
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: like they were coming out of the glass bottle or
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: ready to like the dilute, like the tip tops that
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: you have to, um, shake and pour. So I think
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: the corporate events will be really interesting for us. And
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: also like Josh said, parties. So we're going to try
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: and get into some mirrors parties to be on the
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: beverage selection there. Um, obviously corporate events and then Charleston
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: has Charleston food and wine coming up in November. So
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: even if we're not at Charleston Food and Wine, which
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: is a very expensive sponsorship to do, there are usually
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: some events around the same time that some bars or
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: hotels will throw. So even if we're at those, it's
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: kind of like New York Fashion Week. Even if you're
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: not at an event, there's events surrounding it. So maybe
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: we'll be able to trial it there and see if
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: we can not only make connections, but also if someone
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: loves it and they're like, hey, I work for Charleston
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: Food and Wine, we'd love to have you next year.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: So I think that'll be really big because The good
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: thing about write-off is it's not really centered around a season.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: So there are a lot of RTDs that all their
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: marketing is summer, sailing, boating, fishing, surfing, whatever. Write-off is
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: also great for that, but we could easily do marketing
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: of write-off around the holiday time. So that's also a
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: really fun thing that we're looking at because at corporate events,
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: who doesn't love a martini and also who doesn't love
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: a write-off?
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Plus, yeah, martini is just a classic cocktail that you, again,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: everyone drinks all year.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: Which is great.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Well, I have a second one. Shall I call it
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: the five count? Which is five random questions. Number one,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: what is your nighttime routine?
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: Okay. My nighttime routine, because it is 110 degrees in Charleston,
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: I always have to take a shower before bed. Even
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: if I didn't work out that day or anything, it's
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: just always been so hot here. So I'm excited for
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: the 70, 75 days to come. Obviously my skincare. And
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: then Josh and I will send little social media videos
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: to each other during the day. So whether it's write-off
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: videos or like fun animal videos, whatever, or food we
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: want to try in Charleston. That's kind of like we
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: always sit down and we watch them go through them together,
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: which is really entertaining for us.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Lauren's too embarrassed to say, but most of them are
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Capybara videos.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: We love Capybaras. We actually gave a Capybara that we follow,
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: we sent the owner of some write-offs and she posted,
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: you'll laugh, we'll have to send you the photo. She
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: posted a photo of the cafe bar with the apple
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: martini and we were dying.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: Dark Wings Wildlife, shout out Dark Wings Wildlife.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: There you go. Biggest account that ever posted. She has
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: like half a million followers now.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: It's crazy. Josh, what is yours?
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: So it's pretty close to Lauren's. Yeah, we're near Colonial
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: Lake here in Charleston. So I'll try to.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Go out to the lake.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: I've been getting into tea, making herbal tea. and yeah
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: hang out with Lauren and watch some capybaras that's generally
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: a nighttime routine.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: And a little a little.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: A little gaming a little game sometimes try not to
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: do it too close to bed.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah because yeah you get too excited and your your
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: heart goes that makes sense exactly uh number two if
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: you were a pro wrestler MMA fighter what would your name.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: Be oh um.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: You might have to go first People have been calling
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: us Mr. and Mrs. Right Off around town, but I'm
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: not sure if that would work for us.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: No, that's not a fun one. My last name is Duffy,
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: so I feel like something with a D. I don't know.
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: Doubtfire Duffy. I don't really know. Doubtfire Duffy, Duffster, DJ Duff,
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: something like that.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you, John, for me. I think it
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: would be something to do with martinis. I got called
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: the martini man.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, you can be martini man.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: That sounds pretty good.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: I was like the other day, so that was fun.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Nobody's come to the ring just drinking martini. So I
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: think that could work. Uh, number three, if you were
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: on America's Got Talent, what would your talent be?
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: Mine would be, I can sing in an album, the
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: Chimam voice.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: And can you, can we get an example? Oh God,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: you said it.
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: I know I shouldn't, I should have prefaced or I'm
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: not going to do it.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Um, You don't have to.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: Maybe next one.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe next one.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: I don't think you can get it out right now.
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: It's usually after a few martinis, John.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay. Yeah, we definitely should have been drinking martinis
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: while we were doing this. What do you think mine is?
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: I don't know what mine.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: Would be, Lauren. Probably knowing every single top video by....
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah. I love, I love watching some, some body
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: cam videos on YouTube and I'd like, it's, it's also
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: part of my routine. I could probably reference like any
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: like interaction that's ever happened.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: My buddy was actually turned me on to some of
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: those and I was like, that's, you know, that's part
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: of the internet. I'm good with that thing.
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: It's crazy. He knows every rule or like, all obviously
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: he knows i mean we all know the laws but
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: it's really interesting there's very like niche rules that i
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: would never know doesn't help.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: With adrenaline before bed so yeah no.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Not at all and number four who or what inspires.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: You i'd say my my parents and that that might
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: be kind of the cop-out or cliche but um they
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: they've both been really big leaders in their careers. And
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: I've taken notes from, um, both of them equally and
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: all parts of, of running this business, um, from, you know,
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: negotiation to, to meeting people on the street, doing tastings. Um,
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: they've been an incredible resource and a guide for me
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: to kind of follow. Yeah.
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: And for me, definitely my parents too, they are badass. Um,
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: which obviously the same thing that you said about his,
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: but I think that, Allison and Steven from Poppy are
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: also really badass. I mean, they created a billion dollar
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: brand as a husband and wife with children and seeing
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: them and watching their story has been incredible. Also the
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: founder of Buzzballs.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: The way that she was about to go bankrupt and
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: she put all of her money I forgot the exact
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: thing that she took a loan out on I think
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: it was like her parents farm or something like that
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: she put all of her money in and I think
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: she was a school teacher at the time and she
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: just went for it it's just really really inspiring for
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: me and listening to the podcast of her talking through
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: the story both of them talking through their stories is
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: really inspirational because it doesn't matter really what stage of
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: life you're in, how old you are. Cause we're also
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: really young. So we're kind of on the other end
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: of the spectrum of age. It's just really cool to
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: see how they've built the brand themselves without originally having a,
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: a huge conglomerate behind them and that it's possible.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: That like buzz balls is one of the only growing brands.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: markets in the wine industry right now. And it's, it's
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: fucking nuts.
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: It's insane. And the way that she, so my background's
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: in manufacturing, which has definitely helped me for right off
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: the way that she made like custom equipment to make
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: that shape can, and not just using, the standard cans
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: that were on the market is just a whole other beast.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: And the ways that she did it and killed it
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: is incredible. And the way that she, like we used
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: to co-pack her right to do our first step. She
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: just made her own facility. So that is, that is awesome.
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: It's also cool to hear that people can do that.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, so I know obviously we're six weeks in,
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: but it's really interesting to hear that people can actually
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: put together a small production line themselves and, and figure
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: out how to make their own product. So you can,
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: just already have no cost when you start out.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and what's even crazier, this is either good or bad.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: They're about to have Pop-Tart flavors, so that's going to
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: be fun.
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: No way. I'd love to see that.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I think it's s'mores and then the brown sugar something.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they're so smart because with their malt base, they
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: can just be everywhere.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Well, that's the other thing is they can do the
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: wine side and they also have the liquor side as well.
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. It's so smart. Yeah, they have completely killed the game.
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: In a good way. In a good way. Right. Yeah.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, s'mores for sure. And then, yeah, I think it
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: is the brown sugar.
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: I'm actually going to have to look that up after this.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: That's crazy. And then number five, what would you tell
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: your 17-year-old self?
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: What would I tell my 17-year-old self? Probably stop.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: Don't go.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: into college and think that you need to bleach your
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: hair to be as white as the girl from Game
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: of Thrones I used to bleach my hair so much
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: because I thought that it was cool and I literally
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: fried off my hair learned my lesson the hard way
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: I think my first time I bleached it was like
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: 19 or something so at 17 I would tell myself
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: don't you can do a little mini highlight but don't
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: fully bleach.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: Your hair that's That's hilarious. I like your light hair.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: But I'd say for me, 17-year-old self, so that's getting
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: right into college, right? I would say take more hospitality classes.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: College of Charleston has a hospitality and tourism management major.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: And with my degree, I was able to take a
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: few of those classes. One of my favorite being the
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: beverage management class, which I never thought would be so
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: useful now.
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: We made some great catches from that class, learned a
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: lot about the industry, but I would have maybe even
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: majored in hospitality and tourism management just because the courses
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: here at the college Charleston aligned directly kind of with
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: what some of the experience we're, we're getting in the
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: industry is. And I think you make some great connections
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: in that program at the college, but that's what I
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: would tell myself.
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Hospitality. That is kids. If you're listening to the show,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: get into hospitality. You have no idea how, who you're
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: going to meet, when, how it's the networking in there.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: If you are good at what you're doing is good.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: Take you anywhere. Yeah.
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: It's crazy.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Well, so one question that's not in here, but now
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: that we have a little more time, you guys are
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: a couple and you guys run running a business together.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: What is there a safe word for not talking about
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: work and then talking about just regular stuff or do
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: you kind of just, are y'all still figuring it out?
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: We just spoke about this probably two nights ago. I'm like, Lauren,
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: I love you, but we need a time, maybe a
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: time of day where we separate write-off from the rest
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: of our relationship and stuff to do for the day.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: We're like, okay, so let's make it maybe like every
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: night we can't do write-off stuff. And they were like, well, no,
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: we have suppliers for some products that.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Are in the US and we have to work at night.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: And it's just, there's always something. So we need to
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: be better at separating work and play. So we'll take
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: any suggestions you have, John, whether that be a safe
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: word or a timeframe or whatever it may be. We
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: need to work on it.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: So as an entrepreneur and founder, there is no timeframe ever.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: So you will, especially like random things like, your cans
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: are exploding or the factory burned down or whatever, like
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: your cases didn't deliver to this store or this warehouse
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: or whatever it is. Random things are always going to
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: pop up. So timeframes never work. But just finding that
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: balance of like, you know, like, hey, right now we're
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: at dinner or we're about to go into a movie.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: Can any of this wait? Like, can this wait till whatever?
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: I think it's that kind of balance trick that I've
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: talked to multiple people now, luckily. And they say that's
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: the best way to do it. But again, every relationship
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: is different because everybody's work ethic is different with the
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: way they want to work. And then obviously, if you're
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: building a huge, you know, if you're building a company
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: in general, you know, you have to work all the time.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: So it's just finding that balance for not only you,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: but then also both of you is something that you guys,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a growing struggle.
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like we're going to
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: have to pay you for a session soon. That's a
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: great answer.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: I will take some write-offs.
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I am easily. Oh yeah. No, we'll definitely have
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: to send you that.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: And I've been meeting to visit Charleston for a long time.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: So I definitely need to come out there.
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah. It should cool down October. So just don't
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: come May through August.
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: May is good.
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: May is actually fine.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: I'm from North Texas. I totally get it.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: Okay. So you're fine then to come year round, John.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: You'll be all right. Yeah.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah. You guys aren't in the North. So it's
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: totally fine. There's definitely not six months out of the
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: year that I'm not going up there.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: Perfect.
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: Well, if anybody wanted to find out more about you,
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: follow you guys online, obviously buy right off themselves, support
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: you guys in any way. How can they do so?
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah. You can find us on social media at drink
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: right off on Tik TOK and Instagram. We just hit
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: our 1000 followers, which is.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Really fun for us.
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: Um, And then our website is just www.writeoff.com. And on there,
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: we have a store locator. We have our first merch
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: that we are uploaded. So we have a hat, which
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: is great. We're working on a fall merch drop, which
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: will be really fun. And then just the best thing
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: you can do, again, is if you have any connections
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: or you're interested in Write Off, please reach out to
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: us because like you said, in hospitality... It's who you
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: know is who you know. So if there's someone that
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: you know in South Carolina, whether it's not in Charleston
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: or it is because we're also in Myrtle Beach, Bluffton, Greenville,
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: working on Columbia, just reach out to us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok.
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: I'm always on my phone because I am the marketing team,
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: but we'd love to hear from you. And also any
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: new martini flavors that you're interested as well. While we
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: do have some ideas of our next release, Data is king.
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: So we would love to hear from everyone to say, oh,
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: I would love to see a pumpkin spice martini, for example,
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: in your lineup. We'd just really love to see that.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: Or everybody loves pickle now. So pickle anything.
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: I was thinking about that. I think it would be
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: so cool to do a collaboration with one of the
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: really cool pickle brands like Hawk Girl Pickles. Do a
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: Hawk Girl Pickle teeny with write-off collaboration, like a limited edition.
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: I feel like that would The obsolete killer.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that'd be awesome. Well, Lauren and Josh, I've loved
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: this so much. Obviously, congratulations on launching. This is going
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: to be huge. And you guys are filling a void
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: in the market that is definitely, surprisingly, very untouched at
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: this point. So I can't wait to see what the
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: future holds for you guys. And again, next time you
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: come back, you got to sing. And I can't wait to.
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: Hear where the new flavors are going to be.
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: Exactly. Well, we'll be sure to send you some right
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: after this. And thank you so much for having us.
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: This was really cool to do our first podcast. So
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: hopefully we listen back to this in two years and
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: we're like, oh my gosh, we're in a such different
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: place back then.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much to Lauren and Josh for being on
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: the show. Again, definitely check out Ride Off. If you
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: love martinis, you are going to love this because it
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: is new and you are definitely going to want to
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: try it out. So follow them on social media. Go
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: to their website. See where you can find it yourself.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: And obviously, while you're doing all that, make sure to
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: go follow us on social media. It is BruisersPod. That
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: is B-R-E-W-S-E-R-S-B-O-D. On the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: If you want to send us an email, it is
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: BruisersPod at gmail.com. If you want to follow me directly,
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: it is Rody John. That is R-O-D-I-E-J-O-N. Rody John is
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: the name on the Twitter and on Untappd. In case
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: you want to find out what I'm drinking, maybe we
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: can have a beer together. If you want to follow
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: me on the threads or the Instagram, it is OfficialRodyJohn.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: So until next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink local,
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: and cheers.