Latest / Brewsers / Brewsers #396- Dan with Shake Up Cocktails

Transcript

Brewsers #396- Dan with Shake Up Cocktails · Brewsers

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Bruisers, a podcast about beer, coffee, booze, and Bruisers.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Ray John, and today we talk to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Dan with Shake Up Cocktails. We talk about how Shake
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Up got started, the Indiana State Fair, and so much more.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Shake Up Cocktails is an absolutely fantastic take on the
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Lemon Shake Up, which you will hear all about if
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you are not from the Indiana area of the country.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: So you don't want to hear from me, you want
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to hear from him. So without further ado, here is
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Dan with Shake Up Cocktails. I would like to welcome
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the show, Dan with Shake Up Cocktails. How are you
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: doing today, sir?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, John. I'm pumped
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: to be here.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you're here also. Well, so also I
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: guess you're part of High and Mighty Distilling as well.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, correct. Shake Up is a product that we made
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: at our distillery based in Indiana at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: So we can get into the story, but Shake Up
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: is kind of like the High and Mighty Distillery, the
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: parent company, and Shake Up is our baby, I guess
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: you could say.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I will, babe. Well, for those listening, kind of paint
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: us a word picture. Where are you at and what's
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: going on around you?
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Sure. So let's see. Just focusing on ShakeUp. I mean...
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: the brand is based in Indiana at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: We've got a really fun story that I look forward
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: to sharing here about how we got started and the
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: roots of the business in county fair culture here in
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the Midwest, which is pretty fun. But ultimately, we built
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: a distillery inside the Indiana State Fairgrounds. So we're inside
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: of the fair, which is kind of a wacky setup.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: But honestly, it's a really great location because we get
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: access to like I don't know, almost a million people
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: a year through the Indiana state fair. And so that's
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: kind of where we started the business. And then we've
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: expanded over the last few years, most recently into Ohio
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: and Kentucky and the Cincinnati market. But ultimately we've got
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: a really fun, ready to drink can cocktail called the
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: lemon shake up, which is based on a classic County
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: fair carnival lemonade, like the big gaudy cups that you
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: can get at the carnival or at the, at the
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: fair and, um, in the Midwest that's called 11 shakeup. And, uh,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: I'll be happy to share the story, um, in a
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: little bit, but, uh, that, that's kind of where we've
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: been and where we're at.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Well, let's go all the way back in time real fast.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: What is your earliest memory of alcohol?
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Oh man.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I think my, the first beer that I ever had
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: was in a dive bar in Wisconsin. I was probably
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: 16 years old, but I was with my dad. We
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: were whitewater rafting and, uh, You know, this is like
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: either before or after, like, you know, the evening before
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: or after the rafting experience. In Wisconsin, it's legal to
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: go into a bar and to be served as long
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: as you're with your parents.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I think Texas has a similar law as well, but
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Indiana is very much not like that. So, yeah,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: it's pretty wild, pretty fun. Like, it was just a cool, like,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: coming of age feeling, I should say. And I'm sure
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: it was like, I think it was like a Lime
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: and Kugel's like classic beer.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Nice. Yeah.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: The Shandy's would have been dangerous for you at 16,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I imagine.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think that was like right before the
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Shandy's got super popular, but yeah, here we are.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Well, let's go into it then. How did High and
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Mighty Distilling begin?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Sure. So let's see. I mean, the actual beginning of
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: it started in 2019. My wife and I, we have
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: four kiddos. Wow. We'd been married. Yeah. We'd been married
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: 10 years at the time in 2019. And we took
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: a little vacation to Maine and got to dream a
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: little bit for the first time in a while. Four
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: of our kids, you know, or sorry, two of them
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: are twins. So we had a BOGO.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Whoa.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: And life got pretty wild for a minute there. And
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: this is the first time I feel like we'd, you know,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: been able to catch our breath or come up for
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: air and, So we got to dream a little bit
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: and decided that we wanted to go into business together.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I think most people decide to do the opposite, but yeah,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: here we are. Uh, it's gone awesome to be honest. Um, anyway,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: and I think our goal was to find something that,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: you know, could allow us to create community. And, and
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: at the time the concept was like a place, like
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: not necessarily a bar, but we probably would have started
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: a brewery if it were maybe 10 years prior. Um,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: and anyway, craft distilling was on the rise at the time.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: And so I thought, well, maybe that's an opportunity. And
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: so we started looking into creating a place, uh, a distillery.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: The idea was like a bar restaurant tap room kind
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: of situation. And we ended up partnering with the Indiana
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: State Fairgrounds, the state fair. It's right in the middle
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: of Indianapolis, which is, you know, a decent sized city.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're maybe about a million people, roughly something
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: like that, maybe more like 750, 800,000 people. And anyway,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: it's right in the middle of the city. There are
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: events there like literally every weekend. It's a huge venue.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: So We thought, well, maybe this is a good opportunity.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: We don't need to, you know, do as much on
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: the marketing side to kind of capture some of the
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: foot traffic at these events. We had like a cool
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: green space, a cool historic building that we were able to,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: you know, build out. And so that was the plan.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, we started launching some products and
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: the first of which was a canned cocktail, the Lemon Shake-Up,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: which maybe you'll show. At some point, it looks a
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: little bit like this. We thought, hey, let's do a
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: lemon shake up for the fair amongst our bottled spirits.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: We launched it at the Indiana State Fair in 2022. Again,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: as I said, it gave us access to 800,000 people
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: over the course of three weeks. It just took off immediately.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: People were asking for it. We were selling out of
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: stock at all the retailers that carried it that whole summer.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: We I thought there's probably something here. Right. And, um,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: you know, we weren't prepared for that kind of demand. So, um, yeah, ultimately,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: you know, it was maybe the right place, right time,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: you know, with a fun product, with a real story.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: And the backstory is that my wife grew up selling
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: barbecue at County fairs in Indiana with her dad and, uh,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: drinking lemon shakeups at the time. And so, you know,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: there's really some fun fair routes there. And that's kind
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: of where we got the idea for it. Um, So anyway,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of fun, like, you know, connect
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: the dots moments in the business at that point. And ultimately,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: the Lemon Shake Up just became our entire business. So
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: we actually rebranded or we spun out Shake Up as
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: its own brand. And we ultimately kind of built, we
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: redesigned the business completely from the ground up in 2025.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: So we launched the Shake Up brand. We changed our
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: distribution model from the Spirits Network over to the Beer Network. And,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: you know, we really hit the ground running with, you know,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: we had a little bit of cash from a recent fundraise.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: And so we were able to, you know, put the
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: brand out there and the feedback has been awesome. So,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: you know, now here we are expanding. So that's the story.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: It's a fun story. I love to tell it. But,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: you know, it's not without its bumps and bruises of
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: which there are just, you know, infinity amount.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Of course, you're yeah, you're an entrepreneur. Of course, there's
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: going to be bumps in the road. If everything goes smooth, then,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: you know, you should expect something big to happen at
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: some point, because that's just not how that works.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: How did you guys get with the fair? Because the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: fairgrounds alone, like I can't imagine. I mean, I'm not
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: saying it wouldn't happen here in Texas, but like it's
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: just you don't imagine the fairs really leaning into the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: alcohol side, especially like like, yeah, use our grounds to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: have a distillery, you know. I mean, because obviously they're
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: not using it for most of the year, I imagine,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: because the fair only starts in August and what ends
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: in October.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Yep. Well, it's really only three. It's in three weeks
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: in August. So it's a very condensed period of time.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: So again, they're not using it probably for most of
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: the other time. So it makes sense to use it
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: for that. But alcohol is not one that you normally
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: would imagine a state fair getting behind.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right. And that's been... a source of maybe
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: some controversy, but ultimately it went like this. Uh, when
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: we were looking for a building, because we knew we
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: wanted to, you know, have that space, that community space
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: I was describing, uh, there were a handful around town
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: that I knew were available that were already zoned commercially. And, uh,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: the state fairgrounds is really close to our house. We
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: live like four blocks from there. Um, so something we're
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: familiar with, we take our kids, like three of our
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: kids at birthdays during the fair every year. So, We
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: always go to the fair. It's fun. Anyway, so very
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: familiar with the layout. And they were coming off of COVID,
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: which there was not a state fair. They didn't have
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: any events for an entire year, essentially. And so that
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: was like a zero revenue year. And they were looking to,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: I think the board was pushing them to diversify their
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: revenue streams. They realized, hey, we've got some underutilized buildings
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: that could be assets for us. And we came knocking
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: at the right time. And The guy who we were
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: working with there that was the COO at the time
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: was just a pretty thoughtful, progressive person in terms of
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: business strategy. And so there was just immediate interest. So
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: from day one, there were not any roadblocks to getting
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: us lined up as a tenant. There came roadblocks later,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: and there still are some because it's just an untraditional
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: landlord situation.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: But I mean, you know, like in the grand scheme
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: of things, they've been a phenomenal, you know, landlord and
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: we're grateful to be there. Yeah.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Well, so for people who haven't had the shake up before,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: just the regular drink, like I had to look it
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: up because obviously I was like, this is a lemonade, right?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: And it's like, no, the way that's made is definitely
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: not just lemonade. So for those who have not had
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the lemon shake up before, kind of describe to us
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: what it is.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Sure. Yeah. It's not just a lemonade, although it is lemonade.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: So yeah.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: It was created in the Midwest. Couldn't tell you where exactly,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: but you know, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, something like that.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: In the 1970s, the idea was how can we sell
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: more lemonade? And so some bright concessionaire came up with
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: the idea of shaking the lemonade as kind of like
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: a spectacle. So the way that it works is that
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: you have these big gaudy, like bright cups and they're,
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: they're pretty darn fun. And you see people carrying them
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: around at the carnivore at the fair and, what is
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: that right um so anyway you take and you uh
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: you fill the bottom with granulated sugar so actually like
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: you know rocaine sugar squeeze fresh lemon in there and
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: actually put the lemon uh the like the lemon rind
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: or um rinds up but you know the whole lemon
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: you just put it in there fill it with water
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: and then you actually shake it up so you're creating
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: a real natural lemonade um you know just right there
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: in the cup which is pretty cool and so yeah
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: the idea was like spectacle, like fun. And so then
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: it became known as the lemon shake up and it,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: you know, grew in popularity across the Midwest. I don't
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: know that it's become as, I don't know that it's
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: become a thing or well-known outside of the Midwest necessarily,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: but it is.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Here in Texas. I don't, well, I'm not saying it
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: hasn't hit Texas. I haven't seen it, but I also
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: haven't been to our fair in a number of years.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: So there could be one.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: There you go.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yep. So that's what it is. And it's one
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: of those things that the name or the, The identity
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: of the beverage like kind of precedes our brand. So
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: we're lucky in that we get to, you know, utilize
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: that fun concept. And so across the Midwest, as we
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: share it with people, they're like, oh, a lemon shake up.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: They know what it is. And that's really, you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: very helpful.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, without a doubt. Well, when you first started, obviously
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: you wanted to keep the name. Well, how did the
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: lemon shake up not, or I guess you guys made
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: it just shake up cocktail, which made more sense because
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: obviously I imagine they own lemon shake up. Or somebody does.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: But how did... Was there any roadblock getting that name
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: or considering what you guys were putting out?
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Thankfully, no. There's no trademark on Lemon Shake-Up. In fact,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: we own the trademark for Lemon Shake-Up in the alcohol space.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: So I did trademark that. But yeah, no, there wasn't any...
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: No trademark for it, surprisingly. Mostly because there's no consumer
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: product based around the Lemon Shake-Up that you can get
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: in retail stores. It's just... these concessionaires at the fair. Uh, so,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know, maybe we're lucky in that way, but, um, yeah,
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: it just, I don't know. It all kind of came
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: together in the right way.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Well, how many different, uh, how many different ways did
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: you guys go about it to where taste wise you
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: finally nailed it in like number 10 or 11 or
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: whatever it was?
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, good question. I mean, it took us a whole
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: year actually, which sounds kind of crazy, but We make
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: everything that we do in-house. However, for this product, being
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: new to the space in general, my background isn't in alcohol.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: It's not in beverage. My background is in marketing and brand.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: I have a business partner. My wife is my business partner,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: but then also we have a business partner who's a
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: longtime friend of ours, Nick Traeger, who is a chef
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: by trade. He's really good with flavor profiles. He had
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: a vision for this product, but we didn't believe that
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: we had the the tools or the hearsay in-house, it
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: felt like, hey, if we're going to make something that's
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: truly great, we should probably hire somebody who knows what
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: they're doing. So we did work with a third party. But,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, the vision, the flavor profile is
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: very much was ours, but it did take us an
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: entire year to dial it in. And I'm so glad
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: that we took the time to do that because in
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: this space of ready to drink cocktails, there's so many.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: And our theory at the time was like, they're not,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: most of them aren't good. Right. And I would still
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: say that's probably the case. Right. Yeah. And I mean,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: there's reasons why, like, you know, I mean, obviously a
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: lot of the brands are going on, like the wellness,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: wellness trends are like, you know, one of the biggest factors.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: So they want to keep it under a hundred calories,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: your sugar, whatever it is. And so, I mean, but,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: but our premise was like, you know, people aren't going
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to the fair and Brad to have a zero sugar product.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: They're going all in. Right. So we wanted to, yeah.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Cause almost like half the things that are fried and
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: then they're on sticks or whatever.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So now that doesn't mean that our product
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: is like, you know, high, super high calorie. It's actually
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: about 150 calories, but we use all real ingredients. And
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: so that was the key was like, okay, how do
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: we make this with all real ingredients? And how do
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: we make it taste awesome to the point where when,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: when somebody tries it, they're just like, oh yeah, no brainer.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I'll grab this off the shelf. So it did take
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: us a long time. So, you know, but I'm so
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: glad that we took the time to do that. And
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: that really informed the whole strategy around our brand and business,
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: which is like flavor. We say like real flavor, real
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: fun is one of our.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Taglines, if you will.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: But like, that's the thing is like, let's have fun. Let's,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: you know, have a real flavorful beverage.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: So how many flavors did you have starting out? Was
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: it just the original one?
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, we launched the Lemon Shake Up. We actually created
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: a fall version that we called the Spiced Apple Sidekick.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: And that was in 2022. It was like a spiced
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: apple with brandy and cinnamon. I mean, it is dynamite.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: But what I didn't really factor in was that fall
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: is like two weeks here in Indiana. So we kind
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: of whiffed it on the marketing aspect there. That was
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: a big lesson there. You know, because there are a
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: lot of people that say, hey, that's your best flavor.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: I agree. You know, I think it could be. Absolutely.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: But unfortunately, we just didn't nail it on the marketing side.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, anyway, that's kind of where we started.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: And then once we decided to lean into shake up,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: we created different variations of it. Like if you go
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: to the county fair or the carnival, oftentimes you're going
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: to see like strawberry lemon shake up or strawberry lemonade
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: or whatever it is. So we did. We have a cherry.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: We have a peach. We have a blueberry shakeup. Um,
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: we have all, you know, they all use all real flavors.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: So real peach, we have a real wild blueberry. It's
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: just dynamite. But then, um, last year for the fair
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: in 2025, we decided, Hey, let's do an exclusive flavor
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: that you can only get at the fair. And that
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: could be a really fun way to drive some PR
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: for us, but like, I don't know, just to have
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: some fun. Right. And so we created a flavor called
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: the pineapple whip. which people might be familiar with Dole Whip.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: So we kind of tried to, you know, whatever, capture
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: lightning in a bottle twice here. The Lemon Shake-Up is
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: like a classic fair flavor. Dole Whip is a fair flavor.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: You can get it at Disney World. That's where it's
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: most popular. It's actually a non-dairy pineapple ice cream, but
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: it is dynamite. And they use real pineapple. They use
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: coconut milk and.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: A sugar, of course, it's not, you know, I mean,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: it's maybe a little healthier than a traditional ice cream,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: but all that to say it's called Dole Whip. However,
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: most of the concessionaires that sell it outside of Disney
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: World don't use the Dole name. They just call it
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Pineapple Whip. So anyway, that's what we call it. we tried,
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: we did the same thing, real pineapple, real coconut, it's dynamite.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: And it just went nuts. And people were like, where
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: can I get this? Where can I get this? So
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: we started rolling that out across retail this spring. So
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: that was a really fun, exciting thing. And that product
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: has a lot of legs still that we haven't quite captured.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: But you know, we're working on it.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: And I see you now have a iced tea and
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: lemonade one as well.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, correct. Yeah, we try to do like a half
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: and half kind of thing, you know, Arnold Palmer aspect,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: if you will. And The Dynamite product. There's a lot
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: of ICT RTDs out there. So I wouldn't say that
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: that one has reached its potential. We found pretty quickly
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: from buyers that they're like, you know, if I'm going
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: to go with ICT, I'm going to go with the
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: product that, you know, that's what they're known for. So,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: you know, that was a good lesson too, to just
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: kind of focus on our core, if you will. But yeah, yeah,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: it's a great fun flavor.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: So when did you decide that you guys want to
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: do this, sell it outside the fair? Because obviously, yes,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: people were, like you said, coming up and be like,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: where can I get this? Where can I get this? Obviously,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: besides right there. But after what time was it that
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: you were like, you know what, let's actually, you know,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: because I imagine you guys also sold it at the
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: distillery as well. But going outside of that is a
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: whole other situation because distribution could be a gigantic pain.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Plus a lot of these stores are, especially the mom
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and pop places, they only have limited room when it
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: comes to their shelves. And the RTD section is getting
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: so big. Yeah.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Great.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: And then also you really want it cold because you
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: don't want to just buy room temperature and then have
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: to throw it in the freezer for 15 minutes and
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: then you're fine. But you'd rather just get it cold, start,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: you know, especially if you're going to the golf course
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: or the lake or whatever it is. So how did
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: you guys have to work through all that?
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, great question. I mean, honestly, for whatever reason, we
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: decided to do it right away. The idea was like, okay,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: there's so much demand for this. Like we couldn't possibly...
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: meet it by ourselves also we're a really small team
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: and actually at the time we weren't even you know
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: full-time in the business we were just you know kind
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: of doing this on the side so it was like
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: let's let's you know let's figure out this distribution thing
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: quickly and we did and i wouldn't say i mean
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: you know so much to learn i feel like i'm
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: still just like a baby um you know just learning
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: fumbling my way through the distribution world i've learned a
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: lot but Uh, yeah, it was pretty quick. So we,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: we launched a distribution in 2022. However, you know, like,
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: as I said, we, we really did re, uh, establish,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: or I don't know, we relaunched at wholesale in 2025, um,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: working with, uh, beer distributors across the state, which is
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: a little different. There's two different types of distribution. If
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: your audience or you aren't familiar, there's the wine and
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: spirits folks, and then the beer folks. And now they're
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: in 2026, there's a little bit of crossover starting to happen.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of crossover happening.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Texas too.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: So. Yes, absolutely. Um, so, uh, what we learned was
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: that the beer folks are really good at selling canned flavor. Right.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: And the spirits folks are, the model is totally different.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, they're great at, at bottles. They're really great
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: on premise. Um, but you know, it's just a totally
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: different model. So, um, So, you know, all that to say,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: you know, the question was about distribution. We started pretty quickly,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: but I would say that we didn't really kind of
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: hit the ground running in the way that we could
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: have until like last year, essentially. So we really relaunched
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: the business then.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: When, I mean, obviously when you're building a brand, you
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: got to figure out what the name is, what the
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: logos look like, what the packaging's all look like. how
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: are you going to package it? Like all of that.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, like you said, you came from a marketing background.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: So I imagine a lot of that you probably obviously
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: kept in house, but how did kind of some of
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the other stuff, like what size can were you going
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: to use? What size were the packs going to be?
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: What is the shippers going to look like? All these
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: things that, you know, you weren't from an alcohol background.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: So a lot of stuff can be like, oh crap,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: we got to put what on what label and how
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: much of this stuff and what state. And, you know,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: cause every state's different, which is stupid. Cause we all,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: consume alcohol the same.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: That's so true. Yeah.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: It's all money grabs really. So how did, how did
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: all that kind of come together for you guys?
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, we had to learn a lot the hard way,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: I suppose. But you know, there are, there are some
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: folks that we worked with, we partnered with along the way.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: I would say one thing that we intentionally decided very
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: early on is that we are very clearly not experts
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: in this industry. I don't want to pretend that I'm
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: going to like become an expert overnight. So like, let's
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: partner with people that, you know, our experience that we
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: trust that we know that, you know, can really help us.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: And the first was with our brand agency, who is
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: actually a husband and wife here in Indiana. They've done
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: some really dynamite brands, and I've known them for years,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: used to compete with them at a different agency back
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: in my agency days. And it's always respected their, their,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: you know, approach their, their work. And so partnering with
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: them on the brand, and that was not it took
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: us probably nine months maybe to figure out a lot
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: of iteration on the shakeup brand. But as far as
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: the other stuff goes, the decisions, I mean, yeah, I
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: mean really just finding what I would recommend to anybody
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: is like, just find folks that know what they're doing, that,
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: you know, you have some value alignment with values alignment
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: with that, that can guide you because like, you know,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: you're going to pay for it either way, right? Like
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: whether you're paying upfront and you're paying consulting fees or
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: you're paying on the backend because you made a mistake and,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: you know, ship the wrong size of whatever to the
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: wrong retailer. I mean, you're inevitably, you're going to pay
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: for it. The question is when you want to pay
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: for it. And my whole thought is like, let's pay
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: for it upfront as best we can. Right. And eliminate surprises.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Of course, there's been a billion surprises anyway, but, That's it.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: You know, and I think one of the other things
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: that we learned too, is like, even on the investor side,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: like we have a few investors at this point who,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: you know, jumped in with us over the last two years, essentially.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: And ideally, you know, you're, you're wanting to partner with
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: folks who, you know, either, you know, and trust or
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: like the friends and family route, or also ideally it's like,
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: industry veterans you know who can really guide you and
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: so we got pretty lucky in that respect.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Too that's huge yeah because a lot of times getting
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: especially getting in the industry you don't know anything about
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: and alcohol has so many different people that you know
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: i mean there's there's dodgy people in every industry so
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: there's gonna be something like alcohol there's still those people
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: lingering around that like yeah i'll help you out and
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: they take your money and you never hear from them
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: again so yep.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Yep absolutely yeah and there's been some of that but
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: um And thankfully, I think we found some really great
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: folks that we continue to work with closely.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Well, getting in the alcohol world, like you said,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: from the marketing world, you don't know anything about it,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: especially getting into packaged beverage and all that fun stuff.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: What has been some things that have really kind of
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: fascinated you? And then also some stuff that was just like,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I will never understand all of this.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good question. I mean, the things that are exciting
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: and the fascination, I would say like, Again, my background
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: being in brand and marketing, like getting the packaging right.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: And like the shelf, like, you know, placement and, um,
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: like creating campaigns and even like down to social media,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: like we work with influencers a lot, like, and just
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: connecting with people. So we're kind of able to create
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: community or at least be part of a community that
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: I didn't really anticipate. even though, you know, now at
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: this point, our distillery tasting room is not like, we
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: haven't opened to the public. So we're just doing all distribution.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: And we do some packaging for other brands. So, you know,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: if you have folks that are listening to this that
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: are either thinking about getting into RTDs or who are
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: looking for a co-packer, you know, we can absolutely help
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: here in Indiana. But I don't know. I think the
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: fascinating part, the exciting part is the marketing and like,
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: you know, like connecting with people, like sharing information, the
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: idea of like sharing joy through not necessarily a beverage,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: but through like, you know, the, the, like the aspect
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: of cheers and like, you know, like that, that, that
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: like social occasion, that's like the most fun, exciting part.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: And I imagine that most people feel that way in
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: this space. The challenging part has been, Um, honestly, the, the,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: like the ins and outs of the distribution world, it's just,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: it's so complex. Right. And, uh, just when I thought
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: that I kind of started to understand it, we, you know,
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: changed distribution networks and then now I'm just learning a
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: whole new language. It feels like, right. Um, so, you know,
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: the motion, the rhythms of that part are just like,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: you know, can be, can be pretty intense, complex, uh,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: but you know, if you, if you just buckle in
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: and figure it out, like, you know, that's as a founder,
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: your back's up against the wall, you figure it out.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: And so here we are grateful to say that.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: How old is your oldest, your oldest kids?
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Uh, oldest is 14 now. So he just started high
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: school with four boys party around our house. Yeah. Um,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: like rowdy. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's rowdy. We, the best thing,
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: the best investment we ever had was like, we bought
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: a trampoline and like, February of 2020, right before COVID.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: And like, you know, like that's where they go to
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: get rowdy now, unless they're in the basement of which,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: you know, they just put a couple of holes in
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: the wall. So you got that, but. fun uh yes
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: yeah yeah yeah anyway but i mean the kids they
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: they think it's cool um.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say are you the coolest parents because
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: you have the alcohol.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Maybe not necessarily even because it's alcohol i think that
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: they think it's cool just because like it's a brand
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: that is associated with something bigger than us you know
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: like the fair the the fair like to us like
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: whenever we started high and mighty the whole goal was
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: like celebration was the brand promise it was like.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: You know, that's like the goal and that's one of
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: our family values. So that's where we kind of got
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: it from. But, you know, the fair for us is
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: like the ultimate celebration. It's like going to the theme
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: park or the carnival or whatever it is, like the
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: lights at night, the magic of that kind of that
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: experience to them. That's really big and special. Right. And
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: so the fact that we're associated in some way with
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: that and that we built the brand, I think that's
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: what I think is cool.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Obviously, you're working with your wife on a very daily basis,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: and then you also have to manage four kids at
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the house. Is there like a safe word y'all use
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: so you don't talk about work all the time, or
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: is it still trying to find that balance?
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: That's a good question. At this point, we have kind
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: of like an unspoken rule that we typically don't talk
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: about work after work. traditional work hours okay that's good
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: which sounds yeah i mean obviously we break that every
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: once in a while but it'll be like like last
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: night we went on a walk and jamie my wife
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: was like not to talk about work but i have
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: one thing that would be like we need to so
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: like you know we can kind of give each other
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: but i the thing is like i learned early on
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: like i can be a bit of a stress ball
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: um or i can just like kind of hold stress
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: and uh you know, I have to have that, the
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: ability to wind down. And that's not always, it's not
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: always simple. And like, there are times like during the
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: state fair or like during the spring when, um, like
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: for instance, in may, the Indy 500, the Indianapolis 500
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: is the largest sporting event in the country. I don't
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: know if anybody knows that.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Until this year and how many massive amount of people.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: And then obviously the, the infield is where the big
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: party is at, but yeah.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: Yep, yep, yep.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: 350,000 people.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: And so during that time period, you know, it's like, it's,
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: you know, it's buckle up, it's nuts. So it's not
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: always simple, but we try to kind of abide by
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: that rule.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Well, what does, I mean, you guys have
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: kept rolling out different flavors. What is the next thing
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: that people can kind of look forward to? Because obviously
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the fair just wrapped up for you guys. And so... Yeah,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I did.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Um, well, a couple of things, uh, number one, we
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: did another exclusive flavor this year with the Indiana state
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: fair and it's a pickle lemon shake up. So pickle lemonade,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: we're trying to, you know, it's wacky, right. But pickle
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: beer is a big thing. So, um, yeah, we thought maybe,
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: maybe we can throw our hat in the ring and
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: honestly it was a hit. The only problem was that
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: the state fair got rained out. There was this historic
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: flooding that happened in India, Indianapolis, uh, two weeks ago, unfortunately. Now,
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, it wasn't the whole fair, but you know,
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: not enough people got to try it. So the goal is,
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: you know, let's, let's introduce that. But we also are
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: going to do like kind of like a fall holiday flavor,
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: which is a cranberry ginger shake up and it is done.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: We're shipping out the first cases today to our distributor.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: It is dynamite. It's, it's so good. So I'm super
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: pumped to share that. So new flavors, certainly. But then
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: even like, you know, this holiday season, we're going to
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: try to wrap a campaign around that. We're going to
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: call making spirits bright. And the idea is like the
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: connective tissue between the fair and the holidays is like
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: the lights, like the magic of Christmas lights, the magic
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: of the lights at the Midway or, you know, you know,
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: and in the evening at the at the theme park,
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: you know, that that magic is really special. And that's
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: something that people carry with them. their entire lives. And
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: so we're going to try and connect the dots there
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: this holiday season.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Now I noticed some of these flavors you've mentioned, especially
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: the exclusive ones are definitely not available on your website.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Is there, so you have to be in wherever the
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: store finder is?
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, yes. Um, the, the website, there's a, there's a
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: challenge because we're not able to ship legally across, you know,
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: or even in, in Indianapolis. So We use a third-party
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: fulfillment service for that, and we have to send products
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: to Washington, D.C., and it's pretty expensive to ship, like
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: to freight. And so in order to do that, we
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: have to do it by the pallet, basically, and there's
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: just not quite enough demand online. So we'll get that
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: going eventually, but for now, we've got the majority of
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: our flavors on there. So yeah, if you're curious.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: Um you're not gonna regret trying a lemon shake up
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: we've got all of our flavor you know a bunch
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: of our flavors on there drinkshakeup.com and you know they
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: ship real quick too.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: There you go well i have a segment on the
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: show i call it the five counts just five random
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: questions sure number one what do you what song do
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: you car karaoke.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: To oh rich girl hollow notes there you.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Go do the kids like hollow notes.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: Uh, no, not at all. I think it's cheesy.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: That seems accurate.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: It is. It is.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: It's great. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, number two, if you
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: were a pro wrestler, MMA fighter, what would your name be?
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, interesting. I don't know. My, my running joke is, uh,
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: I guess it would be paradise. My running joke. I
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: don't have a middle name. And so, my friends would
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: make fun of me and so i adopted the fake
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: middle name of paradise just as kind of a joke
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: right um based on uh on the road sal paradise
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: if you're familiar with the book anyway uh.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: That's it yeah paradise it is yeah number three what
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: are you nerding out on right now.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: Oh um a couple things uh Um, board games, my
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: oldest loves board games. We play, um, all kinds of stuff. Um,
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: he's really into Lorkana, which is like the Disney version
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: of Pokemon cards. Oh, okay. But honestly, it's very fun
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: as a two player game. So we've been into that
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: and that's very nerdy. There's a game called blood on
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: the clock tower, which is kind of like mafia, um,
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: which I've been playing with some friends. So definitely nerding
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: out about that board games.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Love it. Number four, who or what inspires you?
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, That's a good one. Can you come back to
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: that one?
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll let it up. We'll go to number five then.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: What would you tell your 17-year-old self?
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: Oh, man.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: Probably figure out the work-life balance thing quickly because I
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: just tended to... I was a bit of a workaholic
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: and my early years and that became unsustainable. And so
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: I've had to like really focus on the sustainability aspect
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: of that. And I feel like I'm in a really
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: good place now, but yeah, I could have done a
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: lot better there.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Well, then what is your, I'll give you a little
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: more time for this inspired one. How do you find
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: that work balance works well for you? Cause obviously everyone's
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: different the way they can do it. And not everyone has,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: you know, four kids and a wife at home.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: So. Yeah.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think that like, for me, like, well,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: like wellness as a whole is like maybe the foundational aspects.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: So like it all comes back to sleep. Like if
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: I can sleep well, then I'm, you know, I'm going
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: to be much more productive, I should say, but I'm
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: just going to be a better person. Like I'm going
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: to be a better husband, better dad, better coworker, whatever. Um,
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: and so, you know, getting really good sleep is important,
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: but like, you know, exercise eating well, all that kind
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: of stuff. So, um, I would say that is, that
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: is the key for me.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think so too. Everyone needs to genuinely take
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: care of their mental, their physical. Again, we don't need
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: to all look like the rock. Just do something, get
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: out there and move and get the, get some sweat
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: going and get some stink in your armpits.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Even just going for a walk, you know, like
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: walk in the woods. If you can touch some grass. Right. Yeah.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Get grounded. Genuinely take it.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Take your shoes and socks off. Get in that ground.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Well, let's go back to number four.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah.
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: Inspiration. Um, boy, well, I would say that there's a
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: lot that inspires me. Um, lately I have been inspired
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: by some authors and like, I mean, some of the
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: business books are pretty interesting. Like Phil Knight wrote a
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: really killer, like a autobiography called shoe dog, which is dynamite.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: But I mean, I wouldn't say that that's the thing
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: that inspires me that way. You know, I wake up to, right.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's, I mean, it's definitely family. And like, also,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: I would say that, like, our audience inspires me, like,
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: what I try to do on the marketing side is like,
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: make our customers, our audience, the hero of all the marketing,
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: because like, at the end of the day, like, I
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: do think we have a fun and interesting story that
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: most RTDs don't, right? Like, if you think about the
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: big RTDs, like High Noon and Sun Cruiser and Surfside,
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: they're lifestyle brands. And that doesn't mean that they weren't
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: created in an interesting way, but they don't have the
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: background of like the selling barbecue at the County fair. Right.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: And the actual connection to the Indiana state fair, that's real.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: But regardless of all that, like, you know, at the
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: end of the day, like our customers are like, what,
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: you know, what works right. Like if they like the product,
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: they're going to tell their friends. And so when somebody
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: posts something about it on social, I'm like, Hey, let's collaborate. Like, let's, Like,
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: and I repost and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And,
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: you know, that really works. So, I mean, I think
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: our audience and folks who are out there, like, honestly,
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: just doing their best every day, which is the way
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: I feel, that's inspiring, right? Like, let's just have fun
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: the best way we can. Let's do our best, right?
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: No, I love that so much. Well, if people wanted
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: to find out more about y'all, follow you online, obviously
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: buy Shake Up Cocktails, support you guys in any way,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: how can they do so?
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Drink Shakeup dot com is the easiest. And
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: then on Instagram at Drink Shakeup, we got some really
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: fun stuff we're doing over there. I've hired some comedians
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: here in town who are helping us with video content.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: And people I've known for a long time actually met
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: through a podcast. They ran a podcast for a long time.
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: And so there's some pretty fun stuff. So I would
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: say check that out.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: There we go. I look forward to that. Dan, I
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: love this so much. I can't wait to get some
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: shake-up cocktail myself. So this has been fun, and I
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: can't wait to see where you guys end up in
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: the future.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: Thanks, John. Cheers, y'all.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much to Dan for being on the show. Again,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: find yourself some shake-up cocktails. These things are delicious, and
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: you are definitely going to want to get your hands
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: on them. So if you are not in the states
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: that they are distributing to, find out how you can
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: get it there. Ask your local liquor store. Ask your local...
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: grocery store. Whatever place you can find your cocktail drinks at,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: definitely ask them if they don't have shake-up cocktails, so
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: that way they can get there. And if you do
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: want to find them, obviously go on their social media
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: and on their website, and you can find out more. Now,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: while you're doing that, go follow us on social media
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: at BruisersPod, that is B-R-E-W-S-E-R-S-B-O-D, On the Instagram, the threads,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: and the Twitter. If you want to send us an email,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: it is bruiserspod.gmail.com. If you want to follow me directly,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: it is RodyJohn. That is R-O-D-I-E-J-O-N. RodyJohn is the name
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: on the Twitter.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: And on untapped.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: In case you want to find out what I'm drinking,
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: maybe we can.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: Have a beer together.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: If you want to follow me on the threads or
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: the Instagram, it is OfficialRodyJohn. So until next time, make
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: sure to enjoy life, drink local, and cheers.