The Competition You Didn't See Coming. Plus, The Redemption Of Premium.

0:10Hello friends and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we feature an interview with Alan Kennedy, the master blender for rye-forward whiskey brand Redemption, who discusses the brand's emphasis on premiumization of experience across its portfolio. Well, welcome back to me and to Mike. Yeah, thanks, Ray. Welcome back to you. Thank you so much. Good to see everyone. Are you allowed to be the person who welcomes if you were the person who was gone?

0:50I have to be. Yeah. Okay. You are the host. Or we could welcome you back. You know, we were holding down the fort. Let's see where this goes. You were holding down the fort. How was it, Jackie? It was nice. You know, we had a couple new hosts on, Brad and Melissa. So it was good. But we did miss you. We did miss you. Yeah, so much. I feel like I should go on vacation more often, though, because Johnny held it down as the lead host. Your style is a little bit more straightforward, even keeled, steady than mine is. Mine is a little bit more chaotic. And we'll just fix it in post kind of thing. You know, we'll just...

1:24We do a lot of fixing. We do a lot of fixing when I'm the lead host. John, I think the last one, at least the episode... I just did one take right there. It was one take. One take. Joe said there were zero edits. Yeah. There was... Well, I reviewed a couple of things. I had to clip some things here and there while I was on vacation. You know what, though? He didn't accept them. He didn't accept them. I got high marks from Joe, though. That's good. Well, you know, I mean, it was a perfect recording. Oh, well, if you get high marks from Joe, I am expecting that he's expecting a ten thousand dollar raise.

1:55We'll edit that out. You're trying to be mindful, you know, right? You're on vacations. We're like, no mess ups. We can't mess up. Correct. Correct. No, it was nice being away. Mike, I'm sure you had some fun being away on the Jersey Shore. I did. Tell me you met the situation. You got to hang out with him. I'm not Snooki, the situation, you know, Jim Tan Laundry every day. Jim Tan Laundry. TTL, baby. What's your favorite out of the three? Was it Jim Tan or Laundry? You seem more like a laundry kind of guy. More of a Jim guy than Tan and Laundry. Yeah. Yeah, look at him. Come on. Look at me. I'm just jacked.

2:30But all those Arsenal, you know, jerseys, you got to wash those once in a while, right? Ray, you know what I discovered over the weekend? Or did you just buy new ones and throw away the old ones? No, I didn't buy new ones. I discovered some innovation over the weekend. And, you know, the people from Richards, they make Richards Rainwater. You love that brand. They're using their technology to capture my new favorite beverage, which is Manchester United tiers. I got plenty of that over the weekend. It was so delicious. Here we go. That's cute. Yeah. Well, I got to tell you, you know. You want to try some?

3:03You probably had plenty of them. When offside calls ruin an entire game, these things happen where you end up with a can like that. Those are good. It's my new favorite beverage. This is what we were missing while you were gone, you know, football talk. God, just gloating over, like, what is it, like the third week of Premier League? Yeah. Fourth. That was the fourth week. Fourth, whatever. I mean, this is like... Yeah. Anyway. It is a bit strange. Early days. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, it was Labor Day weekend, and so everyone got an extra day of the weekend. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I was planning to go see the Barbie movie.

3:41Still haven't seen that yet. Has anyone seen that? No, you haven't? I saw it. Yeah, of course. Okay, so Jackie and Mike saw it. Was it good? I loved it. I thought it was really good. I know that there's been like a lot of backlash lately, which is kind of weird, but it was fun. It was just really hyping up women and supporting women, which some men didn't like, I guess. But I loved it. I thought it was great. The some men you're referring to, Jackie, are the losers, I will say, on Twitter, who have nothing better to do with their lives. I'm sorry if I'm offending people, but come on. Come on. I mean, really, does everything have to be an issue?

4:19That's why I just have a problem with Twitter, because every time I log on to the platform— It's called X-Ray. I don't care. Every time I'm old anymore. It's called X-Ray. Yeah, the proper lingo is every time you sign on an X to X or re-X someone, or I don't know. It's just so annoying. Even though I'm only following a handful of accounts, mostly soccer and football accounts, I still get this deluge of people who are complaining about one thing or the other or trying to get attention by making some clever tweet about a movie that people seem to like, but you have a problem with it. I mean, come on.

4:54It's a sounding board. It's where people go to troll and to feel like they're heard. So I don't know. It is a bit chaotic. It is a bit chaotic. I do enjoy the occasional tweet from BevNet Craven, who keeps me up to date. Sometimes. On all things happening in the food and beverage industry. That's how I know what's going on, really. It's not from BevNet. It's not from Nosh. It's not from Taste Radio. It was from BevNet Craven on Twitter. I mean, I took the weekend off, so you learned nothing, unfortunately. I didn't. Yeah, I was like... He was off as well, so... I was just drawing blanks. Why do you think he took time off?

5:26Someone asked me what's going on. Somebody was like, what's going on in the industry? I was like, I have no idea. I've been offline for two days, or at least at BevNet Craven house. I took a break over the weekend, and my only posts were of the beverage cooler at Erewhon and a juice to burrito. So that was my contribution to society. You got to X. You got to X your juice to burrito. Is that what it is now when you, instead of tweeting, you X? I don't know. Okay. It's confusing. Are you on threads? Oh, yeah. I love the threads. Yeah, really? I don't know. I mean, I am on there. Okay. I haven't threaded yet.

5:57threads, for people who are not familiar, is the Facebook answer or Facebook's meta's answer to Twitter. Old news, Ray. Yeah, well, I mean, not everyone knows who it is, because I don't think many people are. No, yes, that's true. Yeah, I feel like a lot of us are still kind of creeping on it, seeing what happens, seeing how it pans out. Does it become Twitter? What is that platform going to be? I know I'm a creeper on there, but I haven't posted anything either. A lurker, Jackie. A lurker, sorry. There's nothing creepy about you. I like that better. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's bound to, you know, end up being another platform for people to complain about things.

6:35One more thing to post on. Yeah, I guess. We all need that in our lives. Well, if I were to start posting more on... Why do you have a big Pepto-Bismol bottle? It's not a Pepto-Bismol bottle. If I were to start posting things on either of those platforms, I'd be posting this bottle of Pathwater that is wrapped in hot pink and has the Barbie logo. on the side. This is the limited edition, Pathwater's limited edition Barbie bottle. For folks who are not familiar, you should be. Pathwater was featured in an episode of Taste Radio, at least the co-founder and CEO Shadi Bakur was in an episode a couple of weeks ago, a maker of bottled water that is packaged in refillable aluminum containers, 16.9 ounce containers, that is.

7:23Pathwater has done a number of collaborations with pop culture brands, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, SpongeBob, and now most recently, Barbie. Love this bottle. I'm going to keep it. You can see it from space. You could see this from space. Yeah, it's nice and bright. Yeah, I'm not sharing this. And I'm not sure when I'm going to crack it open, though, because I feel like this is a collector's item. Yeah, what's the point of cracking it open, really? Isn't it a collector's item with or without the liquid? That's just water. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's cool to see just brands jumping into the Barbie trend and coming out with skews.

7:57I know Swoon has their, I think it's Pink Lemonade that's tied to Barbie and a bunch of other brands have done things too. It's just like a whole swell of pop culture. And it's been really fun to watch it play out. I mean, people are having Barbie parties. They're dressing up for the movie. It's not going away anytime soon. And I think it's kind of smart to jump on that. Yeah. We have any more collabs? We've got, we've already talked about two today. I'm going to talk about a couple more collabs in a sec. Nice. I love the collabs. Yeah. I was wondering, I was waiting for one of us, Jackie, you or me to mess up and drop the R in Barbie.

8:34Because when we were growing up, it wasn't Barbie. It was Bobby. Bobby. Yeah. You got the Bobby dream house yet? No. No, I didn't get that yet. I got the dream car. Got the Bobby. I packed the dream car in front of the dream house. Yeah. Or if you're from Australia, it's Bobby. but that could be barbecue. We're way off topic right now. Anyway, we're so lost. We're so on topic. It's Barbie. I had a bunch of weird Bobbies, you know, the ones in the movie where all the hair is chopped off, like losing limbs, things like that. Wait, what? You have to watch the movie. You have to watch the movie. You got to see the movie.

9:06I was. What were you doing to these Barbies? I don't know. I got a little bored and I was trying to make some weird Barbies. I was getting creative. Did you make them act out like a Gaelic football game or something? I didn't know that existed yet, but I probably would have. Probably would have, yeah. Just Fight Club or something? Barbie Fight Club. The things you don't expect to hear on Taste Radio. I had a bunch of the weird Barbies. I was like, what is going on here? Sounds like Toy Story, were you? Anyway, well. They didn't like me. I like two of the packages on the table. Not the Manchester United Tears one.

9:43but I do like the one that's in front of John Craven. It's a package from Tetra Pak. It's a blue Tetra Pak carton. I don't know what's inside. Mystery beverage, right? Mystery beverage. But I do want to thank Tetra Pak as the presenting sponsor for this episode of Taste Radio. Tetra Pak is the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative, and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Learn more at tetrapak.com. Thank you, Tetra Pak. Well, while I was away, I was very lucky to receive a few packages that included some delicious, at least seemingly delicious, new products, including a new line from Dole, D-O-L-E.

10:28Most people know Dole for their pineapples, their little pineapple cups and things like that. John Craven brings in a pineapple cup every single day. Crush those. No, fruit cup, Ray. Fruit pineapple. I like the Dole whip myself. That's his 1.23 p.m. treat. Dole whip. Don't bother, John. If you are thinking about trying to call, email, text John at 123, do not. That's just seven minute time between 123 and 130. Don't bother him at 440. I only drink the syrup and throw away the fruit. So it only takes about 10 seconds. Nice. Nice. Little shot. Can you use the syrup like the chickpea? What do they call that?

11:01What's the chickpea? Aquafaba. Can you make? Yes, you can make butter out of fruit cup syrup, right?

11:10I love it. We should make it real out of that. What can you make with the juice from a Dole fruit cup? The things you learn on Taste Radio. I mean, people, you know. Anyway, so Dole Good Crunch are their new healthy snacks. They're described as healthy snacks and now available nationally on Amazon. They come in these 1.4 ounce pouches. They include three varieties. They are pineapple bites with chili, pineapple bites that are original, and banana bites. Do these have any kind of other flavor? No, just original as well. Just a banana. Basically, I assume I haven't opened these yet, but they're sort of rindish, and rind being the rind of dried fruit with the peel on.

11:52I feel like they're kind of rindish in that regard. Why don't we open them and find out? All right, I'm going to open up the original pineapple bites here. Can we go for the spicy? Actually, they're not at all like rind. They're almost more like nugget, like in size. Nuggets? Like chicken nuggets? Yes. They are. are they crispy or dehydrated and like chewy uh john craven you tell us so crispy yeah crispy okay it's actually more like jackie you can't see it from here but they're called dull good crunch this is more like a dehydrated chooza chooza the brand of mexican style dried fruit snacks but yeah these are um i haven't really seen it's like if you look at you know a pineapple bite from say a fruit cup this just looks like it's dried to a crisp and that's the form they give it to you in these pouches so it's pretty good yeah a marketing uh tip just say they're crispy af they're crispy af i gotta tell you you know i think can i try the uh chili i mean it is called crunch mike that's true i gotta tell you i think these big brands these big companies are getting much better at packaging and branding i feel like this good crunch if you didn't know there's a lot product no but if you didn't if dole wasn't in the upper right hand corner next to good crunch i would think that this is just an upstart it does look pretty good yeah it does look i'll give it to it looks like an entrepreneurial brand but i need to see the the chili up close okay i will give you the pineapple bites with chili there you go thank you there is however a ton of copy on the back you probably need to reduce a lot of that cop is just a lot going on there there's a lot of lawyers it's huge i think uh like startup companies are just forcing them to be better You know, the competition on shelf, they see what other brands are doing.

13:39They're definitely keeping an eye on trends if they're coming out with this product. So I think they're forced to be better. It definitely feels like the marketing teams were working in overdrive to get as much as they could that's relevant to consumers on the front of the pack here. So they have in a small circle near the bottom of the pack is this planet positive snack. Everyone loves the planet, right? Or helping the planet. No added sugar, all natural fruit, non-GMO. So good source of potassium that's at the top. So just hitting on a lot of those relevant trends for consumers in terms of sustainability, no added sugar and positive functional benefit in that it is a good source of potassium, at least the banana bites.

14:19Six ingredients in this one. Right, it is. Yeah, six ingredients, that's not bad. I'd be curious if there's any like food waste component to the product too. I mean, they are a massive supplier of just fruit. and I can guess that a lot of that goes to waste because it's going to go bad eventually, but... Yeah, well, it definitely... You think this is upcycled? Well, on the back of the Banana Bites one, it says, good production with less waste. We repurpose banana skin into organic fertilizers. We also combat food waste by using a variety of bananas, including the, quote, imperfect ones that taste great, but would otherwise be thrown away.

14:52Jackie, you're right on top of it. Can we try these? Yeah, you can try them. Yeah, let's try a banana slice. Yeah, while we're munching away at these things, Jackie, you got just a cornucopia of products in front of you as well. I got a little pile up here. It's a very colorful pile. And I think you all have this over there. Humate. I believe John Craven has some. We can sample together. The power of video. Yes. So Humate is a line of chickpea puffs. And it's very simple, like straight to the point on the package. You know what you're getting. It's cheese, peanut, and sweet corn. And when you open them, they're like little kind of like cocoa puffs, but savory.

15:36Giant cocoa puffs. Yeah, it is. They're pretty good. Not bad. Yeah, like simple, nice, healthy snack. The ingredients are pretty simple. Just chickpea flour, corn flour, and then some seasoning. So if you want something crunchy, you can have a delicious, nutritious snack. And I like the little characters. I think they're definitely like trying to target kids, families with these. I think it's a giraffe on the front. Once again, no one seems to be using hand sanitizer. This vexes me. I washed my hands before the show. There you go. I'll give you some hand sanitizer. Give me a little squirt. I should note that for folks that are going to be attending our meetups, our BevNet, NOSH, Taste Radio meetups, They need three pumps of hand sanitizer before approaching Ray.

16:25Oh, and a Listerine strip. In Newton and San Diego. In San Diego is happening on September 28th. And Newton is happening on? October 4th. October 4th. We will have plenty of hand sanitizer on hand so people can sample all the snacks that they want, all the snacks that will be available at said meetups. If you want to join us, and you definitely should if you live in Southern California or visiting the area, or if you're living in the Boston area or visiting the area, head to BevNet.com or Naj.com to learn more and meet with us and the community in the food and beverage industry. Can I share a product now?

17:02Yeah, you can share a product. Yes, my turn. Finally. I've got these wasabi-flavored Cheese Bits that we should try. Cheese Bits is the name of the brand? Cheese Bits is the name of the brand. They have a bunch of different flavors. these are mazza mini pearls bite-sized snacking skimorza cheese what with wasabi flavoring you know what that's right up my alley right there I mean pretend they're they look like chickpeas I am NOT thank you well Mike will try them there are actually quite tasty packages a little difficult to open here we're gonna kind of have to destroy it here yeah I feel like wasabi and cheese isn't usually a combo.

17:42So I'd be curious to taste that. Spicy cheese. While John is using his key to open up the package there. I sanitized it right. Don't worry. Is it wasabi or is it horseradish that most of it is consumed is not actually... I think it's wasabi, right? That's not right. Most wasabi that is served in America is not actually wasabi. It's like horseradish. It's like food coloring with added food coloring. It's not wasabi. I did have some incredible wasabi when I was in Copenhagen, though. It was actually wasabi. There was a remarkable difference between what we eat here and what was served. So what's the difference?

18:20How would you compare it? These are the most authentic wasabi, Ray. No, I don't know about that, but they're pretty darn good. You have to eat a couple, and then the spice hits you. Mike looks perplexed. I'm just waiting for the spice. The difference, to answer your question, Jackie, is that there was a much more fresher and I guess nuanced flavor to what I ate versus just like the heat and the burn that you get from horseradish. Yeah, just up your nose. Exactly, that you typically get from wasabi that's consumed here. I mean, that's like wasabi 101. That's like beginner wasabi right there. That's pretty light.

18:53Yeah, pretty light. But it's good. Okay. It's like the gateway wasabi. Those look like nice snacks. I feel like they would be even better as like a much smaller snack that you could put into a lunchbox. Like I bet kids would love that. They had only had like four or five, like maybe 10 pearls instead of say 30 or 40. 500 of them. I'm not sure it's a kid's snack based on the flavors, but I don't think so. It's pretty interesting stuff. I like it. It pairs really well with my favorite beverage. Okay. Oh, come on now. All right. We'll stay on the cheese front for a second. I received a bunch of products from a brand called Pops Up.

19:31Pops Up, P-O-P-Z-U-P. They are a maker of popcorn products based in New Hampshire. New Hampshire. Nice. I almost said New Hampshire, Massachusetts. I was going to say, were you about to say? New Hampshire? New Hampshire, the state directly above Massachusetts and in between Vermont and Maine. And bordered by the Canadian province, Quebec. Is it? I don't know. Probably. I feel like it's not a geography lesson. Nova Scotia. Geez, it would be really funny if I'm wrong. I think it is. I don't know. Oh, sounded right. Quebec's up there. John always like to rid me because I try to explain everything.

20:09You know, because I assume not everyone knows about everything we're talking about. I mean, I saw you with the Barbie water, too. You were like, you know, inside this bottle is path water, spring water, water, which is, you know. Water. Which is each. A couple of some hydrogen molecules. Two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen. All right. So pops up. Their tagline is popped by hand with love. They come in these packages that are light brown. It almost looks like a burlap sack. Yeah, a little bit like that. But I tried their butter popcorn one. It's amazing. It's big. Their butter popcorn one is made with sweet cream.

20:44I mean, that actually looks like a microwave bag of popcorn. It does. That's clearly what they're going for. They do have microwave popcorn. They do have microwave popcorn. But this is their cheesy, herby popcorn variety. This is nacho cheese-like taste. Better for you ingredients. So don't stick your hand all the way in the bag. I hate when people do that. Herbie. Just dump out a few kernels. What the heck? Just dump out a few kernels into your hand. Okay. Don't jam your hand in there. I got it. I got it. Another PSA on Tasty Air. Don't jam your hand into the chip or popcorn bag. Proper eating etiquette.

21:19You have to pour it into your hand or Ray will not try it. You open a corner of it and you put your hand out. You open the conic head. You dump out. Oh, God. I got a few popcorn kernels in there. Well, Ray, I mean, just a tip for when you're having these large gatherings where you have a communal popcorn bag, you could just put in a bowl. No, because then even they stick it in both hands. People are going into the bowl, yeah. Yeah. First they lick their hand. Oh, no, no. Sorry, I'd be the person over the bowl that's just eating directly over the bowl. Just pick the bowl. You ever see that Seinfeld when George was, you know, scolded for dipping and then dipping again?

21:52Double dipping? I can't. No double dipping. No. That's a new now. That is not okay. All right, here we go, Mike. That's not okay. Here you go. I wish I could get some. These look delicious. The kernels here. Are you going to eat some? Pop is up. I'm going to eat some later. After I wash my hands thoroughly. Okay. Here's the bag. Okay. Thank you. But yeah, I mean, I really like these. Popcorn feels like it's a pretty tough category because there's just so many brands out there and so many big brands. But I mean, I love. Is this some vegan cheese or real cheese? What is that cheese? It is. nacho cheese-like taste.

22:29Yeah. Oh, interesting. There is, yeah, I don't see any dairy here. It tastes good, but it definitely gives you a, what is that? Yeah, it says nacho cheesy-like taste. But anyway, I mean, I like these little upstart regional artisanal brands like a Pipcorn. Pipcorn is more nationally distributed, but it has that kind of vibe to it, just like Pops Up does. So really well done. Love this brand. And I have another product over here. It is a beverage. And I would say this is like really interesting that's happening in functional beverages. I'm seeing a couple more of these where it's focused on chakras.

23:11So I saw one beverage at Expo West that was focused on each SKU was supposed to benefit like a different chakra. And this one is for your third chakra, power, your solar plexus and your pancreas. And this is an Ayurvedic super drink. So they have a bunch of different SKUs. I know we kind of talked about this in the previous episode, just how functional beverages sometimes have a different skew for a different benefit. And I think this one does have a lot going on. And for consumers, it might be a lot to take in. I think a lot of people don't understand chakras. How does that work? Why is that beneficial to me?

23:53I heard there are cases of that buried in the mud at Burning Man. Too soon. Too soon, Mark. Sorry. But the name of the brand is Chakra Chai. And they do have, I think, like seven different SKUs. I honestly don't know how many chakras there are, but they have one SKU per chakra. And they also are donating to educate our children. That's a big piece on the side of the bottle. So what's the function of that one in your hand? Power. So it's supposed to support your solar plexus and make you feel powerful. Awesome. I like it. It's kind of like one of the infinity stones. It's the power stone. The power stone.

24:32Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of people still don't believe in chakras. It's still, you know, some people do, some people don't. I'm curious to see how this sticks. I mean, I think less - I believe in swordfish. Nice. It's got to be less about believe and more about first and fall education, because I don't even know what all those things are, so. So there is a lot of onion to peel back there to get to the power. That's why I was asking. Is the drink tasty? I haven't tried it. Let me try it. Oh, here she goes. She's so intrigued and spent so much time reading the novel. I know. It actually is really nice.

25:10It's like a turmeric chai latte taste. So it's really tasty. Like I would drink it just for the taste and then hopefully it opens my third chakra. I can see it from here. It looks like it's just a ton of turmeric in there. Like it feels like it's something we'd like. Yeah. Does it need to be refrigerated? It has to be refrigerated. And the description as far as what's in it, top note of French lavender strengthening body of turmeric and sandalwood with a glorious ginger finish. Okay. This sounds awesome. I'm sorry for making a little bit of fun. Please send to 65 Chapel Street. I mean, I think your point of questioning.