We Had Drinks With An Academy-Award Winner. Only In New York…

0:10Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Lateef, and I'm here with my show co-hosts, John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. We are recording in New York City at the Metropolitan Pavilion for BevNet Live, Summer 2023. Gang, day one done, day two about to begin, or it already has begun in so many ways. Yeah, it's on. People are here. And we've been here for hours, unlike you, Ray. You know, I had to put my face on, literally, actually, so that I can get on stage and host the New Beverage Showdown. We had a debate yesterday about who puts on more makeup, you or Jackie.

0:49Really? I think everyone voted you. Yeah, Jackie voted for you. Jackie voted for you. You know what? Like, at my ripe old age of 32, I just have to do what I can. Oh, yes. That might be a lie. Yeah. Yeah. Jackie, how was the women in beverage breakfast this morning? It was great. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of talking, networking. It was great having, you know, Gorgie, Maddie, Michelle, kick it off with Melissa from our team. But yeah, it's great to have some conversation, have the community start to build. I know it's the first time we've done this at BevNet Live, and it's a starting point, and I'm excited for another one.

1:23Definitely a lot of room for growth there. They said they have 150 members so far, so got to get some more people joining. Yeah, we definitely need to. The industry and then also women in beverage. Yeah, and I mean, they also brought up a great point that there's not a lot of women in beverage. And I know Maddie comes from tech. She said even less women are in tech. It's true. but that even the men in beverage need to be mentors to the women that are entering the industry and just help support women as they grow. Well, I did see a lot of women at the Bar Convent Brooklyn event that took place a couple days before BevNet Live.

2:01John Craven and I visited the event, which is open to bar and beverage industry professionals, specifically in the beverage alcohol industry. Pretty amazing event. I think there were about 5 ,000 people there, maybe 600 exhibitors from all over the world showcasing innovative spirits, ranging from things like Amaro to whiskey to vodka to gin. So many tequilas. So many tequilas, aperitifs, digestifs. I really had a good time there. I thought it was a really good event. Yeah, no, cool show. Fun way for us to kick off our New York City trip here too. Yeah, absolutely. I think you made the comment that we didn't see a ton of non-alcoholic spirits, which is interesting given that we have been seeing a lot of consumer demand and interest for those kinds of products.

2:41But I mean, there were a few. I mean, they were the ones that we typically see like a Liars. Sure. Wilderton. Ritual. Yep. Ritual. Are we in a bubble because we're us and people are just sending us so many? Yeah, we see more. Yeah. Also, RTD cocktails, not a ton. But the few that were there, I thought were pretty good as well. Yeah, no, I think it definitely seemed more kind of like what you'd expect, you know, whiskey brands and all the other stuff that you mentioned. And yes, I think to Mike's point, you know, maybe that's just we're inside the bubble where we're just seeing all these like non-alc, you know, entries, but they're maybe not yet ready to sort of go out to a show like that.

3:20Yeah. We had one of my favorites on stage yesterday, Parch in the New Beverage Showdown. Very nice sort of mezcal vibe going on there. I'm so into that. I had it also during the happy hour, too. It's great. Yeah. Also, they're exhibiting is a brand called Chinola, which is a citrus-forward spirit that's helmed by Andrew Marinoff, who has a long history in the beverage alcohol industry. His family has a very long history in the beverage alcohol industry as well. He's also the founder of Dispact Ventures, which is a private equity firm that finances innovative concepts in all sectors or all industries, but primarily focused in spirits.

4:04I sat down with him for an interview for Taste Radio. Awesome. They'll be coming out pretty soon. And I also saw someone who I had already interviewed for Taste Radio. I think it was about four years ago that we published that one. And that's Mr. Steven Soderbergh, the Academy Award-winning director known for films like Traffic, Ocean's Eleven, and Out of Sight, Out of Sight being one of my favorite films of all time. He's also the creator of a brand called Singani 63. Now, Singani is a spirit that is made from grapes that are indigenous to the Andes mountains of Bolivia. And so trying to explain all that and communicate that is kind of challenging.

4:41That's a lot. But it's even more challenging when you don't have a specific designation for Singani, something that he's worked on for the past eight years. And recently, Singani has been given an approved designation in the United States. Prior to this, it was called and described a brandy. Who likes Brandy? Apparently old people, right? So how do you market a Brandy to the hip kids of, you know, Metro New York and L.A. and places like that? Anyway, long story short. He's worked on this distinction longer than some of his films. Yes. It's a long time. So they had an event last night, Sangani 63, at Death & Co., which I know is one of your favorite bars in the world, John.

5:17Yeah, that's good. I didn't go to the event. You didn't go. I would say Death & Co. is pretty hip. It was pretty awesome, actually. It's dark. It is very dark. I heard there was a password to get in last night. Yeah, there was. There was. It was WTF, and I can say it because there's no password. The event's over, exactly. But my colleague and dear friend Adam Stern and I walked in, and we sat down. It wasn't packed. There were maybe like 30 people there. It was a pretty intimate event. Oh, nice. And right next to us, I didn't realize until like 10 minutes in, was Steven Soderbergh. Nice. And so we chatted him up and had a great conversation.

5:52Did he remember you? Yeah, he did, actually. I sit up. I'm like, hey, you probably don't remember. He's like, no, no, I recognize you. I'm like, all right. Thanks, Steve. Good to see you. I recognized you from dinner last week, Ray. Yeah. So it turns out he's a Liverpool supporter. Can I believe this? Geez. There we go. Did they send him a fight out in the street? I did kick him in the back when he wasn't looking. Geez. I guess you can't be looking if you kick someone in the back. Yeah, that'd be hard. But he's also... It'd be weird if you could reach around that way with your leg. Accendo leg?

6:21Could be that. He's also not a huge fan of the streaming, I guess, explosion that we've seen in media. He's more of a true blue, traditional kind of guy. Likes a VHS tape? Sort of like that. But he's very, very passionate about Singani 63, very passionate about bringing the spirit, introducing the spirit to a lot more people via high-end bars and bars that can do that kind of introduction in a really intelligent and communicative way. What just happened there? I almost hit Jackie in the face with her mic. I was, like, trying to scratch. We don't usually use these, like, long arms when we're recording.

6:59Something's moving. Yeah. Anyway, thanks so much to the Singani team, the Singani 63 team, and Steven Soderbergh. Great night. Was it open bar? It was until 9 p.m. Oh, okay. Early night, then. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it was from 6 to 9, but we had our little mini gathering here at BevNet, or for the BevNet team. So we got there, I think, 8.15. Okay. So we only had like six cocktails until now. Okay. I mean, they're 20 bucks each. You got to like slam them down. Yeah, we did what we could. Good, good. Yeah.

7:33Mike, how are things with you? Great, Ray. Yeah? Yeah, BevNet Live. It's on. I mean, the energy's here. I'm in it. Having fun. Not working. On day two, I always wonder, on day two, like, what's your schedule like? Because you don't have the pressure of being up on stage like, you know, some folks do. I think he's basically, I'll translate this. Mike, it doesn't seem like you do anything on day two. I was getting that same vibe there for a second. What do you say that you do here? I pretty much make my way. Make the case to keep your job. Yeah. Okay. Here we go. Well, what I do is I make my way through the crowd and try to meet everybody, make sure everyone's having a good time, talk to the sponsors, talk to all the attendees.

8:09This morning, for instance, I was networking, and I met the founder of Smooch, who I'd met once before at Expo East just for a second because their booth was pretty slammed. and if you've been to Expo East, you know that doesn't happen a lot because it's a lesser vibe than Expo West. So this is a regenerative, he says it's a regenerative oat water, 110 calories. It's kind of like wants to be prime but with oats and he's trying to figure out what the right positioning is for it but it's a really cool can. The flavor I have in my hand right here is blackcurrant elderberry and super tasty. And so we just geeked out on this beverage this morning because he's trying to figure out what's the right positioning, what's the right vessel, what should it even be called, is there anything like it.

8:59So, I mean, that's what we do here. Why the name Smooch? I'm curious. Because you can get a Smooch. I got a Smooch first thing in the morning. Oh, boy. It's a great name. Anyhoo. It was available? No, those names are taken, Jackie. I just want to give a shout out to Luca Forgeois, who was the founder of a brand called Velvet Llama. Now, if you recall, Velvet Llama was the winner of our third RTD Cocktail Showdown competition, which took place in Santa Monica in December of 2022. I saw Luca at Bar Convent, and he's been here the past couple of days as well at BevNet Live. Such a great guy. Love his products.

9:39They recently moved into a new slim 10-ounce can. They had been in 12-ounce cans, I believe. But I guess the positioning— Because he was saying it was hard for people to finish them because they were just so crushed. Well, that and also the can also, for some folks, was reminiscent of a hard seltzer. So he wanted to make it a lot more clear that these are canned cocktails and not hard seltzers. I met with the founder yesterday, Velvet Llama, and I was like, oh, you know, one of the cool things about your can is you can make, like, a super long llama. He's like, I know, there's a hashtag. How long is your llama?

10:10So I did that. It's fun. I was talking to Luca about marketing and social media because he's trying to find and Velvet Lama is trying to find like the right cadence for social media. And I was asking about his like how he got into the business and stuff. He has a Forrest Gump kind of life. So he grew up like he lived all over the world as a kid. He was a race car driver, a professional race car driver for a time. He got Perrier to sponsor him to climb a mountain. and they paid him like a certain amount of money, I'm not going to say how much it was, to climb the mountain and then like take a picture of himself with like a bottle of Perrier.

10:47And then he was working at a high-end cocktail bar here in New York City called Macau for like eight years before he launched Velvet Llama. And I asked him like, I don't even remember, like where the name Velvet Llama came from. He's like, oh, well, and hopefully I can say this. He was like, I was doing mushrooms and I felt something and it felt like a Velvet Llama. Sounds about right. That's where the name came from. The can is a vibe, too. Like, I don't know how he's actually captured what he's captured on his can, but it's a really cool can. It just, like, draws you right in. Maybe that was also from the mushrooms, Jackie?

11:21Yeah, I don't know. It's like the furry wall, you know, in that movie? The furry wall. He's choking the wall. Yes. What's that from? Get him to the Greek? Yes. Yes. That's one of that movie ever. Yes. That's hilarious. That's one of my favorites. I love his hat, too, though. The llama hat. Oh, my goodness. The one he wore on stage at Bednett Live, yes. It's amazing. That was amazing. Yeah, the brand is just through and through. Yeah. Totally cool guy. And if you have an opportunity to try his products, you should, because they are fantastic. Can we try some products now? Sure. Yeah. I got a lot of products.

11:53Jackie has snack time for us. I have snack time. I got... Wait, what? We went to the pop-up grocer. Oh, that's right. Yes. How was your trip to pop-up grocer? Yeah. So I saw you all went to the pop-up grocer. I got into New York City a little bit later, but made my way over there because I was jealous. I bought a lot of different products. I've been eating them throughout the week. And I have a couple for us to sample. Now they're all in the same room. They're all sampled together. So since it's breakfast time, finally, I'm not through the screen trying to sample. I have some Pop-Tarts. Yeah, if you recall, Pop-Up Grocer is a curated grocery store.

12:29Well, they have a permanent location here in New York City and Soho. But they had limited time locations all over the country where they essentially are creating awareness and interest for early stage brands and products. Their Soho store is amazing. As I say, it's not in Soho. It's in... West Village. Yeah, in the village. Yeah. So, okay, what are these products, Jackie? All right. So since it's breakfast time, we can start with some better for you Pop-Tarts. Awesome. By the way, this is kind of like now how I feel Jackie is, like every time we actually record, because we record late in the morning.

13:02You record early in the morning. Yes. Yeah. Yep. So this is like good for me, early in the morning. So this is called Flings. And this is like a better for you toaster pastry. What was that? This is the better rectangle. I love it. The better rectangle. And this is like the traditional strawberry with icing. Yeah, the better rectangle. It has high protein, keto friendly sources of fiber. So, I mean, let's do it. Somebody made the logo from like a frosting squeeze bottle too. That's awesome. Yeah. They saved a lot of money that way. What does it say? No strings attached? Is that what it says in the box?

13:40Here, let me read that while you're opening it. You read that. At the top. That top flap. Fling them hot or fling them cold. Toaster or freezer. Of course, because who doesn't love a frozen Pop-Tart? Have a piece of Pop-Tart? High protein. Keto friendly. Excellent source of five. I'm going to hold off on samples. 150 calories. 10 grams of protein in a Pop-Tart? Yes, please. Oh, jeez. I'm going to kill you with this. You're going to kill me. I need a Melgar. You know what? This is why you don't sample this. The third time was almost a charm. you with that microphone. I've almost hit Jaguar with a microphone three times now.

14:09We've got to get that on the reels. It's pretty tasty. We should have toasted it, though. I know. I think toasted would have been a little bit better, but still really good. So what's the price points on that? A lot of money? $7 ,000? $7 ,000. It's on the company. It's fine. I think Pop-Up Grocer is one of those places where if you have to ask the prices, you should just leave. These were$10. I don't know if they're that expensive. $10. $10. And how many are in there? What is it? Four? Four. Okay. So, you know, relatively expensive. But if you want a Pop-Tart and you want, like, not all the gross stuff in Pop-Tarts.

14:46I mean, only two grams of sugar, 10 grams of protein, six gram net carbs. I'm in. These are great. Yeah, I think also people are going into pop-up grocery and not looking at the price. You're not going to try, you know, new things that they wouldn't find at traditional grocery stores. I mean, it's basically like everything you see on Instagram. Yeah. In one store. The caveat is it's still a Pop-Tart. I mean, like, if you look at the ingredient panel, it's still pretty complicated. Yeah, it's still pretty complicated. It's better for you for sure. Now, this one I can't wait to check. All right, Ray definitely needs to sample this.

15:16Yeah, I don't know if we need to sample this this early in the morning. We can. I brought four. I want to. But this is called Seed to Serve, and it is a plant-based tin seafood, and this is celery root whitefish made with smoked celery yak. So there's no fish in it, right? No fish, all plant-based. It's all celery root. It's very simple ingredients. It's just celeriac, which is celery root, sunflower oil, sea salt. Celeriac. That stuff is so good. And then seaweed, natural flavors, and some smoke. So I got that in my celeriac. I got it in my farm share one time. It's kind of like a cross between celery and a potato.

15:55It's epic. And I never got it again. And it's hard to find. Be careful not to spill on it. I wonder if the sourcing is difficult. Don't get the juice on yourself. Oh, God, it looks like fish. You first. Yeah, it does look like fish. It looks a little. Yeah, it definitely has that sort of. Yeah. Okay, I'm trying it. Here we go. Break apart consistency of tuna. Yeah. Yes. I need a monkey brain if you made me. Here. I like that it's simple. Simple ingredients because I'm not as sketched out to try it. I feel like a plant-based seafood in a can. That does really look like fish. It does. I think my only concern with something like that is the packaging looks exactly like a high-end tin fish brand.

16:39It does. And so I think some people, is it clear that it's plant-based? It says in small. It says it right on the front. Yeah, right here. Plant-based, you've been on the top. But that's in small letters. Yeah. Well, they had it on the shelf, kind of like on its edge, like the blue. I got it going for me. Yeah. Like that. Okay. Yeah. So the look and feel is fish, but the consistency and taste is vegetable. Eat it, it's good for you. No, I like it. And it's weird how it's like dripping oil, too. I like it. They also had a crab as well, which I want to try. Let's go back and get it. Yeah, we got to go buy it.

17:13Another round. So weird, but good. Yeah, I'm going back for more. There you go. That's a good, healthy breakfast you got going there. Some Pop-Tarts. How much protein are we talking about there? Celery fish. My stomach. And then I'm going to go sample a bunch of beverages. Are we getting protein? Is it like eating fish or not? Is it like a full fish replacement? No. Anything to wash down the plant-based fish there, Jackie? Yeah, so I'm not going to wash it down right now, but I'll wash it down later. It's called Wink, which is a low-THC seltzer. It has 2.5 milligrams of THC, so similar to other micro-dosed products that we're seeing, like Can.

17:52And this is Lime Twist. and it says that the onset is in 10 to 15 minutes. It's great to see, you know, low dose options because still when I go into the dispensary, there's like 30 milligram beverages. And I mean, I don't know who can handle that, but I can't. We're going to go back and get the crab and I want to get one of those. Okay. Let's do it. Yeah. And the brand is spelled, the brand name is spelled W-Y-N-K. It's so cute too. It is very cute. Nice looking can. Yeah, it's very cute. But I still, I think, you know, THC beverages, they all should have that closure that is specific to THC beverages.

18:26The one that's like a childproof kind of closure, right? Yeah, and that one does not. That's required for regulated products. And that one does not have it. Not regulated product. Okay. Yeah, and it was interesting because it was at Pop Grocer, so I didn't buy it at a dispensary either. Yeah. And just had to check my ID, and yeah, it just looks like a normal beverage. I love that you have a specific day part use for THC, Because every time we're on the podcast, you're like, I'm not going to have this right now. But maybe around 6 p.m. after I get off work. It's great to decompress instead of having a glass of wine.

19:00It's not a Jeffrey. It's not a Jeffrey. That's the second get him to the Greek reference of the episode. Very well. Nice, nice. Well, you know, I just wanted to say to you guys, thanks so much for another great session of Taste Radio. This has been really fun being here at BevNet Live and being here with the entire team, or at least most of the team here. And I'm really excited to start day two. Me too. Let's do it. And of course, as part of day two, I'm really excited to hang out with the team from AFS, Applied Food Sciences, the presenting sponsor of this episode of Taste Radio. AFS is the leader in innovation for functional organic ingredients in the natural products industry and is built on the belief that quality is transparent from seed to label through organic farming, ethical sourcing, and sustainability.

19:47You can learn more at AppliedFoods.com. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNet.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cratchy. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt. And our video editor is Ryan Golang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski And our designer is Amanda Huang Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio Please share the podcast with friends and colleagues And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app Or your listening platform of choice Check us out on Instagram Our handle is BevNetTasteRadio As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts Please send us an email to askatasteradio.com on behalf of the entire taste radio team thank you for listening and we'll talk to you next time