[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider, who always gets a kick out of my intros.
[00:00:29] John Craven: It's just so much energy.
[00:00:31] Jacqui Brugliera: Some days you have more energy than others. And this is like a nine out of 10 rate today. Usually you bring a seven and a half or an eight. Okay. What did you say, Jackie?
[00:00:41] John Craven: Yeah, no, I was feeling the energy on that one. I was giggling too. I just enjoyed it.
[00:00:45] Ray Latif: That's all. We're about to get in a boat. All the folks here in the Newton office, we're about to get in a boat later this afternoon for our annual team outing.
[00:00:52] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:00:53] Ray Latif: Thanks, John. We're getting on a boat in San Diego next week too.
[00:00:56] Mike Schneider: Yeah, next week. Yeah, I'm going to both. Will there be auto-tuning on either yeah, you're also gonna be No Stage though being interviewed next weekend in San Diego There's an actual stage No, no, I was told it's just a tent or something I don't know, whatever.
[00:01:13] John Craven: It's an outdoor space at Novo Brazil Brewing in Mission Valley in San Diego with Naturally San Diego.
[00:01:19] Mike Schneider: Yeah. If you're in San Diego, come join us in Naturally San Diego. I don't know where the sign up link is. You can probably find it somewhere.
[00:01:26] Jacqui Brugliera: Are you going to be in the Encinitas tab or what is it?
[00:01:30] Ray Latif: No, Jackie, you are a part organizer of all this. What's going on here?
[00:01:34] John Craven: I can give the deets. Okay. Yeah. We need a date. We need a location. I'm going to write this down too so I don't miss it. Okay. So this is for Craven. So next Wednesday, be there.
[00:01:47] Ray Latif: Everyone else stop listening. Next Wednesday, which is the 17th of July 17th.
[00:01:53] John Craven: We will be at Novo Brazil brewing and mission Valley in San Diego. And we will be there from five to 7 30 PM. There is registration, which is required, but you just have to go to betnet.com slash calendar. And there is a link there. There will be sampling. There will be a one-on-one convo with Craven about the founding of BevNET and what he's seen over the years. He will also be talking about the evolution of food and beverage and kind of what he's seen over the last 20 plus years Who's gonna be doing the interview or conducting apparently?
[00:02:26] Ray Latif: Adam Hurdle of Rudy's bakery makers of organic gluten-free breads as well as some really delicious breakfast sandwiches and Do they call what do they call the the peanut butter and jammies they call them a Sam?
[00:02:46] Jacqui Brugliera: Naturally San Diego board member and and so probably the chillest dude in the industry.
[00:02:51] Ray Latif: He's an unofficial member of BevNET I mean not an employee if there's a BevNET community. He's he's an unofficial member of the BevNET team, but it's gonna be good I'm like Kartik
[00:03:02] Jeffrey Klineman: Yes, exactly.
[00:03:03] Mike Schneider: Very, very excited to get out there to San Diego. Awesome community out there. So I'm going to go home, print out my MapQuest directions. Yeah. Trying to say something Ray can relate to.
[00:03:13] Ray Latif: Well, I got to say, and no disrespect to the other Naturally chapters, but Naturally San Diego's chapter is a kick-ass organization. My goodness. They really bring it every time they get together.
[00:03:27] Jacqui Brugliera: You can read all about them if you search for them on AltaVista. Right, Ray?
[00:03:31] Ray Latif: I just, you know, look him up in the yellow. I was having such a good day. I was so excited. I was a nine out of 10 on my intro. And now look, I just kicked around. Right. Bring it back up. Come on. You're still a nine. Okay. We're going on a boat. Okay. Well, I'm excited about some news that dropped earlier today. Thank you. Thank you. You know that. This is news that was broken by Brewbound.com. Athletic Brewing Company, the well-known maker of non-alcoholic beer, the leading maker of non-alcoholic beer in the United States, closed on a $50 million equity financing round led by private equity firm General Atlantic. The round was closed at a valuation, was raised at a valuation of $800 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Lots more details about this story on Brewbound.com. They're going to be using some of this money to build out their second San Diego-based production facility and expand international sales of non-alcoholic beer, according to Brewbound.com. All this money that Athletic Brewing Company has raised totals about $225 million, according to Brewbound. You know, I'm Naturally San little surprised given their growth and how aware people are of the brand and how excited people are about the brand that athletic hasn't been sold or acquired yet. John Craven, where do you stand on that?
[00:05:00] Mike Schneider: Well, I suppose there's always a chance that they could have been sold, but I mean, it still just feels really early for the brand at the same time. So, you know, it's always tough for any brand to figure out when the right time is. You know, how much further can they take it on their own? Clearly I think, you know, reading what they're doing with the capital, it's pretty clear that they feel very bullish that there's more room to run, continuing on their own path. So really excited for them, you know, awesome people, awesome products. You know, love that it's something that was, I guess, white space of sorts that as we've talked about before was almost dismissed as like not a thing. And now it clearly is a thing. So, you know, kudos to them for being the ones out there blazing that trail and, you know, plenty of other companies following suit and trying to follow in their footsteps now. So awesome stuff.
[00:05:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Pretty cool to see him put up a Dr. Evil number, $800 million.
[00:06:00] Ray Latif: That's the valuation. And according to the Wall Street Journal, this round was closed at that $800 million valuation, which doubled the value or it's double the value of the last round of their financing.
[00:06:14] Jacqui Brugliera: It's cool to see, as you alluded to before, people really picking up on athletic. I remember having conversations last summer about Athletic Brewing and people knowing what it was. But this summer, as I've been having conversations, not only do they know what it is, they've tried it, they want it, and it's on a lot of the menus at places that I've been going. So it's been really good to see this level of expansion. And I think with just the demand for it and them being I think you could call them an anchor of the non-elk beer category. Or the anchor? Or the anchor, sure. The anchor for the non-elk beer category. There's a lot of room for growth, so sure, they could have been acquired at this point and probably have had offers, but you've got to just believe that Bill Shufelt sees a path to something much bigger, grander, and perhaps just wants to continue to run the business.
[00:07:06] Mike Schneider: I mean, they also started in 2017, so You know, it's interesting when a company kind of blows up that fast too. I'm sure they've still got some energy left in the tank to keep going longer.
[00:07:18] Jacqui Brugliera: One of the interesting things about them is the product is, you know, they haven't really gone crazy in terms of SKUs. They've tried a few different, you know, varieties. You've seen them sort of dip their toe into sour and, and, uh, they've got a couple of IPAs and gold and things like that. And yes, they've, they've got their line of hoppy waters as well, but, uh, They haven't gone too crazy in terms of innovation. It's been mostly like let's find ways to produce, and let's find ways to distribute, and let's find ways to get it into the hands of everyone.
[00:07:49] Ray Latif: Did you read the story, Mike? Because that's exactly what Bill said. He said, we don't feel ourselves being tempted to stretch for innovation to replace things that are working. Something needs to be said about that.
[00:07:58] Jacqui Brugliera: Either I know business or I read the story. I mean, Bill's always been that way, though. The minute that he walked into BevNET Live and was asking a lot of questions about how to run the business, and he just always seemed to be very much a pragmatic business person who had a great idea, knew it was a great idea, and takes in all the info and just does the right things with it.
[00:08:23] John Craven: To your point, Mike, they are everywhere. They're on every menu. They're on every like online retailer. They're in every store. So they don't need to innovate as much because they have their core products that everyone knows. And I think that people are comfortable with those and they they're direct, you know, one to ones as far as, you know, an IPA or a light beer. So people have something that they're very comfortable with that hits, you know, the mainstream beer market.
[00:08:51] Mike Schneider: And I think the next sort of part of this is velocity. I mean, the product is widely available and it's not to say their velocity is bad for, you know, this new turf that they're creating, but I think there's still a lot of room for that to continue to grow. And, you know, for people to.
[00:09:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Just give it a try who aren't even necessarily like not drinking right right more faces in more places Gives more people the opportunity to do that too.
[00:09:18] Ray Latif: I thought you're about to do a Verizon commercial there for a sec, but Well very exciting stuff for athletic congratulations to Bill John and the team You know, Bill revealed a bit about Athletic's potential future in an episode of Taste Radio. I sat down with Bill and John Walker, who is the co-founder of Athletic, last fall, and you can hear that episode. It's titled, How Athletic Brewing is Building a Brand While Leading a Revolution. If you haven't listened to it, please do.
[00:09:51] Athletic Brewing: Vibrant Ingredients is the natural ingredient partner powering food and beverage innovation, delivering flavor, function, and protection through a science-backed portfolio. Vibrant delivers purpose-driven solutions that help brands create extraordinary experiences. Discover what's possible with Vibrant today. Visit vibrantingredients.com.
[00:10:19] Ray Latif: It's been a while since we did a buy or sell. I feel like it's time to do a buy or sell. I feel like we need a jingle for buy or sell, something like that. It's like prices, right? Exactly. All right. Let's be clear on what this is. Okay. So if you don't think you buy into this topic, you're selling, right? If you are buying into the topic, you're buying. Okay. So it's very clear here. We've had confusion in the past. There's no confusion anymore. Okay. This first buyer's sale, this first topic was inspired by Jackie telling us that she shops at walmart.com on a relatively frequent basis. So Jackie, buyer's sale. Buying groceries online is preferable to buying groceries in store.
[00:11:01] John Craven: I would buy. I would say that an increasing percentage of people are buying groceries online. It's just way easier for people that are busy. And I feel like there's like a, I feel like everyone's busy these days and they keep themselves busy. So they want to just go through their app and click on some things and get it delivered. And then some platforms are just making it. incredibly easy that you can't really say no to that. Like Walmart Plus, you can get it to your doorstep in an hour.
[00:11:30] Jacqui Brugliera: And you're going to have three out of eight Bruised Peaches. Sell, sell, sell. Mike was shaking his head the entire time Jackie was speaking.
[00:11:37] John Craven: But it's not just Walmart. You know, you have Thrive Market. You have also you could just pick up the groceries and just order them previously. There's lots of options now.
[00:11:46] Ray Latif: All right, Mike, state your piece here.
[00:11:51] Jacqui Brugliera: No, I agree with Jackie. I just think it's kind of, it's hard for me to trust others to my produce. So I'll still go to the grocery store to buy my produce, but I, I don't want to go. You don't want to go. I don't want to go as much as I used to. Okay.
[00:12:05] Mike Schneider: I mean, we could go back to the old days of, uh, there being like a produce shop and a butcher shop. So like the things you need to pick out, but no one could tell me that they need to go actually pick out their packaged goods. Like, are you examining, The expiration date John doesn't care about that That could be better managed if people didn't go into stores You know and then the store could just manage inventory like normally you know cuz there isn't that guy like you that's gonna go in and just reach You know knock the shelf down and get them off the back Have you gone shopping with me because it gets you it just you just nailed exactly Being the guy who like goes up to the deli counter and you're like oh Can I just try a slice of that prosciutto? Just a really thinly sliced. Oh my goodness, no. And then the salami and the roast beef. No. And then the guy's like, all right, cool, like, what do you want to buy? And you're like, nothing, see ya.
[00:12:57] SPEAKER_??: No.
[00:12:59] John Craven: Lunches sir like I feel wine tasting and I'll to know I think to that point though like you can get your staples with online grocery and like ordering and then you can have maybe a Specialty store where you want to like peruse and try some things and find some new products So I feel like that might be more of an opportunity for in-store shopping.
[00:13:16] Ray Latif: That's kind of what I'm saying for me I think it's preferable to shop in store still and I say that of the buffet. No, I say that because I I've done online shopping and I've, I continue to do online shopping. I probably online shop 20% of the time and go into grocery stores 80% of the time. But inevitably there's always a problem with that 20%. There's like at least one thing that's off, whether it be, I don't know, some salmon I ordered or the Mike's points, you know, some bruised fruit. And I'm just like, you know what, if I had just planned my day better and I don't know, come back from the office and made my way to Trader Joe's, which is on the way home from the office, you know, I could have just done this a little bit easier.
[00:13:59] John Craven: I think there's just like a level of expectation and like risk reward. Like I'm willing to have a Bruised Peaches if I have the convenience of getting my groceries delivered. Okay.
[00:14:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay. Fair enough. Bruised fruit would be a good name for our band, Jackie.
[00:14:12] Ray Latif: I like that. Okay. So I think we're three out of four buy and one out of four sell here. I'm just saying, I think right now for me, it's preferable for me to go in stores. I'm just saying.
[00:14:25] John Craven: That's fair. Personal preference.
[00:14:27] Ray Latif: Yes, exactly. All right. Buy or sell John Craven fish sticks. It's not a real question.
[00:14:33] Mike Schneider: Yes.
[00:14:33] Ray Latif: It's a real question Like what with no context? Yeah, just fish sticks.
[00:14:37] Mike Schneider: I don't consume fish sticks.
[00:14:39] Ray Latif: Okay, so you're a cell guy Sure. Yeah, your kids eat fish sticks.
[00:14:43] Mike Schneider: No Why not? Oh, well one's a vegetarian and Because I don't have fish sticks that can't eat them that would you would would you buy them at any given point?
[00:14:53] Ray Latif: No, but why why why would okay? Why would you buy fish sticks? I don't know because they're healthier than a hot dog. Oh
[00:15:03] Mike Schneider: What do you think John Craven's refrigerator is full of? Well, no, I'm thinking he's like, well, you know, he's presenting this, you know, eating hot dogs and fish sticks. I just don't believe you're consuming that stuff at your house.
[00:15:13] John Craven: I feel like some people would compare a fish stick to a hot dog though. Like it's the hot dog of the sea.
[00:15:18] Ray Latif: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, you know what, on a kid's menu, a lot of kids menus they have. Oh, fish fingers. Yeah, fish fingers, grilled cheese, hot dogs, chicken tenders, a bowl of like plain pasta for the kids who can't stand anything but plain pasta, you know? Sure, it's true. Why are we talking about fish sticks? Because I think it's one of those things.
[00:15:35] Mike Schneider: What happened in your life that we were talking about fish sticks?
[00:15:38] Ray Latif: Well, here's okay. Okay, put all our cards on the table here. I think fish sticks, if there's a category of fish sticks, it's something where there's some white space there, you know, it could be improved upon. Ultra processed fish food. There's a whole bunch of fish stick brands and products out there that as we know are just, I'm gonna call it what it is, just crap. And so I think And one of the reasons people don't eat fish sticks and don't even look for fish sticks anymore is because they know it's just still the same crap that they've been eating for 50 years.
[00:16:02] Mike Schneider: Why don't we call it fish sausage?
[00:16:04] Ray Latif: No, no, no. All right. Just throwing out ideas here. For a product I don't understand. Are you a fish sticks person? Do you like them? Do you hate them?
[00:16:13] John Craven: I don't really eat them anymore. I grew up eating like Gorton's, you know, fish sticks. I feel like it's more of like a kid's food and adults don't really look at fish sticks as something that, you know, is quality or that they want to ingest. It was also interesting. I was looking up like the history of the fish stick and it actually It actually picked up steam during World War II because they had these like frozen fish blocks and all of like the meat was going overseas to the soldiers. So they were like, this is our chance to sell seafood. And they started chopping blocks of frozen fish and then phrased it as innovation. So, you know, during that time that was innovative.
[00:16:58] Ray Latif: Man, I bet the fish sticks were so much better back then. But so much better than because there was just fish now they add all kinds of stuff It's you know and you're probably deep fried them deep fried. I'm just probably imitation fish in there somehow anyway Mike's just been sitting there like I'm so confused Mike's like why I'm just gonna sell the question I'll sell the fish sticks and buy something.
[00:17:16] Jacqui Brugliera: I love like Peepal People hot sauce or a la vie blue vanilla frosting fish wife Chai Box all those goodies all right, okay, I get it.
[00:17:24] Mike Schneider: I I'm sure
[00:17:32] Ray Latif: That I've triggered some folks listening. I'm very trying coffee supply talking about yeah, there you go By talking about fish sticks all right if you have a burning Opinion on this subject just email us at ask a Taste Radio.com if someone out there makes fish sticks Yeah, maybe they have a better for you fish stick.
[00:17:48] Mike Schneider: I'd love to sample.
[00:17:49] Jacqui Brugliera: I would Talk about Gorton's or something you know which yeah, they make chicken nuggets too, so I I just want a better fish stick out there. I did some tech work for Gordon's at one point too, so yeah, I'm kind of over fish sticks.
[00:18:07] Ray Latif: What kind of tech work could you possibly be doing for software for them? Oh, okay. There you go. Inventory management, baby. Swingin' fish sticks. Sounds like you had a really fun job. Yeah. Optimized the fish stick. Just like now. Alright, last buyer sale. Kombucha. we'll make a comeback. As we know, kombucha sales have plateaued. In some cases, they're declining. I feel like brands that we used to see every day are not being seen every day. I feel like this kombucha space in stores is shrinking in favor of other kinds of beverages like better for you sodas and Other kinds of functional beverages, but Mike as our resident kombucha geek is that is that a fair?
[00:18:56] Jacqui Brugliera: I'll take it. Yeah resident kombucha geek. I had elderberry juniper over the weekend.
[00:19:00] Ray Latif: Yeah, okay You see kombucha sales rising. Do you see demand you see interest rising?
[00:19:05] Jacqui Brugliera: I think There's a problem right now, which is that, as you've said, space is shrinking. I think it's because of when prices went Humm Kombucha's price really went up. And now you're seeing like $4 kombucha. And I think people liked the $2.99 to $3.50 price range. And this $4, $5 thing is really going to Humm Kombucha. And you're just not seeing as much variety in the, uh, like in the growlers and stuff. And I think people do like the variety. Okay, so you're you're thinking that I don't see a comeback coming anytime soon, so you're selling on a comeback selling on the comeback Okay, then because it's the prices in particular. I think people still keep drinking, and I just don't see it as growing okay hmm John you want to weigh in here
[00:19:50] Mike Schneider: That's what we're here for, right? I'm on the show right now. I'm on the show. I think it's complicated. I think there will be a comeback for it because it is a product that's been around a long time and there's clearly some level of interest out there for it. But I think a couple of things kind of converged at the same time that weren't great for this category. And, you know, one of them was definitely the emergence of this better for you modern carbonated soft drink. And I think, you know, that combined with just COVID and changes in the fundraising environment, I think made some of Humm Kombucha companies try to shift their product towards that, which I think made the ultimate kind of core kombucha consumer and the actual kombucha product kind of not as good as it used to be. I don't know, you know, I can't, on the other hand, blame companies for going after that. The category had kind of plateaued and it wasn't really clear what the next thing was that was going to push it forward. And I don't know, I guess it seems like one of those things where, you know, there's like the timing is everything for like people starting, but sometimes timing is everything for.
[00:21:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Companies trying to continue to grow did kombucha miss the boat by not positioning itself as the better freeze soda Not not not the way only pops they did poppy and others 100% and then they came in with the boots pops and stuff and it was maybe too late Here's the thing how I would explain that you know we a lot of times talk about
[00:21:28] Mike Schneider: innovation and, you know, giving a consumer something that's not like radical innovation, right? Like it's got to be somewhat close to things that we already consume. And in the case of kombucha. At the time of, you know, kombucha really taking off, it seemed like an almost incremental innovation on soda. But the reality was that there was a gap there and other products went in that gap and basically reduced even, you know, the friction further. The friction of production. Well, just the friction for the consumer. Okay, so education, production. So if you're like a, I don't know, diet coke drinker or you're someone drinking like sugary CSDs and you want something that's better, good for you, it's way easier to just go buy like an Olipop or a Poppy or whatever than it is to, Become Humm Kombucha for fear. Dr. Spade, any of those, you know? And I think it is still out there. It's just, it's kind of gotten pushed a little further down in terms of like the innovation scale. So give it time. Okay. Jackie.
[00:22:36] John Craven: Yeah, I would agree with both of them. I would sell on the comeback. I think there's just so many new players in gut health in general. And I feel like kombucha was at the beginning of consumers understanding gut health. And now like everyone is looking for that function, but there's so many more options and different types of products. That's not necessarily kombucha.
[00:22:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Is that true or are we moving away from gut health? Because, you know, with like the poppies of the world who have been, you know, sued about their gut health claims going, oh, we didn't really need that in the first place. And consumers going, yeah, we don't care about that anyway.
[00:23:09] Mike Schneider: Well, look, I want to also clarify here that this is not for anyone listening who has Humm Kombucha business. Kombucha is not a bad business. Ultimately, what we're talking about is the overall market going from whatever it is, a couple hundred million to billions. I think not, not quite yet. So, I mean, I think that's just for brands that are out there and have a regional brand or, you know, a good sort of handle on this, this category. Great. You know, just keep doing what you're doing. I, it's more of a cautionary, like now it's probably not the time to put your foot on the gas and like really try to blow it up.
[00:23:47] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:23:47] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, you're in my neighborhood or my refrigerator.
[00:23:50] Ray Latif: Well, I think the category needs strategic investment. I think it needs strategic interest. And it's clear that strategics aren't interested in this space as much as they used to be.
[00:24:02] Mike Schneider: Well, I mean, those things don't move consumer demand and education though.
[00:24:06] Ray Latif: I think with strategic money and distribution muscle, it might make a difference.
[00:24:11] Mike Schneider: I mean, that's kind of what we tried, though, you know? Right, exactly. I think there is kind of a shift in consumer taste that at some point, you know, it's ever evolving. It just has to get there on its own or, you know, through some other catalyst. And I think trying it behind gut health, like it only got it so far. So what's the next thing, you know?
[00:24:36] Ray Latif: Well, I think strategics also pull the plug on these things quicker than they probably should have. I mean, if you look at Covita and Pepsi, right? I mean, Covita is, Kombucha, I don't, is kombucha, does Cafita even sell kombucha anymore? It's barely kombucha. Well, no, they had Humm Kombucha and then they got rid of it.
[00:24:53] Jacqui Brugliera: I know, even that kombucha was barely kombucha.
[00:24:55] Ray Latif: HealthAid obviously, Coke divested from HealthAid. Pete's with Revive. Revive doesn't even make Humm Kombucha. Are they even around anymore? No. No, they just completely killed it. It remains to be seen what happens with Hum. I mean, I love that brand. I really hope that brand stays in the market, but it's clear they're trying to expand their portfolio to other beverage categories as well. And so I think it just seems like strategics aren't willing to be patient with the category, maybe as much as they could be.
[00:25:22] Mike Schneider: Again, I think there's just too much noise out there right now. The cost of doing that went up drastically. Sure. In the world pre Ollipop and poppy, I think there's more room for a consumer to like, you know, receive that. And now there's extreme noise. So I don't think it's the right time for that.
[00:25:41] Jacqui Brugliera: And then there's the whole idea of, do we go and play in that space? Like, do we take this kombucha and do we morph it into something else that can play in that space? I mean, you're seeing that with like deacai, for instance, with the tapache, which is again, phenomenal. I love that product. But recently repositioned as the new Mexican soda, the new Mexican soda, the new Mexican soda. And for soda lovers, that's like really good news because soda geeks know that the Mexican Coke is better. That's the best. So if you have a new, better for you Mexican soda, that's a good message that I'd like to see them test. Now they're going to have to test it in mass. That's the problem. So that requires a lot of money, again, against a lot of other noise. But if Better Free Soda is the thing and they've got a Better Free Soda and it's Better Free Mexican Soda, that's not that much harder to understand. Worth testing. I think it's a good positioning.
[00:26:37] Mike Schneider: Well, I'll still Humm Kombucha.
[00:26:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Me too. How about we end with that?
[00:26:40] John Craven: I'll still buy it too.
[00:26:41] Ray Latif: Yeah. No, I still Humm Kombucha on a relatively regular basis. That's not what we're talking about here. And you know, at Trader Joe's, I think the GT's is still $2.99 a bottle.
[00:26:49] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm pretty sure.
[00:26:50] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:26:51] Jacqui Brugliera: I guess I'll have to go back to Trader Joe's. Go stock up.
[00:26:52] Ray Latif: Yes. And ironically, do you remember when it was that rumor that Anheuser-Busch was going to buy GT's for a billion dollars?
[00:26:59] Mike Schneider: Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
[00:27:01] Ray Latif: Yeah. Dr. Evil number. I imagine that AB, and no disrespect to AB, it probably wouldn't have worked out very well. You never know. Yeah, you never know. You never know. I've been sipping on this product that I hadn't seen until I saw it in the cooler. Santa Fe Sparkling Water. I guess that's the name of the brand, Santa Fe Sparkling Water. This is made with real fruit juice. This is their lemon citrus variety. It has zero calories per can, zero grams of sugar. It's non-GMO. It tastes delicious. It contains 2% juice, but still somehow zero calories and zero sugar. Phenomenal product, actually. Phenomenal. I love this.
[00:27:38] Mike Schneider: I'll drink cases of this.
[00:27:40] Ray Latif: I don't know. Oh, I should have known. What do you think makes this? I'm going to go with the Arizona iced tea. Arizona.
[00:27:48] Mike Schneider: Arizona beverage company makes this stuff. I was going to say, you're killing an Arizona product. What's wrong with that? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. I saw this product. I don't think I've actually tried it yet, but, you know, I saw it on social media and I think it's pretty clever what they did because, you know, it's like when you look at it, it doesn't scream Arizona, right? You know, there's no 99 cent, no giant can, but once you know it, you're like the color palette staring me right in the face.
[00:28:14] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, it is next door to Santa Fe. The irony is in New Mexico, not in Arizona. Actually, I like that.
[00:28:22] Ray Latif: No, but this now I know sometimes Brands round down when they can so there might actually be a little bit of calorie It's like maybe one calorie maybe one gram of sugar in this you can round down a little bit, but that's the FDA's yes I know yes, but this tastes amazing really well done Arizona. I'm sorry juice always equals calories At least one yeah You know, two weeks ago, John, you talked about straightaway cocktails, breakfast martini. Yes. On the show. Had some for breakfast. I have in my hand. Obviously. A breakfast beer. Hoplark, a maker of hop infused beverages, has unveiled their latest limited edition product. This one's called the breakfast beer one. Little bacon and eggs in there?
[00:29:07] John Craven: I don't know.
[00:29:09] Jacqui Brugliera: So here's the thing with that, right?
[00:29:11] Ray Latif: Hold on. Let me explain what's in here. The ingredients are carbonated water, white tea, aloe hops, and citric acid. It contains caffeine. The tasting notes are peachy, melony, floral. Hoppiness level is quite, so apparently quite hoppy. Have you had this yet? I have not.
[00:29:31] Mike Schneider: No? I'll try some. You want me to try some?
[00:29:33] Ray Latif: I always love a good hoplark. Yeah. Hoplark breakfast beer.
[00:29:36] John Craven: I have another, um, beverage that should be drank in the morning. Parches sunrise, super tonic. Yeah, this is delicious. And it's cool to see them do something a little bit different. Cause I know that they're mainly like non-alcoholic cocktails, but this is a non-alcoholic tea elixir and it has 50 milligrams of caffeine, so low caffeine. And then it also has. Reishi mushroom, lemon balm, has some additional adaptogens. And it's cool because you can drink it chilled or you can pour it out and warm it up. And it's really, really delicious.
[00:30:12] Jacqui Brugliera: So Park's trying to expand into multiple use occasions. I might be a tad soon for that.
[00:30:18] Ray Latif: Yeah, I got a sneak peek of that product at Expo West. Rodolfo was one of the co-founders of Parch, showed it to me and I immediately sent a slack to Jackie because I felt like Jackie would totally be about this. And here we go in July, sipping on it at nine in the morning in San Diego, or actually 845. So.
[00:30:38] Jeffrey Klineman: Yeah.
[00:30:38] Ray Latif: Yeah. I mean, it might be, you're right, Mike. It might be a little too soon, but I think, you know, they're just testing the waters and seeing how it goes. I mean, the liquid's great.
[00:30:48] Jacqui Brugliera: Jackie can attest to that.
[00:30:49] Ray Latif: Clearly.
[00:30:50] John Craven: Yeah. No, it's delicious. And it also has like orange juice and some turmeric. So it gives it like a little bit in between like an orange juice drink and a turmeric tea.
[00:30:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Is it a mimosa? Is it a non-alcoholic mimosa?
[00:31:01] John Craven: I mean, there you go. I don't position it as that, but it could be.
[00:31:05] Ray Latif: Maybe they should. Maybe they should. Mike, you got some hot sauce by your side. Not just any hot sauce though. I've got truff buffalo sauce that I call truffalo.
[00:31:14] Jacqui Brugliera: I think everybody else's too at this point, but I mean, that's just, that was inevitable.
[00:31:20] Ray Latif: Truff, I mean, they just kill it every time they introduce a new product. It's just so on point. And I remember when they, what was it that they sent us? Was it the mayo? Sure. Yeah. No, there was the spicy mayo. No, but there was something, remember we did the peanut butter. We did it. The fake peanut butter. We did it. That's right. There was a peanut butter.
[00:31:38] Mike Schneider: That's what it was. Yes.
[00:31:40] Ray Latif: We did a Twitter spaces with the founders of Truff about three years ago. I think it might have been Clubhouse.
[00:31:52] Jacqui Brugliera: I think it was Clubhouse. But the interview was not.
[00:31:55] Ray Latif: No, it wasn't. And we chatted about maybe doing a spicy peanut butter, truffle infused peanut butter. And two days later they sent us one. And, uh, yeah, unfortunately it was just Jeff, but I made that never, that never made it.
[00:32:09] Jacqui Brugliera: But I made it though after. So I made the spicy peanut butter with truff and it, It's a good idea all right. Can you bring that on the boat the trough? I'll bring it sure why not yes Yes, yeah, what are we eating? Oh?
[00:32:20] Mike Schneider: Yeah, this fish sticks on our boat crews. I got only hopes I wait we could we could catch some in the Good idea John all right Isn't it aren't they made with scrawd scrawd.
[00:32:41] Ray Latif: They're probably like Pollock or just like It's probably made with guppies or something tangents. There was this kid in my Who's named broad and poor kid would always get? Mercilessly ridiculed for his name. I don't know why people would always be like scrawd And I'm not sure why they did that.
[00:33:04] John Craven: I hope he's not listening and you're triggering something. Seriously, Jesus, man.
[00:33:09] Ray Latif: You want to talk about one more thing or are you done?
[00:33:11] Jacqui Brugliera: I do have one more thing in my hand here. As you know, I do love me some electrolyte powder and this time it's a jar. Okay. Cure Hydration. This is the Cure Hydration lemonade. It usually comes in sticks and now I've got a whole jar of it in front of me. I'm so excited. Nice.
[00:33:29] Ray Latif: 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 Kratchy. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. 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 ask at Taste Radio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:34:19] Jeffrey Klineman: you
