[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey, folks. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Taste Radio, the number one podcast of the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. 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. Welcome back, everyone, from their respective vacations. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer. I know there's still some summer left, but the majority of it, I think people spend out and about in June, July, and August, not so much in September. Mike, from what I understand, you were hanging out with Pauly D on the Jersey Shore, is that right? Yeah, man, I was GTL. Tent, laundry, baby.
[00:01:04] John Craven: GTL.
[00:01:05] Ray Latif: Do people still say GTL? I do.
[00:01:08] Jacqui Brugliera: It looks like you got some G and some L. I don't know so much about the T. No, I didn't get a lot of T. I got some T, but I wear a lot of sunscreen, Ray. But I was in the water a lot, so I was having a good time body boarding. What do you do, like 70 SPF? 30 or 50, you know, whatever I got handy. Bubble bodysuit? I'm in a bubble, Ray. I'm a bubble boy. I'm just out there in one of those big orbs.
[00:01:37] Ray Latif: Bubble boy in the ocean.
[00:01:38] Jacqui Brugliera: People are trying to push me out to sea at all times. Craving stream, basically.
[00:01:43] Ray Latif: Jackie, did you do anything fun the last couple of weeks of August?
[00:01:48] John Craven: I went to Mexico. That's fun. I go to Mexico a lot. Yeah, so I drove down to Valle de Guadalupe, which is the wine country in Baja, and visited a couple wineries. They have some really great restaurants with some younger chefs doing some really cool creative tasting menus. So it was a good weekend.
[00:02:06] Ray Latif: Awesome. Yeah. My dear friend, Adam Hertel, who's a longtime food and beverage industry veteran. He's told me much about the great wine scene in Mexico, specifically going down to Tijuana is what, like 15 minutes from the border of San Diego? Not even?
[00:02:25] John Craven: Yeah. From my apartment, it takes exactly 20 minutes to get to Mexico.
[00:02:30] Ray Latif: Wow. Yeah. Awesome. Coming back is a little bit longer, I assume, because of the border, right?
[00:02:36] John Craven: I have global entry. So, you know, fast lane all the way.
[00:02:39] Ray Latif: Wow. I need that.
[00:02:41] John Craven: I'll just go for dinner one night. It's really great. That's incredible.
[00:02:45] Ray Latif: Global entry. So you can just, you literally, you don't even stop your car.
[00:02:49] John Craven: Yeah. So you just attach your car to a global entry. You get in the century lane and sometimes it takes five minutes. Sometimes it takes 15, but it really doesn't take very long.
[00:02:59] Ray Latif: Okay. Pro tip. I like it. Nice. And John, you were in Aruba, is that right? I was. What's in Aruba? I always think when I think about Aruba, I think we probably mentioned this on the podcast many moons ago. Aruba, everyone thinks about the Beach Boys song Kokomo when they hear Aruba, right? That's for older people. Thanks for the earworm, Ray. Appreciate that.
[00:03:21] Mike Schneider: I was going to say, yeah, Beach Boys are not the first thing that popped into my head. Hadn't thought about that. Thanks for ruining that for me, Ray. How am I ruining it? Everyone loves the Beach Boys.
[00:03:34] Jacqui Brugliera: Not that song. Come on, Sail On Sailor, take over.
[00:03:39] Mike Schneider: It is hot and sunny. And, uh, you know, it's a, uh, a Dutch territory, I think maybe technically sort of separate at this point, but there's a lot of, uh, Dutch influence there. And some of the grocery stores are all loaded with products from Europe, which is interesting. So, yeah, you know, went through a couple of grocery stores. That's what I do. But, uh, yeah, it's a good time.
[00:04:08] Ray Latif: Nice. Nice. Well, the summer ended off on a good note for me again, not this entire summer, but, uh, you know, the end of August and that's Manchester United crush Mike's beloved team arsenal over the past weekend. It was, uh, it was a devastating defeat for the gunners. Unfortunately, you know, they had been undefeated, but when you come to Manchester and come to old Trafford, you got to expect that, uh, you're going to get the floor mopped with you.
[00:04:36] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. Ray, the most devastating part was that we lost and fell into first place.
[00:04:41] Ray Latif: I assume that you'll continue to fall for the rest of the season, but I got to get the digs in while I can.
[00:04:47] Mike Schneider: We hit, we run a, we're on a roll here.
[00:04:49] Jacqui Brugliera: I just want to ask Mike, what position he plays since he's saying we I'm a striker and I'm ready to play at any time, John, they just have to call me.
[00:05:01] Ray Latif: I'm sure. They've been trying to reach you for many years now, Mike. You just got to pick up the phone. The only reason they're trying to reach me is to figure out how to block me. There you go. Well, Jackie, you actually just gave me a good idea, and now I think about it. Since we're going to be in San Diego next week, maybe I have to plan a quick trip to Mexico. I don't have global entry, though, so maybe it won't be a very quick trip. I think that means you're not going in Jackie's cars, basically.
[00:05:28] John Craven: I'll drop you off at the border.
[00:05:29] Mike Schneider: Just to be clear, I have global entry. I think I could go in Jackie's car.
[00:05:33] John Craven: Yeah, you could. Yeah, perfect.
[00:05:35] Mike Schneider: Maybe I can get global entry.
[00:05:36] Jacqui Brugliera: I had appointments for global entry, but they all got, it was like right before COVID hit and they all got canceled. It was terrible. So I don't have it yet.
[00:05:45] Mike Schneider: I got to get it. So sad. I literally, we were talking about this yesterday at lunch, but I literally coming through a customs in airport in Aruba because they have U.S. customs there. With global entry, you don't even show your passport anymore. Yeah, but you are definitely going to like this way that you stand in front of a thing. It takes your picture and it instantly knows who you are. That's it.
[00:06:09] Ray Latif: That sounds like a dream to me. That is your little dream. Yeah.
[00:06:14] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like.
[00:06:17] Ray Latif: No one knew who I was. Well, you know what, I talk about a tangent here. No, I won't go there. Well, if anyone wants to know what I was going to say, just come see me in San Diego and Austin next week. As I mentioned, we'll be in both cities next week, starting off with San Diego, where we'll be holding an event at the BevNET headquarters or the BevNET West Coast branch, as we call it, the WCB in the city of San Diego, meeting up with entrepreneurs, investors, distributors, retailers that are all in the area, in the region. It's very exciting. That's going to be on Tuesday, September 13th. Jackie, since you are our resident San Diego, please tell us about when the event is happening.
[00:07:06] John Craven: Yeah. So it's happening from four to six on Tuesday and the address is two six four five financial court in San Diego. And we will have urban pizza. So if you're a local, you'll know what that is. It's really tasty and we'll be having drinks and lots of samples. So B Y O S bring your own samples. We'll have coolers. We'll have fridges. We'll have things ready for your samples to be handed out and for everyone to try it. If you can't make it.
[00:07:34] Jacqui Brugliera: then coincidentally that is the same address you can send samples to.
[00:07:40] Ray Latif: Well, it would be great to try your samples in person and get an instant review or instant feedback from the team. Great opportunity to network with the BevNET, Nosh, Taste Radio team, and certainly your colleagues in the area as well. Very excited for this. We have a ton of people signed up already, and we also have a ton of people signed up for our Austin event, which is happening two days later, September 15th. That event is going to be held at the headquarters of Super Coffee and is being presented by the brand. And we're featuring two Taste Radio interviews at the show, at the meetup that is. One featuring the founders of Super Coffee, that is Jimmy, Jake and Jordan DeCicco. And also investor Anna Lena Kemenetsky, who is the founder and CEO of TouchCapital. It's gonna be very exciting stuff. That's gonna be held from 4.30 to 7 p.m. Central Time. Just to break it down for folks, 4.30 to 5 will be networking. Five o'clock, we'll be interviewing the folks from Super Coffee. Six p.m. is when we'll be interviewing Annalena Kamenetsky. In between the interviews, we'll be more networking, sampling, tasting, eating, drinking, all kinds of fun stuff. If you are in Austin or happen to be visiting the area, you can't miss the opportunity. Once again, on Thursday, September 15th, Mike, John, and I will be there. Jackie, you showing up as well?
[00:09:11] John Craven: Oh yeah, I'll be there.
[00:09:13] Ray Latif: Outstanding.
[00:09:15] John Craven: Love Austin.
[00:09:16] Ray Latif: The whole Taste Radio team will be there at your beck and call. Maybe not at your beck and call, but to talk to you. Yeah. I mean, Joe will be there too. You can meet Joe. Joe Cratchy, the man, the myth, the legend, the audio engineer that makes Taste Radio possible.
[00:09:32] Jacqui Brugliera: People aren't going to believe that you can actually see Joe IRL and hear him.
[00:09:37] John Craven: He's a real person.
[00:09:38] Ray Latif: Yeah. As I mentioned, there are a lot of attendees already signed up for that event, including entrepreneurs, retailers, investors. If you're from the Austin area, I think you might be able to guess who some of those retailers or investors are. So it's a can't miss event. Don't wait. Register now. Go to BevNET.com or Nosh.com to sign up. One person who's registered for the Austin event is Shaka Tea co-founder, Bella Hughes. And coming off the sale of her company, Shaka Tea, to Kings Hawaiian, she recently launched a new investment fund called Roya Capital. She and her co-founder and husband, Harrison Barnes, that is. You can read all about it on BevNET.com. Roya Capital is focused on financing women-founded CPG brands. According to the article on BevNET, the fund is already invested in gluten-free foods producer Partake, canned wine brand Maker, and upcycled cracker company Seconds. I encourage you all to head to BevNET.com to read more about it, really interesting stuff. And once again, if you are going to be in the Austin area or live in the region, come meet Bella, talk to her about the investment fund, and I'm sure she'd love to talk to you about it as well. Now, from Austin to, let's see, how many miles northeast of Austin? I don't know, I'm gonna guess about 1,500. New York City, that is. Just before you went to Aruba, John, you went to the Big Apple, and I saw from Instagram and Twitter that you visited one of these emerging non-alcoholic spirit-focused retail stores. That's a mouthful. This one was called Spirited Away. Talk all about that place.
[00:11:26] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I think they actually are staking the claim that they are the first of its kind in the U.S., first non-alcoholic or booze-free bottle shop. They are just loaded with non-alcoholic spirits, non-alcoholic wine, non-alcoholic beer, and lots of non-alcoholic RTD cocktails. It's a I don't know, it's pretty wild. It's like one of those rare sort of places that it's like, you know, everything you you see at our office or on Instagram is like the only products they sell in the store. So definitely feels like. you know, something that's a bit ahead of the curve. But hey, I think if you're going to do it anywhere, you know, Soho and New York City is a pretty good spot where people are familiar with, you know, the latest trends and stuff like that. So really neat shop. I definitely recommend everyone follow Spirited Away on Instagram if, you know, you're interested in the non-alk space or non-alk spirit space. Lots of cool stuff coming in there.
[00:12:30] Jacqui Brugliera: You better be a cool and trendy shop if you're going to call yourself Spirited Away. Chill flick.
[00:12:34] Mike Schneider: Definitely.
[00:12:37] Ray Latif: Anything that threw you for a loop? Anything you found there that you hadn't seen before?
[00:12:41] Mike Schneider: There were a couple like smaller things that I hadn't seen before. They have some imported stuff just from Europe that we haven't seen here at BevNET, but otherwise, you know, largely the same stuff. I think it was interesting to see a shop like that and just get a perspective of how the products break down in terms of categories. There aren't that many non-alcoholic wines right now, although we're growing, starting to pick up. A lot of like, you know, whiskey alternatives, a lot of can just again, you know, RTD sort of bitter spritz type products. Again, I just seeing some of the international products was probably the coolest thing for me personally, stuff I hadn't seen before.
[00:13:29] Ray Latif: Yeah, I'm looking forward to visiting the shop the next time I'm in the city. Although I think I'm a little bit more interested to see this new product, this new brand called Togroni, which has been all over your Instagram and Twitter feed, John. So much so, and given that we've talked about these Togronis For number of times on the podcast and beyond that as well, I was actually wondering, I was like, is this a brand that John actually launched himself? This is a pretty cool looking product. Yeah, it's it's in the that squat steel can. What is it like four ounces?
[00:14:07] Mike Schneider: I think those are aren't those hundred milliliter cans. So yeah, somewhere around that.
[00:14:11] Ray Latif: Yeah, cool stuff for sure. The brand is actually called to groan ease. It's in a black can, and it's described as a craft Negroni to go. These folks are based in San Diego. I believe they're registered for our event next week, which is going to be exciting. Hopefully, we'll have enough cans to go around. Make sure not to fill your pockets, because I think people will all want to try this stuff.
[00:14:36] John Craven: Craven will be going away with a suitcase.
[00:14:39] Mike Schneider: Yeah, right.
[00:14:41] SPEAKER_??: Not yet.
[00:14:42] Mike Schneider: We do not have any of it in the office yet, but it is supposedly on the way. I am going to sit out front waiting for the UPS guy every single day.
[00:14:53] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, the way we discovered them was kind of interesting, Ray. We saw that they were signed up for the... for the San Diego event. And I was like, Hey, the Degroni guys are coming. And John's like, who? And, and I thought it was the ones who, you know, basically put three nips together and are pouring them on Instagram all over the place, you know, like all over the world making instant Negroni, but it's not, they're going to be confused for them. Pretty sure. So different company, really nice looking package and can't wait to try it. I mean, I'm definitely going to not do accidental Jurassic timber to try that one.
[00:15:29] Ray Latif: Yeah, I have to ask you more about this accidental dry months that you've been... Sober curious, man. I'm on it. You're sober curious.
[00:15:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Well done. Enjoying being sober curious.
[00:15:43] Ray Latif: There you go. I have a feeling we're going to see a bunch of new products, or at least a few new products and brands that we haven't seen before at these Austin, San Diego events. I'm sure we'll be seeing tons of new stuff at Expo East 2022, which is shockingly right around the corner. September 28th through the 1st, I believe, of October, pretty much the entire team is going. and we're going to be walking the show floor, looking for new products, looking to highlight content on the sites, on our social platforms. So if you do have New York new products that you'll be highlighting at the event, please let us know. That's the best way for us to find you. Send us an email to news at BevNET.com for beverage related content. And of course, news at Nosh.com for food stuff, for lack of a better word.
[00:16:36] Jacqui Brugliera: I can't wait for Expo East. I hope it's the same vibe as the last Expo East where everybody was just so excited to be there because, you know, the vibe in Expo East prior to the pandemic had just been kind of like, oh, this is another show. And I'd say that's one of the few positive things to come out of the pandemic is that people really started to just cherish the time they have together and Expo East became like this awesome event and everybody there was so motivated and I can't wait as part of Expo East to be at the Startup CPG mic drop on the 29th from 7 to 10 p.m. Yeah, very cool stuff.
[00:17:15] Ray Latif: Excited to hang out with the Startup CPG folks and of course all the entrepreneurs that are part of that group. Always fun and always exciting. Can't wait. Not sure if there will be exhibiting, but I've been very excited to try these new chips from a brand called Confetti. These are not your grandfather's chips. These are made wholly from vegetables, like the bag I'm holding in my hand, or mushrooms, like this bag as well. Confetti, like the way you might expect it spilled, C-O-N-F-E-T-T-I. The veggie chips flavor that I'm holding in my hand is their tandoori curry flavor. I don't think I've ever had a tandoori curry flavored snack. Very excited for this. And then they have a shiitake mushroom snack that's flavored with black truffle. And I love the little tagline over here on the back. It says, holy shiitake mushrooms. Yeah. You know, as far as like upcycled food goes, I feel like this is the best way to use so-called ugly produce and upcycled food. It's like, It's a no-brainer, you chop it up, you dry it, fry it, however you make it, and you have a delicious, nutrient-dense snack. And when they flavor with things like black truffle and tandoori curry, well, sign of the times and a sign that they know who they're trying to target and reach. Very exciting stuff, well done, confetti. Also excited to try this new line of lattes, nitro lattes, that is, from our friends at B-Sweet. which is a bakery in Los Angeles that makes these really indulgent, delicious desserts and bakery items. They also sell a line of canned coffee products. This new Nitro Latte is out there, and it's really, really interesting to look at.
[00:19:08] Jacqui Brugliera: I can't stop seeing their reels. Their reels keep coming across my feet, and they're all these bread puddings that they're making right now, and with different kinds of frosting.
[00:19:19] John Craven: I need to eat all of those. Their butter pudding is so good.
[00:19:24] Ray Latif: It's so good. And their drinks are pretty amazing too. The Nitro line, this is their tea. The can I'm holding in my hand is their Thai tea latte. This one is made with oat milk. It's vegan and dairy free. It contains 50 calories per eight ounce slim can, which is how these things are packaged. Yeah, good stuff. Enjoy cold, shake well. That's how you make a good latte product. At least a canned one anyway.
[00:19:48] Jacqui Brugliera: When I came back from OSC, I came to the office to see what came in and there was a box from Oathouse on my desk. And unfortunately, guys, there isn't any left because they sent the new brownie batter. I ate it all. It was so good. This stuff's incredible. But the good news is I felt bad, so I ordered a six pack. So you guys will get some too. So hopefully that will come next week. But this stuff is... It's got to be one of their best. Well, I'll be curious to see what you guys think of it. So Oat House brownie batter, granola butter. That was pretty next level. It's also really good if you freeze it too, like freeze little pieces of it. You can make almost like cookies with it. It's crazy. Also new in the office this week, we got some shots from Romer. I think it's pronounced R-O-M-R. We got pineapple ginger digest. Immunity, which is Berry Crush, and then Energy, which is Berry. which lots of variables here. I'm not really sure how to feel about that, why it's not just three different flavors of digestion shot or three different flavors of immunity shot or something like that, but we got these. Can't wait to try those. I'm a little amped right now, so not now.
[00:21:03] Ray Latif: You do seem kind of amped. How many cups of coffee do you have?
[00:21:05] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I'm excited to do Taste Radio, man. I'm refreshed from vacation, right?
[00:21:09] Ray Latif: I've been in those waves, you know? It's good that you're still not depressed about that arsenal loss, but you know, I mean, like I...
[00:21:16] Jacqui Brugliera: We'll talk about that later, right? We'll talk about that later. I mean, you know, that arsenal is a little hard done by there. So, um, we've got some new, uh, your bay and it, you guys, it feels a little too soon, but it's pumpkin spice season of the year, but I'm sure it won't be the last. And then this interesting thing from Embody Green that has an octopus on it and a lot of words. And I felt like it was kind of a finance meeting because it's got like CBD and CBD, CBD, like it feels like EBITDA.
[00:21:51] Ray Latif: Okay. So for folks, for folks who aren't watching the video, the brand is called Embody Green, but it's the smallest font on the can. The can is what, eight ounces or 10 ounces?
[00:22:00] Jacqui Brugliera: It's a 12-ounce can, 12-ounce slim can. It says, embody green, superior plant recovery, sparkling CBD drink. Definitely some, you know, I think packaging is nice and clean, but I'm not really sure what to look at first. Probably the octopus. So that was a tad scary, but I picked it up and then started reading the label to find out what's in it. This one is citrus harvest.
[00:22:29] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's interesting holding up that can, like, you know, we always talk about label hierarchy and what you want to put at the top, middle, and bottom of your can. Yeah, it very much isn't clear what the brand is. It might be revitalized because that's the thing that you see at the top of the can, that green band around the top. Then you see the ingredients, including 50 milligrams of CBD. Then you see the octopus, then you see the brand name, and then you see in bold, Superior Plant, what does it say? Superior Plant Recovery? Superior Plant Recovery, right?
[00:23:01] Jacqui Brugliera: This is a recovery, Superior Plant Recovery beverage that will revitalize. And then if you turn the can, you also get restored. And then if you turn it again, you get reset. But if not, you only know about revitalizing. And then at the bottom of the can, I guess that's the flavor, Citrus Harvest? Citrus Harvest, yes. It's pretty small. Not bad for R1 in a can, but probably could use a little work. Definitely like to chat with him.
[00:23:30] John Craven: Every morning when I'm in the office, I've actually been drinking these soul tea energy shots. Oh boy. I've been trying to wean off the coffee and I've been drinking these instead. And these have 120 milligrams of caffeine, 240 milligrams of L-theanine, and 250 milligrams of vitamin B12. So getting some vitamins, getting some caffeine, and I definitely feel energized during the day, so it's working. And they're pretty tasty.
[00:24:02] Ray Latif: Yeah, Salty, a San Diego-based maker of cold-pressed juice drinks and shots. I've always been a fan of their shots and their drinks. They're full-size drinks as well, but their shots are particularly good. I think this is the first one or one of the first ones I've seen of theirs that has a ton of caffeine in it. It is a good pick-me-up, certainly for the morning and a little double duty there. If you need some cold-pressed juice and some caffeine, boom, you got it.
[00:24:29] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:24:31] Mike Schneider: I just got these samples from Slow and Low, who makes a ready-to-drink rock and rye product. They've got two new ready-to-drinks, a Whiskey Buck and a Whiskey Sunshine, which are only 10% alcohol, unlike their much higher-proofed sibling, but they're, you know, made with rye whiskey and a bunch of other tasty-sounding ingredients, so might have to give these a try some evening this week.
[00:25:03] Ray Latif: As my colleague and friend, dear friend, that is Adam Stern might say, share. We might have a couple extra cans. Last brand I want to mention is a brand called True Boy Barbecue. This is, as you might guess, a barbecue-centric brand of meats. They make fantastic stuff, including ribs, beef and pork ribs that is pulled pork, lamb shoulder, sausages, brisket, turkey, all kinds of things that are wrapped and ready to be prepared sous vide style. That's when it's in a plastic bag, you drop it in some water and it's fantastic. I actually have tried my mouth is watering, the sausage and the ribs. The ribs are actually prepared in the oven. This is a direct-to-consumer brand. And when you think about making barbecue, a lot of times you think about, okay, I'm grilling it, it's kind of messy, there's smoke everywhere. These products are fantastic because they're already pre-cooked, they're already prepared. All you need to do is warm them up, again, either sous vide style, or in the oven, no grill needed, no smoke needed, no anything. And it is just phenomenal stuff. According to their website, I believe I had the original versions of all their products, but they also have halal options as well. According to True Boy, all the products are made from the finest cuts of USDA prime grass-fed all-natural meats and ethically sourced from Texas farms. Again, we're coming up on the end of the season here, but people eat barbecue in the fall too. Don't people eat barbecue year round? Is that right? I don't know. They're not really a...
[00:26:43] John Craven: It's like comfort food. When it gets cold, you want some barbecue.
[00:26:47] Ray Latif: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:26:48] Jacqui Brugliera: Every culture has barbecue too. Everybody does it their own way. It's awesome. Barbecue is worldwide awesome.
[00:26:55] John Craven: Oh, yeah. Korean barbecue. Mm. So good.
[00:26:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, my God.
[00:27:00] Ray Latif: Let's go. Lunchtime yet? Yeah, right. Well, I still have a little bit of the true boy left, so I'll have to bring some into the office to share with everyone. We just need a what do we need? One of those those hot plates. Can we can we get one of those hot plates to boil some of this stuff to sous vide style? No problem. Done. Don barely had it. No problem. It was like half a set. No problem. He was like, you still have samples? Bring them into the damn office, right? Yeah. True boy barbecue. TRU boy BBQ.
[00:27:31] John Craven: Yeah. Wash it down with some whiskey. Some rock and rye. I love it.
[00:27:36] Mike Schneider: Actually more like hard seltzer. We have a lot of hard seltzer in here right now. I don't know about that combo. New company mandate. You have to drink four hard seltzers every time you come into the office. I guess I won't be coming into the office.
[00:27:51] John Craven: Yeah, I'm not coming in either.
[00:27:53] Jacqui Brugliera: I told you I was sober curious.
[00:27:56] Ray Latif: All right, that brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you all so much for listening. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to askattasteradio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, we hope to see you in San Diego and Austin next week. For everyone else, thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
