[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello friends, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my BevNET and Nosh colleagues, 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 Of The Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Jackie, you have mentioned that you're part of a, I think it's a Gaelic rugby league in past episodes. Is that right?
[00:00:49] Taste Radio: You're close. It's a Gaelic football and camogie. So not quite rugby, but similar.
[00:00:56] Ray Latif: Okay, I saw on your Instagram account, eat with qui, eat.with.qui, you guys won some sort of championship, is this right?
[00:01:07] Taste Radio: Yeah, so we have a pub league when we get going, you know, in preseason, it's co-ed. I was In The competitive league, and we're the championes. So we won this past weekend, started the season off on a good note, ready to go for the actual season, our competitive season, which will start next week. So we usually play all year and with nationals, which will be in Chicago.
[00:01:33] Ray Latif: You're going to travel. Do you have a sponsor to get you guys out there?
[00:01:38] Taste Radio: We do have different sponsors. A lot Of The are Irish, but we do have local sponsors too. And we end up traveling to different tournaments. Some are in Seattle, Austin, some in SoCal, and then we end up at Nationals every year, which is all of North America. All Of The random Gaelic teams show up and play some sports.
[00:01:57] Specialty Coffee: Ray, they're promoting awareness Of The sport. That's why they're sponsoring. It's so awesome. That's a great way. I mean, why, and why wouldn't you want Jackie to be the face of Gaelic football?
[00:02:07] Ray Latif: Well, I was going to ask, and I don't know, John, you can answer this. If there are any ethical issues, if folks listening want to sponsor Jackie and her team as they travel around the country here. I In The answer is yes.
[00:02:20] Taste Radio: For sure.
[00:02:22] Ray Latif: All right, anyway, well, congratulations, Jackie. Excited to see how you guys perform over the rest of this year. Maybe I'll travel out to Chicago or Seattle to see you guys play. I think that'd be fun. You know what, that would be actually a great, I don't know if we'd call this a field trip, a team trip to go, you know, get the entire BevNET team to fill the stands or one stand. The New stand? How do you, wait, Ray, why are you assuming that Jackie doesn't draw like 20,000 for a match? Come To, Ray. No, I said one stand. We would occupy just one stand.
[00:02:53] Taste Radio: The rest Of The stands would be full, yeah.
[00:02:56] Come To: Okay.
[00:02:58] Ray Latif: Well, if anyone was following my Instagram account over the past week, you probably saw that I was in Vail, Colorado. I wasn't there to ski, as many of you might expect. No, I was in town for Manitree's inaugural Global Health Forum, which was a conference that explored the future of longevity through food, nutrition, and how consumers interact with both. Manitree is based in Vail and is a private equity firm whose stated mission is to make investments in companies whose products can improve human health. I thought the event was highly informative, educational, and entertaining from beginning to end. It featured Manitree partners, including co-founders Ellie Rubinstein, Ross Iverson, and Brent Drever, along with the founders of Manitree portfolio companies, including Gotham Greens, Verde Farms, The New Primal, and HealthAid. We also heard from Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, along with former Obama administration official Sam Kass. David Rubenstein, who In The legendary private equity investor and father to Ellie, also joined the event and gave the keynote address. A bevy of interviews focused Of The origins Of The firm's relationships with portfolio company entrepreneurs and their alignment on strategy and values is coming soon to Taste Radio. Stay tuned for all of it later this month. Now for folks visiting the Boston area this week, we hope you'll join us at the Specialty Coffee Expo, which again is happening on April 8th Of The 10th. It's happening at the Boston Seaport Convention Center. We already heard from a few folks that are attending. We'd love to hear from even more folks that are going. I know Mike and I will be there Of The 8th, the date Of The publication of this podcast, but perhaps we'll also be there Of The 9th and 10th. I'm sure there's gonna be a lot to see. I'm really excited for it.
[00:04:54] Specialty Coffee: Confirmation, we'll definitely be there Of The 9th as well. can't wait. Okay, there y on saturday.
[00:05:01] Ray Latif: Yeah, I thin Yes. Can't keep my day a Mike and I will all be he when we'll be having an o
[00:05:18] Specialty Coffee: Yeah, we're hosting a party along with Startup CPG, 630 Of The 27th. I think there'll be some food and drink and a bunch Of The Startup CPG community from Boston joining us, but open to anyone In The food and beverage industry. RSVP is required. Hopefully we can share that link somewhere, but yeah, pretty excited about it.
[00:05:46] Ray Latif: Yeah, I'm really excited about it as well. You know, there's a lot of interest in entrepreneurship, innovation, particularly in food and beverage here In The Boston area and New England as a whole. And I'm looking forward to seeing folks from all over the region coming out again. You do need to RSVP. You can't just knock on our door. unless you really, really know us. And even then, I think we'd ask you to RSVP. So we'll include a link In The show notes. It's an Eventbrite link, but please join us. Please RSVP. It's going to be really exciting. Jack, are you going to fly up from San Diego? I doubt it, but who knows?
[00:06:17] Taste Radio: I wish. I'll be living vicariously through your Instagrams, but I'm excited to hear how it goes.
[00:06:24] Ray Latif: Well, you know, if I were in San Diego, I'd probably be Of The beach and live streaming whatever we're doing myself. Jackie doing work from surfboard.
[00:06:33] Taste Radio: Yeah, yeah. I wish I wish I could surf.
[00:06:40] Specialty Coffee: You can Jackie. You just haven't tried yet. What Jackie doesn't know is she's The Greater surfer of all time. She just hasn't tried it.
[00:06:46] Taste Radio: Haven't applied myself yet.
[00:06:48] Ray Latif: I actually wouldn't be surprised if Jackie just hop on a surfboard and be like a legend.
[00:06:53] Specialty Coffee: You should definitely try it, Jackie. You'd love it. I mean, it's super fun. You'd be good at it.
[00:06:57] Taste Radio: Maybe that'll be this like a weekend thing this weekend. I'll tackle that.
[00:07:02] Ray Latif: Well, folks that are coming to this event will also be able to visit our little speakeasy room here. That's where I'm recording from if you're watching our video. It Ray Doesn feel like a speakeasy. It's dark. It's got this beautiful loungy, I want to call it velvet couch, even though it's not velvet. I think it's like velour. We have all these cool little signs for liquor. I can't see any liquor anywhere. I'm sure it's like under the couch or hidden. There's no booze In The. That's the only problem. There's no booze. There's no booze. But there is a TV. No booze. There's a little computer set up. You can like, you know, FaceTime or, you know, not FaceTime. You can Zoom with friends and family if you want. I don't know. Maybe, maybe that's something we can offer.
[00:07:38] Specialty Coffee: There is a full bar upstairs. So, I mean, you can just walk downstairs with your booze.
[00:07:42] Ray Latif: Just don't break anything on your way. That's true. And I will be smoking cocktails on our deck. Hopefully The Greater will hold up. For anyone that's attending, you will have a fresh smoked cocktail. Courtesy of BevNET and this guy right here. I thought you were going to say cigars for a second.
[00:07:59] Come To: Yeah, me too.
[00:08:03] Specialty Coffee: With his security detail smoking a stogie In The corner.
[00:08:08] Ray Latif: Two things I don't do smoke and ski and I think that was that was the other thing I didn't mention when I went out to veil. Everyone's like, oh, do you ski? Do you ski? I said no. And people like, well, why would you go to veil if you're not going to ski? But I was wondering question I offered to be raised ski double, but they were like no, not this time so. Well, you know, there are two things here. One, I've seen too many ski accidents, which is kind of turned me off to skiing. Two, I've never skied, so I don't have any, you know, experience. I don't know how to just like, you know, even get on one Of The lifts to go out and ski. I sound like such an old man. And three, one Of The New fangled ski lifts. You need so much to ski. You need the coat, you need the pants, you need the ski boots. Dude, it's Vail.
[00:08:53] Specialty Coffee: You could just rent yourself one Of The one-piece suits. They have places at Vail where you just walk into a booth and you Come To like Superman in your ski clothes.
[00:09:02] Ray Latif: I'm not going to wear other people's clothes. I'm just not going to do that.
[00:09:06] Specialty Coffee: It's Vail, Ray. Brand new.
[00:09:09] Ray Latif: There's a 3D printer close right there. I will say the hotel I stayed at was great. It was that ski on ski off kind of thing. So you basically like walk right behind the hotel and there's a ski lift that takes you up the mountain or one Of The mountains there, which was pretty cool. But alas, I didn't do it. Perhaps another time next time. I was actually hoping to see some celebrities. I heard Vail has lots of celebrities out there. Maybe just wasn't the time of year to see celebrities. I was really hoping to see Russell Wilson, who's making a move out there from the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL quarterback, the superstar who was traded to Denver, the Denver Broncos, which is what, like two hours away from Vail, right? What sport is that, Ray? Football at the NFL, professional football? No, football.
[00:09:55] Specialty Coffee: No, football is a round ball, right?
[00:09:57] Ray Latif: Anyway, the transition I'm trying to make here, if you would let me. This is a good one. Is that Russell Wilson was recently In The New on BevNET because he and social media superstar AJ Vaynerchuk have collaborated on a new beverage brand called Local Weather. which is promoted as an NFT-powered, nootropic-boosted hydration drink brand that is aimed at Gen Z consumers. A lot going on here. Jack is sort of Of The cusp of a Gen Z consumer. I wouldn't call you Gen Z, but like millennial Gen Z. So maybe you can talk about that. But the thing I really want to know about is this whole NFT-powered part of what they're doing. John, you have a little bit more insight into this than I do.
[00:10:42] Specialty Coffee: Yeah, I think they're just gonna crush up NFTs and mix it with water and make it a sports drink. No, I gotta say, the NFT component of that was definitely not very clear. I mean, if only they had an NFT expert that The New that could help them. Uh, well, I'm sure they've got some, you know, top secret roadmap or whatnot, but, uh, you know, interesting, uh, side note, I, I tweeted out a link to our story about that and Russell Wilson retweeted it, which he has like 6 million followers. And, uh, he got a pretty colorful response to, uh, an announcement saying he's doing an NFT powered sports drink. So some Of The are not. Really safe to repeat for this program here, but.
[00:11:34] Ray Latif: Well, to be fair, I think a lot Of The negative comments were coming from Seattle Seahawks fans who were very upset and are continuing to be very upset that Russell Wilson is leaving the team. He's like the most well known player, right? Probably maybe in Seattle sports history.
[00:11:51] Specialty Coffee: The timing of of that announcement probably wasn't doing him any favors, but. NFT powered aside, it certainly is a cool, interesting looking product. It's Is One Of The aluminum bottles. Curious to see what the actual liquid and package look like when they Of The production run of it. I imagine we're going to see more products launching with NFT metaverse component. It seems like every single day, there's some I saw literally an hour ago like Starbucks Howard Schultz was saying they're getting into NFTs. I think this is going to be a year of NFT overload In The food and beverage space, for better or worse. Howard Schultz probably thinks it means non-functioning tractors. I don't know. It could be a code for some new like Vente, something or other. It's a new size. A new size, yes.
[00:12:53] Ray Latif: Tall, Vente, Grande, or NFT? Yeah, there you go.
[00:12:56] Taste Radio: I'll take an NFT.
[00:12:58] Ray Latif: It's interesting that Howard Schultz announced that, because he just came back Of The company. I wonder if he was just like, we've got to get into NFTs, bro. That's what everyone's been talking about on Twitter.
[00:13:06] Specialty Coffee: It was a video that someone sort of sniped during a town hall he was doing, I think, as now the CEO, again, talking about things like labor unions and whatnot. And someone, I think, asked the question of, Are they looking at it? And he said they're planning on getting into it before the calendar year is up. So we'll have to see what happens.
[00:13:30] Ray Latif: I want to just mention one more thing about Local Weather, the nootropic part of what they do. I'm sure there have been brands out there that have had a nootropic function with the hydration beverage base that they're trying to offer. Mike, you're In The nootropic functional beverages and foods, right? I mean, is this something you drink?
[00:13:50] Specialty Coffee: I see them, right? I mean, they come in, I try them. I think so. I mean, I just, I'm not really sure. I see nootropics, I try them. I don't know if they're for me. Same with adaptogens. I mean, I see them, I try them. I don't really, I don't know. I need to do something longitudinally, because I try them and I don't feel an immediate impact. I mean, maybe I feel better, maybe I don't. But I think I'd like to try those things over time to see if they're for me.
[00:14:18] Taste Radio: I almost look at nootropics as like vitamins, like you take vitamins you don't really feel the effects right away but if you have a you know a vitamin beverage or something that says it has minerals in it. I mean, I guess it all works together and it might be a placebo effect, but I thought it was interesting that. It is, you know, really simple ingredients. So it's coconut water and pink Himalayan sea salt. So I think that alone is going to get people's interest because there are still a lot of sports drinks that have a lot of ingredients In The. Um, and a lot of sugar. So I think that was interesting. Um, I also, I'm curious about just The New, like Local Weather, like even typing it in my Local Weather came up. So I mean, I don't know like how that's going to resonate with their consumer, which they are targeting Gen Z. I guess they're trying to tap into, you know, The Greater side of Gen Z. They're trying to make them feel like this is made for them, but they kind of feel a little all over the place as far as It's for the creatives, but it's also a sports hydration beverage. So it's like, how do these things kind of align? I do think there's an opportunity with NFTs and, you know, creating a community amongst people that like sports because already they have a common interest. So I think it could work that way.
[00:15:35] Specialty Coffee: And when Ray was mentioning it, I thought he had a pain in his knee again and he was going to start predicting a storm or something. I keep saying Local Weather, Local Weather, just like Jackie said, it'Is One Of The things where they need to hone in on what that message is. And I think they might be a little ambitious in what they're trying to do, but I mean, I hope they succeed.
[00:15:55] Ray Latif: Well, we'll find out just how ambitious they are. We're hoping to land an interview with the team for a future episode of Taste Radio. So stay tuned for that. Nice. Yeah.
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[00:16:52] Ray Latif: Speaking of Taste Radio episodes, well, we're on one right now, but last September, we featured- So meta. Yeah, right? Last September, we featured an interview with Cole Pearsall, who Is One Of The co-founders of a brand called Acid League. Acid League recently announced a $6.2 million funding round. Recall that the company is a platform brand, or they market a platform brand of experimental condiments and beverages. that is aiming to redefine center store categories for modern consumers. Congrats Of The team at Acid League that funding round. And please listen to that episode with Cole Pearsall, a brilliant guy, really, who talks about how center store has been, or has this opportunity to be reinvented via products for modern consumers and via much healthier products than had been available in that condiment aisle. So really interesting stuff. Now we're only four months In The year, but I've really been amazed by all the innovation and new products that we've been seeing in 2022. It's just incredible from Expo West through to, you know, what we're seeing today even Come To like post Expo West, it's all been amazing. And I know we're going to be talking about a lot Of The New products and brands and seeing a lot Of The at BevNET Live and Nosh Live in June.
[00:18:09] Specialty Coffee: Jackie and I were talking yesterday about just New York City and the possibilities that happen within one day in New York and Come To WebNet Live, Come To Nosh Live, you'll In The answers Of The hardest questions. You'll find experts there that will help you produce your product at scale or take your product Of The New level. There's package designers, there's co-packers. We've got experts In The business who are going to help you get things done.
[00:18:35] Taste Radio: Yeah, and we've already released a handful of speakers. So at BevNET Live, we have David Clavsons, the Chief Executive Officer of Calypso. And then Nosh Live, we just announced that we have executives from Vital Farms, Innova Market Insights, and Everything Legendary. And we'll have a lot more coming out In The New couple of weeks as far as speakers, agenda announcements. And get your ticket now, because early registration ends on April 29th. So you can save 100 bucks if you register now.
[00:19:05] Ray Latif: And of course, networking opportunities. I always talk about these events as the concentration Of The industry leaders, the gatekeepers, the tastemakers that are helping to advance what we are doing in food and beverage as a whole. And it's a great place to meet investors, distributors, retailers, other founders, all of whom can help you scale your brand.
[00:19:28] Taste Radio: Yeah, I think one of my favorite attendee quotes is from Gwen from back in where she says there's been at least one connection that she's had from the event every time that's progressed her business forward. And I think that's just the essence Of The events is to connect the community, connect brands with industry supporters and help them move their business forward.
[00:19:48] Specialty Coffee: And if Jon Landis was here, he would tell you, this is an opportunity for you to be the attendee. And you don't have to stand in a booth and pitch your product again and again and again. This is a chance for you to find people who can help you grow your business, who can help you solve problems. So bring your three hardest questions. Ask everyone there. They're going to either know how to solve your problems, or they're going to know somebody who can.
[00:20:12] Ray Latif: Jackie, you mentioned one person who's attended events who always gets something out of it. Kim Allardyce, who In The co-owner and CEO of Shire City Herbals, which markets fire cider and other kinds of tinctures as well, is a big fan of our shows. She always talks about how she meets a lot of great people at these events as well. And I mentioned Kim because she recently sent us a jug. 128 shots Of The apple tonics. I'm holding my h the video. This is a half vinegar wellness shots. Th She also sent you like 20 I hope you're right, john glasses, the aforementioned I feel like doing one like here right Of The show. If I can, I don't know. Should I do one or no? Is this bad? Go for it. You should.
[00:21:07] Taste Radio: Yeah, I was thinking this could be the thing that Mike does consistently and sees as we notices the difference.
[00:21:13] Come To: Yeah, there it is.
[00:21:15] Ray Latif: Oh boy, OK, this is this could be a disaster here In The oh OK, good. I almost spilled it all over the place and turned our speakeasy into one big apple cider vinegar speakeasy. But here we go. Oh, I feel good. That feels so good.
[00:21:34] Specialty Coffee: That feels really good. I'm definitely coming down after the show, right? I'm definitely coming down for a shot.
[00:21:40] Ray Latif: Yeah, thank you Kim for sending that over. I really appreciate it from one end Of The spectrum Of The other in my hand now. I have a product that I put on Twitter or that I post on Twitter that was pretty divisive, and that's Cinnamon Toast Crunch's new Creamy Cinnamon Spread. I had to ask for a sample Of The product. You brought it? Yeah, of course I brought it. You better be sharing that. Yeah. I want that. I posted something on Instagram and Twitter about this. varied responses for sure. And I knew that was going to happen. Some people were like, you know, I will buy a truckload of this stuff. Other people were like, this is like, you know, killing humanity. I don't think it's either really, you know, but I think it's an interesting product. The base is brown sugar and canola oil. I'd also skim milk, palm oil, cinnamon, natural flavor salts. The ingredient list is actually pretty, pretty small. I think it's like eight ingredients. But I haven't tried this yet. I know I told people I was going to try it and then talk about it on Taste Radio, but I didn't want to like open up and stick my fingers in it before everyone else got to try. So yes, anyone here at the office will get to try this now. Not that I would be sticking my fingers in a jar of cinnamon. You got a weird way of eating peanut butter, right? You're just clawing at the peanut butter. Let's be clear. It's not peanut butter. It's CCC cinnamon spread. Creamy cinnamon spread. That's how Gene Simmons eats peanut butter. He just goes right for it. Oh God. That doesn't sound good. This weekend, I also tried St. Hildy's Botanical Spiked Tincture Tonics. These are really delicious. They're 5% alcohol. They're made with botanical tinctures, a spritz of real juice, and they have four varieties. The New I'm holding in my hand is their lemon turmeric variety, which was really delicious. It was a great... For me, I'm not a huge hard seltzer fan, but I assume that this In The closest thing to a very healthy hard seltzer. It's not really cocktail-ish. It's just like an easy drinking beverage. You wouldn't even know that there's 5% alcohol in it. They did a really good job with formulation. I think they should dial up the branding a little bit. I know you guys are looking at the video now. It's hard to even see that St. Hildy brand logo Of The front, but that would be my only recommendation. Again, the formulation is outstanding. If I'm looking at the ingredient panel, there's nothing in here that I would be like, oh, I wouldn't want this. It includes holy basil extract, curcumin powder, lemon juice extract, alcohol from cane sugar, and it's 110 calories per 12 ounce can. Good stuff.
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[00:25:00] Taste Radio: So I found this brand of shortbread butter cookies, Maccabee and Sons. And what drew Come To this product was really the packaging. It was interesting because when I first looked at it, it didn't look like cookies to me. You can't really tell that it's, you know, a little package of cookies. I think that would be my only like, thing that they could potentially work on. It's just a little, you know, a little call out, but really cool illustrations, a variety of interesting flavors. These ones are rose, pistachio and cardamom. So a variety of different flavors. Um, they're definitely look like they belong in like a tea house or a gift shop. And the way they're packaged, uh, Our Open it up and it's like a, a little tray that has six little cookies. Um, and they're actually really good. So they're handmade in L.A. They definitely have that feel of like a handmade craft product. So tried these last week.
[00:25:54] Ray Latif: They look like they should aim for some product placement on Ted Lasso. You know how Ted Lasso bakes those shortbread cookies for the owner of Richmond Sports Lab? Yeah.
[00:26:06] Taste Radio: And another product that I've been eating a lot, these tortillas. So Vista Hermosa tortillas. I think these are the best tortillas I've ever had. And that's saying a lot since I live in San Diego, I eat a lot of Mexican food, but these are delicious. They're non-GMO flour tortillas and just a really clean ingredients. So they use avocado oil, non-GMO wheat flour, non-GMO GMO cassava, kosher salt and water, and that's it. And they're delicious. You could literally eat them by themselves, which I do often. So highly recommend the Vista Hermosa flour tortillas. And I know they have a bunch Of The products, including corn tortillas, and there they are, chips.
[00:26:47] Specialty Coffee: Yeah, I've been enjoying the Vista Hermosa spicy red corn chips. Also, those tortillas are great, but I just took those home. I don't weirdly eat tortillas at my desk like Jackie.
[00:26:58] Taste Radio: Give them for breakfast.
[00:27:00] Ray Latif: You called out those tortillas, John, as part of our best new products at Expo West 2022. I've been dying to try them. Do we have any In The office or are they gone? I pulled a move. I'm going to call a Bev trade and just took them all home.
[00:27:14] Specialty Coffee: And now I'm going to talk about them and not share them.
[00:27:18] Ray Latif: I knew that was coming because you were like, I took them all home.
[00:27:22] Specialty Coffee: And Ray, if you would like, when we're done with this, you can come upstairs and you can have one Of The chips here. I put my hands all over them though, so.
[00:27:35] Ray Latif: I saw some Of The sample rooms, so I'll just crack open that bag and I'll dip it into some Of The CTC cinnamon. I'll join you and we'll do a shot. I'll go from there. I've said CTC cinnamon spread way too many times Of The show already, but.
[00:27:51] Specialty Coffee: Ray, I've got a shout out Of The Greater need who sent us gluten-free bagels and pretzels, which went so fast that we have no packaging to show. They sent cinnamon, they sent plain, everything. Those are awesome. You would not know they're gluten-free.
[00:28:09] Ray Latif: Yeah, I tried their pretzel bites at Expo West. They're really fantastic. And you pop those In The toaster oven for a minute, and they are just delightful. Super easy.
[00:28:18] Taste Radio: Yeah.
[00:28:18] Ray Latif: And definitely do not taste like a gluten-free. And I guess I feel like that's the key to anything that is gluten-free anymore, is that it doesn't taste like it's gluten-free. Right. Yeah, that's bad. Yeah, no, I mean, isn't that weird? I mean, like, I think gluten-free, you just used to accept the fact that it was going to have a different Taste Radio texture.
[00:28:35] Specialty Coffee: Gluten Is One Of The Tastiest Things In The world. That's just a fact. So if you want to be gluten free, you're like, oh no, but not anymore.
[00:28:46] Ray Latif: Can we put that on Twitter and just attribute it to Mike? Gluten Is One Of The Tastiest Things In The world. It's true. It is true. I haven't tried this yet, but this looks really tasty. Speaking of Tastiest Things, Twrl Milk Tea came In The office recently. They make these nitro-infused teas with milk. I have the original black in my hand. It's 45 calories per 7.5-ounce can. Is One is made with brewed black tea, non-GMO pea milk, which is water, non-GMO canola oil, pea protein, agave syrup, et cetera, et cetera. It looks really tasty. Have you guys tried this yet? Yeah, it's pretty good.
[00:29:25] Specialty Coffee: Oh, yeah.
[00:29:26] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:29:26] Specialty Coffee: Oh, yeah.
[00:29:27] Ray Latif: So if I open it up, can I drink it right out Of The can or do I need to pour it in? Yes. I'm going to give this a whirl. Right out Of The can.
[00:29:34] Specialty Coffee: Give it a twirl. Ray, that is phenomenal.
[00:29:37] Ray Latif: It's a really good product. Yeah, I'm not getting any Of The nitro, but it's a really tasty beverage for sure. Yeah, there's not enough Of The teas made with milk Of The market, and Is One is, I mean, the tea is really strong. You get a really tea-forward flavor on this, but it's really drinkable. I could crush this In The sips, I'm sure. Well done, Twrl Milk Tea.
[00:29:59] Specialty Coffee: Twirl sent that Of The office, and I brought my kids in over the weekend, and that was one Of The things that they looted, and they were like, oh, so good. Also In The cooler this week over here at BevNET headquarters, we got a nice shipment of Half Day Tea Tonics, which these are just really tasty, 35 calorie or so. Ready to drink tea products with prebiotic fiber. It's kind of a classic, you know, iced tea flavor. Like, I don't know, super enjoy this stuff. So thanks for sending it over Half Day. And if you like tea, that's Tea Tonics for you. It is super tea forward.
[00:30:38] Ray Latif: Yeah, I didn't know that Halfday Tonics was also a representative or that investor In The company is our friend Adam Louris, who is a strategic advisor and an investor in Halfday along with a number Of The brands as well. Yeah, he's got a lot of fingers into a lot of pies right now. And I'm glad because he's a very knowledgeable person about manufacturing operations, sales, branding. Shout out to Adam.
[00:31:03] Specialty Coffee: Yeah, but also, not for nothing, a super good formulator. He makes really thoughtful liquids.
[00:31:11] Ray Latif: Also Of The weekend, I tried a brand that I was unfamiliar with. It's a canned wine brand called Nomatica. This brand has really beautiful packaging. I think it's been out for a few years, but canned wine has come a long way. I think there was definitely a stigma about you know, the quality of a liquid Of The quality Of The liquid in canned wine. And this is a really delicious product. They have four varieties, a white, a sparkling white, a rosé and a sparkling rosé. The New I'm in my hand is their white. It's 100% Chardonnay. It's a 2018 California vintage, 12.5% alcohol. But, you know, the most striking thing about these products In The artwork, the label. looks like a piece of art you pick it up and you re itself is quite good as w to know a lot more about I don't know too too much Last but certainly not least, shout out Of The folks at High Key who are always doing incredible things. I'm a huge Twix fan, Twix addict almost at this point. Well, probably not in a while, but I used to be. And High Key came out with these Twix-like products called Caramel Bars, or they call Caramel Bars. These only have one gram of sugar per serving, nine grams of fiber, and two grams of net carbs. And it has six servings per container, per box, 120 calories per serving. I mean, this In The kind of thing, this is like holy grail kind of stuff. People are always looking for, you know, how can I have a better Twix bar? How can I have a better Reese's peanut butter cup? And we've already seen better Reese's peanut butter cups. I don't think we've seen Twix-like products like this yet. And I'm really, really excited for the future of this. Now, if they can only create a better for you Snickers bar. Can anyone do that? Has anyone done that? I mean, Gigantic has one that's snickering. Yeah, that's true. Gigantic does. Good call, Mike. It's tasty. Well, on that note, a gigantic thanks to everyone who is listening. We really, really appreciate it. And as always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to askatasteradio.com. Till then, I'm Ray Latif signing off for our amazing team at Taste Radio. We'll see you next time.
