From Bloody Marys in a Garage to 2,400 Stores: Brewt's Mixers on Building a Beverage Brand Without Outside Capital

Building Accord Stone Irish Whiskey From Scratch: Jason Neri on Slow Proofing, Transparency and Surviving the Beverage Alcohol Grind

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Jason Neri is the founder of Northern Courage and Accord Stone Irish Whiskey. He spent two decades moving through wine, beer and spirits before launching his own blended Irish whiskey, a brand built on transparency, slow proofing and a refusal to add caramel coloring. In this episode Jason breaks down why he built Accord Stone to pull bourbon and scotch drinkers into the Irish whiskey category, how he sourced liquid from the Cooley and Great Northern distilleries in County Louth, and what he learned from Nancy Fraley's slow proofing method that most distillers have never even tried. He also gets into the real economics of launching a spirits brand: distributor consolidation, the cost of self distribution, why DTC shipping math kills cheap bottles, and why founders have to be their own best salesperson long after the brand grows up. We also talk about the unglamorous side most people never see. Cold calling at a fake investment bank making three hundred calls a day. Pitching retailers while plumbing problems unfold in real time. Running a family of six kids while bootstrapping a spirits brand with no salary for three years. Jason lays out a clear framework for anyone thinking about getting into beverage alcohol: build organically, know your risk tolerance, find your home base market first, and never let the glamour fool you into thinking this business is anything but hard work. This conversation covers the Irish whiskey category's decline and rebirth, the difference between brands that scale on cash versus brands that scale on relationships, and why follow through is the single biggest differentiator between a sales rep and a true consultative partner. Topics covered:  00:00 Northern Courage and the Accord Stone origin story  01:12 Running a brand and a family of six at the same time  02:45 From college hospitality jobs to twenty years in beverage alcohol  09:15 How professionalism in beverage alcohol has changed over fifteen years  12:00 Advice for young people entering hospitality and beverage alcohol  15:34 Hand to hand sales and the real cost of opening a new market  19:16 Cold calling, boiler rooms and the reality of telesales  23:40 Why Wisconsin first growth strategies beat cash heavy expansion  30:38 Empathy, follow through and becoming a key account for a retailer  35:40 The stones of accord, the brand story and Irish whiskey transparency  44:47 Why transparency is the future every beverage category needs Northern Courage is a beverage alcohol consulting firm working across spirits, wine, beer, non-alc and functional categories. Accord Stone Irish Whiskey is a transparent, slow proofed blended Irish whiskey built for bourbon and scotch drinkers, sourced from the Cooley and Great Northern distilleries in County Louth, Ireland. Follow Jason on Linkedin Check out Accord Stone Irish Whiskey - AccordStone.com & Northern Courage - NorthernCourage.com Subscribe to The RTD Podcast for weekly conversations with the founders, operators and dealmakers building the beverage alcohol industry from the ground up. 10% off. No foggy head, just function. [https://www.drinkhappie.com/?sca_ref=9894507.nojXaTLY66N] Save 10% on Happie Beverages: functional, clean and built to make you feel good Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

From Bloody Marys in a Garage to 2,400 Stores: Brewt's Mixers on Building a Beverage Brand Without Outside Capital

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Emily Griffen, Co-Founder and CEO of Brewt's, and Courtney Clark, VP of Sales at Brewt's, join Nate Fochtman on the Ready To Drink Podcast for a conversation that covers what it actually takes to build a premium mixer brand from scratch inside one of the most overlooked and misunderstood sections in grocery retail. Emily started Brewt's in 2016 out of an apartment in Los Angeles, bottled her first hundred cases of Bloody Mary mix in her parents' garage in Grand Rapids, Michigan, sold out of a food and wine trade show in two days, and signed a distributor twenty days later. Ten years of bootstrapped growth later, Brewt's is in over 2,400 locations including 1,000-plus Walmart stores, 900-plus Kroger stores, eight DSDs nationwide, and Kehe on the West Coast. In June 2026, the brand launched its first RTD line built around the margarita SKU that changed everything for the company. Courtney came on as VP of Sales after a layoff from Spindrift Spiked following an acquisition, having previously worked at White Claw. Her background building systems at both a large-scale RTD brand and a startup-within-a-company gave her the tools to bring institutional infrastructure to a founder-led business that had scaled to a thousand Walmart doors on farmers market instincts and grit alone. In this episode: Why the mixer category is one of the most humbling and underestimated sections in grocery retail, and why Courtney believes it is prime for the same kind of disruption that transformed non-alcoholic beer.  How Emily ran 18 farmers markets simultaneously across Michigan, generating three-page consumer reports every Saturday, to build the data backbone that convinced major chains to take a shot on Brewt's.  What filling a surprise Walmart order with a team of ten taught Emily and her co-founder Luke about the ceiling of doing everything yourself.  Why demos and trial, not innovation for its own sake, remain the most undervalued capital deployment in early-stage CPG.  The real cost of chain retail that founders consistently underestimate, and how Courtney helped Emily and Luke transition from a founders-touch-every-account model to a data-driven, systems-first operation.  The parallel between the music industry grind and the beverage business, and why that same fighter and entertainment-world mentality that built Brewt's is the same one keeping it alive. This episode is unscripted, unsponsored, and unrehearsed. No prep calls. No shared talking points. Just an honest conversation about what building a real beverage brand looks like from the inside. Follow Emily & Courtney on Linkedin Check out Brewt's | BrewtsMix.com Subscribe for new Ready To Drink Podcast episodes on the brands, operators, and policy shaping the future of adult beverage. Follow Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com 10% off. No foggy head, just function. [https://www.drinkhappie.com/?sca_ref=9894507.nojXaTLY66N] Save 10% on Happie Beverages: functional, clean and built to make you feel good Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

The Real Hemp Story from DC | Dwayne Carson, Founder & Principal of Carson Consulting

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Dwayne Carson is the Founder & Principal at Carson Consulting and one of the few people working the hemp beverage issue from inside Washington every single day. He sits three blocks from the Capitol. He spent more than a decade on Capitol Hill, moved through healthcare, then spent years at the wholesale level of wine and spirits before turning his full attention to the federal fight over hemp beverages. This conversation gets into the part of the story most brands never see. Congress passed language to close what they called the loophole, then attached no money to enforce it. Dwayne explains why that single fact pushes compliant operators out of the market and hands the gray market more room to grow. We get into the perception gap on the Hill, the alcohol industry sitting on the sidelines of its own best opportunity, the three tier distribution question, and why a single mother at a town hall is the outcome every member of Congress is trying to avoid. Nate and Dwayne had never met before this recording. No script, no agenda, no questions on the page. Just two people who have spent their careers in beverage talking straight about where the category goes from here. Connect with Dwayne: carson-consult.com Subscribe for new Ready To Drink Podcast episodes on the brands, operators, and policy shaping the future of adult beverage. Follow Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com 10% off. No foggy head, just function. [https://www.drinkhappie.com/?sca_ref=9894507.nojXaTLY66N] Save 10% on Happie Beverages: functional, clean and built to make you feel good Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Hemp THC Beverages & Saving Asheville, North Carolina | Regulate Don't Ruin NC

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Three craft beer veterans explain why hemp derived THC beverages are the most important shift hospitality has seen since the craft beer boom, and why a federal ban could gut the industry by the end of the year. In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with Chris Frosaker, founder of Hi-Wire Brewing and owner of Joyful Noise Listening Lounge, and Andrew Ross, co-owner of The Whale Craft Beer Collective. All three came up in craft beer, and all three are now building around hemp THC beverages. The conversation covers why craft breweries are positioned to lead the hemp beverage category, how lab tested and accurately dosed drinks make THC beverages the most transparent option on the shelf, and why a pharmacist sees regulation as a harm reduction win. It also gets personal. Both Nate and Andrew share how hemp beverages helped them step away from alcohol, get healthier, and stay socially connected. This is part of the Regulate Don't Ruin NC series. North Carolina is deciding right now whether emerging hemp beverages get a real regulated framework or get pushed back to the gray market. The choice affects retailers, manufacturers, and consumers across the state. Educate yourself, then sign the petition at RegulateDontRuinNC.com This series is proudly sponsored by Tryon Distributing, Crescent 9, and Torch Drinks. Subscribe for new Ready To Drink Podcast episodes on the brands, operators, and policy shaping the future of adult beverage. Follow Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com 10% off. No foggy head, just function. [https://www.drinkhappie.com/?sca_ref=9894507.nojXaTLY66N] Save 10% on Happie Beverages: functional, clean and built to make you feel good Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Crescent 9 Built Something From Nothing, Now The Government Wants To Take It Away

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Nate Fochtman sits down with Joe Garrity, Co-Founder and CEO, and Joshua Katzenstein, Chief Revenue Officer of Crescent Canna and Crescent 9 THC Seltzer - one of the fastest-growing hemp beverage brands in the country, now sold in 20 states. What started as a scrappy CBD startup in New Orleans in 2019 became a brewery, a 40-person operation, and the number one brand in Nielsen data across multiple markets. Now, like every operator in this category, they are staring down a federal ban that nobody voted on, nobody debated in committee, and nobody can get a straight answer about. Joe and Josh pull no punches. They talk about what it felt like to build something from nothing, nearly lose it in Louisiana to a politically connected opposition, and win anyway - because constituents picked up the phone. They talk about what this ban is actually costing real people, why the grassroots pressure worked once before and has to work again, and why hemp beverages deserve a seat at the table that flour and gummies have made harder to pull up. This episode is part of the Regulate Don't Ruin NC campaign, sponsored by Tryon Distributing, Crescent 9 & Torch Drinks - a call to action for North Carolina residents, retailers, distributors, and consumers to make their voices heard before it is too late.  If you live in North Carolina, sign the petition and get involved at RegulateDontRuinNC.com. Topics covered: Crescent 9 origin story, building a hemp beverage brewery from scratch, pricing strategy against craft beer, the federal hemp ban, the Louisiana grassroots fight, Mitch McConnell and the Farm Bill, hemp beverage safety data, the child safety argument examined, why beverages must lead the legislative path forward, and what operators need consumers to do right now. Follow Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com 10% off. No foggy head, just function. [https://www.drinkhappie.com/?sca_ref=9894507.nojXaTLY66N] Save 10% on Happie Beverages: functional, clean and built to make you feel good Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com