Founder & Sergeant Major Mike Waskewich (Ret.) on Flavor Matching, the Adult Beverage Ecosystem and Building What the Industry Was Missing

Quick Sips: Cannabis Research Is Rigged - 75% of $1 Billion Studies Risk, Not Benefits

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Madicyn Marinaro, Executive Director and Principal Researcher at the Cannabis Council for Advertising Transparency (CCAT), breaks down one of the most overlooked structural problems in cannabis policy: the research funding gap. Nearly 75% of $1 billion in cannabis research funding goes toward studying harm, not benefit and when benefit research is attempted, federal law restricts it to isolated cannabinoids - not whole plant cannabis. The result is a biased information environment where patient stories, positive outcomes and counter-narratives cannot scale. This is not an accident. This is structural disinformation. Full episode with Madicyn Marinaro drops soon on Ready To Drink Podcast! Subscribe so you do not miss it. Ready To Drink Podcast is hosted by Nate Fochtman, founder of The FreeMind Group, a strategic advisory firm serving adult beverage brands since 2008. Follow Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Hemp, Recovery and the Fitness Channel Nobody Is Talking About | Jay Ashton, Last Rep

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Jay Ashton is the CEO and co-founder of Last Rep, an athletic recovery cocktail (ARC) built for the gym crowd, the run club, the jiu-jitsu mat and everywhere else people are moving their bodies and trying to do it right. Last Rep is not a get-high-in-a-can product. It is six calories, zero sugar, CBG, ashwagandha, L-theanine, electrolytes and a clean ingredient profile designed to let people recover the body, the mind and the social spirit all at once. Jay and I met at the AltBev Expo in Florida this year and I knew immediately this was a conversation the Ready To Drink Podcast needed to have. What we get into here goes way beyond the product. We talk about how Jay and his co-founder Steve Samson went from GPS technology and cybersecurity exits to building a THC beverage brand in under a year. We talk about why the fitness and wellness channel is the most underserved distribution lane in the alternative beverage space right now. We get into the real reason big beer opposes hemp regulation and why it has nothing to do with child safety. We talk about the dispensary model versus the liquor store model, who the actual consumer is and why the hemp beverage industry needs to stop bashing alcohol if it wants to win over the soccer mom with the Prosecco. I also go on record about what I told Congress in DC, what the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America just did and why the craft beer playbook is being run again right now on this industry word for word. Topics covered: functional drinks marketing, athletic recovery beverages, drink entrepreneurship, THC beverage brand building, functional drink brands, growth strategies for beverage startups, sales strategies in the fitness and wellness channel, mindful drinking, hemp industry regulation and the alternative beverage category. Check out LastRepARC.com Connect with Jay on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-ashton-/ Instagram - @LastRepARC  Facebook - Last Rep TikTok - @LastRepARC    Host: Nate Fochtman, Founder of The FreeMind Group  Follow Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Cannabis Beverage Certification, Sober Founders and the Hemp Beverage Revolution | Leigh Gall

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Leigh Gall is the co-founder of Cannabis Beverage Certification and host of The Enlightened Buzz on YouTube, the leading education channel for THC beverages. She came up at Boston Beer, spent years in national accounts and distributor training, got sober, and then helped build the first professional certification program for hemp infusion in the beverage industry. This is her story. In this episode, Leigh and Nate break down why education is the single biggest gap in the hemp beverage category right now, what happens when an untrained retail rep sends a consumer home with the wrong product, and why the cannabis beverage certification model mirrors what Cicerone and Sommelier programs did for craft beer and wine. They also get into the honest conversation most people in this industry avoid: what it means to be a sober founder in the adult beverage world, why both of them left alcohol behind after careers built inside it, and what that actually looks like on the sales floor, at conferences and in distributor meetings. Leigh shares the story behind distributor partners Tryon, Badger Wholesalers and Opici Wine Group certifying entire sales forces, why Climbing Kites built education into their onboarding from day one and what the "Dylan on Aisle 7" framework means for the long-term trajectory of the functional drinks market. They also cover the three-tier distribution argument for HB2309 in Pennsylvania, why the same system that governs beer can and should govern hemp beverages and what drink entrepreneurship looks like when you are building a category that did not exist three years ago. Topics covered: * Cannabis beverage certification and the Cicerone comparison * Hemp infusion education for distributors and retailers * Why alcohol sales are declining across beer, wine and spirits * GLP-1 drugs, the Bud Light effect and portfolio diversification * Sober founders in the adult beverage pairing space * Building a two-hour course that pays for itself in the first week * Tryon Distributing, Badger Wholesalers and Opici Wine Group as case studies * Visionary entrepreneurship and being comfortable being misunderstood * HB2309, the three-tier system and the regulation argument for hemp * Functional drinks trends and the consumer education gap Connect with Leigh LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/leighgall Cannabis Beverage Certification: cannabevcertification.com  The Enlightened Buzz on YouTube: youtube.com/@enlightenedbuzz  Host: Nate Fochtman | The FreeMind Group  Ready To Drink Podcast drops new episodes weekly. Subscribe, leave a review and share this with a distributor rep or retailer that needs to hear it. Pennsylvania breweries, distributors and retailers: get behind House Bill 2309. Learn more at iwantmythc.com Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Quick Sips: Don't Apologize for Your Passion

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Performance coach, Cannabis Beverage Certified co-founder,and Women in Hemp co-leader Leigh Gall joins Ready To Drink Podcast host Nate Fochtman to talk about what actually keeps founders moving in a market this hard to build in.  Passion. Intention. Conviction.  Leigh's work sits at the intersection of behavioral science, Traumatic Intelligence, and beverage industry leadership. This clip is the reason people share episodes.  Follow Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com [https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=http%3A%2F%2FReadyToDrinkPodcast%2Ecom&urlhash=lf9d&mt=CCzV53pLP90k0PeSEEDZgn87XpmMXpgGvbnpvBA25rcaJOOP8jGjyOArQZWXImOAZzLnIc9l7VRcuZOM5c927mwwijLMVNN7HLqaz00z8l83fGsaULhp-trI&isSdui=true] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Founder & Sergeant Major Mike Waskewich (Ret.) on Flavor Matching, the Adult Beverage Ecosystem and Building What the Industry Was Missing

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/fan_mail/new] Mike Waskewich spent 23 years in the Army, retired as a Sergeant Major and then built two things the adult beverage industry didn't know it needed: The Bar Book, a Spotify-style flavor matching app for spirits, beer, cocktails, NA and THC beverages and CRAFT, a nonprofit coalition connecting veteran-owned beverage brands with buyers, distributors and content creators across the country. In this episode of Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate and Mike cover the full adult beverage ecosystem, from why category beats brand every time at point of sale to how CRAFT is building a nationwide event infrastructure that lets small brands compete without corporate budgets.  They get into the Bar Book's flavor-match algorithm, the direct-to-consumer build-out, and why education drives 90% of sales in this industry. They also go deep on sobriety, on-premise culture, veteran identity in business and the difference between supporting veterans and actually being one. This one covers a lot of ground: mindful drinking, functional drinks trends, hemp industry advocacy, beverage entrepreneurship and the kind of human connection that no marketing deck can replicate. The Bar Book: TheBarBook.App (available in all app stores)  CRAFT: SupportCraft.org  Connect with Mike on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mike-waskewich [http://linkedin.com/in/mike-waskewich] Hosted by Nate Fochtman, founder of The FreeMind Group | FMGStrategy.com [http://fmgstrategy.com]  Follow Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2547712/support] Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com