Where Whiskey Meets Wall Street—and the Ready-to-Drink Revolution (S4 E8)

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Kerry: Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Whatever time it is you are catching the show. Today. Today on the show, we are doing something a little different. We're gonna talk to the a SM capital partners with, uh, Ryan and Hunter, who are gonna explain to us about their new venture capital business that has to do with whiskey.

Kerry: It's, it's all very interesting to me, and I'm very excited to learn more about it. And as you might, um, guess from the a SM, it's about American Single Malt Capital. So, with no further ado, Ryan and Hunter, welcome to the show.

Hunter: Thank you for having us.

Kerry: Thanks for being nice care. It's great to have you both.

Kerry: Okay, so before we get into um, a SM Capital Partners, let's talk a little bit about your particular whiskey backgrounds. 'cause it sounds like you both have a bit, uh, of knowledge in the area. So, hunter, let's start with you. Tell me [00:02:00] how, when you were wee little lad, did you ever see yourself, uh, working in the whiskey industry?

Hunter: Thank you so much for having us on the podcast and, uh, yeah, I was, uh, kind of fortunate to grow up in the whiskey industry. I never thought I'd be on the investment side, um, like I am now, but, uh, so I, I actually grew up in New England and my dad Rob Robard. Started moonshining as a hobby in our backyard.

Hunter: So growing up and, uh, being in high school, I was always the cool kid. Everyone wanted to come to Hunter's house for, for parties and what have you. But, uh, yeah, so my dad started Moonshining for fun, really just as a hobby. And eventually I think my mom actually got a bit upset with him. Um, 'cause we had neighbors and, and friends and family coming to our house requesting their moonshine, so, oh wow.

Hunter: Um, I think there was a little bit of an ultimatum given there at some point, and my dad decided to go legit. He actually created his own brand of whiskey called Cabin Fever, and it was actually a maple whiskey.[00:03:00]

Hunter: All these other crazy flavored whiskeys were popular. Um, and, uh, we were from New England, so Maple was really big and my dad sourced organic, locally grown maple from small maple farmers, and he infused it with, um, really high-end fry whiskey and uh, made a premium flavored whiskey. Called Cabin Fever, started selling it in the stores in New Hampshire, and it just started to take off.

Hunter: You had a lot of, um, younger consumers and female consumers who weren't traditionally drinking whiskey. Um, started off on, on, uh, these flavored whiskeys and now you've seen what the category has become. So I grew up being exposed to that, watching my dad, watching my mom build that business. I ended up joining the family business.

Hunter: And working for them did a lot in, um, sales and distribution, so working with distributors and, and, uh, going to the different retail stores and educating them on our product, doing whiskey tastings and just really started to develop a love for, for whiskey. [00:04:00] Um, and our brand grew from just the state of New Hampshire to 16 states.

Hunter: So over the course of years.

Hunter: In a short period of time. And so that growth was, was really exciting. Um, and eventually we sold the business and the brand to Diageo. So Diageo bought our company, um, and I went from being small family run business to, we, uh, ended up working with Diageo. We had a three year contract with them, a lockup we couldn't do.

Hunter: So it was cool to see, uh, you know, the bootstrap small business version to Diageo. Totally different experience. Uh, but yeah, that's how I kind of got into the, to the industry and that's how I, uh, started my, my career. And, um, after that experience with Diageo, I. Um, really got into another side of the industry I didn't see myself getting into, which is the investment side.

Hunter: So having been on the other side, owning a [00:05:00] brand, running a brand, realize that's a really tough business. And it's, uh, industry that's typically under capitalized, right? It's one of the few businesses I can think of where you need to spend all this money buying, you know, ingredients and sourcing, uh, you know, barley and, and barrels and spending all this money.

Hunter: And then not being able to recoup that investment for years and years and years. Right? Yep. And that's when the light bulb moment kind of struck that, you know, there's gotta be a better way. There's gotta be an, an opportunity there. And so I started by, um, raising capital from, from friends and families.

Hunter: Investing that, that capital into barrels of whiskey, aging it, and then selling it to contacts that myself and my dad had in the industry. Um, and eventually joined a firm, uh, another firm to do that. That's where I met Ryan and after some experience there, we decided to launch our own a fund. Uh, it's targeted to American single malt as, as you mentioned in [00:06:00] the intro.

Kerry: Okay, Ryan, so tell me, um, how did you get in all of this when you were a wee little ad? Did you think that you would be working in whiskey or in capital or all of the above?

Uh, no, but, um, really fortunate to combine both the American single malt, the whiskey and the capital piece of our, our company name here.

Um, my story starts out much differently than Hunters. Um, he's the one that got me into the whiskey space, okay. But unlike our other partners, uh, at a SM capital. I'm a numbers guy, right? So when we're talking to your audience today, they're gonna want to hear probably from Hunter on the whiskey side of things.

Um, not myself, but, um, very exciting. I was in real estate asset management, um, private equity, hedge funds, everything in between. I. Based up in the northeast of New York and very fortunately, like I said, found myself in whiskey investing [00:07:00] about four or five years ago with Hunter. Um, left a very large institution looking at, uh, after very large portfolios, I.

And had the opportunity to scale up whiskey investing and spirits investing for some of my old clients, um, which were very large institutions, insurance companies, endowments, and offer them the opportunity to invest in something like whiskey that. Is not necessarily correlated to the other markets. So it moves very differently than mm-hmm.

Public equities and real estate. Um, not as cyclical. And I mean, I was always a whiskey drinker, always a wine drinker. Um, wall Street, it was mostly ALA and other scotch whiskey. And now, um, very excited to see where American Single Malt has gone. Um, all the different flavor profiles and distinctions and.

Somebody that likes PD and Smokey and in your face to see [00:08:00] that there's American single malt expressions. But yeah, fast forward to now, we saw from a global whiskey perspective four or five years ago, um, bourbon, scotch Irish, we saw the emergence of American single malt. We saw and identified the supply and demand gap and said, we need a product that a, we could bring to the investment side of the market.

And B, take that capital that we get from that market to elevate American single malt as a whole. And if you fast forward to now, that's exactly what we're doing and exactly where we are, Kerry, I.

Kerry: That's great. All right, so let's talk a little bit about the company. So, um, uh, hunter, you said it kind of started with you guys, you and your dad, and, um, you did, did you, how did you meet Ryan?

Kerry: How did, how did that happen?

Hunter: Yeah. Also, don't let Ryan fool you. He's not all, uh, numbers and, and boring spreadsheets. He's, uh, he's actually got a [00:09:00] fantastic palette. He was, uh, when he was in finance in Wall Street, you know, wine was a big thing. So he actually has a, he's actually a som so he has his w sets through, through level three.

Hunter: Um, so it took him a little adjustment from going from wine to whiskey, but he's got a fantastic palate. Um, but yeah, so my dad and I started, uh, again, just, you know, investing our own money, investing friends and family capital into barrels of whiskey. Um, aging it, you know, there's a lot of value in the barrel, right?

Hunter: That liquid. And we know that whiskey gets better with time and therefore the value of that liquid goes up with time, right? Uh, so we joined, I joined a company to.

Hunter: And they were looking to expand into whiskey. So I helped them set that program up and that's when I added Ryan. Um, we were looking at doing something a little bit, uh, different, a little bit more institutional and, uh, I don't know. I know the whiskey space, but I don't know the investment space. And so I was just, [00:10:00] uh, really scouring LinkedIn looking for people that, uh.

Hunter: You had a, had an interest in either wine and spirits and an investment background, and I found Ryan, um, I saw that he, he had his som and his W sets and, uh, that he was working in Wall Street, so kind of basically convinced him to jump ship and, and join the, join the team. That was about four years ago, so, yeah.

Hunter: Okay.

Long story there, Carrie is, he didn't stop calling my phone for about two months until I finally said, okay, let me hear what you're about. Wow. It was just an opportunity I couldn't turn down.

Kerry: That's awesome. Uh, and do, is it slightly more fun, I would hope than Wall Street? Maybe a little bit.

Well, I get to talk about whiskey every day, so Absolutely.

Kerry: That's my favorite part of the job. Well, that and drinking it, you know?

Hunter: Yeah, that's, that's the most fun part.

Kerry: Okay. So when you guys, uh, when exactly did a SM open? It was last year, but was it like beginning of the year, LA end of the year?

Hunter: Summer, summer of last [00:11:00] year is when we formed the, we've been working on it for a few years now.

Hunter: Um, basically what started all this was 2022. So in 2022, the TTP announced that they were gonna look at creating American single malt designation. Right? They didn't officially do anything. We're gonna, these are potential regulations. That got us excited 'cause we're just fans of American single malt as, as drinkers and I know people in the space.

Hunter: And that's when we kind of thought, wow, if this actually goes through, there's probably gonna be a little bit of a, a buzz around American single malt. Um, which I think is a good thing. Yeah, both domestically and internationally. So we started planning for it and, and started talking to people in the industry.

Hunter: And then last summer we decided to go, go ahead and we launched it officially. We raised capital in the fall. Um, we started deploying that capital last year, early this year. Um, working with different distilleries and brands in the American single malt space. And then. January of this year, [00:12:00] it officially got ratified and, and, uh, put into law the American single malt category, which is really super exciting.

Hunter: So the timing couldn't have worked out better that we started this last year. Um, and now, uh, on the back of that, we are raising another round of capital from investors, and we're looking to deploy it here, uh, this upcoming summer with, uh, with some great single.

Kerry: That's great. So who are some of the, uh, distilleries that you guys have been helping out?

Hunter: Yeah, so we're really working with everyone. We're talking to anyone that does, uh, anything with American Single Malt. Um, we're a member of the American Single Malt Commission, so we're, uh, one of their sponsors for the American Single Malt Commission. So we get a lot of leads and, and, uh, information through them and, um, just doing our own research.

Hunter: So getting out in the field, what's. Kind of like we see in single malt scotch, you're starting to see regionalities popping up in American single malt. So you've got the Pacific Northwest, you've got the Rockies, you've got Texas, you've [00:13:00] got Kentucky. And so that's been interesting to see. So just being boots on the ground.

Hunter: Um, and we work with both distilleries and NDPs or non distillery producers, brands that.

Hunter: Um, we work with a contract distillery called Middle West out of Ohio. They have, they have their own brands, um, fantastic distillery, fantastic operators. Um, they make, they've been making single malt for over a decade, so they have a lot of experience in the space. Um, we're working with another brand called Ws Whiskey, which doesn't have a distillery, um, currently fantastic brand.

Hunter: And, um, growing, you know, uh, at a really fast rate. So again, we work with, with partners across the spectrum, both on the distillation side and the brand side.

Kerry: Very cool. So what, what is your, um, Ryan, what's your day to day with? I mean, are you just sitting around doing contracts? Are you calling, I mean, who's, who's getting, who's, who's responsible for getting, calling the people to say, Hey, give us your money, and [00:14:00] who's responsible for to say, Hey, distillery, we've got money.

Kerry: Who does what? That's a

Ryan: great question, Carrie. And we definitely have a distinction across the strengths of our, our partners. Um, I focus a lot on the investment side, so working with investors, bringing that capital in, legal structure, et cetera, et cetera. Again, everything that I would say is the boring but important stuff on the investment side.

Ryan: And then Hunter and the team are really focused on. Finding that top quality distillate. Working with the distilleries, we will all go out there and make sure that, you know, do our due diligence. Tasting is a part of that, but course do our due diligence. Um, make sure that it's top quality distillate, that the, the product is there, the backing is there, that it's going to work within the timeline of our investment vehicle.

Ryan: And then we have other team members that work on the exit side. So it's, you know, fairly easy to find [00:15:00] the acquisitions and the distillers, if you will speak whiskey language, find the distillers that can make the product, but to find the folks, the brands, the export opportunities, the contracts, the market.

Ryan: For American Single MO and do it the right way. That takes a little bit more legwork. So we have a lot of focus on, and I'll let Hunter jump in on this, but a lot of focus on where the end product is gonna go and how it's gonna move out to the market before we even think about acquiring it. Wow.

Kerry: Yeah.

Kerry: Okay,

Hunter: so, so, uh, just a couple things there. 'cause there are really two, there is a great question, Carrie, and it's almost two different subjects, right? The investor side and then, you know, the brand side, right? Because we're kind of the in-between, between, uh, the money, the capital, so the investors on one side and then deploying the capital, giving the money to the brands and the distilleries who are gonna use that to grow their business, right?

Hunter: So if we look side, you know what Ryan and the team does there is pitching these investors. [00:16:00] You know, a lot of them didn't even know whiskey as an asset class was a thing, right. That you could invest in, in whiskey. Um, I think you think of like the big companies that you can invest in on the stock market, right?

Hunter: Or like, you know, you can invest in a, in a startup brand and, and get equity in that brand, but actually investing in the barrels of whiskey and there's a little bit of education process there, right? So kind of explaining to them, you know, how works and how.

Hunter: Right. You'd be surprised how many people just assume that, you know, whiskey off the still is already ready to go. No, it's a clear spirit. A lot of the flavor, a lot of the magic happens in the barrel. And then, um, explaining them, educating them on the whiskey process, these investors, but also using terms that they would understand.

Hunter: So, you know, explaining to them that we're essentially financing inventory, right? Like you might do in other industries. The difference is. In this industry, the inventory gets better with time, right? The longer that inventory sits, the [00:17:00] better the quality, the better it tastes, the more value it has. So you're gonna get a better as the investor.

Hunter: Um, and you know, just explaining those differences there so they can understand it them. And a lot times it's getting those investors on site. So they're used to doing deals like in the oil and gas industry or with bonds or real estate. So the best thing and, and why it's kind of easy for us to raise capital is this is a much more fun investment for them to look at.

Hunter: We can get them on site. They can, they can, you know, do the education process. We give them a tour, we get, we get them to sample the whiskey. Um, and it's a lot more fun than some of these other investments that, that they're looking at. So that's one of. With being a whiskey investment versus some, you know, boring real estate thing or something.

Hunter: So that makes Brian's job a lot, a lot easier. Um, and then if you look at like the deployment side that comes in with Rob Robar, my dad, his industry experience, um, Seth, who we talked about offline earlier, Seth, uh, [00:18:00] we hired recently. He's got a lot in bourbon. Um.

Hunter: So they have a lot of industry experiences, industry contacts that they can leverage. And it helps that they have, um, that, that kind of experience having built a brand, right? Having gone through what these clients have done, so when we were looking to deploy capital with a distillery who's trying to lay down more barrels of American single malt, right?

Hunter: We're not just a bank, we're not just a capital provider. We can give them advice on how they can grow their brand, what they can do for distribution. Should they look at the export markets, um, you know, how you should incentivize distributors. And so we can kind of use some of our past experiences to, to add value that isn't just simply writing a check.

Hunter: Right. And that's how we're able to get really good deal flow. And, and that's why we're talking to pretty much anyone in the space right now who's, who's doing American single or producing American [00:19:00] single malt.

Kerry: That's really cool. So how did you guys, uh, meet Seth? Seth Ben Heim. Yeah. Uh, by the way, from Broken Barrel, um, who we were saying offline, uh, he, as most of you know, uh, we started the podcast because of the pilot I was doing, and he is actually in the pilot along with, uh, broken Barrel.

Kerry: Um, so yeah. How did you guys meet?

Hunter: Had I known Matt? I would've definitely added Seth too to this. Um, he's, he's gonna be very jealous now for sure. Um, but we just kind, kind of with Seth conferences.

Hunter: We had looked at doing a couple different projects together. I think we've sold some barrels with him that wasn't single malt in the past. Um, for some of our direct investments and, you know, when we launched American Single Malt, we're just trying to of someone to add to the team that's really personable, that really cares about the category.

Hunter: And, um, can work hand in hand with these brands and, you know, just Seth seemed like the perfect fit and talked to him about it. He was super excited. He's a big fan of American Single Malt as [00:20:00] well, and the timing just kind of worked out. So he's been with us for, um, all of this year. He started LA end of last year, and he's really working with Rob to make sure that we have, uh, the deal flow we need for the fund and that we're adding value to these different brands and, and distilleries in the category.

Kerry: All right. So, um, here's kind of a general question. How many investors have you guys had as individuals and or companies? And then how many different, uh, brands have you deployed money to?

Hunter: Sure. Well, I'll let you answer the investor question, Ryan, then I'll, I'll switch over to the whiskey side.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we have about, um, I'd say a dozen to two dozen investors so far into the fund. And when you think about a fund structure, not to again bore you to death, but you're, you're looking for the tickets that can get you to taking on the inventory that you need. So it's, uh. A lot of education like Hunter mentioned.

Um, and we're still [00:21:00] ramping up, but we have capital that we brought in from this pool of investors. You know, it's a, it's an education journey. We have another close coming up about, you know, um, 15 or so institutions and individuals that we're talking to for that close in end of May, beginning of June. Um, and that gives us the, the dry powder really to go out and execute on the contracts that Hunter and team have been working on, on the whiskey side.

Hunter: Yeah. Yeah. So we've deployed, we've done five different transactions so far on the brand and distillery side, so with different brands and distilleries. Um, and we've been spending, that was last year, so that was the capital we raised last year and deployed. And we've been spending pretty much all of the, uh, this year of 2025, um, doing due diligence for additional deals for.

Hunter: We've actually spoken to, um, over 30 different brands and distilleries this year. Went on site, seen their facilities. All the different [00:22:00] tastings, um, but really narrowed it down to 14 different, uh, brands and distilleries that we're going to deploy capital into on this next close here. And, you know, there's a, there's kind of a rigorous process for us because at the end of the day, we represent the investors, right?

Hunter: Our, our job is twofold. It's to grow the American single malt category. That's our mission, right? That's. We're, we're big advocates for the category. We like drinking American single malt. We wanna see it on the global stage alongside scotch, single malt, Irish, single malt, Japanese single malt. You even see, you know, Australian single malt, French single malt becoming popular.

Hunter: Why can't American single malt be in those conversations? Right. That's kind of our, our mission of the fund. Um. The other part is we have to look out for the investors. Our job is to deliver them a return, right? They're, they're the checks. They expect a return. And so it's really important due diligence upfront.

Hunter: Um, we're looking at brands and distill that are growing, right? That, that have good. [00:23:00] Backbone. The most important thing is good quality liquid, right? We're not gonna invest in liquid that we don't think passes the, the test on quality. That means both from like a lab test perspective, tasting panels, um, we really wanna make sure it's, it's liquid that, you know, people will love.

Hunter: Um, because that, at the end of the day holds the most value. Um, and then looking at, at the brand itself, right? What kind of legs does the brand has? Does it have any growth? Does it have any areas of opportunity that we can help them with and add value to? Um, those are all different things we look at before we decide, okay, we wanna work with you and, and write a chat.

Kerry: Okay. So, um, this sounds very intriguing. I'm, I'm actually, I. Yeah, I, I'm very interested to follow you guys some more and, and see how this all works out for both your investors and for the brands. Um, so if you were a brand and wanted some help and they have never heard of you before, um, who would they reach out to to see if you guys would be a good fit?

Hunter: [00:24:00] Yeah, so you can just shoot me an email directly or go to our website. So our website is ASM Capital. Um, and then on the website you will see a little bit about us, the services that we provide, both for investors and brand and, and distillery, um, members. And there's a contact page as well. So you're able to fill that out, put in your information, we'll get back to right away.

Hunter: Um, we also have, uh, connections.

Hunter: And my, my email is Hunter at ASM Capital.

Kerry: Great. And then if they were investor, would that be the same path and just click on the different area on the website

E? Exactly.

Kerry: Absolute. Okay. Absolutely. And would they email you about that, Ryan?

Yeah, I'll throw my email out there for the investor folks, it's just Ryan at ASM Capital, but same thing, ASM Capital is our website.

Um, you'll see the about us and you can see a contact form there as well.

Kerry: Cool.

Hunter: You're a big, you know, whiskey fan. Are you more bourbon [00:25:00] or rye or single malt? No, I'm more single malt.

Kerry: You're more single mal. I'm more single malt and Irish, uh, and then rye. I mean, I like everything, but, um, my, my go-tos are usually a single malt or an Irish.

Kerry: Yeah. Nice.

Hunter: What kind of single malts do you like?

Kerry: Uh, mostly, well, if we're talking scotch, it's mostly things in the space side region. I really like the, the flavor profiles that come outta that area. Um, but for American single malts, uh, there's a few. I like str of hands has been pretty good. Um, there's a few others that have, that I get to taste recently that I had never heard of before and I'm like, oh, that's good.

Kerry: And, um. So you know there as the more come out then the, the more I'm, I'm just excited to taste, so,

Hunter: yeah. That's awesome. Well, we'll have to get you a bottle, but, uh, I love hands. I'm big fan. It. And one of the cool things about single malt, American single malt category. Is, so it's a new category, right? It's got all these, these new definitions and rules, which makes it American single malt.

Hunter: But one key difference between [00:26:00] American single malt and bourbon is the barrels. So with bourbon, you legally have to age it in a virgin oak barrel, right? New charred oak barrel. With American single malt, you don't. You can use any barrel you want. So that's what I think is really exciting. So many different flavors are coming.

Hunter: Like I've just tried the other day with Ryan, uh, an ex uh, uh, a single ball age exclusively in Sherry Cask right from start to finish. Oh, nice. I've seen rum cast finishes, X Napa Valley wine cast. So you're starting to see a lot of experimentation in like the casking process, which is really well, what I like about it too is you don't

Kerry: have to cut down so many trees.

Hunter: Yeah, when

Kerry: they made that rule for bourbon, I thought. Well, what? They're gonna run outta trees eventually. Like what? What do, so I know, but yeah, no, I, I love that, that, that we can now do something where before people were reusing them, but then they couldn't even call it whiskey or they, you [00:27:00] know, and then nobody wanted to buy it because it wasn't called whiskey and these things.

Kerry: But, so I'm, I'm really happy about that is of the things I happy about. There's

definitely a sustainability component here too, Carrie, but. Um, more so than that. Uh, the one thing, the one cask finish Hunter didn't mention that I love is we're seeing a lot of smoke and toast experimentation. Mm-hmm. So, barrels that are being pea smoked barrels that are just being smoked or hickory smoked in oak, it's, it's incredible and it's a blank landscape.

So if you're a whiskey consumer and you say, I only drink this, or I only drink that, or I'm only allegiant to this brand, what we've seen. Even since 2022, but even since, uh, you know, the end of last year, what we're seeing in terms of brand growth and story and types of American single malt hitting the shelves.

When I think even on the investment side, that's what's the most exciting, is there's all of this innovation coming mm-hmm. Into category right now [00:28:00] that is driving, yes, investment return potential on the upside, but as a consumer. I have so many more options in front of me. Yeah. And they're from a hundred miles away, not a thousand miles away.

Kerry: Right, right. Which, and you know, honestly, this is a good time, uh, for the American single malt to be coming out, since we're gonna be facing these tariffs with the UK again and, and the u and uh, yeah. So that's a

Hunter: big, that's a big question mark. And, you know. American single malts so new. It's such a small category, 99% of American single malts sold in the US today.

Hunter: So very little gets exported. So any amount of exports is like a positive for us in the industry right now in American single malt category. Um, but the other thing is like, okay, if that worst case scenario, this big question mark about tariffs. At least, you know, there's a possibility that consumers might be more inclined to try a domestic single malt.

Hunter: In fact, we're actually having conversations with scotch producers that wanna launch a brand [00:29:00] extension of American single malt, or an American single malt blend, um, to try and mitigate some of the, the, so there's, there's, that's a great idea of, uh, opportunities there for sure. Yeah. And, um, it's been, uh, it's been fun just, you know, working with different folks.

Hunter: We've also been working with a lot of bourbon producers that are looking to get into American single malt, and the bourbon industry's had a lot of headwinds last year and, and into this, into this year, um, from some just kind of sales number perspective and stuff. And it's really exciting to see. Growing.

Hunter: It's not growing. It's actually, according to the I wsr, which is kind of like the, the standard for the, you know, uh, stats in the drinks world, uh, American single Malt is, is positively growing. It's actually the fastest growing category of whiskey globally. Yeah. Um, so there's a lot of demand and, and there's a need for the capital, which is why we're, we're here.

Kerry: That's great you guys. I'm so excited that you guys reached out to let me know about your company. Um, I think it's gonna be really good for the, [00:30:00] uh, American single malt industry and, um, I think it's gonna be helpful for all those consumers that are, you know, saying, well, I can't spend $150 on a. $45 bottle of scotch anymore because that's ridiculous.

Kerry: So, um, I think it's gonna help out in, in both ways. So, uh, good timing on you guys and, uh, thank you so much for being on the show today. Is there anything, uh, you wanna shout out to the audience and let them know before we go today?

Hunter: No, just try some American single malt, get out there and support, uh, your homegrown single malts.

Kerry: Okay. And do you guys have any, uh, socials that you wanna give out there, or is just your website?

Hunter: Yeah, our website has, uh, everything you need as well as our LinkedIn.

Kerry: Fantastic. All right guys, well thank you so much for joining me today and um, I look forward to catching up with you again in a few months or maybe next season, to talk about, uh, how all of this is working out.

Hunter: Thank you so much for having us, Carrie. Appreciate it. Thanks, Carrie.

Kerry: Don't touch that device. We'll be right back with Tavern Talk.[00:31:00]

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Kerry: Hello. So we are here at the WSWA and I am with

Neal: Neil Cohen from Tiptop Proper Cocktails.

Kerry: Alright, so Neil, um, I know you have a bunch of RTDs, uh, out in the market, but right now we are gonna concentrate on the four that have to do with whiskey. Mm-hmm.

Announcer: Um,

Kerry: so tell me a little bit about your company. How did it come to be?

Kerry: And, um, so you have, how many skews do you have altogether?

Neal: We've done. 16 in total. Yeah, six of them. All six. We added six last year in 2024 alone. So, yeah.

Kerry: And then are these the only four whiskey based ones you have or do you have

Neal: those? We've had a Manhattan, yep. Okay. So, um, that one's, uh, that one may take a little break, but, um, but yeah, these are the primary offerings.

Kerry: Okay. And so, um, you, you guys. Started the company, when did you say?

Neal: Uh, we launched in September, 2019 after about two years of [00:33:00] development prior.

Kerry: Okay. Did you help develop the company or how did that, how did, how did, yeah.

Neal: Yeah. I'm a, I'm a co-founder, uh, along with my, uh, co-founder, Yoni Reman, um, long time friend since elementary school and, uh, basically coming out of the music festival industry.

Neal: We want to be able to service. A high quality cocktail in an efficient manner. Okay. Um, we are primarily an off-premise product. Great. But, um, the initial spark was in the on-prem.

Kerry: Okay. Um, and do you see yourselves, uh, trying to get into things like hotels or airlines or cruise ships or anything like that?

Neal: Yeah, we've had a, a, a great partnership with Delta Airlines. Um, we were on board for three years. Oh, wow. Um, and, uh, hotels have been great. We're, uh, you know, of course in the mini bars when they have 'em, but as well as, uh, the grab and go, um, like, kind of like marketplace convenience Gotcha. In the lobbies, um, and satellite bars as well.

Neal: Okay. Like a pool bar that may not have a [00:34:00] fully stocked situation. So.

Kerry: Alright, so tell me about the first flavors or cocktails that you came out. How many did you launch with and Yeah. Are they all all still in existence?

Neal: Yeah. So we launched, uh, the initial three were the classic bitter stirred cocktails.

Neal: Okay. Uh, we launched with old fashioned Manhattan and Negroni. Um, part of that was even our hesitation about putting juice in the can. Okay. Um, and really wanting to stick with stirred 'cause we knew that that would be, uh, would hold up. Right. Um, shelf. Stable. And what we learned quickly is that because of the high proof nature of what we're doing, um, that actually acts as a preservative for juice as well.

Neal: And so we're seeing, you know, up to 18 months with juice based cocktails. Oh wow. Um, and well beyond that with our stirred cocktails as far as shelf life.

Kerry: That's fantastic. Alright, so let's, let's try, uh, you know what? You can't go wrong with an old fashion. Let's try the old fashioned. Yeah.

Neal: Tried and true.

Neal: So, I mean, classic bourbon, [00:35:00] whiskey, sugar, and Angus Dora Bitters. Alright, pour myself a little bit. And this one's been,

Kerry: that's really aromatic. Uh,

Neal: yeah. When, when we first launched 'em, we had those three, this was the best seller. And now that we have 16, this one's. Still in the top three alongside Margarita and Espresso martini.

Kerry: That's a very good old fashioned

Neal: thank you. We, um, say it on the can always balance, never too sweet. And, you know, a big reason why we even launched with old Fashioned Manhattan and Negroni was to ensure that those who were skeptical of the canned cocktail space, um, were assured that now there was a brand that spoke to them and their, their palate.

Kerry: It's got a very good, um, spice on the end. Mm-hmm. Which is sometimes hard to achieve by bartenders, which I really like.

Neal: Yeah. It's not shy on the ango.

Kerry: No, it's very good. And then are you allowed to say what, what kind of whiskey is in here? [00:36:00]

Neal: Sure. We're using, um, the, uh, high rye bourbon from, um, from MGP.

Kerry: I was gonna say, it kind of tastes like a high rye bourbon from MGP.

Neal: There you go. You know your whiskey and that's what we're using. Um, we, that's what we've been using in all of these. Yeah. Well,

Kerry: so I see this one, the penicillin, you have scotch is where do you get the scotch for that same from

Neal: uh, we have a different supplier for the scotch. Yeah.

Kerry: Oh, okay. So, um, and out of these four, which is your favorite?

Neal: Uh, right now the penicillin is just hitting just perfectly. Um, and, uh, wine enthusiast gave it a 96. Score, which I think is the highest RTD ranking they've given. I think they've given some others 96, but uh, it's never been more than that. So, but the whiskey sour has surprised me. Really? Um, I was kind of like a whiskey sour, sort of an unremarkable drink, you know, it's very simple.

Neal: Whiskey, lemon, sugar. Yeah. But, um, and I guess, you know, a lot of our cocktails are simple, but I think it's just, it's one of those cocktails that, because there's so many [00:37:00] cocktails out there, I think it's kind of gotten swept under the rug a little bit. It's like a little overlooked. Yeah. Um, and I've found myself.

Neal: Since we put it out, really gravitating towards it, it's really well balanced and refreshing and uh, we put it out in October. So it's been really delicious through the fall and winter. And one fun thing to do with that is, of course, all our cocktails are great over ice, but there's a few that you can totty.

Neal: Oh, nice. So the whiskey sour, the penicillin and the bee's knees, gin, lemon and honey, if you add a few ounces of boiling water to it, um, you've got a an in. Hot Todd. Um, you can even put a little cinnamon stick in there if you wanna get fancy.

Kerry: I may have to do that. I always make myself hot toddies when I'm ill.

Kerry: So, um, yeah, I mean, I do also in the winter, not just when I'm ill, but I, I don't, I always find that a hot totty when I'm ill really makes me feel better.

Neal: Yeah.

Kerry: Um, and I just love that.

Neal: Well, the penicillin, it's called a penicillin for a reason. Right. Um, but scotch, whiskey, lemon, ginger, honey, I mean, [00:38:00] that's, yeah.

Kerry: Okay, Neil.

Neal: Perfect.

Kerry: It has been fantastic getting to know you, getting to know your products. You. Thank you for having me and uh, good luck here at the conference.

Neal: Excellent. Thank you. You too.