BevNET Live Winter 2024: Cocktail Showdown

Ray Latif [00:37] All right. Welcome back. For those of you who are in the back, mingling and drinking, I'm glad you are, but we're about to start a very important part of the show, that is the cocktail showdown. My name is Ray Latif. I'm the editor and producer of Bevnet's Taste Radio podcast, which is the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. Whoever is saying, you're a good person. Thank you so much for doing so. The cocktail showdown is a pitch competition that showcases the most innovative and disruptive brands in the rapidly emerging category of ready to drink and ready to pour cocktails. The event features early to mid-stage brands who will each have 5 minutes to present their business plans and products to a panel of expert judges, along with the audience here and watching the live stream. Following each pitch, the judging panel will provide 4 minutes of immediate and constructive feedback. After all of the brands have presented, the judges will convene, pick a winner, and we're going to announce that winner at 4:55 p.m. Pacific time. We'll also have a short interview with the winner after the announcement. The champion will take home an engraved trophy and the grand prize, an advertising package worth $10,000. Alright. Woo. Fantastic. All right, let's introduce our esteemed judges, beginning with Cassie Finley. With over 15 years of experience in the beverage industry, Cassie, Cassie currently serves as the vice president of Customer Development at Southern Glaziers Wine and Spirits. Her extensive background in category management includes the last 2 years with the largest ocean to ocean distributor in the world, as well as significant buying experience at leading retailers, including 4 years with the largest grocer, Kroger. And 2 years in Natural Channel with Whole Foods Market. Very excited to have Cassie. And just to note, Cassie's, I think, one of 1 in that she's the only person I can think of that has hosted our new beverage showdown and now our cocktail showdown. Well done, Cassie. Yeah, up next we have Taylor Katla. Taylor has worked in the adult beverage retail space for over 12 years and is currently the Spirit's senior category merchant at Whole Foods Market, covering all stores in the United States and Canada. We're so lucky to have Taylor back with us on the panel. Yes, you can clap for Taylor. And last but certainly not least, is Janelle Bass. Janelle is the co-founder and creative force behind Pony Boy Slings, a bourbon-based canned cocktail company located in Louisville, Kentucky, and the winner of Bevnet's cocktail showdown 2023. Janelle has over two decades, yeah, you can do, there you go. Janelle has over two decades of cocktail development in acclaimed restaurants, a beer cicero er certification. And wine study and experience under a master sommelier, Janelle Bass. All right, thanks, Ray. This is a phenomenal judging panel. They have already tasted all the products that are going to be presented today. Uh, they're not banged up, so which is, that's a good thing, you know, they're, they're feeling good, I think. And I think it's time to meet our first presenters of the cocktail showdown. Those folks are Louis Walsh and Flick Meridian, who are the co-founders of Tiquio Cocktails. Come on up. Hello, hello. Good to see you. Here's a microphone. Hi, good to see you. Microphone test. That's quicker testing and please keep it on your timer. Thanks, Ray. Uh, thank you to Bevnet. Thank you to the judges for being here today. Uh, we are Tecchio. Now Tecchio is reimagining tequila cocktails on behalf of the modern premiums seeking health conscious consumer. We're focused on using 100% agave tequila cocktails for the cleanest sipping experience. We're based in Venice, California, just down the road from here, and all of our cocktails are made in Arondas, Jalisco, Mexico. Now just over a year ago we launched our first tequila cocktails, Tecquio's sparkling Blanco and sparkling reposado. Now just as you get these at the bar, each tequila soda is really light and refreshing, and they're currently sold in 4 packs with the suggested retail price of 1999. Unlike other tequila cocktails, each tecquio cocktail is made with 100% agave tequila with sparkling water and a hint of lime. We use a certified additive-free tequila, so there are 0 g of sugar, zero carbs, 100 calories, and 5% alcohol. Now, a lot of tequila RTDs are focused on being overly sweet and using fruit flavors, and here tecquio offers two really classic tequila expressions. Our tequila blanco is unaged and agave forward in flavor, while our tequila reposado is aged 90 days in a blend of French and American oak barrels, offering a subtle, oaky undertone. Now my name is Louis Walsh. This is Flick Meridian. We're childhood best friends that left our respective careers in the film industry and in finance to launch a tequila forward cocktail that delivered the bar quality experience that we craved. Now, in order to use 100% agave tequila, everything has to be made in Mexico under strict denomination of origin regulation ensuring quality and authenticity. To get around this, many brands are made in America and can use what is called a mixto tequila, which can be made with up to 49% non-agave spirits. It's a big number. They usually rely on fruit flavors and misleading marketing to kind of mask their quality tequila and authenticity. Here's where we saw an opportunity for a better option, a high quality 100% agave tequila cocktail made entirely in Mexico, offering an authentic sipping experience. Now in searching for the perfect tequila for each one of our cocktails, we met this gentleman here, Guillermo Willie Benuelos, our now co-founding partner. The Benuelo's family is known for having founded Tequila Casadores, later selling it to Bacardi, and they now operate their latest family tequila, El Mexicano. Flick and I flew to Arandas and sat down with Willie, a 3rd generation Tequileiro, and we shared our vision for Tecquio over a meal with his family. And sitting in their beautiful courtyard of their distillery surrounded by his family and their employees, Flick and I really connected with Willie, who is our age and has a very modern vision for his family's business. Leaving that meeting, we knew we'd found the right group of people and the tequila which would become the cornerstone for each tecchio cocktail. As Louis mentioned, we believe in simplicity and authenticity, and with exceptional tequila, there's no need to overcomplicate. Each can of tecyo consists of one shot of 100% agave tequila, offering a consistent sipping experience. In a market that's filled with mixed o tequila. Uh, tecchio offers a cleaner, more authentic alternative. Uh, just launching over a year ago with friends and family funding, we've been able to secure over 100 retail accounts, including some of Southern California's premier chain retailers. Now if you're a retail buyer, you may know that we occasionally blur the line between extremely persistent and slightly annoying, but you know. We've focused on rigorous in-store samplings as well as local events to gain as much in-person data as possible, and we've taken this data to shape our packaging for 2025. Originally, Tecchio was built for the off-premise. It now accounts for about 90% of our sales, and we intend to take this momentum to grow our chain retail presence. Um, we've also been a number one, seller at Airwn for the last year, which is awesome. Um, also over the last year we've done some really awesome marketing. We've ran Baja 1000. We've stocked tour buses for Coachella headlining artists. We've had our consumers send us photos of them enjoying techie on 5 different continents, and we've even sent our cans to space. Although we've been hyper focused on local guerrilla marketing, we've also been able to garner. Over 100 million social media impressions, all organic and unpaid. So as techio continues to grow, we are focused on driving in-store velocities, but we are also using our current chain retail authorizations to identify our next markets. We are thrilled to bring our current line of canned cocktails and a few exciting new ones to more customers in coming months. As Tecchio looks to capitalize on RTD category growth by positioning itself at the intersection of quality and accessibility, we know that finding the right chain retail partners and wholesalers and distributors is key to sustained growth. So if you are a retailer or a wholesaler and you would love to learn more, come find us. We'd love to chat. Thank you so much. Cheers. Well done. Well done. You just slide up here so our cameras can get you. There's a sticker that says Ray, but uh, yeah, there you go. Should say flick. Should say flick, yeah, uh, Cassie, let's start with you. Uh, we heard from Louis and Flick talk a bit about the relationships they have as a brand with pretty established folks. How much does that influence your perspective on the brand, it's potential?

Speaker 2 [09:41] Oh, I think it gives you credibility in the space, obviously, and I would say, you know, we don't sell booze, we sell relationships, as you all know. So I think spending time with the people and focusing on those relationships will, will serve you down the road. Especially when you go to expanded new markets, I would say I'm really excited about your liquid de lips plan. You mentioned trial and sampling in those accounts that you have. I think that's so just mandatory, especially for the quality of tequila that you guys have in this can. It was absolutely fantastic. I would say from a packaging standpoint, I love this southwestern. Aztec look, right? The packaging is so different than what I've seen in this space that I really think it jumps out. I would say just from a constructive standpoint, the liquid itself, I didn't taste a huge difference between the repo and the Blanco, and maybe that was part of it, that you wanted them to be similar, but I would say it would concern me that you might split your velocity. if those were in the same store. And so if it were me, I would pick one that's my workhorse and my powerhouse and before I would go to a second SKU, I would focus on my brand presence and velocity on one. And then I would look at maybe a flavor profile that would maybe differentiate it between the core skew. But the liquid's great, the cans are great, and I loved your presentation.

Ray Latif [11:08] Thank you. Yeah, Taylor, let's follow up on the liquid and also Tecchio's retail strategy. Your thoughts? Yep, hello. First of all, nice to put a face to all those emails. A lot of emails. Were they persistent but also kind of kind emails? They're very kind, OK, um, yeah, I mean, I've had the product. I've tried it for quite a few, quite a few times, um. Since you are a premium item and you're pushing $20 for a 4-pack, which is the tip-top pricing range I've seen in that format, um, and with the, the, the challenges with calling out additive-free tequila currently, I'm kind of curious, like, that is a big selling point or was and to continue to be a $40.20 dollars 4-pack, I'm kind of curious, like that's making sure you have that, um, information to lean into whether. I love that you call it the non-front label. That's cool and that not anybody else I, I see doing that on the front label. That's great, that transparency, um, but really just like leaning into like what is going to be able to make you a higher premium product, how you can tell that story, um, and how creative you need to be to maybe talk around that additive-free concept now moving forward, um, until new certification comes out, um, but yeah, overall love the product, the, the packaging is killer, um, would love to see. What your next extension is, is it a new flavor? Is it not lime? I think that was maybe a distinction. Wondering, is it going to pivot to a different flavor, um, but yeah, overall I really like it and love the packaging. Thanks. Thank you. And you can mention, you can talk about the flavor. We do have something in the works. OK, yeah, we'll just overshadow it just it's more of a classic cocktail flavor line coming in the future. Got it. Cool. Thank you. All right. Janelle, um, I'd love to follow up on the packaging as well, and you know, your thoughts on tecchio is being able to build a community based on the foundation that they currently have. Yeah, absolutely. Well, first off, the packaging I'm obsessed with. I told them while we were tasting it, I'm like, if I could wear a poncho that looks like this at all times, I, that's what I want. We can get you a poncho, OK, I want a poncho. Um, I think it's beautiful, and what I absolutely love about it is that you all really are showcasing the spirit. That I have the same kind of notes where between the two I didn't get like a full difference, which then I would think, OK, let's focus on one. Let's focus on the fact that you're not trying to cover it up, but you're actually trying to showcase it, you know, in the bourbon world you add like a little bit of water or a piece of ice to expand it so that it doesn't burn. It's like you're almost doing this with this beautiful tequila which I love. Um, and I think like Air One is so URL's market, um, and then just continuing to find out those people where else do they go, what concerts do they go to, what festivals, like who are they and follow that because I think it's so easy to think. Like, oh, we got to get into all the things, but your consumers there, I mean, being the number one cock can cocktail there, right, the best sold one there, I mean that right there should tell you, OK, let's follow these people and, and their trends and kind of go that route as far as retail goes, but, um, we loved it. I want one later, so I'll be getting. Outstanding. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. I can take your microphones. A round of applause for Tecchio. Thank you. That is the that is the best kind of feedback, right? Like I want one more. I already had some, and now I want another 10, you'll see me drinking one. All right. Up next, we have Colin McKenna, who's the founder and CEO of Elixir of the Gods. Colin, come on up. How are you? Good to see you. Your microphone, your clicker. Please keep an eye on your timer. Yep. Hi everyone, I'm Colin McKenna, and today I want to talk about innovation. By definition, innovation is about creating something new or changing something that already exists. But here's the catch innovation isn't always beneficial. Take farming for example. The shift from regenerative agriculture, a farming practice used for thousands of years, to monoculture farming, which was industrialized during the industrial revolution with the introduction of machine tilling, pesticides, etc. was considered innovative at its time. But what it really did was prioritize short term yields over long term sustainability, depleting our soils and ecosystem. A similar thing has happened in the alcohol space. What started as craft with high quality and diverse beverages became overrun by monoculture farming and mass production. When you look at most innovations in the beverage industry today, It's often the branding that's innovative, not the product itself. At their core, many of these beverages are the same thing, produced from the same monoculture crops. But here's the exciting part as the regenerative resurgence grows, we're realizing that progress isn't always about creating something entirely new. Sometimes it's about improving something old, something that worked, and scaling it responsibly. That's where elixir comes in. At Elixir, we're revolutionizing the beverage industry by bringing back history's favorite and most sustainable drink, mead. We've reimagined it as hard honey, a natural mead for a better buzz. Here's why it's revolutionary. It's history's drink. Mead was the most popular drink for millennia, enjoyed by civilizations across the globe, and yet it's been all but forgotten in today's market. It's the most sustainable alcohol. Our drink is made from honey, the nectar of the gods. Honey is a golden superfood that requires minimal resources to produce while supporting the planet's most crucial species, bees. Bees have been here for millions of years, playing a vital role in our ecosystem and making our planet habitable. Yet through harmful farming practices like deforestation and pesticides, we're killing them off. Just as nutrient dense soil takes generations to establish, Thriving bee populations take time, care, and effort to rebuild. That's why sustainability is at the heart of Elixir. We've partnered with a regenerative organic bee farm in Brazil located in the Atlantic rainforest. By supporting these farms, we're not only protecting the lungs of our planet, but we're also offering our customers a better buzz, something they can feel good about drinking while feeling better the next day. We've created a 5% ABV, 100 calorie, low sugar beverage that's truly unique, positioned as hard honey, liquor occupies a blue water space in the alcohol market. The response has been incredible. We hit the market in April 2024. Testing the product at select retailers, we broke early sales records at Jimbo's naturally and had to halt marketing efforts as we were running out of inventory faster than expected. We quickly ramped up production, 5xing our next round, and then we're already planning to 4x that amount in early 2025 to keep up with demand and expand into new markets. As Henry Ford once said, surround yourself with people who know more than you. That's exactly what I've done at Elixir. Our cap table advisory board includes James James Watt, founder of Brewdog, Jeff Church, founder of Suja, Jackson Clare, CEO of Sprouts, and Michael Bedrozian, COO of Fast Track Packaging. They have a booth here. Check out their cans. They're great. With our growing team and first of its kind product, we're ready to disrupt the global $2 trillion alcohol market. Now let me tell you a bit about how we got here. Growing up in Colorado, I moved to Hawaii to study marine biology because sustainability has always been close to my heart. It was there in an environmental studies class that I learned about regenerative agriculture and knew that this is what I wanted to dedicate my life to. I later studied business at the University of San Diego, drawn to the beach and the city's amazing beer scene. After graduating, I founded one of the first regenerative organic beverage companies, which eventually led me to create liquor. I first discovered mead in Hawaii, but it wasn't until 2 years ago when I couldn't find it anywhere near me in Santa Monica that the idea hit. I started reaching out to meaderies and eventually found one and partnered with them in San Diego. We had our first cans within months. The recipes were born in my girlfriend, now fiance's kitchen. I'd experiment with different honeys and fruits, testing them on friends, until I found the perfect balance nearly two years later. Mango, orange, pear lime, cherry, grapefruit. At the beginning, I poured my savings into Elixir. Eager to learn and network, I even snuck into two Bevnet events here in Marina del Rey. Pro tip, it's worth it. Just buy the ticket. The connections I made during those events still play a huge role in Lixir today. Drink different, be better. Thank you. Well done. I'm curious, did you sneak in or did you buy a ticket? No, I'm just kidding. OK, buy the ticket. Yeah, well done. Thank you, Taylor. Let's start with you. I heard regenerative ag. I heard sustainability. I heard rainforest. Clearly these things matter to Whole Foods consumers, but do they matter to the beverage, beverage alcohol consumers at Whole Foods as much as they do for the, for everything else, right? Well, uh, great presentation. Thank you. Um, I, I think regenerative agriculture is a big focus for us at Whole Foods and, and finding partners that Utilize it to make a product that can sell well in our stores. Essentially, in a nutshell, that's what we're looking for. Um, I think leaning into honey mead is clever and cool, and I think the, the one thing I would suggest is maybe consider like leaning into. Known cocktail names like for example, um, the, the, the grapefruit like a paloma, right? Or something that kind of like touches on the, a high grapefruit flavor, um, so that like when a customer looks at it, like maybe they are pulled in by the fact that it's regenerative agriculture, um, or promoting bees and, and, uh, agriculture, but Maybe they don't know what it is and so that like pushing past that risk factor for them to kind of like help them come to you and like open the door to try it once because once you try it, then you're like, OK, I understand what I'm getting into, but when you see some of the flavor combinations and hard honey, um, it might be challenging for a customer who's really new to that space to really understand what they're potentially going to buy, um, but like the flavor, maybe a touch more carbonation. Just a thought, but, um, overall, the, the flavor brands, the, the, the cherry grapefruit in particular, was a really nice balanced nuanced flavor profile. Really like that one, but the pear lime potentially leaning more into maybe high flavor. I, I think, I think that's what we're seeing a lot of customers lean into is just really pushing for flavor, and honey has that, right? So you're there with the honey, but just adding a little, um, extra flavor from the adjuncts to kind of like offset that imbalance, right? Thank you for that, yeah. Yeah, you know, uh, I'd love to hear your take on the term hard honey as well as your take on the flavors themselves. Yeah, no, like you said, I think the idea of using meat is so cool, right? Like you, there, you don't see that out there. Um, I think that as far as hard honey, if you're pushing that. I, I went to your website before this. I geeked out on everybody's stuff, and so I saw like the honey, like, um, wooden and and it dripping on the can, and I'm like, yes. So when I went to try it, I wanted to taste the honey more, and I know that meat is derived from honey, so it's not like it's gonna be a honey cocktail, but I, as a bartender and in the bartending world for me, that's what I was expecting. So then like what Taylor said. The person who doesn't know and they see on the shelf, you gotta, you gotta guide them and tell them. So I think for me I love it, but I want your packaging to tell me what it is that, that to me that was like, if it's hard honey, like I wanna see the honey. I want to know that I'm drinking hard honey. I want something there to be like, oh, I know honey. And, and, and this is what I want, you know what I mean, for as far as the packaging goes, but you know we loved it. The cherry was my favorite, and I think it's a great idea, and I like that it's, it's something that's different that other people aren't doing. Thank you. Yeah, Cassie. Colin talked about a clear path for growth as someone who has seen brand scale. Uh, what do you think about that path? Yeah,

Speaker 2 [23:37] I think that's really smart, Colin, and I think. You know, I would have my lead skew, and I would tell you all the judges loved the cherry grapefruit, and I'm not saying it's a sample size of 3, but we feel really good about that liquid. I would make sure that I focus on one skew so the customer really understands what it is. I would just echo Taylor's feedback on the carbonation. I expected a little more carbonation to kind of help. Bring the meat across my palate. And so I would, I would consider that. And then hearing you speak and your passion about where this came up with regenerative farming, I love that. I want, I wanted you to lean into the bees. The be different on your tagline, I thought was just spot on, but where's the bees on the packaging? Because it is such a, a beautiful. A cause that I think could really resonate with a lot of consumers that want to do something great for the planet, and you start with B. So lean into that because it's evident that you're passionate there and buyers can pick up on that passion. And sometimes because they believe in a founder they'll take a risk on a brand. So I'm really proud of your story. Share that more and how do we get that story on the can and the package.

Ray Latif [24:52] Thank you. Great advice. Well done. Great feedback. Well done, Colin. Thank you so much. Great job. Ah, thank you. All right, 2 great presentations. Let's get another one. Up next, we have Jason Merz, who is the founder and director of marketing for Gardenista. Come on up. How you doing? Good to see you. Clicker, please keep an eye on your timer. Hey everybody, uh, can you hear me? I'm Jason Murz, the director of marketing and part of the founders' group for Gardenista, um. We launched just in October of this year, so a 2 month old brand being invited here to share the stage with these great brands. It's an incredible honor to be with these esteemed judges who are very well dressed, I might add, and very good looking. Yes, all right, we found our winner.

Speaker 2 [25:48] Thank you, this guy,

Ray Latif [25:49] right, yeah, and we look good too. Very dapper, yeah, uh, so I'm here today to introduce you to Gardenista. I'm also here to tell a story about innovation, Colin, uh, I have a little bit of a different take. We have a little bit of a different take on innovation, although that was a really great presentation. Um, so let me tell you how this all started for us. When we were doing the sampling out there, I heard a lot of you asking, what's that green drink as we were doing the sampling, and it's with that same question that our journey also began when we were introduced to the gardener cocktail at the esteemed Matsuhisa restaurant out in the mountains of Colorado. Yeah, right. And so, uh, you know, this cocktail is known and loved by locals. It is intriguing to visitors, and, and we were pulled in by this beautiful green hue, and the moment that we tried it, we really understood its popularity, and we knew right then and there, like, this is an experience, this isn't just a cocktail, and we had to share this with cocktail enthusiasts all over. The country and so we set out to do just that in partnership with the Matsuhisa, the Nobu Matsuhisa Group. We have formulated this cocktail. Also shout out to Sovereign Flavors, sponsor here today, um, doing a great job, and, and I know I'm biased, but we nailed it. I'm so stoked to be bringing this version, our version of the gardener out to, uh. The masses and to those that appreciate what a quality cocktail should be. So, Um, Garden East is born. And what is Gardanista, and it's more than just what's this green drink. It is natural ingredients. It's premium spirits, but it's the product, it's the liquid itself that delivers the real punch. It's unexpected and uncommon. It's a mix of cilantro, thyme, these garden herbs, along with ginger, fresh lime juice, raw cane sugar, and a little bit of jalapeno for that sweet heat. And we put that all together and blend it to perfection along with three different bases bourbon, tequila, or vodka. Each bottle is 15% ABV. It is 5 servings per bottle and 98 calories per serving, so delicious and guilt-free. Um, I should also mention that it's best enjoyed chilled with just a little touch of dilution. So for any of you that sampled it, I saw that they weren't serving it chilled out there with a little bit of ice. I would encourage you to try it again because that's really at its peak when it's shaken and served up, when it's poured over rocks or even as a spritz. So it's really versatile. It's really interesting. It's really fun. And so we're so excited about it, but we're also really excited about our positioning. I talked about this sophisticated and unique. flavor that stands tall above a crowd of the same old expected standards, right, and that to us is where we are delivering on the promise of innovation. That's our driver for us to bring something new to the market that raises the bar for everybody else in this space. Ready to serve cocktails. We know everyone in this room knows it's a strong category, right? Shelf sets are expanding everywhere, ready to serve, spirit-based in particular, and we're really excited about leading the way with true innovation in that space. Our founder group has also a collective of 150 years of combined experience in CPG and bev alcohol, and so we've applied this to create one-of a-kind marketing. That you see here in showstopping point of sale, product packaging, social media, traditional media, experiential. And so through this incredibly unique, well balanced, and absolutely appealing cocktail, we're issuing a wake up call to the entire industry, not just RTS, but across the board, giving consumers license to ask for and expect for more, not just in the RTS space, as I mentioned, but across Bev alcohol altogether. And, and doing so, we don't follow the trends, we are setting them. We're redefining what you should expect from an RTS. Wow Uh No, no, that was great. Come on up. Stuart says. There you go. Well done. Great presentation. Uh, Janelle, let's start with you. Uh, for the folks who didn't get a chance to try Gardanista, what does it taste like? What are your thoughts? And what are your thoughts on the name itself? Yeah, so great presentation. It doesn't matter. You got gong. Don't worry about it. I was expecting an actual gong in the back of the room. It is you can't afford that, but anyway, yeah, so there's so much here to unpack as far as as the bottle and what it looks like and It tastes like, I mean it it's really fun, right? Like we had a fun time with this. So there's a few notes that of course I have from the bartending side is that so when I see Gardenista and I checked out your website too, which beautiful by the way, I love the vibe. Um, and the greenness, I think in my mind when it says a hint of jalapeno, I think I thought it was going to be like, uh, cooling and just more, more herbaceous when, when I drank it is very spicy, and I, I was in a hot sauce club at one point. OK, I'm not proud of it, but it was, and so I, I know spicy, but it's still amazing, right? People love a spicy. Margarita. So in my mind I'd almost lean into the spice and also between the three words bourbon, tequila, vodka, to me I don't think you need that. The differentiation between the two we tasted, which was the bourbon and the tequila, wasn't too crazy. And as far as shelf space goes, which they can talk about this way more than me, but, uh, I. Get 3 of the very similar thing is so hard. So it's such a unique concept. I'm like roll with one. You probably just need one and have fun with that spice would be my note. That's great feedback. That's a hot topic of debate, no pun intended right now, but that is, you know, with with us being so young, everything's on the table right now and so we're paying close attention. Uh, in particular, to just the notes on the heat and the spice, because I think some of it comes from the jalapeno. I think some of it comes from ginger too, right? You're not, you're not accustomed to getting ginger in a lot of drinks, especially packaged goods, so you know we're really, really keeping a watchful eye on that. Yeah, Cassie, clearly Jason and his team quite ambitious, raising the bar for the entire industry. You know, how do you think about that? And yeah, let's follow up on shelf space as well.

Speaker 2 [33:02] I would say I was blown away when I saw this bottle and the liquid. I could not wait to try it. I couldn't look at anything else on the table because I kept saying, What is this thing? I tried the liquid. I would quote me on this. Horse Jeff, Bury me in the bourbon. I just thought the liquid of this, I could drink the whole bottle. I didn't, but you can send me one, please. I really just thought this liquid and what's funny is Janelle likes the spice. I always say no to spicy food. I get heartburn like so fast and so I loved the spice for someone that can't eat hot. I just thought it was dead on. I haven't tasted something that blew my mind from a liquid perspective in a while, and it was really fun for that flavor to surprise me so much. As far as the space goes, Janelle's dead on. I think you're splitting velocities, and you'll always hear me talk about one king units per store per week. And so don't take my advice, panel size of one on leading with the bourbon, but whatever skew is floating to the top consistently, lean in there. And, and, and make that that unit velocity that you need to, then you grow the brand, brand, excuse me, with flavor. Yeah,

Ray Latif [34:18] thank you. We're winners today just by being a part of this and getting this feedback. I appreciate it so much and like you touched on another hot topic of debate, you know, the appropriate SKU amount. I'm happy to say that we've landed 90% of sales in our first two months have taken on all three SKUs, but I know that's near term, right? And I love to watch out for the long term. So thank you. Is it appropriate to hug the judges? I guess if they say it's OK, sure, yeah, you can hug me. Taylor, uh, you get the last word on Gardenissa. I'd also love to hear your thoughts on whether you think the concept is intuitive to modern consumers. Uh, I, I don't think it's intuitive. I think looking at it, it was, and that's what like was intriguing, right? It's not, and, um. Echoed on the three variants, uh, I'm working with the product actively and we picked one, so there you go. Um, but you know, the, the intensity was a welcome change from like the typical RTS experience like, and I didn't know what I was going into. I don't think that's like something you want to lean into. I think you want to really tell the customer what they're getting into. So I think we all agreed on this, but like something to call out the expected heat. Um, I think keep it, keep it hot, it's cool. Like it's really nice, but like just kind of reference it, talk about it, put it like a fiery thing or whatever, um, single flavor, uh, the color is incredible, um. Yeah, I think just the intensity is welcome in this category. Love that so much. Once again, very poignant because You know, we're, we're, we recognize that one of the best things we have going for us is that we're unlike anything else, and one of the biggest challenges we have for us is that we're unlike anything else. So, you know, that's my job as the director of marketing is to really create that education. So you guys have all touched on really great and important points. Thank you so much. Well done, Jason. Thank you so much, and you can definitely hug the judges, but for time constraints, let's do that after the competition. All right. Good stuff. I think we're 3 for 3. Let's go 4 for 4 with Steven Tang, who is the co-founder and CEO of Yoju. Come on up. My notes were wrong. I apologize because we have Steven and someone else. Ken Miller, come on up. There you go, clicker. And please keep it on your timer.

Speaker 3 [36:46] Hello, everyone. I'm Steven, and this is Ken. We are the founders of Yoju, the most popular soju-based canned cocktail in America today. Um, so, Ken and I's story go way far back. Uh, we met in college, and, uh, in college we were known for making soju cocktails, and we used to make this thing called yogurt soju that all of our friends really loved. Um, fast forward a few years, we're all going our separate ways. Uh, we got together during COVID, uh, over a Zoom hangout, and we're kind of reminiscing about all the drinks that we used to make in college, and we kind of realized that there wasn't really anything in the ACBev space that Uh, highlighted Asian flavors and really showcase Asian spirits. And so we thought, what if we created something that did that? And what if we made that, what we used to make in college? And so we did that, um, and a couple of years later, we are now the number one soju-based canned cocktail in America. Um, if you're not familiar with soju, it is a kind of like a Korean vodka, so it's a neutral tasting spirit. Um, And yogurt soju, which is what yoju is, yogurt soju is a very popular mix with soju that you can find at Korean barbecues, at karaoke, and as the name suggests, yes, there is yogurt in the cocktail, but no, it probably isn't what you're thinking of. Um, so, you know, Americans, when they think of yogurt, we think of Chobani, we think of the thick stuff that probably wouldn't taste very good in a can. Um, what we think of when we think of yogurt is the Asian style drinkable yogurts. So these have more of the consistency of milk, and so we add a splash of this to our cocktails to give it a really nice creamy finish. So, what's in yoju? So, it contains equivalent of 4 shots of soju, made with really high premium fruit juices and purees, uh, our own, uh, custom formulation for a yogurt, uh, flavor, and then also lightly carbonated, give it a little bit of mouth feel and texture. Currently, we have 4 different flavors. We have original lime, mango, white peach, and lychee. You can get a 4-pack of a single flavor for 14.99 or 8 pack variety for 25.99. And so, uh, we've, we've been really focused on our velocity. In fact, our top 100 accounts are averaging 15 cases per month per retail location. We've been able to get this velocity for two core reasons. One, we have a really high focus on the quality of our liquid. In fact, we won, uh, the best RTD at the 2024 spirits competition, beating out 480 other uh SKUs in the mix. And secondly we have, we are cultivating a community through our online social media. Uh we have been able to get over 40 million unique views across our social media platforms. And through this retail Velocity, uh, we've been able to work with great national partners including Whole Foods, Costco, Trader Joe's, and lots of like. Um, our core strategy right now is going deep in each of our markets, so we're currently distributed in Virginia, DC, Maryland, California, Washington, Hawaii, and soon to be launching, uh, Texas and New York in 2025. Right, so a lot of great early traction. I think we've gotten a lot of great initial validation from the consumers in the states that we're currently launched in. And we think that that this is just the beginning of a, of a much larger opportunity and that opportunity is to bring Asian spirits into the mainstream. Right, and we have such a strong belief in this because we see Asian stuff in general becoming popular everywhere. Of course we see it firsthand as Asian Americans, but Asian food obviously super popular, has been for a while. Asian stuff in retail like Costco selling durian ice cream. Um, Asian faces in movies and K-pop taking over all these signs kind of lead to like a larger cultural shift and Asian things becoming part of the American mainstream cultural fabric. We think Asian spirits are the next step, and there are some early signs that this is the case for so. So soju this year will do $1 billion in revenue, which is up 70% in the US, by the way, in the US alone, and that's up 70% from where it was just six years ago. So really, really fast growing spirit in a category that's otherwise kind of on a downward trend. So a lot of growth for soju. We think there's an opportunity to take it mainstream. Uh, we think our brand is, has the initial attraction validation that we can be the ones to bring, uh, bring Soju into the mainstream where it is currently sort of a niche today. Um, so people of all different backgrounds enjoy, uh, soju, enjoy our product. So of course, Asian Americans will always be one of our core demographics because it is an Asian inspired product, but people of all different ethnicities, people of all different interests, different cultural backgrounds have loved our product and enjoyed it and loved the liquid. And so I think what we're trying to do with our brand is kind of reach over, take soju from something that's currently seen as Asian niche, and bring it into the mainstream, much like tequila did. 1020 years ago, and I hope you will join us in that journey. Thank you.

Ray Latif [41:47] Hold on to the microphones. And just slide up here to where that X is. There we go, perfect. All right, uh, Cassie, let's start with you. You know, when I saw the slide that showed Some so juice, some drinkable yogurt, some real fruit juice. I was a little worried about that because how does it taste? How does it taste?

Speaker 2 [42:02] Well, thank you for educating me on the category. Taylor was very familiar with it. I was not. And so I didn't know what to expect with the cocktail. I will tell you, I was so excited by the liquid because I did think that it was going to be kind of a milky and so to pour it out and the liquid be very clear was really surprising to me, and I thought it was beautiful on the palate. I thought the flavor profile was so interesting and unique to the category. I love that you went with traditional flavors, and I hope you stick to that. I think things like lychee are so unique to the category and are bringing new consumers in. I loved the packaging. I thought it stood out. I don't know if the cans we saw with the colored tiger or the move forward or the white cans with the black and white tiger. Uh, the colored tiger, the colored tiger. We loved that. Um, I thought they really popped. Um, and, and again, I like the flavors that you're leaning into. So to me, Ray, I was super excited about this one because I think this is going to drive both households and trips potentially for the category.

Ray Latif [43:08] That's interesting. Taylor. Do you see it that way? I mean, do you see uh Yojo as being something that can be potentially a really big brand? I do. And like, first of all, hello, like for all these emails, I've never met you in person. This is crazy. It's the first time. Um, but yeah, I, I think there is definitely traction with this and the amount and the awards you've won in the past couple of years and it's like uh getting double gold and best of show at the World Spirits Competition is pretty incredible. So, um, I mean, Yeah, the, the flavor is awesome, like, uh, the, the ABV balance is, is really well done. 7% is like an IPA, but it does not drink like you're drinking that kind of alcohol. Um, the flavors are on point, uh, really like just consider going into like printed matte finish or something on the cans, like the, the shrink wracks, shrink, shrink wrap sometimes. It can be off-putting when there's like little bubbles in the wrap, you know what I mean? Like, like just tightening up the actual package, but the, the design is killer. Um, love that you have a variety 8 pack. Uh, the mango is just smells incredible. Um, yeah, that's, that's my, my one feedback is just consider packaging and maybe committing the resources to that if, if you're not already. Thank you. You know, we heard a lot in the presentation about the trajectory for Asian culture in America and soju as being the spirit brand or the cocktail brand that can Add to that trajectory. Do you see a really big runway in that regard? Oh yeah, I mean, you guys are nailing it. I feel like everywhere we look we're seeing soju, right? Like I, and I think that here people are starting to, to be curious and, uh, and really they just want to try something new. And I was stoked to try it because again I checked y'all out on Instagram and watch all your stuff and I, and what I love about you guys is you really do feel like real people and I can relate as a as another RTD founder. I mean I know like when you're talking about certain things Mike and I are like, oh my gosh, us too, um, and I just, I feel like you all are doing something that intuitively. It is important to bring to us. That's the whole point of us getting to do these RTDs and these new things is that the people deserve to have really good tasting well-made, interesting cool products, you know, the back bar doesn't have to look the same for 30 years. Like it, it should be changing and everyone deserves to have that and I. I just, I was excited to try it and I was nervous in case I didn't like it and the good thing was I loved it. So good job. Yeah, great job, great feedback, very well done. Thank you so much. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's keep it going with Jordan Tepper, who is the co-founder of Host Cocktails. Come on up. How you doing? Good to see you. Here is your clicker. Please keep an eye on your timer. Hi, everyone. I'm Jordan, co-founder of Host, and today, I'm excited to introduce you to the next evolution of cocktails. We actually started in 2018 as a maker of all natural liqueurs called Apilogue, and this is my co-founder and business partner, Rob Haynes. However, 85% of our business was to bars and restaurants, and when the pandemic hit and all of them closed, we had to adapt. With RTD cocktails, we realized pretty quickly that we are unfortunately not going to be able to compete on price with the market getting increasingly competitive, so we decided to change the game. Now bear with me, we're going to do a little bit of a history lesson. Over 8000 years ago, beer and wine was first made, and then about 3000 years ago, distilled spirits were first made, and spirits are made from wine or beer. So I like to think of them as value added wine or beer. Then, about 170 years ago, the Grand Crew class system in Bordeaux was first born, and with that, I believe, laid the foundation for the premiumization of wine and spirits. Then about 30 years ago, Angel sharer in New York opened up and brought with it the trend around the premiumization of cocktails, and cocktails are made from spirits, so I view them as value-added spirits. And up until recently, the only place to get a truly premium cocktail was at a bar or a restaurant or to make it yourself. But we realized we had an advantage that these bars and restaurants and home consumers didn't have. We could actually source super premium spirits directly from the producers and make cocktails at a fraction of the cost to the on-premise and the home consumers. And with that we created the gold fashioned and the first ever super premium ready to serve cocktail. And people started taking notice. Esquire named it the bottle cocktail of the year. One of my favorite headlines was, this bottled old fashioned is $150 and unfortunately, I love it. From OJ Lima at Bon Appetit. As we all know, super premium wine and spirits is a large and growing category. There's a great number of super premium wineries and spirit brands, and as we're all learning, the ready to drink and ready to serve cocktail categories are growing very quickly. So where we see ourselves is at the logical culmination of super premium ready to serve cocktails. Since the gold fashion, we've expanded our line to include a perfect Manhattan, a martini, and a mezcal Negroni. What makes host cocktails so unique is a handful of things. One, we scour the globe to source the ideal base spirits to put into each of our cocktails. 2. All of our cocktail makers, all of our cocktail modifiers are sourced and made by my business partner Rob Hanes, who is the former head bartender at the iconic Violet Hour cocktail bar where he helped build their bitters program and is the lead maker for all of our liqueurs. 3. Each of our cocktails is a collaboration with a talented bartender or mixologist to bring their favorite classic cocktail to life and give them an opportunity to tell a story outside of the four walls of their bars and restaurants. 4, each of our cocktails comes packaged with an art-adorned gift box that is commissioned from an emerging artists. And 5, all of our cocktails are a sensory experience. Each of them is paired with their own atomizer zest for garnish. Consumers have really fallen in love with this added touch of hospitality. It truly makes our cocktails unique, and what we'd like to say, makes them truly sensational. As a pioneer in super premium ready to serve cocktails, we've used the gifting occasion as a Trojan horse into people's homes. This is where we find consumers then become our advocates and consumers themselves. To date we've been primarily focused on selling via e-commerce. Our average order value is about $300 per purchase, showing us that there is a market of people willing to pay a higher price for higher quality cocktails. Lastly, we're doing this ourselves. Round of applause. You can hang on to that. I'll take your quicker from you. You're quicker. Thank you. Hold on. Let me slide up to this X right here. There you go. Well done. Uh, Taylor, let's start with you. Uh, we heard about host as unlocking a new super premium category for spirits in the cock, well, specifically cocktails. What are your thoughts? I, I love it. I, I love the idea of super, super luxury, extreme luxury, RTS. I think RTS has so much room to grow as quality improves. Um, it's, uh, the customers that continue to want to enjoy at home on occasions that they pick. It gives them an opportunity to You know, indulge, and, and I think I, having reviewed your products and, and tried them, I, I think, uh, the price point scared me a little bit, but I think after you taste it, specifically the gold fashioned with the atomizer and having all those additional components that make that value seem reasonable, um, to the consumer that's, you know, going into that a little blind, um, I think it really ends up making a super tasty cocktail and, and you can taste the age on the whiskeys you've picked. Um, it stands out. Thank you. Good stuff, Janelle. Uh, you had some thoughts about the liquid itself upstairs in the tasting room. Share it with your audience, please. I mean, I'm a bourbon girl, so that gold fashion, that's the best fashioned I think I've ever tasted in a bottle, and it's. And it surprised me. I, I was like this is what I would get, you know, going to a high-end cocktail bar over a nice big rock, and I would be so stoked. I, I really was impressed with it. I love that you have the little sprays that, I mean, that's a bartender's trick. We do that all the time and to have that in the packaging. I really, really loved it, um, and then I kind of echo what he. Taylor said is, you know, the price point for me gets a little like it feels a little high just because I know how to go home and make myself an old fashioned, not that I'm using like you're amazing, was it 9 year or or was it 15 year burp yeah, but it was amazing. I could, I could pull out all the things like my lips tingled from the rye and I still felt the like the Kentucky hug right from the bourbon and Um, I just, I thought that one was beautiful. Um, mezcal Negroni, it's skewed a little bit more on the smoky side for me, which, and I love mezcal, but it's a negroni is a very tricky balance even though it's equal parts. It really, it's, uh, a true art, um, but overall like I, I, I definitely want that gold fashioned. Cassie, it seems like there's an opportunity for hosts, as outlined in the presentation online as a gifting opportunity, but what do you see as the opportunity at retail?

Speaker 2 [54:20] Yeah, this one I think is unique, and I think, you know, I loved when Taylor's face lit up because I think of the consumers that are shopping Whole Foods. A lot of times they have a little bit more money, but in my previous life I look at the consumers that are shopping Kroger and Walmart and the price point choked me up a little bit, right? And I know that this brand isn't targeted to the mainstream consumer, but as a representative of an enterprise kind of. Corporate retailer, I find it very difficult with the shrink environment to get things in that price point. And when I look at you coming into the store, I think immediately you're going into a lockbox, and that makes me nervous for you. So I love that you're focused on extended shelf. I look at folks like Total who are north of 20 on their digital penetration. There's no wonder that you're seeing great success there. I would lean into extended shelf. I think that really matters. And then I think you're spot on with gifting. And so whether it makes sense for a skew to be on the planogram for 52 weeks, I think that's still, you know, meant to be seen. But I do think especially with retailers that do really well with seasonal like Club Channel, I think there's a magic moment with the gift experience and I would lean on their plates more than mine on saying you've got a winner there with the old fashioned.

Ray Latif [55:41] Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Great feedback. Well done. Congratulations. Thank you All right. Our final presenter for the cocktail showdown is Chad Twiggs, who's the founder and CEO of Good Beverage Company. Come on up. How you doing? Good to see you. Clicker, please keep an eye on your timer. Uh, yeah, this one right there. Don't mess

Speaker 4 [56:05] it up. All right. Hi, thank you so much, Bevnet. This is gonna be awesome. My name is Chad. I'm the co-founder and CEO of the Good Beverage Company. So like everyone here, we probably started off as consumers and we've all been in the same place. You go to this liquor store and what are you greeted with? It's a wall of sameness, shelves after shelves after shelves flooded with bottles and cans. Now there's great innovation, innovation happening inside, but we all know that to get that innovation sips to lips, it's near impossible. You have to jump out and you have to scream that you're doing something different. So I've put over 2000 SKUs onto the marketplace in 56 different countries, and my strategy, I'll give it to you for free, is always the same. Listen to the consumer and they'll tell you what they want. We know that our consumers are social. They're going somewhere. Not the destination. Our beverage, our drink is to make that destination just a little bit better. They also are caring about the planet's sustainability. They're also starting to pay attention about what's going on inside their bodies, right? They want natural ingredients and they want a brand that they can also have an affinity with, something that kind of makes talks to them. So I was in the place where all good ideas come from the shower and I came up with. The good beverage company. So what we did is we put a margarita in a 200 mL pouch. We use a biodegradable straw, and our packaging is 67% less impactful onto the into climate. And so there's a huge sustainability play there with pouches. Also, as my mom always says, what's on the inside is just as important as what's on the out. So we put 10%. ABV and we have sourced all natural ingredients including our amazing partners down in Mexico. It's a 3rd generation family and woman owned distillery that really looks at sustainability the same way that we do and we just really appreciate their partnership. It's available in Fiesta Watermelon, Classic margarita, and prickly pear, what we call prickly pearrot, and it's available for $3.20. Quick story. Starting a brand is hard enough, so I said, you know what, let's build our own factory. And that's what we did. About 2 weeks before we closed or opened the factory, we got a call. We got an opportunity to sponsor a local music festival. When we got the sales report, we were blown away. Not only did we have the most popular booth in the back of the festival, but we outsold every single beverage there. Now, and that is every beer combined, every cocktail combined. We were the largest. Seller by a long shot and we said wow we have something. Then we got some vans because we built our own manufacturing license that says self distribute. Got some vans and we hit the ground and we just knocked on doors and we got ourselves in. Our velocity in our first year was about 15 cases a month and today it's around 25 cases. I'd like to talk to you about the brand real, real quick. So the brand is a classic, a modern take on classic California where really your only concern is how much sunlight is left in the day, you know, those days where you just chase the beach and having fun with your friends. Here's where we started. We started in California and that's our primary focus. We just knock on doors and we go door to door, and we created something that we call the water adjacent strategy. If you're heading towards water, so that's a boat, you know, you're on your boat, you're going down to the lake, the river. Anywhere with water, you're probably on your way to have a cocktail, and so that's where we started. Um, once we started seeing the success there, we started moving inland, and if there's anyone from the Inland Empire, thank you. You guys drink like fish, and we saw our velocity increase the further away from the coast that we went. Um, it sounds sexier than it is, but we did move into Arizona, but really it's just my brother um selling product out there for us through our distributor. And we just recently signed a 60 concert festival in both Texas and Florida, so we're really excited about those opportunities. But I'll say this there's some really great products that we've heard about today. There we go, and there's some really good products out there in a world where everyone's telling you to be the best, when everyone's telling you to be the greatest, when everyone's telling you to be the most premier, we say, why be great? That's when you can be good and that's a good beverage company. 18 seconds left. Yeah,

Speaker 2 [1:00:53] let's go.

Speaker 4 [1:00:56] I was 14 seconds over every time I practiced. So yes,

Ray Latif [1:01:01] excellent. Well done. If you can just pull up to that X right there. Thank you so much. Last person I saw take that much stage space and own the stage like that was Janelle Bass last year at Bevnet Live. Uh, Janelle, was that your first, uh, alcoholic beverage in a pouch? Well, it actually wasn't, it wasn't, but it's not that I had really a ton. I mean, I've had one. Um, from a little place in Cincinnati, um, so I kind of knew that it existed, uh, but no, I, I loved it and like Ray said I was just loving your presentation, OK, and I'm so proud of you for practicing. Um, yeah, no, I feel like you are definitely onto something here. I feel I'm so happy you started talking about the festivals because we talked about this as like such an opportunity for the festival scene. Uh, the pouch is so fun. It's so cute. We love the branding, of course, I do. There's a bit of a seventies kiss in there and, and that's our brand similar to that, so it drew me in. But I mean I just feel like you have so much opportunity, especially in the female space like I just see like Instagram like selfies with this thing right um it just feels like a really awesome cool option especially for the Festival scene.

Speaker 4 [1:02:24] Thank you. Yeah, and something that the festivals have really enjoyed and some of our partners that have like resorts and pools and as a dad of two daughters, something that I love is the number one feedback we get from those types of social scenes is it's harder to spike. Um, and so it's safer for the female consumer, and that's just something that when that was pointed out to me prior to, uh, actually building out the factory, I was like, OK, I kind of got to do this as, as, as a dad. So

Ray Latif [1:02:51] yeah, Cassie, there was a lot of discussion in the sample room about the liquid itself in good beverage. Could you talk to our audience about that?

Speaker 2 [1:02:58] Yes, so I think watermelon was the clear winner because we just love the finish on that, but I thought both liquids were very approachable, um. I think I said I could slam an 8 pack in 30 minutes, but don't quote me on that.

Ray Latif [1:03:12] I think it was 7 minutes. I am

Speaker 2 [1:03:14] a pro, Jeff. Yeah, 7 minutes. Thank you, Taylor. I think this vessel is so exciting. I haven't been this excited since I saw a little round item go into CSO that we were all like this thing isn't going to work and blew up, right? This is something that I asked a wine company that was doing wine in pouches years ago. To do this exact package and they told me no. And so I love that you're coming around with it now because I think this is an occasion driver, which to me is a game changer. And when I talked earlier about how do we get LDAs into the category, we trade them from the Capri Sun into the good beverage company, right? Give them a vessel that they already love, and I think you driving occasions makes this brand super accessible. So I love the idea and I thought the liquid was good. Yeah,

Speaker 4 [1:04:02] well, thank you, and we call. Our consumer, the weekend warrior, and we know exactly who we're going for, you know, it's very social and while it may appear to be seasonal, it's really funny every year we laugh because our highest month every year is December because everyone's going to parties and so it's really funny. It's very social. So thank you. Yeah,

Ray Latif [1:04:20] Taylor, there was also a lot of talk about the front of pack in the sample room as well. Could you talk about that and any other thoughts you have on good beds? Yeah, I mean the packaging is very eye catching. It reminds me of like a package of THC gummies or something. No, but it's sharp. It's really well put together and, um, I would say, uh, lean into the sustainability of the packaging. Like, great that you call it the straw, like, but what about the rest of it? Like 67%, I think you said, like, like call that out. Um, I love that you call it the nom on the back. Like your transparency is where we see a lot of like alcohol packaging going, kind of like coffee did 12 years ago. And I, and I think that's good for the consumer. Um, I love the serving size, the fact that it's 6 ounces roughly like. Yeah, that's a 10% ABV margarita can be kind of challenging when it's a 1212 ounce can. Um, so that's like a hidden benefit of just like the, the outdoor venue experience. Like you have so much opportunity to lean into social branding, um, and that could pull those people to a store to check it out. Um, yeah, I mean, I, I, I, I love the concept and, uh, as a kid, having been a gigantic fan of Capri Sun, I was drawn to it. Outstanding. Well done. Great job. Thank you so much. Thank you. I can take the microphone. Huh? Oh yeah, you did. Jeez, that wouldn't help you. No, I'm just kidding. Uh, fantastic job by all six finalists. Congratulations. Round of applause for all of them. The judges have a very tough decision to make. Make it they will. We'll be back here at just around 5 o'clock to announce the winner. You don't want to miss it. Right now, I'm gonna hand over the stage to my colleague Jeff Kleinman, who's gonna be speaking with one of my favorite people in the industry. Take it away.