September 23, 2025 • 31 mins
New brands face all kinds of challenges, and frequently lack access to tools and talent that more established brands have. MHW's Brigid McCabe and host Jimmy Moreland connect with Tim Houston, founder of Vertical Beverage Group, to hear insights from a long career in bev alc and other industries, and what he feels we can look forward to as non-alc and THC-infused beverages continue to grow their market shares.
Find out more about Vertical Beverage Group | Website
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the MHW Mark podcast, where we take deep
dives into various aspects ofthe alcohol industry.
My name is Jimmy Moreland.
Mhw is a US and EU beveragealcohol importer, distributor
and service provider, joining meonce again now.
Our regular host is BridgetMcCabe.
Welcome, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Thank you, Timmy.
Love being on here with you.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
So good to have you on here.
We've got a bunch of thingsgoing on industry-wise, and
we've got a good conversationtoday.
First, though, let's look atthe calendar here.
We've got something kind of funcoming up in a couple weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We do so.
Starting October 6th, barConvent Berlin, the largest
trade show for spiritsinternationally, is going to be
happening in Berlin.
Mhw does have a booth.
It's PEG 021.
And if that sounds like just ajumble of letters and numbers to
you, you can think of us as weare in the Palais on the way to
(01:00):
the food truck.
So if you are going to grab acoffee or some lunch, please
stop by the MHW booth.
We'd love to chat with youabout your US, eu and UK
distribution and importationstrategy.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And for listeners.
We will put that information inthe show notes and you can put
faces to all the people you'vebeen listening to on the MHW
Mark podcast.
You can go meet your heroeslive in person if you are at Bar
Convent Berlin.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
You always hype us up .
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I'm still waiting for my ticket.
I haven't gotten my.
You know where are they goingto be putting me up.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I know I'm just waiting for them to open up a
trade show in Maine because wehave our USA Wine West folks.
A lot of them are up there.
I love Maine.
I will take any reason to govisit your beautiful state, so
just need to encourage some ofthe trade organizations to pop
up there.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay, you know, I'll travel you know, my per diem.
It's pretty reasonable.
You know I'll do whatever, I'ma team player here, okay Well
love it.
Moving on to today'sconversation, we have a really
fun guest, really goodconversation.
He sort of fills kind of aninteresting range of like niche
(02:13):
services that sort of add up toa nice holistic package of
services for brands Ford.
It's so funny on this, on thispodcast, that because we're on
video and, you know, mostly onsocial media we share just the
audio clips or maybe you'll seejust a little snippet of video,
but as we are in the momenttalking we get to see the big
(02:36):
view of people's backgrounds andour guest and I got sort of
chatting about some of our, youknow, extracurricular activities
.
And it turns out, dear listener, I recently turned 40 and our
guest is approaching 50 yearsold.
But we one hobby that we sharein common is skateboarding.
As much as our knees and hipsprotest, we still are holding on
(03:00):
strong and we're skate or dieman, we're skate or die.
So that was kind of funny.
But I promise here ends theskateboarding chat, even though
we did plenty of that.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And his brand really incorporates.
You know the ethos and theculture behind skater culture,
so I think you can kind ofexplore and get into that story
a bit more as well.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yes, there is a through line.
There is a point to me bringingthat up because it does come in
later in the conversation andit all sort of it all makes
sense in the context of thebrand story.
But we'll stop yapping here andlet our guests speak for
themselves, and with that let'sjump into it.
Our guest today is the founderof Vertical Beverage Group and
has over a decade of executiveexperience in the beverage
(03:43):
alcohol business.
Welcome to the show, TimHouston.
Hello, hello, it's great tohave you on here, Tim.
Can you give us just a littlebit more background on you?
I mentioned Vertical BeverageGroup.
Can you tell us about what ledyou to founding the Vertical
Beverage Group and just moreyour background in the beverage
(04:03):
industry here?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So I'm a CPA by trade .
So from a background, educationstandpoint, and I worked in
public accounting for abouteight years and then went into
healthcare for about you know,another six years and the
company I was working at at thetime, in 2000, and it was early
2012, got acquired by Cigna.
So at that point I startedinterviewing and I accepted my
(04:27):
first job in beverage alcoholwith a brand called Popcorn
Sutton Distilling and it was asmall startup, moonshine brand.
I was there for 14 months andthen I took a position with Blue
Chair Bay Rum for about adecade and then left Blue Chair
in June of 2023 and decided tostart vertical, and our official
(04:48):
call it born on date is Januaryof 2024 is when we officially
started 26th, I believe.
So we're this.
2025 is actually our first fullyear.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I know, but I would love our listeners to know in
what capacity and how longyou've been working with MHW.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
When I was with Blue Chair we were with MHW and that
was my introduction with MHW andJohn Beaudet, the former
president of MHW, sat on ourboard.
So I got familiar and have agreat relationship with John.
And then we have a couple ofbrands now at Vertical that work
with MHW Hyatt is tequila,brinley Shipwreck Rum and Boba
(05:32):
Pops is the most recent one.
I believe so.
But yeah, so we've worked withMHW for quite some time now, but
what I think MHW really is aneed for brands that are wanting
to scale, that you know, ifyou're a brand and you don't
have your own productionfacility like you don't have a
distillery and a warehouse andall that like to me the only way
(05:53):
that you're going to be able toscale efficiently is with a
partner like MHW and I.
I've been working with you guysfor over 12 years and I know
you, I trust you, I love whattype of humans you all are.
You know all of that stuffmatters to me, like, and I'm
picky, so you know we loveworking with you too, Tim.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I think it's pretty universal across the team here
and your whole team really.
I always hear just excellentthings about you guys, so thank
you so much for being good to usand working so collaboratively
with us.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves.
Can you explain to me what doesVertical Beverage Group do?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So when I started Vertical, what we do is we
provide fractional services toearly stage or startup beverage
brands.
Because when I was at BlueChair, it just it was so
expensive.
Because when I was at BlueChair, it just it was so
expensive.
It really it started aroundsales because, you know, we had
16, 17 sales reps but we wereonly one brand setting on that
(06:52):
infrastructure.
So I had started approachingour board of directors like 2000
and I guess 2020, 2019, maybeabout bringing on some other
brands to share the cost of theinfrastructure.
And because I had a vodka brandthat was willing to give us a
(07:16):
service fee plus equity and theykept rejecting it.
Well, with the trends going theway they are in beverage
alcohol right now, I just feltlike this service model was more
important now than ever.
But not just sales, but alsoaccounting, supply chain
management, even productdevelopment, creative design.
So when we built out Vertical,the goal was to be able to
(07:38):
provide service to early stagestartup brands at a fraction of
the cost but give them access toreally talented people that
have the experience in buildingbrands.
So that's the rationale.
And then, jimmy, to add on tothat, the long-term kind of
objective is for us to have ourown brands.
So once we had theinfrastructure in place, we
(08:01):
began developing our first brand, which we recently just rolled
out, which is the Don't Be thatDude Delta 9 THC brand in the
Gummys and Berger.
So that's what.
That's kind of Cliff Notesversion of what we're doing here
.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And was there.
Is there like a direct throughline that led you from Blue
Chair Bay Rum and your rest ofyour experience into this?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So when I was with Blue Chair like without going
into a lot of the details, itjust I'd gotten to a point in
time where it was just time fora change.
You know like I'd worked withBlue Chair for 10 years
Originally I'd planned aboutfive years and and don't get me
wrong it was great.
I loved the time I was there,learned a ton.
(08:43):
But really what I wanted is Ialso wanted to be a part of a
company that was employee-owned.
So when we set up Vertical and Iknew that this was maybe going
to be my last kind of long-termgig, my wife honestly kind of
helped influence it, becausewhenever we were talking I had
accepted a job as a presidentfor a startup orthopedic company
(09:06):
that I really knew that Ididn't want, I wasn't bought
into it, let me just say it thatway.
And she asked me she said doyou think that's something
you're going to be happy doing?
This could be the last job youhave that takes you to
retirement.
And at that point in time Ijust kind of took a step back
and rethought it and was likeyou know, if there's ever time
(09:27):
for me to take a little risk youknow what I mean and see if we
can make this work, let's do it.
And that's whenever I startedpicking up the phone and calling
potential brands as clients andcalling former employees as
potential partners and you know,and staff.
So here we are.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Seems like good advice for people in many stages
of careers.
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
A healthy amount of risk, I think, is always a good
thing.
So what would you say is theoverall mission with Vertical
Beverage Group Like if you couldhit forward to five to 10 years
?
Where would you like to be atwith them?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
You know right now we have.
Would you like to be at withthem?
You know right now we have.
Basically, I would split thebusiness into two.
You know, long-term vision.
Our objective is to align withbrands that we feel have
sustainable potential in marketto grow into a household brand
name for various reasons orfactors.
And then the second would be tobuild, grow into a beverage
(10:25):
portfolio company.
So we'll get pickier as we growon what brands we partner with
from a service standpoint.
And then when we you know, oncewe had the infrastructure in
place, we decided to create ourfirst brand, which was Don't Be
that Dude.
So in five years from now, Iwould love for us to have three
(10:46):
to four brands that we own agood chunk of like Don't Be that
Dude, we own 67% of.
We're creating a brand onbehalf of somebody else now
that'll sit on ourinfrastructure that we'll own
17% of, but also have a servicefee arrangement with them as
well.
So it's really just I want tobe working with really good
(11:07):
people and really good brands ina mix of those brands being
some of ours and some of others.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
For the brands out there.
You know, a good chunk of ourlistenership is sort of the
smaller startup brands.
We don't want this podcastnecessarily to just be a big
sales pitch for VerticalBeverage Group as much as we
love you, sure.
But you know, what challengesdo you see facing those newer
brands out there?
And just from your perspective,which I imagine is a bit unique
(11:36):
?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Really the biggest challenge right now there's
quite a few, but the biggest one, I feel like, is being able to
find good partners.
You know like when you're asmall brand right now, it's
already hard to get distribution, you know.
So what I think is important isfor brands is, you know, first
(11:59):
off, you need to have a plan inplace.
I think one of the biggestchallenges that I have seen with
a lot of early stage brands orstartup brands is that they
don't have a budget, they don'thave a tactical strategy in
place to execute on or measureagainst.
And I think that's challengingbecause, you know, think about
traveling from here, you know,across the US without GPS and a
(12:23):
map, you know, but you have tohave something to kind of guide
you and then, but moreimportantly, go back and measure
against and say, hey, you know,this was our initial tactical
plan that we executed, weexpected this outcome, but yet
we we got this outcome, whichwas significantly less.
So I think, you know, thenumber one challenge to kind of
(12:43):
overcome is self-controlled andthat's having a plan and a
detailed budget in place.
So I think that's step numberone.
And then, just to kind of bridgeoff of that, you know when you
talk about opening up a newmarket or entering a market, I
think a lot of people, when theyget into this space whether
it's beverage alcohol, whetherit's just beverage without the
(13:03):
alcohol is you've got a greatformula.
So you think instantly oh, youknow, I've got this great
product where there's a lot ofgreat formulas out there.
I've got this great branding,this great name, and whereas all
of that is extremely importantfor building a sustainable brand
, that's five, 10 percent of thework, I feel like you know.
(13:23):
So once you have those in place, you know that's when the real
work starts.
And I think another thing toois a lot of people want to grow
quickly, so they open up a lotof markets when they're not in a
position to effectively managethe markets that you know
they're already in.
So I think, just being smartand calculated, you know when
(13:46):
you're kind of developing andexecuting your path to market
strategy, because I think thebiggest mistake that I've seen
people make tactically isthey'll open up new markets when
they are short on cash flow, tosupplement a cash need, but not
because it strategically makessense, and so at that point
(14:07):
you're essentially expanding ona flawed strategy.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Absolutely.
I mean, you hit the nail on thehead.
We see that all the time too.
I won't even say strategy,maybe lack of strategy.
So I kind of want to segue intowhat are the top opportunities,
because I think you know thereare so many challenges out there
for brands, but there's alsosome things that are ripe right
now, depending on the categoryand how a brand kind of enters
(14:31):
the market.
So I'd love to hear from youwhat are the white spaces, what
are the areas that you'releading the brands to right now?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, I mean categorically well, and I'll
just tell you I mean the proofis in the pudding, you know.
I'll tell you what we're doing.
So where I feel theopportunities are right now is
THC and non-alc.
Probably.
You know I can't speak tonon-alc as much as I can THC.
I haven't done as much researchor you know kind of dug into
that and I think that categoryis changing quite a bit right
(15:03):
now.
You know so.
But I think those you know wedecided to enter in those spaces
because all of our serviceclients were alcohol brands and
so just in an effort of kind ofdiversifying a little bit and
just, you know, kind ofspreading risk and then from a
call it maybe a functionalopportunity or tactical is.
(15:23):
You know it feels like whensocial media, you know, became
more prevalent, that brandloyalty kind of went to the
wayside a little bit.
You know there's not as muchbrand loyalty.
So I think that leads to anopportunity for a lot of early
stage brands that have a plan,that target the market the right
way and you know, when they goto a distributor they've got to
(15:46):
rep on the ground, they've gotpoint of sale to properly
merchandise the product, they'vegot a budget to be able to
support consumer pool thingslike in-store samplings,
sponsoring local events withpouring rights.
I think those types of thingsare extremely important and I
think that there's still greatopportunities out there for
early stage brands.
You know, it's just you need tohave those boxes checked if you
(16:06):
really want to take advantageof that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That's a great point.
So one thing that I've alwaysreally admired about you, tim,
and also one of your colleagues,monica, that I've worked with a
lot, you both set big picturestrategy and you have that
roadmap and that plan, you know,not just for immediate term but
for long term.
But some things that I've heardyou both say that I think just
(16:29):
shows a lot of the ethos of yourgroup is that you know the
devil's really in the detailsand that brands can either win
or lose in the everyday.
So the small decisions, whetherthat's budget, whether that's
tactical planning, you guys areboth very hands-on with the
brands that you work with andthere's nothing really too small
for you guys to be involved in,and I have always really
(16:51):
appreciated that philosophy andit's something I've found really
unique to your group.
Since you have so muchexperience in this space, I'd
love if you could share someother pieces of wisdom that you
know you've come across, andthis could also expand beyond
BevAlc, and you know you have adeep career in CPA and
healthcare as well.
So what are some things thatlistening brands who are
(17:13):
emerging could really take toheart?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, I'm glad you brought up Monica.
She is phenomenal, she's likemy right hand.
I love her.
Yeah, she is the best marketingperson I've ever worked with.
So, yeah, I mean, listen, I'm atrue believer that you need to
operate a business efficientlyand with precision.
You know, and I'll give you anexample and I'll even tell you
(17:37):
like when I hired Monica.
Example and I'll even tell youlike when I hired Monica, just
to give you just kind of a funnybackstory is, monica was 23
years old.
I had a gentleman that was kindof forced on me in a marketing
manager role to run this summerprogram and I just got promoted
to COO.
So I just took over oversightof sales and marketing, which I
(17:57):
had zero experience in prior tothat.
And I walked to lunch and Icome back and she's standing by
the front door and she I said,hey, what are you doing?
She was like, hey, uh, have youfound anybody to fill that job?
And I said no, she was theadmin assistant to the CEO at
the time, but she had amarketing degree.
And she said, in all of ourmeetings and took notes and, uh,
I said uh, no, and I said no.
(18:18):
And she said, well, I'll do itfor you.
I said you will.
And I said have you ever doneanything like this?
She said no.
I said, well, it's not rocketscience, but it'll be a little
bit of the blind leading theblind.
Well, we walked around downtownNashville 10, 15 minutes.
We get back to the front of thebuilding and I said well, what
do you think?
She said me, if you give methis opportunity, if I have to
(18:39):
work 24 hours a day, seven daysa week to make sure it's
successful, I will.
So I said you're hired.
You know, that's incredible.
Within three months she wasabsolutely knocking it out of
the park with this program.
She calls me about 45 daysbefore the end of the summer and
said hey, if I finish thisstrong, will you let me run
(19:00):
Kenny's Tour Activation nextyear?
I said, girl, I'll keep givingyou stuff to do until you start
messing it up.
And then next thing you knowshe's my head of marketing.
But sorry for the long story.
But back to your question.
You know, around the details,like I believe it is so
important to manage building abrand at the market by market
level.
You know.
(19:20):
I think what helped me look atthings in a detailed manner in
this space specifically was myhealthcare background, because
the last job that I worked inhealthcare was a health
insurance company which isheavily regulated.
So you get audited by the state, you get audited by the
Department of Insurance, auditedby Medicare, medicaid.
And so when I started inbeverage alcohol, when I set up
(19:44):
our budgets, I set them up bymarket, by month, by skew,
because you had a differentdistributor by market, who had a
different sales team, who had adifferent state excise tax
structure, which meant yourshelf price was different, your
shelf price was different.
So what we would do is, when webuilt our budgets and our
tactical plans up, we did it atthe market level and we measured
at the market level.
(20:05):
So that, I think, is extremelyimportant.
I think that's what helped usdrive growth at Bluecher every
single year for nine straightyears leading into my departure,
you know.
So I mean I just personallybelieve that that level of
detail is needed if you reallywant to grow a brand sustainably
.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I just love that story with Monica, that is, and
I think you know you brought herinto Vertical as well, right?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
She's our chief marketing officer.
That's incredible.
She's my business partner, so,yeah, her and our head of sales
and our CFO are kind of our core.
You know our core C-suite, so,but yeah, she's great.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
That's wonderful Can we shift gears a little bit and
go back to sort of talking aboutindividual brands.
And you know I looked at yourwebsite.
The website for folks that wantto check it out is simply
verticalbeveragegroupcom.
We'll drop a link in the shownotes and just looking at the
(21:07):
sort of portfolio that you'vegot there, it makes me wonder
what you look for in a brand asfar as partnering or offering
your services or however thatthat contact works out.
Is there a volume?
Is there a revenue benchmark?
How does that work for you?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
We don't have like quantifiable things that have to
be met or factors.
You know the things that youknow.
What I would say is and youwill hear it from my team
integrity is non-negotiable.
So they have to be good humanbeings.
And let me just say this whenwe sign up a new client, what we
typically do is we have astatement of work, usually for
(21:39):
the first 90 days.
Do is we have a statement ofwork, usually for the first 90
days.
We call it our introductoryperiod, where both sides get a
chance to get to know each otherbefore we decide to partner
kind of longer term, morestructured, and that gives both
sides an opportunity to assessthe others.
But really, what we want to seeis and we meet internally
(21:59):
across our entire team, not justour C-suite, but we get
everybody in our company'sopinion on Do they feel the
branding, the juice, are topnotch?
Do we feel that it has asustainable path in market if
supported the right way?
And so those boxes need to bechecked as well.
And then you know, I would sayback to the personality traits,
(22:21):
something that is extremelyimportant that we look for are
people that are self-aware andeasy to collaborate with.
You know, when I hired ourfirst person into the company
here at Vertical that had neverworked with any of the people at
Vertical here, he was a youngman that interned with a friend
of mine's company and I wantedhim to come in and set in our
(22:43):
first meetings with HiatusTequila when they were in town.
And whenever we got done Iasked him afterwards.
I said hey, what was yourobservation from today's
meetings?
He said I love how easy it isfor you all to talk about the
hard topics.
You know, like Monica will callme and Tim, I don't think you
should have done this, this orthis.
You know you may want toconsider this approach next time
(23:04):
.
So, like we're very good, welook for criticisms before we
look for anything.
You know, how can we improve,how can we do things better?
So I think people that are thatare, you know, willing to take
criticism easy to easier tocollaborate with, because we've
had a few brands that we've hadto walk away from that.
Just, you know, we just didn'tfeel like we were moving the
(23:27):
ball forward because of, youknow, maybe some of those types
of issues related to, you know,just not being able to look in
the mirror at certain things.
You know, numbers don't lie, sowe tend to believe the numbers
more than anything.
But those are some kind ofhigher level considerations, I
guess you would say.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
That's really helpful .
So, for anyone listening,definitely encourage you, if
you're interested in workingwith Tim and his group, to
please visit the website andreach out.
And, tim, are you open toadditional partnerships like
investment groups, industry,folks, media, and, if so, what
are some of the ways that theycan partner with you?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I'll start with kind of thepartnership.
So when we set up our firstbrand Don't Be that, dude the
way that we set it up is it's a67% owned subsidiary, a vertical
, but we use 33% of the businesswas allocated.
We haven't issued all the unitsyet, but we've authorized and
(24:24):
allocated.
So we brought on threeprofessional skaters, four total
influencers on the brand sideto support brand awareness.
We partnered with a digital adagency out of New York called
AdDirectly and their CEO,stefano, and they're our digital
ad partner and also an equityholder in both our parent
(24:46):
company at the brand level andthen a company here in Nashville
called Viralish, who are what Iwould call the best in the
business when it comes to socialmedia.
You know call it tacticalplanning strategy, and so Adly,
their founder CEO, is actuallyon our board of directors as
well.
So we have partnered with, youknow, companies like that that
(25:08):
we feel bring value not just tous but to our brand partners as
well, which is actually how wegot exposure and add directly.
They were doing work for BobaPops, one of our brand partners,
and they've done a phenomenaljob, and Monica is the one that
brought that to our attention,and so now it's kind of
switching gears to theinvestment side.
So we have only raised capitalfrom friends and family in our
(25:33):
first round.
We just opened up another roundso we're raising $500,000 via
convertible debt at the verticallevel to help support expanding
our inventory for Don't Be thatDude.
And then also some development.
We're working on anon-alcoholic spirit brand
called Society del Sol, whichstands for Society of the Sun.
So we'll roll out in Januarywith a non-alcoholic tequila
(25:57):
brand and two RTDs, a Paloma anda Margarita.
So those aren't in market yet,but we just opened up around and
I'm just now beginning to haveinvestor meetings for this
second round.
So that's what we've got goingon at the moment.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Between the THC, the non-ALC, the RTD focus.
It seems like you're quiteforward looking.
It seems like you've got yourfinger on the pulse of trends
that are happening.
Obviously, we keep seeing allthis research showing that Gen Z
is not drinking as much astheir elder cohorts.
I want people to be able tocheck out this podcast in 10
(26:34):
years and go boy, that TimHouston crystal ball, that guy.
Give us a 10-year prediction.
What's happening in the markets?
What is Gen Alpha's consumptionhabits going to be?
How are they going to shake upthe industry?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Well, I'll tell you my opinion for what it's worth.
So let me just give you so.
Before I got into beveragealcohol, I was in the public
company world for about fouryears.
So you know what I would sayabout what that environment
teaches you is is you can have agreat quarter and you can go
present it, and investors careabout those results for about
(27:07):
five minutes, and then what theycare about is what are you
doing next?
And so when we, what we look atis always forward looking and
we listen to the trendsbasically, and we listen to the
trends basically.
And so what I would say is isI've been a little surprised at
how fast, you know, like thetrends have occurred in the last
12 to 18 months.
(27:28):
But then I think when you lookback, you know I don't know a
hundred percent what's going tohappen, jimmy, but I will say
this I think that the youngeraudience live a different life
than we did.
Whenever I was that age, youknow like when I was walking
around college campus on aSaturday morning, I would have a
(27:49):
bottle of Coca-Cola in one handand a bottle of Seagram 7 in
the other.
You know, we just drank.
That's how we did it growing up.
But I think the one thing thatI think is also disrupting it
materially is the rise of THCbeverages.
Because I quit consuminganything in my lungs, you know,
I smoked cigarettes for 27 yearsbut I quit putting anything in
(28:10):
my lungs because my left lungcollapsed three times in the
last year.
But I've been a THC consumer forquite some time, for quite some
time, and so what I think theTHC beverages are doing is it's
giving consumers an opportunityto try THC in a format that they
historically have not beencomfortable with, that's popular
(28:30):
in a social setting.
So, you know, sure you could goget gummies from a dispensary
if you like, if you didn't wantto smoke, but you're not going
to go out and sit at a bar withpeople and pop a gummy every
three hours, you know, or twohours.
So I think the drinking, youknow, merging THC with beverages
, I think give consumers anotheroption.
(28:51):
That has a mood altering effectthat they can, you know, grab
during the week, maybe that whenthey were drinking before, you
know.
So I just think that there isjust a change in some behavior
patterns back to pre COVID, andthen I think the younger
audiences are, you know, maybeeven trial in the THC instead of
the alcohol just because of the.
(29:13):
You know less hangovers andthings like that.
Uh sleep better.
I think that's probably themost common uh thing that I've
heard from people is is that THCis a great sleep aid.
I think that's probably themost common thing that I've
heard from people is that THC isa great sleep aid and that's
honestly what I use it the mostfor.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Time for our fun final question that we ask every
guest what is your favorite?
We'll call it adult beverage.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Adult beverage so today.
Well, so I'm going to give youtwo, because one's ours, it's
our 30 milligram lemon limeDon't be that dude Beverage is
probably what I'll drink.
I so with THC.
In Tennessee they just passed alaw where the most THC you can
put in a can come one one is 30milligrams.
I usually will drink one 50milligram beverage before I go
(29:59):
to bed at night, about an hour,hour and a half.
So I'll probably drink two ofthose, one to two, and then the
beverage that I would drinkthat's not ours is like, if it's
a true cocktail, because it'swhat sparked the idea of doing a
non-out spirit is Ritual.
Have you heard of Ritual, thenon-out brand?
I love Ritual.
(30:20):
Okay, so Ritual's.
I've only tried the tequila,their tequila with.
I use Zing Zang's Margarita Mixis what I do, but that's if I'm
going to make a cocktail.
That's probably what I wouldmake because that's what
triggered this idea for thenon-out.
But I was blown away at howclose to a margarita that it
(30:41):
tasted.
It's the first time I hadsomething that reminded me of a
cocktail.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Thank you so much for your time, Tim Houston.
The website once again isverticalbeveragegroupcom.
We'll drop a link in the shownotes for that.
Tim, thanks so much forstopping by.
Thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, thank you all so much for having me, and you
all have a great rest of yourday.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Thank you Tim.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
And thank you listeners for joining us on the
MHW Mark podcast and thanksagain to Bridget McCabe for
joining me in hosting.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Thanks always, Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
This podcast is produced by me, Jimmy Moreland,
with booking and planningsupport by Cassidy Poe and
Bridget McCabe.
It's presented by MHW.
Find out more at mhwltdcom orconnect with MHW on LinkedIn.
Lend us a hand by subscribing,rating and reviewing this
podcast wherever you listen.
We'll be back in your feed intwo weeks.
We'll see you then, Cheers.
Welcome to the MHW Mark podcast, where we take deep
dives into various aspects ofthe alcohol industry.
My name is Jimmy Moreland.
Mhw is a US and EU beveragealcohol importer, distributor
and service provider, joining meonce again now.
Our regular host is BridgetMcCabe.
Welcome, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Thank you, Timmy.
Love being on here with you.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
So good to have you on here.
We've got a bunch of thingsgoing on industry-wise, and
we've got a good conversationtoday.
First, though, let's look atthe calendar here.
We've got something kind of funcoming up in a couple weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We do so.
Starting October 6th, barConvent Berlin, the largest
trade show for spiritsinternationally, is going to be
happening in Berlin.
Mhw does have a booth.
It's PEG 021.
And if that sounds like just ajumble of letters and numbers to
you, you can think of us as weare in the Palais on the way to
(01:00):
the food truck.
So if you are going to grab acoffee or some lunch, please
stop by the MHW booth.
We'd love to chat with youabout your US, eu and UK
distribution and importationstrategy.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And for listeners.
We will put that information inthe show notes and you can put
faces to all the people you'vebeen listening to on the MHW
Mark podcast.
You can go meet your heroeslive in person if you are at Bar
Convent Berlin.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
You always hype us up .
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I'm still waiting for my ticket.
I haven't gotten my.
You know where are they goingto be putting me up.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I know I'm just waiting for them to open up a
trade show in Maine because wehave our USA Wine West folks.
A lot of them are up there.
I love Maine.
I will take any reason to govisit your beautiful state, so
just need to encourage some ofthe trade organizations to pop
up there.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay, you know, I'll travel you know, my per diem.
It's pretty reasonable.
You know I'll do whatever, I'ma team player here, okay Well
love it.
Moving on to today'sconversation, we have a really
fun guest, really goodconversation.
He sort of fills kind of aninteresting range of like niche
(02:13):
services that sort of add up toa nice holistic package of
services for brands Ford.
It's so funny on this, on thispodcast, that because we're on
video and, you know, mostly onsocial media we share just the
audio clips or maybe you'll seejust a little snippet of video,
but as we are in the momenttalking we get to see the big
(02:36):
view of people's backgrounds andour guest and I got sort of
chatting about some of our, youknow, extracurricular activities
.
And it turns out, dear listener, I recently turned 40 and our
guest is approaching 50 yearsold.
But we one hobby that we sharein common is skateboarding.
As much as our knees and hipsprotest, we still are holding on
(03:00):
strong and we're skate or dieman, we're skate or die.
So that was kind of funny.
But I promise here ends theskateboarding chat, even though
we did plenty of that.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And his brand really incorporates.
You know the ethos and theculture behind skater culture,
so I think you can kind ofexplore and get into that story
a bit more as well.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yes, there is a through line.
There is a point to me bringingthat up because it does come in
later in the conversation andit all sort of it all makes
sense in the context of thebrand story.
But we'll stop yapping here andlet our guests speak for
themselves, and with that let'sjump into it.
Our guest today is the founderof Vertical Beverage Group and
has over a decade of executiveexperience in the beverage
(03:43):
alcohol business.
Welcome to the show, TimHouston.
Hello, hello, it's great tohave you on here, Tim.
Can you give us just a littlebit more background on you?
I mentioned Vertical BeverageGroup.
Can you tell us about what ledyou to founding the Vertical
Beverage Group and just moreyour background in the beverage
(04:03):
industry here?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So I'm a CPA by trade .
So from a background, educationstandpoint, and I worked in
public accounting for abouteight years and then went into
healthcare for about you know,another six years and the
company I was working at at thetime, in 2000, and it was early
2012, got acquired by Cigna.
So at that point I startedinterviewing and I accepted my
(04:27):
first job in beverage alcoholwith a brand called Popcorn
Sutton Distilling and it was asmall startup, moonshine brand.
I was there for 14 months andthen I took a position with Blue
Chair Bay Rum for about adecade and then left Blue Chair
in June of 2023 and decided tostart vertical, and our official
(04:48):
call it born on date is Januaryof 2024 is when we officially
started 26th, I believe.
So we're this.
2025 is actually our first fullyear.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I know, but I would love our listeners to know in
what capacity and how longyou've been working with MHW.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
When I was with Blue Chair we were with MHW and that
was my introduction with MHW andJohn Beaudet, the former
president of MHW, sat on ourboard.
So I got familiar and have agreat relationship with John.
And then we have a couple ofbrands now at Vertical that work
with MHW Hyatt is tequila,brinley Shipwreck Rum and Boba
(05:32):
Pops is the most recent one.
I believe so.
But yeah, so we've worked withMHW for quite some time now, but
what I think MHW really is aneed for brands that are wanting
to scale, that you know, ifyou're a brand and you don't
have your own productionfacility like you don't have a
distillery and a warehouse andall that like to me the only way
(05:53):
that you're going to be able toscale efficiently is with a
partner like MHW and I.
I've been working with you guysfor over 12 years and I know
you, I trust you, I love whattype of humans you all are.
You know all of that stuffmatters to me, like, and I'm
picky, so you know we loveworking with you too, Tim.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I think it's pretty universal across the team here
and your whole team really.
I always hear just excellentthings about you guys, so thank
you so much for being good to usand working so collaboratively
with us.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves.
Can you explain to me what doesVertical Beverage Group do?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So when I started Vertical, what we do is we
provide fractional services toearly stage or startup beverage
brands.
Because when I was at BlueChair, it just it was so
expensive.
Because when I was at BlueChair, it just it was so
expensive.
It really it started aroundsales because, you know, we had
16, 17 sales reps but we wereonly one brand setting on that
(06:52):
infrastructure.
So I had started approachingour board of directors like 2000
and I guess 2020, 2019, maybeabout bringing on some other
brands to share the cost of theinfrastructure.
And because I had a vodka brandthat was willing to give us a
(07:16):
service fee plus equity and theykept rejecting it.
Well, with the trends going theway they are in beverage
alcohol right now, I just feltlike this service model was more
important now than ever.
But not just sales, but alsoaccounting, supply chain
management, even productdevelopment, creative design.
So when we built out Vertical,the goal was to be able to
(07:38):
provide service to early stagestartup brands at a fraction of
the cost but give them access toreally talented people that
have the experience in buildingbrands.
So that's the rationale.
And then, jimmy, to add on tothat, the long-term kind of
objective is for us to have ourown brands.
So once we had theinfrastructure in place, we
(08:01):
began developing our first brand, which we recently just rolled
out, which is the Don't Be thatDude Delta 9 THC brand in the
Gummys and Berger.
So that's what.
That's kind of Cliff Notesversion of what we're doing here
.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And was there.
Is there like a direct throughline that led you from Blue
Chair Bay Rum and your rest ofyour experience into this?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So when I was with Blue Chair like without going
into a lot of the details, itjust I'd gotten to a point in
time where it was just time fora change.
You know like I'd worked withBlue Chair for 10 years
Originally I'd planned aboutfive years and and don't get me
wrong it was great.
I loved the time I was there,learned a ton.
(08:43):
But really what I wanted is Ialso wanted to be a part of a
company that was employee-owned.
So when we set up Vertical and Iknew that this was maybe going
to be my last kind of long-termgig, my wife honestly kind of
helped influence it, becausewhenever we were talking I had
accepted a job as a presidentfor a startup orthopedic company
(09:06):
that I really knew that Ididn't want, I wasn't bought
into it, let me just say it thatway.
And she asked me she said doyou think that's something
you're going to be happy doing?
This could be the last job youhave that takes you to
retirement.
And at that point in time Ijust kind of took a step back
and rethought it and was likeyou know, if there's ever time
(09:27):
for me to take a little risk youknow what I mean and see if we
can make this work, let's do it.
And that's whenever I startedpicking up the phone and calling
potential brands as clients andcalling former employees as
potential partners and you know,and staff.
So here we are.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Seems like good advice for people in many stages
of careers.
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
A healthy amount of risk, I think, is always a good
thing.
So what would you say is theoverall mission with Vertical
Beverage Group Like if you couldhit forward to five to 10 years
?
Where would you like to be atwith them?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
You know right now we have.
Would you like to be at withthem?
You know right now we have.
Basically, I would split thebusiness into two.
You know, long-term vision.
Our objective is to align withbrands that we feel have
sustainable potential in marketto grow into a household brand
name for various reasons orfactors.
And then the second would be tobuild, grow into a beverage
(10:25):
portfolio company.
So we'll get pickier as we growon what brands we partner with
from a service standpoint.
And then when we you know, oncewe had the infrastructure in
place, we decided to create ourfirst brand, which was Don't Be
that Dude.
So in five years from now, Iwould love for us to have three
(10:46):
to four brands that we own agood chunk of like Don't Be that
Dude, we own 67% of.
We're creating a brand onbehalf of somebody else now
that'll sit on ourinfrastructure that we'll own
17% of, but also have a servicefee arrangement with them as
well.
So it's really just I want tobe working with really good
(11:07):
people and really good brands ina mix of those brands being
some of ours and some of others.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
For the brands out there.
You know, a good chunk of ourlistenership is sort of the
smaller startup brands.
We don't want this podcastnecessarily to just be a big
sales pitch for VerticalBeverage Group as much as we
love you, sure.
But you know, what challengesdo you see facing those newer
brands out there?
And just from your perspective,which I imagine is a bit unique
(11:36):
?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Really the biggest challenge right now there's
quite a few, but the biggest one, I feel like, is being able to
find good partners.
You know like when you're asmall brand right now, it's
already hard to get distribution, you know.
So what I think is important isfor brands is, you know, first
(11:59):
off, you need to have a plan inplace.
I think one of the biggestchallenges that I have seen with
a lot of early stage brands orstartup brands is that they
don't have a budget, they don'thave a tactical strategy in
place to execute on or measureagainst.
And I think that's challengingbecause, you know, think about
traveling from here, you know,across the US without GPS and a
(12:23):
map, you know, but you have tohave something to kind of guide
you and then, but moreimportantly, go back and measure
against and say, hey, you know,this was our initial tactical
plan that we executed, weexpected this outcome, but yet
we we got this outcome, whichwas significantly less.
So I think, you know, thenumber one challenge to kind of
(12:43):
overcome is self-controlled andthat's having a plan and a
detailed budget in place.
So I think that's step numberone.
And then, just to kind of bridgeoff of that, you know when you
talk about opening up a newmarket or entering a market, I
think a lot of people, when theyget into this space whether
it's beverage alcohol, whetherit's just beverage without the
(13:03):
alcohol is you've got a greatformula.
So you think instantly oh, youknow, I've got this great
product where there's a lot ofgreat formulas out there.
I've got this great branding,this great name, and whereas all
of that is extremely importantfor building a sustainable brand
, that's five, 10 percent of thework, I feel like you know.
(13:23):
So once you have those in place, you know that's when the real
work starts.
And I think another thing toois a lot of people want to grow
quickly, so they open up a lotof markets when they're not in a
position to effectively managethe markets that you know
they're already in.
So I think, just being smartand calculated, you know when
(13:46):
you're kind of developing andexecuting your path to market
strategy, because I think thebiggest mistake that I've seen
people make tactically isthey'll open up new markets when
they are short on cash flow, tosupplement a cash need, but not
because it strategically makessense, and so at that point
(14:07):
you're essentially expanding ona flawed strategy.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Absolutely.
I mean, you hit the nail on thehead.
We see that all the time too.
I won't even say strategy,maybe lack of strategy.
So I kind of want to segue intowhat are the top opportunities,
because I think you know thereare so many challenges out there
for brands, but there's alsosome things that are ripe right
now, depending on the categoryand how a brand kind of enters
(14:31):
the market.
So I'd love to hear from youwhat are the white spaces, what
are the areas that you'releading the brands to right now?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, I mean categorically well, and I'll
just tell you I mean the proofis in the pudding, you know.
I'll tell you what we're doing.
So where I feel theopportunities are right now is
THC and non-alc.
Probably.
You know I can't speak tonon-alc as much as I can THC.
I haven't done as much researchor you know kind of dug into
that and I think that categoryis changing quite a bit right
(15:03):
now.
You know so.
But I think those you know wedecided to enter in those spaces
because all of our serviceclients were alcohol brands and
so just in an effort of kind ofdiversifying a little bit and
just, you know, kind ofspreading risk and then from a
call it maybe a functionalopportunity or tactical is.
(15:23):
You know it feels like whensocial media, you know, became
more prevalent, that brandloyalty kind of went to the
wayside a little bit.
You know there's not as muchbrand loyalty.
So I think that leads to anopportunity for a lot of early
stage brands that have a plan,that target the market the right
way and you know, when they goto a distributor they've got to
(15:46):
rep on the ground, they've gotpoint of sale to properly
merchandise the product, they'vegot a budget to be able to
support consumer pool thingslike in-store samplings,
sponsoring local events withpouring rights.
I think those types of thingsare extremely important and I
think that there's still greatopportunities out there for
early stage brands.
You know, it's just you need tohave those boxes checked if you
(16:06):
really want to take advantageof that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That's a great point.
So one thing that I've alwaysreally admired about you, tim,
and also one of your colleagues,monica, that I've worked with a
lot, you both set big picturestrategy and you have that
roadmap and that plan, you know,not just for immediate term but
for long term.
But some things that I've heardyou both say that I think just
(16:29):
shows a lot of the ethos of yourgroup is that you know the
devil's really in the detailsand that brands can either win
or lose in the everyday.
So the small decisions, whetherthat's budget, whether that's
tactical planning, you guys areboth very hands-on with the
brands that you work with andthere's nothing really too small
for you guys to be involved in,and I have always really
(16:51):
appreciated that philosophy andit's something I've found really
unique to your group.
Since you have so muchexperience in this space, I'd
love if you could share someother pieces of wisdom that you
know you've come across, andthis could also expand beyond
BevAlc, and you know you have adeep career in CPA and
healthcare as well.
So what are some things thatlistening brands who are
(17:13):
emerging could really take toheart?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, I'm glad you brought up Monica.
She is phenomenal, she's likemy right hand.
I love her.
Yeah, she is the best marketingperson I've ever worked with.
So, yeah, I mean, listen, I'm atrue believer that you need to
operate a business efficientlyand with precision.
You know, and I'll give you anexample and I'll even tell you
(17:37):
like when I hired Monica.
Example and I'll even tell youlike when I hired Monica, just
to give you just kind of a funnybackstory is, monica was 23
years old.
I had a gentleman that was kindof forced on me in a marketing
manager role to run this summerprogram and I just got promoted
to COO.
So I just took over oversightof sales and marketing, which I
(17:57):
had zero experience in prior tothat.
And I walked to lunch and Icome back and she's standing by
the front door and she I said,hey, what are you doing?
She was like, hey, uh, have youfound anybody to fill that job?
And I said no, she was theadmin assistant to the CEO at
the time, but she had amarketing degree.
And she said, in all of ourmeetings and took notes and, uh,
I said uh, no, and I said no.
(18:18):
And she said, well, I'll do itfor you.
I said you will.
And I said have you ever doneanything like this?
She said no.
I said, well, it's not rocketscience, but it'll be a little
bit of the blind leading theblind.
Well, we walked around downtownNashville 10, 15 minutes.
We get back to the front of thebuilding and I said well, what
do you think?
She said me, if you give methis opportunity, if I have to
(18:39):
work 24 hours a day, seven daysa week to make sure it's
successful, I will.
So I said you're hired.
You know, that's incredible.
Within three months she wasabsolutely knocking it out of
the park with this program.
She calls me about 45 daysbefore the end of the summer and
said hey, if I finish thisstrong, will you let me run
(19:00):
Kenny's Tour Activation nextyear?
I said, girl, I'll keep givingyou stuff to do until you start
messing it up.
And then next thing you knowshe's my head of marketing.
But sorry for the long story.
But back to your question.
You know, around the details,like I believe it is so
important to manage building abrand at the market by market
level.
You know.
(19:20):
I think what helped me look atthings in a detailed manner in
this space specifically was myhealthcare background, because
the last job that I worked inhealthcare was a health
insurance company which isheavily regulated.
So you get audited by the state, you get audited by the
Department of Insurance, auditedby Medicare, medicaid.
And so when I started inbeverage alcohol, when I set up
(19:44):
our budgets, I set them up bymarket, by month, by skew,
because you had a differentdistributor by market, who had a
different sales team, who had adifferent state excise tax
structure, which meant yourshelf price was different, your
shelf price was different.
So what we would do is, when webuilt our budgets and our
tactical plans up, we did it atthe market level and we measured
at the market level.
(20:05):
So that, I think, is extremelyimportant.
I think that's what helped usdrive growth at Bluecher every
single year for nine straightyears leading into my departure,
you know.
So I mean I just personallybelieve that that level of
detail is needed if you reallywant to grow a brand sustainably
.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I just love that story with Monica, that is, and
I think you know you brought herinto Vertical as well, right?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
She's our chief marketing officer.
That's incredible.
She's my business partner, so,yeah, her and our head of sales
and our CFO are kind of our core.
You know our core C-suite, so,but yeah, she's great.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
That's wonderful Can we shift gears a little bit and
go back to sort of talking aboutindividual brands.
And you know I looked at yourwebsite.
The website for folks that wantto check it out is simply
verticalbeveragegroupcom.
We'll drop a link in the shownotes and just looking at the
(21:07):
sort of portfolio that you'vegot there, it makes me wonder
what you look for in a brand asfar as partnering or offering
your services or however thatthat contact works out.
Is there a volume?
Is there a revenue benchmark?
How does that work for you?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
We don't have like quantifiable things that have to
be met or factors.
You know the things that youknow.
What I would say is and youwill hear it from my team
integrity is non-negotiable.
So they have to be good humanbeings.
And let me just say this whenwe sign up a new client, what we
typically do is we have astatement of work, usually for
(21:39):
the first 90 days.
Do is we have a statement ofwork, usually for the first 90
days.
We call it our introductoryperiod, where both sides get a
chance to get to know each otherbefore we decide to partner
kind of longer term, morestructured, and that gives both
sides an opportunity to assessthe others.
But really, what we want to seeis and we meet internally
(21:59):
across our entire team, not justour C-suite, but we get
everybody in our company'sopinion on Do they feel the
branding, the juice, are topnotch?
Do we feel that it has asustainable path in market if
supported the right way?
And so those boxes need to bechecked as well.
And then you know, I would sayback to the personality traits,
(22:21):
something that is extremelyimportant that we look for are
people that are self-aware andeasy to collaborate with.
You know, when I hired ourfirst person into the company
here at Vertical that had neverworked with any of the people at
Vertical here, he was a youngman that interned with a friend
of mine's company and I wantedhim to come in and set in our
(22:43):
first meetings with HiatusTequila when they were in town.
And whenever we got done Iasked him afterwards.
I said hey, what was yourobservation from today's
meetings?
He said I love how easy it isfor you all to talk about the
hard topics.
You know, like Monica will callme and Tim, I don't think you
should have done this, this orthis.
You know you may want toconsider this approach next time
(23:04):
.
So, like we're very good, welook for criticisms before we
look for anything.
You know, how can we improve,how can we do things better?
So I think people that are thatare, you know, willing to take
criticism easy to easier tocollaborate with, because we've
had a few brands that we've hadto walk away from that.
Just, you know, we just didn'tfeel like we were moving the
(23:27):
ball forward because of, youknow, maybe some of those types
of issues related to, you know,just not being able to look in
the mirror at certain things.
You know, numbers don't lie, sowe tend to believe the numbers
more than anything.
But those are some kind ofhigher level considerations, I
guess you would say.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
That's really helpful .
So, for anyone listening,definitely encourage you, if
you're interested in workingwith Tim and his group, to
please visit the website andreach out.
And, tim, are you open toadditional partnerships like
investment groups, industry,folks, media, and, if so, what
are some of the ways that theycan partner with you?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I'll start with kind of thepartnership.
So when we set up our firstbrand Don't Be that, dude the
way that we set it up is it's a67% owned subsidiary, a vertical
, but we use 33% of the businesswas allocated.
We haven't issued all the unitsyet, but we've authorized and
(24:24):
allocated.
So we brought on threeprofessional skaters, four total
influencers on the brand sideto support brand awareness.
We partnered with a digital adagency out of New York called
AdDirectly and their CEO,stefano, and they're our digital
ad partner and also an equityholder in both our parent
(24:46):
company at the brand level andthen a company here in Nashville
called Viralish, who are what Iwould call the best in the
business when it comes to socialmedia.
You know call it tacticalplanning strategy, and so Adly,
their founder CEO, is actuallyon our board of directors as
well.
So we have partnered with, youknow, companies like that that
(25:08):
we feel bring value not just tous but to our brand partners as
well, which is actually how wegot exposure and add directly.
They were doing work for BobaPops, one of our brand partners,
and they've done a phenomenaljob, and Monica is the one that
brought that to our attention,and so now it's kind of
switching gears to theinvestment side.
So we have only raised capitalfrom friends and family in our
(25:33):
first round.
We just opened up another roundso we're raising $500,000 via
convertible debt at the verticallevel to help support expanding
our inventory for Don't Be thatDude.
And then also some development.
We're working on anon-alcoholic spirit brand
called Society del Sol, whichstands for Society of the Sun.
So we'll roll out in Januarywith a non-alcoholic tequila
(25:57):
brand and two RTDs, a Paloma anda Margarita.
So those aren't in market yet,but we just opened up around and
I'm just now beginning to haveinvestor meetings for this
second round.
So that's what we've got goingon at the moment.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Between the THC, the non-ALC, the RTD focus.
It seems like you're quiteforward looking.
It seems like you've got yourfinger on the pulse of trends
that are happening.
Obviously, we keep seeing allthis research showing that Gen Z
is not drinking as much astheir elder cohorts.
I want people to be able tocheck out this podcast in 10
(26:34):
years and go boy, that TimHouston crystal ball, that guy.
Give us a 10-year prediction.
What's happening in the markets?
What is Gen Alpha's consumptionhabits going to be?
How are they going to shake upthe industry?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Well, I'll tell you my opinion for what it's worth.
So let me just give you so.
Before I got into beveragealcohol, I was in the public
company world for about fouryears.
So you know what I would sayabout what that environment
teaches you is is you can have agreat quarter and you can go
present it, and investors careabout those results for about
(27:07):
five minutes, and then what theycare about is what are you
doing next?
And so when we, what we look atis always forward looking and
we listen to the trendsbasically, and we listen to the
trends basically.
And so what I would say is isI've been a little surprised at
how fast, you know, like thetrends have occurred in the last
12 to 18 months.
(27:28):
But then I think when you lookback, you know I don't know a
hundred percent what's going tohappen, jimmy, but I will say
this I think that the youngeraudience live a different life
than we did.
Whenever I was that age, youknow like when I was walking
around college campus on aSaturday morning, I would have a
(27:49):
bottle of Coca-Cola in one handand a bottle of Seagram 7 in
the other.
You know, we just drank.
That's how we did it growing up.
But I think the one thing thatI think is also disrupting it
materially is the rise of THCbeverages.
Because I quit consuminganything in my lungs, you know,
I smoked cigarettes for 27 yearsbut I quit putting anything in
(28:10):
my lungs because my left lungcollapsed three times in the
last year.
But I've been a THC consumer forquite some time, for quite some
time, and so what I think theTHC beverages are doing is it's
giving consumers an opportunityto try THC in a format that they
historically have not beencomfortable with, that's popular
(28:30):
in a social setting.
So, you know, sure you could goget gummies from a dispensary
if you like, if you didn't wantto smoke, but you're not going
to go out and sit at a bar withpeople and pop a gummy every
three hours, you know, or twohours.
So I think the drinking, youknow, merging THC with beverages
, I think give consumers anotheroption.
(28:51):
That has a mood altering effectthat they can, you know, grab
during the week, maybe that whenthey were drinking before, you
know.
So I just think that there isjust a change in some behavior
patterns back to pre COVID, andthen I think the younger
audiences are, you know, maybeeven trial in the THC instead of
the alcohol just because of the.
(29:13):
You know less hangovers andthings like that.
Uh sleep better.
I think that's probably themost common uh thing that I've
heard from people is is that THCis a great sleep aid.
I think that's probably themost common thing that I've
heard from people is that THC isa great sleep aid and that's
honestly what I use it the mostfor.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Time for our fun final question that we ask every
guest what is your favorite?
We'll call it adult beverage.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Adult beverage so today.
Well, so I'm going to give youtwo, because one's ours, it's
our 30 milligram lemon limeDon't be that dude Beverage is
probably what I'll drink.
I so with THC.
In Tennessee they just passed alaw where the most THC you can
put in a can come one one is 30milligrams.
I usually will drink one 50milligram beverage before I go
(29:59):
to bed at night, about an hour,hour and a half.
So I'll probably drink two ofthose, one to two, and then the
beverage that I would drinkthat's not ours is like, if it's
a true cocktail, because it'swhat sparked the idea of doing a
non-out spirit is Ritual.
Have you heard of Ritual, thenon-out brand?
I love Ritual.
(30:20):
Okay, so Ritual's.
I've only tried the tequila,their tequila with.
I use Zing Zang's Margarita Mixis what I do, but that's if I'm
going to make a cocktail.
That's probably what I wouldmake because that's what
triggered this idea for thenon-out.
But I was blown away at howclose to a margarita that it
(30:41):
tasted.
It's the first time I hadsomething that reminded me of a
cocktail.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Thank you so much for your time, Tim Houston.
The website once again isverticalbeveragegroupcom.
We'll drop a link in the shownotes for that.
Tim, thanks so much forstopping by.
Thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, thank you all so much for having me, and you
all have a great rest of yourday.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Thank you Tim.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
And thank you listeners for joining us on the
MHW Mark podcast and thanksagain to Bridget McCabe for
joining me in hosting.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Thanks always, Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
This podcast is produced by me, Jimmy Moreland,
with booking and planningsupport by Cassidy Poe and
Bridget McCabe.
It's presented by MHW.
Find out more at mhwltdcom orconnect with MHW on LinkedIn.
Lend us a hand by subscribing,rating and reviewing this
podcast wherever you listen.
We'll be back in your feed intwo weeks.
We'll see you then, Cheers.
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