BMMS Talks To Troy Aikman

NFL Legend Troy Aikam Joins Us To Talk About His New Beer Eight Elite Lager!!!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, hey, Troy's here, I'm on it and sit down.
Man. It's you've been on thejunket, haven't you just running around?
Yeah? Yeah, talking beer,talking beer. Troygman's in the studio with
this to say, just to staywith that, like you for what two
years when you're not focused on doingfootball and your other entities. This,

(00:20):
you're grinding out to promote this beermore than I don't I think I've seen
any beverage product, food introduction.I don't know if there's a precedent set
where someone's been an owner has beenthis all in Well, thank you,
Yeah, no, I've I've workedhard. It's been two plus years.
Really going back even before that,it's been four years because it took two

(00:41):
years to come up with the recipeand a lot of work involved in that.
But yeah, you know, it'sI'm glad you said that. I'm
proud that you said that, quitehonestly, because this beer was really made
for the people who put in thework and then want a pause at the
end of a week and celebrate whateverachievements they had or whatever those moments are

(01:02):
with their family and friends. Andbut it honors the people who wake up
each morning with a purpose and apassion to be the best they can be
at whatever it is that they chooseto be great at. And those are
the people who have always inspired me. So for you to say that about
me is a real compliment. Well, I love marketing, so to get
in there and see so, Idon't think I've seen it with anything,

(01:23):
and someone that has accomplished so muchdoesn't need to do that. There's plus.
I see your your beer get putinto the category of celebrity beer.
Yeah, but I don't think that'sfair because that's not what this is.
Yes, you are famous, butthat's this has been more of a focused
project. I feel like I feellike you've been in our meetings or something

(01:44):
because because because I don't feel likeit's a celebrity back beer either, I
just don't, you know, Ifeel like it's something out of necessity.
I I I you know, Iwork hard. I'm mindful of what I
put in my body. People whoknow me they think I'm obsessed with it,
and I probably am. I'm oneof those bio hackers you're hearing all
about. Do a lot of stuffeach day, but I also enjoy beer,

(02:07):
and I wanted to make a beerthat was better for you, and
I didn't feel there was anything onthe market that offered that, and that's
how this came about. And sowhat makes it great is that one it
tastes fantastic. That's first and foremost. If it didn't taste good, nothing
else would matter. But it's ninetycalories, two point six carbs, one
hundred percent organic grains, and wedon't add any syrup, sugar, sweeteners,

(02:30):
corn rice, which all the otherbeers do. So it truly is
This isn't a marketing gimmick. Ittruly is a better for you beer.
It's the cleanest beer available, andeight beers it's available, I mean quick
trip resers, your favorite convenience store, esport in your restaurant and bar.
That's the best way. But peopledon't know this beer has been a part

(02:51):
of your life, even when youplayed football. Yeah, it had,
and it was a stacker in highschool, you know, kids are I
came around to it late, butI've always enjoyed beer. But when I
was transferring from Oklahoma to Ucla thesummer of eighty five or eighty six,
I guess it was I worked ata beer distributorship here in Tulsa, and

(03:14):
that was my first introduction into thebeer business. And then over the years
did some national campaigns, became closefriends with a family and Dallas that has
a big distributorship and did a lotwith them, and and so yeah,
I've always enjoyed it. And youknow, I then wanted to make something
that that I could feel good aboutthat was cleaner because everything else that everything

(03:38):
else that I do is really cleanthat I put in my body? Can
you because I read this online,so you can tell me if this is
true or not? Is eight Beer? Is it made with Jim Kelly's tears?
Is that true? Probably shouldn't usethat as a market Yeah, you
know, maybe maybe you know,those were tough, those were tough times.

(04:00):
And not to segue off of it, but I did watch the documentary
on those bills just last week.Yeah, I watched it and it was
fascinating as someone who you know,has a connection to those teams, and
Jim Kelly's a dear friend of mine. But yeah, they went through a
lot and they could have used someeight Beer back in the day when they
were losing some of those games,I mean football and beer. They just

(04:23):
go hand in hand. You alsohave interest in other things that racing baseball,
that all go with drinking beer.When in the progression of what am
I going to do after football,did you go, I want to make
a beer light go off in yourhead? You know that happened right around
COVID quite honestly, that people werelocked up at their homes. I know

(04:46):
they were doing zoom cocktail parties andthings like that. I was not.
I had decided during that stretch thatI knew people were going to go one
of two ways, and I decidedthat I was already in shape, always
worked out, but I decided thatI was just going to you know,
you can always do a little better. So I decided I'm gonna ratchet it
up and just be as intense aboutthis as I can be and come out

(05:06):
of this and the best shape mylife. And during that process just began
thinking that, you know, witheveryone drinking more than they ever have,
I just felt like it was imperativeto be able to come up with a
product like eight that was better foryou. And that's really was the impetus

(05:28):
behind it. And it's been inTexas for two years. It's done really
well. We've got great momentum andOklahoma's been fantastic. I mean, it's
a natural for it to be inOklahoma because one geographically, but then also
just with my ties here to thestate, and this state means so much
to me because when I moved hereat the age of twelve, I went
from being a city kid outside workingon a working farm and learned a lot,

(05:54):
learned the value of hard work.It shaped who I am, It
shaped my beliefs, and you getout of something to put into it.
And so I wanted to honor thosepeople with this beer because those are the
ones who have always inspired me.And it's fitting that it's here in Oklahoma
now because this state, in myopinion, is made up of a lot
of hard working people that put inan honest day's work and for those that

(06:17):
enjoy beer and enjoy it. Wheneveryou enjoy your beer and feel good about
it. The other thing I likeabout the Ape Beer is that what you
guys are doing from a brand perspective, is you said two years ago you
didn't rush it, a money grabwould have been put it in Oklahoma right
away, and you know, putit in southern California right away. And
all those put it in any ofthe cities that in a major league team

(06:41):
sporting team is but you didn't.You were like, listen, no,
no, no, we want todo this the right way. We care
about our intent and we care aboutfrom even the how you research to make
the beer. This isn't hey Imake beer. This is you went to
the people that know how to makebeer. You went with a scientific approach
to find the best health conscious beeravailable. Well, we had a vision

(07:02):
on what it was we were lookingfor, and you're right. We worked
with the experts at Oregon State andthey've got a terrific beer department in their
food and science program. Spent severaldays with them and then we would get
on zooms. They'd send the beer, we would taste it. Our partners
were in different areas of the country, and we would label them what we

(07:24):
liked, what we didn't like.Go back, all right, well,
how can we make this cleaner?How can we make it taste better?
And that was a two year process, so there was a lot of work
involved in that. And you know, this is a marathon, it's not
a sprint, certainly, and we'rein a really competitive space. I mean,
the beer business is competitive, andwe knew that eyes wide open going

(07:45):
in, and the light beer categoryis as competitive as any of them.
So we're going up against the bigboys, and we're the new kids on
the block, and we've got along way to go. So rather than
just rush out and try to getall this national bosure and get into all
the states, we wanted to buildthis thing out the right way and feel
that we've done that. Yeah,and not to get too far into the

(08:07):
weeds, but just introducing a beveragein the alcohol category and a health conscious
one and all the other things thatgo along with it is not for the
weak stomached. So when you gotthose first beers to taste, how you've
been on the big stage, youknow, under center lights, in a
broadcast booth, writing a check fora wrecked car, like the How nervous

(08:28):
were you to go? Oh?Man, this first taste is going to
be a determining factor on how Ifeel about this going forward. Yeah,
you know, I felt good whenwe were launching after having been through all
of the taste tests and oh gosh, we we went through three batches of
you know, probably about eight differentbeers in each one and then and then
once we got through that, wefinally kind of got a locked down.

(08:50):
And you know, and and thewhole profile of the flavors is what I
like. I like a fast finish. I don't like a hoppy finish,
and that's what is and and sobut it's I liken it too. When
you throw a party, you know, you throw a party, you think
you've got everything covered, and yougot the band and and the decorations and

(09:13):
the food, and you say,this is going to be fantastic. And
then six o'clock rolls around and andno one's there yet, and you're like,
oh, no, is anyone goingto come? And and and so
when you do a beer like this, you you feel good about it,
but you're just hopeful that people willwill try it and like it as much
as what you do and the effortthat you put into it. And and
fortunately for us, you know thathas happened when when we launched, you

(09:37):
know, we were the fastest growingindependent beer launch in the history of the
state of Texas. So that inand of itself tells you, you know,
it was it was highly successful,and it's really resonated because I do
think more people are looking for somethingthat's better for them if given if given
two options and one's better for youthan the other and they taste the same,

(09:58):
or if the healthier one's better,it's an no brainer. And that's
where I think we are with this. With eight. I had to give
up beer. I wanted to loseweight, and I had to stop drinking
beer. And this allows me tocome back to beer, come back to
beer. Yes, it's delicious,Yeah, it is delicious. Yeah it's
uh and and to me, uh, you know, you get into the
war of calories and carbs. Youknow that's a slippery slope because you can

(10:22):
do a lot of things to manipulatethose numbers, and it doesn't make the
beer better for you. So wewere able to accomplish a better for you
beer and yet still reach the measurablesthat are important. You know, we're
ninety calories two point six carbs forcomparisons purposes, Ultra michelob ultra is ninety
six calories, So there's six caloriesmore and two point six carbs. But

(10:43):
you know, unlike their beer,our tastes like beer. So uh,
if you're going to drink beer,you want beer, right absolutely, and
you want to taste good. Yeah, the number of things you read about
the tasting comparisons. I mean,you guys, it's not even a competition.
Yes, I got a great team, and we just hired a guy
that left Yingling. He launched Yinglingin the state of Texas and in this

(11:07):
region, and he came over toeight about four months ago. He's been
you know, it's like having anumber one draft pick and then and then
hitting on it. You know,It's like drafting Michael Parsons, you know,
and and all of a sudden,the guy's just off and running.
So we're really excited about our future. So I want to ask you some
football questions, but I'm going toblend it in with severe questions, and
your answer you can go off onas much as you want, but you

(11:30):
only have to answer probable or notprobable. Okay, okay. So the
first one, as a selfish question, is the Chiefs will three pete probable
not probable. I'd say probable.Okay. I like that answer because I
know, because of what you do, it's kind of hard to have found.
I'm a pretty big chief Yeah.Yeah, I mean I say probable
because they've got Patrick Mahomes and theydo it the right way, and so

(11:52):
is it likely? No, it'snot. It's hard to do incredibly hard,
right, Yeah. So it's hardto win too, I mean I
want to And people ask, youknow, why it's so hard to win
too, and the and the answerto that is because it's hard to win
one. You know, you haveto win one before you win two,
and just doing that is hard.So to do it three times that'd be
a hell of accomplishment for them.They've they've accomplished so much already. But

(12:13):
with Patrick Mahomes and the way theyevaluate talent, yeah, I would lean
over fifty percent. So that's whyI'd say probable. And fans typically undermine
how hard it is to win agame in the NFL. When you got
a franchise that doesn't do well,people go, well, they need to
do x ys. It's really hardto win. It's hard to win and

(12:33):
I and I always feel what makesthe game great is that there is these
fan bases, you know, andthey love football and they love their teams
and they you know, they liveand die with their teams, and you
know, they're fanatical. That's whythey're called fans. And it really is
what drives our sport. But withthat said, there's no one who wants

(12:56):
to win more than the organizations themselves, the coaches, the players, and
the ones who are putting the timein. So I know that people get
frustrated, Why why aren't they doingthis? They need to do that,
And I can assure you that there'sa lot of really smart people in these
buildings that are coming up with everyway possible to try to win a football
game. Okay, eight beer probableor not probable. It tastes better when
watching Chiefs football. That's that's onehundred percent probable. It's better watching any

(13:24):
football for that matter. Yeah,I wouldn't isolate you are Chiefs. Lindsay's
Lindsay is a Bear Bear, soI have to ask this question justin.
It's good watching Bears games too.It helps, right, justin Fields will
have success with another team probable,not probable. I think I think probable
because I I suspect he won't bewith the Bears. Okay, that's I

(13:46):
think that's a fair and eight beeravailable. Probable are not probable? You
can find it in quick trip.One hundred percent probable, Yeah, uh,
probable, not probable. Bill Belichickwill head coach again. Oh wow,
because some say because he didn't geta job, there's no way he's

(14:07):
going to take a coordinator position.Yeah, I don't see that. I
I'm surprised he didn't get a job, you know, I really am.
And I know that. Here's theway I think is important to Bill Bill.
Bill wants. Bill wants to breakthe record, and he wants to
prove that he can win a SuperBowl without Tom Brady, and so I

(14:31):
have to believe that the next cyclesomebody, somebody's going to hire him.
I mean, he's the greatest footballcoach in the history, regardless of what
anyone thinks and how it's ended lastcouple of years. So I'd say probable,
yes, that he'll coach again.Eight Beer Probable or not probable.
You can find it in your favoriterestaurant in Oklahoma. Hopefully probable, and

(14:54):
if it's not, then please tellhim you want it in there and they'll
get it in there, or reachout to the eight team and we'll make
sure it's there. Probable, notprobable. Jim Harborough will join Barry Switzer,
Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carrom, PaulBrown in College College Championship super Bowl
Championship probable. Yeah, I'm abig fan of Jim's. He's not easy

(15:15):
to do, though, right tonot easy to do, not easy to
do. He's he's won everywhere he'sbeen. I mean, it's it's remarkable
what he's done. And even goingback to when he was at the University
of San Diego when it started,and then he goes to Stanford. Stanford
hadn't won anything, and he putthem on the map, and then they
were a contender each and every year. San Francisco when he went there,
they hadn't done anything. He takesthem to the championship game. Then in

(15:39):
the Super Bowl, came up shortagainst his brother, goes to Michigan,
was on the verge of maybe losinghis job made them relevant. Wins the
National Championship. No doubt in mymind that he'll win a super Bowl in
the NFL. I think the otherthing he gets underminded for is his ability
to convince people to be patient withhim because it took time to rebuild Michigan.
It didn't happen over No, that'strue. That's true. And it
was a little bit of a uglyHe couldn't get past Ohio State you know

(16:02):
in some of these rivalry games earlyon, I'm I'm a big fan,
so I was pulling for him andwe competed against each other back in back
in the NFL. Uh. Hehe's got a way about him that that
that brings out the best in people, and that's what that's what great coaches
do. Probable or not probable.Eight beer goes well with steak while grilling

(16:22):
on the back Patty. Yes,I did it just the other night.
My my daughters were in from collegeand they wanted to cook at home one
night, so I cooked up somesteaks, grass fed steaks, I might
add them. I'm particular about that. Uh, and then had the eight
beer going, So it was good. Last two questions for Troykman eight beer,
look for it, quick trip researchyour favorite package store. Uh,

(16:45):
this is going to be a lastfootball question. Uh. Probable not probable.
Bryce Young will be a successful quarterbackprobable. Yeah. I wanted to
bring that up because of all theaccolades you've accomplished, people you had your
first year was not easy. Yeah, he's on a poor team that doesn't
have a lot around him, andyou know the window of when these guys

(17:10):
evaluate players and decide whether they canplay. It happens or it happens two
or three games into their career.People are deciding whether or not they're a
bust. And you know, hehe struggled. There are more quarterbacks that
come into the league and have moresuccess earlier than what they once did.
When I came in, Dan Marinowas the only guy who had had any
level of success as a rookie,and since then we've seen a lot of

(17:32):
guys Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan,shoot, even this year, c J.
Stroud. You know, he's beena lot of those guys. And
so when you see a player draftedas high as he was, it struggles.
You just think, oh, well, he's you know, let's look
for the next quarterback. You know, he's small, that was a concern,
but he's always been small and yethe's played at a high level.
So I believe in him. Iroot for these guys. I know the

(17:55):
game is the game is the bestgame in the world when you're playing well
at quarterback. When you're not andyou're losing, it's miserable and the money
doesn't make up for any of it. So I like him. I don't
know him that well, I hearso much about him. Great kid,
but I think, yeah, Ithink he's going to have a great career.
And then finally with eight Beer,probable or not probable, Oklahoma is
going to love this beer because ofTroygman's love of Oklahoma and what eight Beer

(18:18):
represents. Well, Oklahoma is goingto love this beer, hopefully because of
Troy, but more because of whatit stands for, and as you mentioned,
what it represents, and that isa low calorie, low carb that's
better for you, the cleanest beeravailable. I think everybody would welcome that,

(18:41):
and for those that drink like beer, give it a try, and
I think you'll be a fan.Well, listen, I appreciate you taking
the time. I think we atemore than we could in terms of time
with you. But I enjoyed talkingwith you as a fan who even though
a Chiefs fan, growing up watchingthe Cowboys play and watching you entertain us
has been amazing. Obviously, commentationthat you do on football is always exciting

(19:04):
part of the game and just enjoyableas someone who's entertained me for years.
Thank you so much. Thank you, Yeah, and I'll add to that
for you that you know I've beenbouncing around different stations throughout the morning,
and I walk in, I seeyour shirt and kmo D and you know,
it's been around a long time andlisten to it. When I was
a kid growing up, my sisterwas I'm more into country music. My

(19:26):
sister was really into classic rock androck and KMO D was was was was
her thing. So great to behere on your show, Thanks so much.
Congratulations on the beer too, Whatan amazing accomplishment.