December 2, 2025 • 36 mins
Today on Brewsers, we talk to Rebecca Styn with Blind Tiger. We talk about how Blind Tiger started, building the brand, and so much more. Follow us on instagram and twitter at Brewserspod. Like, share, review, enjoy and cheers. #brewsers #brewserspod #Enjoylife #DrinkLocal #Cheers
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:20):
We welcome to Bruisers podcast. Well, beer, coffee, booze and Bruisers.
I'm your host, Roddy John and today we talked to
Rebecca Stein with Blind Tiger. We talked about how Blind
Tiger started building the brand and so much more. This
is such a fun conversation. Blind Tiger is doing absolutely
great things when it comes to non alcoholic cocktails, and
you're gonna love them too. So you don't want to
hear from me, you want to hear from her. So,
(00:41):
without further ado, here is Rebecca Stein with Blind Tiger.
I would like to welcome the show. Rebecca Stein with
(01:02):
Blind Tiger. How you doing today?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Man, good, how are you doing?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Thanks for having me, Thanks for coming on. Also, thank
you so much for sending me some product right now.
I'm joining the French seventy five. This is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah. Yeah, we keep going.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Oh oh no, go ahead. Oh took a sip?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah oh yeah, yeah, no, I love It's very light,
it's fresh, it's yeah, this is fantastic. Like this, like
I hope, like so I want to get into In
a second, we might as well. Now, how do you
once you got into this? The consistency of every can
and every not batch, but every different way you do it.
(01:43):
How do you make sure that the taste is How
do you keep up the consistency? I guess it's the question.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Oh yeah, I mean, we couldn't do it without our
com manufacturer, but we work with a team in Clintonville, Wisconsin.
Originally when we created the recipes, you know, it was
through our mixology team. I used to own a speakeasy
restaurant called Room thirty three.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We'll get it in the second.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, yeah, And so we would come up with the
original recipes and I'd work with a beverage engineer to
use ingredients that wouldn't kill any money.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Right in a profit.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
And then you know, it took us a couple of
years to find a copacker who was a really good partner.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Knock on Wood.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You know, they've been really consistent and amazing to work
with today.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So I love that. Yeah. I was going to give
that in a second, but we already started with it.
So yeah, But let me go all the way back
in time. What is your earliest memory of alcohol?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh? God, I mean probably before I was legal.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Right, well, obviously most of us.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, high school is probably my earliest memory, and uh
it was probably just really bad. Milwaukee's best beer I
think is we were drinking at parties in high school.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
So yeah, that was that's staple up there.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Huh yeah, at least back in the nineties, it was, right.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, I think we would shoplift some michelobs just because
they were easier to put in our pockets somehow.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
But yeah, yeah, yeah that and like Mad Dog.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I think Mad Dog was Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It's funny. I worked for actually, I've worked for two
different distributing companies who have sold Mad Dog, and I'm
just like, why why are people still drinking this? I
don't understand what they still?
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I mean, obviously they still, but I can't. Yeah, I'm
surprised it's still so popular though.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, they've read. Well, I think it's one of those
things that's high alcohol content and then it's also crazy
sugar flavor, but it's it doesn't actually taste great, so
I don't know. It's almost like you're just forcing yourself
to get drunk.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, well that's what some people do.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, this is very true. Well, Blind Tiger started out
of a speakeasy, like you talked about with Room thirty
three and during the pandemic, tell us the original origin
story first of the Room thirty three, and then obviously
how it morphed into Blind Tiger.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, so my background's actually pretty varied, and I ultimately
so the recent Room thirty three came to be was
a variety of different factors. I you know, my background
wasn't in restaurant. I mean, I had, like, you know,
parts of my life where I was serving or bartending,
but that wasn't my direction, right, But I was very
(04:20):
much into hospitality, you know, working sales and marketing, event
planning and everything like that. And it was kind of
like a culmination of events. So the trigger ultimately ended
up being I had run for political office locally and
one of my pillars was investing in our downtown and
(04:41):
I didn't win. I end up losing only by a
couple hundred votes. But it's a dirty game, and I'm
kind of glad.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I'm not, yeah very much. So, well, what what'd you
run for city council? Okay, how did you enjoy that experience?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
I didn't so, Yeah, Like I I didn't mind. I
enjoyed being in the community, I enjoyed sport people. I
was looking for a way to support our community on
a greater level wasn't meant to be. But because after
that election, when I lost, you know, and investing in
our downtown was key, I wanted to put my money
(05:19):
where my mouth was. So my husband and I kind
of capitalizing on a mix of talents that we had,
where like we opened our first speakeasy restaurant, like we
wanted something different. He's a big history buff, so it's
like you walk in, it looks like a bookshop with
like old books, and you go through a bookcase to.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Get in it.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
So we launched that in twenty seventeen, and then you
fast forward and COVID happens and we are shut down
and mandated to take out only and in Pennsylvania not
legally allowed to sell alcohol to go, and ninety percent
of our sales came from the bar.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So either I shut our doors or.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
We come up with alternative options, and one of them
was bottling not colic versions of our cocktails.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I love that. Yeah, we had that same here in Texas,
but they quickly were like, oh no, no, you do alcohol
to goo that's fine.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, yeah, PA took a little while longer, they did
ultimately allow it.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
But it was not as early, So yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
How did you? I mean, so obviously you had great
mixologists to really get these recipes down right that you
guys were already doing great in the bar with and
then you're then you started selling them to go. Where
did the idea from going from that into well, why
can't we just mask market and do this all over
the place? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, it really was just insanity, John. I just woke
up one morning was like, I want to bring this
to market. Yeah, and went to the team and kind
of said, hey, this is my idea. Do you guys
want to come up with some original recipes that we
can kind of grow and execute. And I wanted to
at the time. I didn't know it would grow, you know,
into an emerging national brand, right, like, there's still a
(06:54):
long way to go from here. But I thought it
would be very much tied to the speakeasy. So Blind
Tiger is a moniker for Speakeasis, and I wanted everything
tied to pre impost provition eras.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So it's all it all surrounds that.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I had no idea that that's what the dot.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, it's like a well known thing unless you're into
like the speakeasy scene.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So which is becoming, just like the non alcoholic world,
more popular than ever because every like you could put
it in speakeasy, you'd probably in Des Moines, Iowa. And
there might be like five or six of them. It's insane.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah yeah, uh huh, I know it's crazy. It's and
some of them are really cool.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So yeah, yeah, without it up and some are just
dive bars behind a dive bar, and I'm like, wait
a minute, wait, just put a different wall over here.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Well, when you got into the packaging world, in this
whole world, I read that you knew nothing about it
and it was just probably like you know, drinking from
a fire hose at that point. What was something that
really kind of uh, it was like an oh wow
moment when you first entered the market. We're starting to
even enter the market, I guess.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I think it's a blessing and a curse on some
level that I have taken most of my life in stride,
so I have allowed myself to be fully overwhelmed in
the moment without knowing what I was getting into, and
then just finding a way through it.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
But nothing really shocked or on me throughout the price, right, Like,
I don't know. I think it's just one of those
things where I always expect the worse.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Maybe, so I'm always you.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Know, if I'm disappointed I knew it was coming, or
I'm you know, you know, wildly surprised.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So on the other end, that's if the bar is
low enough, it's either oh, well, okay, it was that
bad or wow, that was way better than I thought
it was going to be.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, And I honestly think today, you know, I've been
doing this for about.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Four years now, four and a half years.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And I I mean, I know, the more I know,
the less I actually, right, Like, the more I learn,
the less I know. Like it's so crazy because when
you go into an idea and you're open to it,
not when you don't have that background, you don't know
what to be afraid of or what to look forward to.
And now that I've been doing it for so long,
(09:08):
you know, then I start to learn. You really get
into the nitty gritty of the things that you know
you could do better as you're growing. And I think
it's definitely gotten harder, not easier, as we've scaled.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So yeah, because like you said, you want to continue
to be better, But then how are you going to
continue to be better while in this marketplace? And then
then it's like different goalposts of like okay, well we
want to be in this national brand or this national
store or whatever it is. And then of course you
want to hit this number when you sell stuff and
you want to keep growing from it. So no, I
(09:41):
could retalely understand where it gets harder. It's not a
getting easier, right.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And you know capital and cash flow, like as I
relate the biggest obstacles, Yes.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well where how did so you already have the name
figured out? How did you decide what the packaging was
going to look like with the size of the cans
or even if you were going to use cans or
even the actual varietals that you guys did pick.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah, so today what we have today is not what
we originally had. We launched with thirty two ounce glass bottles.
They were carry style in nature. We did want it,
I did want it as both ready to drink or
a mixer. Perceptually they were seen as mixers, right and
understandably given the size and everything like that, And so
(10:27):
that was a problem for us. And then we Unlike
most brands that launched during COVID, we went more into
retail and distribution, where most brands were e commerce, and
because of that, our retail partners really liked the smaller packaging,
so then we evolved into the sixteen ounce bottle size,
still had that perception problem, and then we were using names.
(10:50):
So our original varietals included the besnees, a south side,
a sidecar, and a Ward eight, none of them sparkling,
all in glass. Today we have we have kept the
bee's knees, that's the only one that's been consistent from
the beginning. We've added a lavender French seventy five, which fantastic,
kind of evolutionized the south side and the sidecar into
(11:13):
a southside mohito and a sidecar mimosa, and all of
those are sparkling. And we did that for a number
of reasons. You know, the consumer doesn't necessarily know what
a sidecar or southside is, but they do recognize them
mimosa for a mohito. So we kept kind of the
original recipes, but we then you know, made them sparkling.
(11:34):
And then cans. Cans just became easier. There was a
lot of demand there's a perception with cans that it
is more of a ready to drink than option, and
so it was just a you know, a whole bunch
of different things that kind of came together and evolved
over time, and we're very costly in the process.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
We also during the pandemic there was obviously an aluminum
shortage as well, So probably that would have been maybe
a setback from even when you wanted to start anyway,
because you would have had to wait on it or
pay way more for it.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And isn't that funny because bottles were so rampant, glass
was so easy to get, but now lately with the
terrace and everything like, become harder.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
To get stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, I mean everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Right exactly. You're right, Well, talk to us about what
the south Side and what the sidecar is for people
who don't understand what that means.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
So the south Side cocktail the original cocktail. The story
is it was al Capone's fair cocktail. At during Prohibition,
the North Side and the South Side of Chicago would
bootleg in different types of gin, and the North Side
of Chicago had a more palatable gin. They ended up
coming up with a cocktail that included ginger ale I think,
(12:44):
and it might actually be called the North Side, but
then they named the South Side because the gin that
they bootlegged in was less palatable, so it required more
citrus and sugar to cover it up. So they used
lime and obviously, yeah, you know, limeon sugar and mint
to give it the you know, the profile that it did,
(13:05):
and that the original cocktail is not sparkling. And then
so we kept all of the original flavors and then
we added this you know, the carbonation to it and
kind of glorified it as.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
A Southside mohido.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
So okay, that one, and then the sidecar. Actually, that
cocktail is originally a Kognac based recipe and it has
notes of bitters and orange, and it was purportedly originated
over in actually in Paris in the nineteen hundreds, supposedly
because I want to say, an army lieutenant rode up
(13:39):
in the sidecar of a motorcycle bartender created the drink
in his honor or something like that. Like there's a
bunch of stories out there that align with this, But
so we.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Kept all of that.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Our side car has you know, very clean label. We
use orange Lemon. We have a bitters brandy profile it
and it's also sparkling, so we it's kind of the
classic sidecar meets Mimosa.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah. I love that you are teaching a lot of
us about history as well. What I mean, were you
also in history as well? Was were you kind of
learning all this as you went and then obviously through
your husband?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, you know all of it.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
I'm learning as I go. I mean, I'm fascinated with
the era. So I've been obviously immersed in Prohibition almost
ten years now, right, because you were working on the
bar in twenty sixteen. But and then my husband's really
kind of the history buff, the bibliophile. He's not so
much into Prohibition, but he can pretty much tell.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
You anything else.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
What is his uh, what's his history? Era of history?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
He enjoys Oh, I mean I think he don't. I
think he enjoys it all. I mean, we have quite
a collection of good books around this house. A lot
of them revolve around presidential figures, so too.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
So Yeah, interesting, Okay, what do what what's the most
interesting fact that you think that you've learned about Prohibition?
And do you see similarities as from what we're seeing
with alcohol then as what we are I guess with
with marijuana now.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Uh So, the most interesting thing I have found about
the prohibition era was that it was not illegal to
consume alcohol illegal to purchase alcohol. So and that is
how you got around it. I mean, if people had
it or you know, you saw you could get prescriptions
for it.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
There were different ways, you know, you you could legally
consume alcohol.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
It was you know, I think they tried to get
rid of it in a lot of different ways, but
that was most surprising to me. And that's kind of
how speakeasy's got around it, right. The history of like
this is all purported, Like I'm telling you things that
may not ultimately be true, but this is what's the
lore that's out there.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
But a blind high.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
One of the stories was you could go to a
bar and you would pay five dollars to see like
a circus animal or something weird, right, like a blind tiger,
and then you'd get a drink for free because you
were just paying.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Admission to see.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
The live animal, right. So that was kind of their
way around doing that type of stuff. How it aligns today,
I mean, you know, provision was a federally banned a
federal ban, you know, with the THHC and the HEMP
and everything else. Today, you know they're they're they're looking
(16:35):
to do that, but some of it's still on a
state by state basis, you know that. It just it's
so complicated, and it's one of the reasons why I
don't think I could ever get into that market, because
people are always like, why don't you do functional stuff,
and I'm like, you just don't know how it's going
to play out. There's so much more micromanaging in the
government system today that I think there was historically, and
(16:59):
everything things far more complicated.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
So true, Yeah, it's uh, it's bonkers both ways. It
makes no sense. And it's like you take something away
from somebody or from a mass of people, what do
you think they want? They want that immediately, like.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Of course, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Yeah, And that's part of the reason why provision failed, Yeah,
because you know, everybody wanted and it also it was
not regulated properly. There were people making gin and dying
from it because they didn't you know, the way that
they were creating it or bringing it in.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And it was just yeah, it was a mess.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
And I mean historically, if you looked at the data,
like so many people died, so many people were murdered
over it, like it's just crazy.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And then obviously the mob was really started during that time.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So yeah, yeah, fascinating.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
One of the things I love though about the provision
era that I always try to tie into Blind Tiger
because we look at our product as an inclusive beverage. Right,
So drink or you don't. You want to feel part
of the occasion. Prior to prohibition, women were not allowed
in bars.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
So during when.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Speakeasies were created, all different classes of citizens.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Came together to celebrate and drink.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Like, you know, the jazz age ensued. You know, women's
right to vote came during that time, so there was
a lot of more inclusivity that built throughout those throughout
that decade.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I have not heard that fact that I love that. Yeah, huh,
I'm going to look more into that. It's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Well, So I read a quote from you saying, don't
ever be afraid to fail. If you're not failing, you're
not learning, which I love that so much. I think
that no matter if you're doing business or in life, whatever,
make sure to fail, because yeah, that means you're actually
learning and doing something. What do you think the biggest
failure you've learned so far or you've had so far
that turned into the biggest lesson you've learned.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Well, I think I fail all the time in candid
like you, I've had more failures than successes in this journey,
in most journeys. But I think what failure gives me
is the resilience to keep going right. And I think
that can't be taught, right, That's something you need to
(19:12):
continue to experience because you can't be successful if you
can't take the hits, and there's so many hits. And
I think the resilience and grit are just the biggest
part of why I continue to move forward.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So I love that. Yeah, it's the consistency and just yeah,
like you said, just keep moving forward on the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Yeah, I mean, you're not gonna nothing's going to come
out right. And nothing I've ever started has started perfectly right,
Like sometimes you just have to start and perfection and
I'm a perfectionist by trade, but you have to like,
if you waited until the very perfect moment, nothing would
ever come to life right exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Plus who's to say that perfect moment ever will happen exactly. Yeah.
So with the non alcoholic market growing bigger and bigger
by the day, obviously actually from the pandemic, we're five
years later and we're seeing the market as big as
it is. What do you kind of look like? What
do you see the category looking like maybe a year
from now?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah? So what I so, I'll find it interesting.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
One if the federal ban, you know, plays out, because
it's supposed to be a year, I'm hoping that they
come in and are able to have legislation that helps
kind of refine it and you know, supports the brands,
the responsible brands that are out there and doing that right,
because I think it's an important element alternative to alcohol.
(20:35):
From strictly from a non alcoholic space, I find that
retailers are really starting to adopt this overall, and they're
creating dedicated sections. I think it'll be interesting to see,
I mean everything ebbs and flows. But I also think
us as a as a market segment, really need to
(20:59):
educate and fine what we're doing, like we create. One
of the things I've learned from my own sector, like
non alcoholic cocktails, is consumers still think they're getting like
a sparkling.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Water, right.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
They don't understand why they're paying what they're paying for.
They don't know what they're getting, and then when their
taste doesn't meet the expectation in their head, then it
falls flat.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
But if they go into knowing this is supposed to
be a cocktail, this is supposed to replicate the taste
of a drink. You're not going to get the burn,
you're not going to get the effect, and you're paying
for these premium ingredients to create this, then they know.
And that goes the same thing for wine and spirits.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Beer his beer.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I think I just argue it has it easy, you know,
Like I think they do well. They have been able
to replicate I mean beer, you can taste it. A
lot of them tastes just like the you know, the
full blooded ones. So they've done well. And I think
the wine and spirits and nas need to continue to
to educate and reform in order to be successful.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Without a doubt. I mean I see it all the time,
the whole beer section. They make the sections themselves so
they can. Of course, whenever you see actual coronas or
buds or Heinekens coming into the non alcoholic world, they're like,
oh okay, they're obviously going to make a bunch of
excuse for them, and then Athletic, who has done the
best job out of anybody. I think there's maybe two
(22:25):
flavors that I'm not the biggest fan of, but everything
else tastes exactly like what it's supposed to taste. Like
the stout, I think they could work on a little more.
That's just me though.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah, it's the only beer I actually really like.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So, oh okay, do you get the Are you a
barrel aged person as well? Or are you just like
I do? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Well on furl aged everything for all aged wine, fairly spirits,
furl age bear, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yes, okay, well good I love all that too. And
we're entering the where we're in the perfect season four.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It too correct.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, but the beer world, like you said, has it
so much easier because they it's already build, They're already
gonna make the schematic the way they want, and since
they're controlling the schematic, they can put in all of
their non alcoholics. However, the wine section that's always been
kind of up in the air, or it's been like
three skews total, But now I'm actually seeing, like you said,
(23:16):
those sections are beating so much bigger, and we're seeing
it in Walmart Target, I mean, Albertson's down here in Texas.
ChB has done really well also, So it's like that
section obviously is getting bigger. And it's not just for
you know, recovering alcoholics or pregnant women. So it's for
people who are sober curious or like you said, still
want to celebrate with their friends and family, but they
(23:38):
don't want to drink. So it's a good alternative.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, And I mean I who do drink, you know,
I statistically most people who are drinking alcohol alternatives are
still drinking period.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
So I think it's just.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
A nice option to have when you get older, you're
designated driver, you're just taking a night off, like there's
a million and ten reasons, and now you don't just
have to go out and have a coker pepsi or coffee, right.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Or soda water in a line like, Yes, so you
were an adjunct professor for like four years, right, what
did you take from that experience that you still kind
of implement into your daily life now?
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yes? So I actually still teach one course and it's
a graduate level course called Innovation Entrepreneurship. So most of
my adjunct for has been in entrepreneurship. I did my
PhD and my dissertation had a focus on entrepreneurial leadership,
so that was always critical to me. But one of
(24:45):
the things I've always tried to do. You know, there's
what's the saying those who can't do teach vice versa,
like I try to marry those because I think the
real world is so is just as beneficial, if not
more so in my rema that is like the book world,
right like so I so for my students, and my
(25:05):
takeaway was always, let's make this a real life kind
of partnership versus you just going by the book and
learning historical you know, like different definitions of different terms
and all that stuff that could teach you nothing one
of the today.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
How much of what the class has taught you about
what you've been doing with your business.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
That's a good question. I don't I don't know that.
I don't know the answer to that actually, because i'm
you know, I think, yeah, I can't give you a
good answer right now.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I'd have to come back. Well, I don't know if
I imagine that some would you know, obviously know what
you do. They might look at your business and be like,
why aren't you doing this? Or you know, even some
suggestions or whatever. So I was always curious.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Yeah, you know, it's funny. Most of the students do
you know what I do or have done? And there's
actually never been much feedback from my world. So they
like the product. They've just never really yeah I questioned
it otherwise.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
So well, you also have a fresh eyes, fresh mind,
fresh ears when it comes to we're seeing all these
studies of you know, now people are really saying alcohol
can lead to this, that and the other and so.
And obviously the gen, the new the next generation is
not drinking as much, but you're seeing it from you know,
(26:33):
actually talking to them and being around them. What are
you seeing when it comes to their alcohol consumption or
even their thought process behind yes or no?
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah there, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
They don't really talk about that much, like they're just
kind of living their own lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And I didn't.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I don't interrogate at that level because you know, I
and I think even like probably us you know, well,
all right, so as a woman, not you John, like
if there were times I wasn't drinking back in the day,
people would be like, oh, are you pregnant? Right? You know, like,
so you didn't want to. I was like, you didn't
want to set yourself up for that. So I think
that in my head just always was ingrained, like drinking
(27:12):
is a personal choice.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
So unless somebody comes out.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And talks to me about it directly, I've never actually
broached the subject.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Okay, yeah, I actually have uncovered multiple friends being pregnant
that way because they were not drinking.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
I said that, and well, yes, I was like, oh,
I never have been, So that was never the issue
was So it's just always funny because I'm like, oh,
can I just not drink?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Right? Yeah? What if I don't want to drink? Or
what if yeah I just want to still be here,
I just don't want to drink. Yeah. Well, what does
the future kind of look like for blind Tiger? I mean,
you've gone the evolution in just four and a half
years has been huge, and now that I'm not saying
this is the final product of what it's supposed to
look like, but you're obviously found what your your groove
(27:57):
and what you're lane supposed to kind of be with this,
what do you kind of see the future look like
maybe the next two or to even five years for us?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Like what I really love so our product?
Speaker 2 (28:09):
How to position this best?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I really want to lean into the hospitality sector more
like tourism. So we got on We're fleet wide on
Royal Caribbean. We're going to be on Virgin voyages in
late January.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Like our pack so our product, packaging, taste, quality, all
fit from a very kind of quick and efficient standpoint.
So high volume restaurants things like that that don't need
anything from craft. So I'm really trying to lean in
more into those spaces, airlines, you know, things like that
that are easy options, but more sophisticated. That's what I'm
(28:47):
really hoping to get in the next couple of years.
One of the things I am looking at is potentially
opening up our own come manufacturing facility down the road.
That would take a lot of investment, but there's it
would also allow for more freedom and flexibility for us
to refine and create and do and potentially work for
(29:09):
different partners under like white label type stuff. And that's
a pipe dream and or nightmare. I'm not sure which
one you would.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Get a little bit of both.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
But yeah, I mean, ideally we want to continue to grow.
It's hard to grow from northwest Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's hard to grow.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Without major huge investment dollars or resources, right, So to
find that right partner down the line would be great too.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
But yeah, just continue.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
To to kind of educate and push the boundary on
what this product is and does and creates good alternative options.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I love it, you've met you mentioned education multiple times.
What do you think people are just not I mean,
like you said earlier, they think that they're just going
to be getting sparkling water with some flavor in it.
What do you think that they're kind of missing the
most when it does come to maybe not trying this
or not even giving it an option.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
So in my head, I've seen a lot of my
competitors have similar cocktail names but don't actually create cocktails.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Right Like, I've seen a lot.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Of other Mohidos and mimosas in the market which are
just you know, really kind of slightly refined sparkling waters,
but they're not true to a cocktail name. And I
think that's a huge discrepancy when you're out there trying
to sell a product that really does provide more of
that depth than consistency you get in a cocktail. So
(30:33):
that's on us both as brands, and then just from
the consumer standpoint to just recognize. I mean they don't
they don't understand the value yet, and that's not on them.
Like they don't you know, they think, if you're not
getting an effect, what are you paying for? And sometimes
when you go into something, you're paying for the ingredients
(30:53):
that it uses, or the small batch or the process
or different things, and that's really hard to explain in
ten seconds or five seconds, you know, to a consumer.
So I think that just takes time and consistency and
just continually repeating that message and you know, hopefully it
breaks through the noise. I mean there's a ton of
noise out there, but I think that's really what it is.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
It's not on them, it's on us. So as a brand, now.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
That makes sense. I mean, the more tastings, I always say,
get it in their mouth and then they could decide
from there.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yes, the lips is what I like.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, yes, yesips, the lips. I like that phrase too. Yeah,
I just forgot about it, so you said, I was like, oh, yeah,
I have a segment, So I call it the five count.
It's just five random questions. Okay, Number one, what would
your last meal be?
Speaker 3 (31:38):
My last meal, you know, just off the top of
my head was a black and steak, So I'm just.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Going to go with a black and misteak.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Okay, any side or just a steak?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Oh no, I mean probably mashed potatoes. Uh, maybe asparagus. Okay,
not exciting, but that's kind of what comes to top
of mine.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Hey, if that's what you want for your last Meala, gently,
if you were a progresser or MMA fighter, what would
your name be?
Speaker 2 (32:05):
I have mine to you? Blind tiger perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
As they say, there's not another blind tiger out there.
What were the last three things you googled?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
A lot?
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Probably so probably health related stuff to my mom?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Is she okay?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I mean she has so she was she was kind
of she was just real diagnosed with cancer. No, no,
I mean it's it's part of it. But that is like,
those are the last three things I was googling. Was different,
different things for that, So yeah, she'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I think. Yeah. It's a very slow growing So hopefully
there you go.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Number four, This might go right into this one also
who or what inspires you.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Or what inspires me? I mean everyday humans be good
people are what inspire me. I don't see a ton
of a lot of authenticity or humanity these days, so
when I do, it's really Yeah, it's really great to
see because we definitely need more of it.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I feel the exact same way, and I know it's
out there, they're just not covering like no one unfortunately
is paying attention to it. They're not paying attention.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, they like to cover the negative stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Which is so easy, and it's like you're not even
trying at this pot. Yeah, it's literally every day I'm
with you. Oh, it's so funny going online every day
it's like, all right, what are we upset about today?
And let's go Yep, I would have found goodible. I
think they're on Twitter still. That was one of my
favorites because it's just nothing but good news and good
(33:45):
things happening in the world. So yeah, I'm sure there's
an Instagram one, but I don't know. I don't spend
that much time online because.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I get probably a good thing.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Yes, And then number five, what would you tell your
seventeen year old self?
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Oh? God, let it go well, because I mean, most
things that seems and even today, most things that feel
like just the end of the world within like a
day or two are usually are usually fixed, right or
just not what you think they are, right.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, whatever seems huge to you now again a year later,
maybe a month later, you're like, I don't what what
was that? I don't remember exactly. Now, if people wanted
to find out more about you, follow you online, find
Blind Tiger, how can they do all the things?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (34:32):
So our website is blind Tiger spiritfree dot com. Our
most active channel is Instagram, so it's Blind Tiger Cocktails
at Blind Tiger Cocktails in the same handle for TikTok.
And they can find us on you know, on LinkedIn too.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
But just not as active there.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
That makes sense. Yeah, I mean Instagram, I think is
the best one, especially you're also Instagram. You guys do
really good things, so I think, yeah, people definitely need
to check that out. Well, re Becca, thank you so
much for your time. I've love this Blind Tiger. I'm
on the bes knees right now and this is phenomenal,
so I can't wait to try the other ones as well.
So I well, definitely it is holiday time, so I
think people need to go out of the way to
(35:10):
bring this to whatever holiday party you're going to Thanksgiving, Christmas,
New Year's Eve, because somebody there is probably gonna be like, oh,
what is this and then try it and love it.
So thank you so much for.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
This fun and easy so thank you for having me
no problem.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Thank you so much Rebecca for being on the show again.
It is the holiday time, so make sure to grab
some Blind Tiger, either for your holiday parties, your New
Year's Eve parties, or even for Sober January, whatever you
want to do. So definitely make sure to follow and
find Blind Tiger wherever you can. And while you're doing that,
make sure to follow us on social media. It is
(35:54):
bruisers Pod. That is b r e W sc rs
pod on the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter. If
you want to send us an email, it is Bruiserspod
at gmail dot com. If you want to follow me directly,
it is Roady John. That is r O d I
E j O N. Roadie John is the name on
the Twitter and an untapped in case you want to
find out when I'm drinking, maybe mean have beer together.
If you want to follow me on the threads or
(36:14):
the Instagram. It is official wordy John, So until next time,
make sure to enjoy life, drink local and cheers.
We welcome to Bruisers podcast. Well, beer, coffee, booze and Bruisers.
I'm your host, Roddy John and today we talked to
Rebecca Stein with Blind Tiger. We talked about how Blind
Tiger started building the brand and so much more. This
is such a fun conversation. Blind Tiger is doing absolutely
great things when it comes to non alcoholic cocktails, and
you're gonna love them too. So you don't want to
hear from me, you want to hear from her. So,
(00:41):
without further ado, here is Rebecca Stein with Blind Tiger.
I would like to welcome the show. Rebecca Stein with
(01:02):
Blind Tiger. How you doing today?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Man, good, how are you doing?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Thanks for having me, Thanks for coming on. Also, thank
you so much for sending me some product right now.
I'm joining the French seventy five. This is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah. Yeah, we keep going.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Oh oh no, go ahead. Oh took a sip?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah oh yeah, yeah, no, I love It's very light,
it's fresh, it's yeah, this is fantastic. Like this, like
I hope, like so I want to get into In
a second, we might as well. Now, how do you
once you got into this? The consistency of every can
and every not batch, but every different way you do it.
(01:43):
How do you make sure that the taste is How
do you keep up the consistency? I guess it's the question.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Oh yeah, I mean, we couldn't do it without our
com manufacturer, but we work with a team in Clintonville, Wisconsin.
Originally when we created the recipes, you know, it was
through our mixology team. I used to own a speakeasy
restaurant called Room thirty three.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We'll get it in the second.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, yeah, And so we would come up with the
original recipes and I'd work with a beverage engineer to
use ingredients that wouldn't kill any money.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Right in a profit.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
And then you know, it took us a couple of
years to find a copacker who was a really good partner.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Knock on Wood.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You know, they've been really consistent and amazing to work
with today.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So I love that. Yeah. I was going to give
that in a second, but we already started with it.
So yeah, But let me go all the way back
in time. What is your earliest memory of alcohol?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh? God, I mean probably before I was legal.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Right, well, obviously most of us.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, high school is probably my earliest memory, and uh
it was probably just really bad. Milwaukee's best beer I
think is we were drinking at parties in high school.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
So yeah, that was that's staple up there.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Huh yeah, at least back in the nineties, it was, right.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, I think we would shoplift some michelobs just because
they were easier to put in our pockets somehow.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
But yeah, yeah, yeah that and like Mad Dog.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I think Mad Dog was Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It's funny. I worked for actually, I've worked for two
different distributing companies who have sold Mad Dog, and I'm
just like, why why are people still drinking this? I
don't understand what they still?
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I mean, obviously they still, but I can't. Yeah, I'm
surprised it's still so popular though.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, they've read. Well, I think it's one of those
things that's high alcohol content and then it's also crazy
sugar flavor, but it's it doesn't actually taste great, so
I don't know. It's almost like you're just forcing yourself
to get drunk.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, well that's what some people do.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, this is very true. Well, Blind Tiger started out
of a speakeasy, like you talked about with Room thirty
three and during the pandemic, tell us the original origin
story first of the Room thirty three, and then obviously
how it morphed into Blind Tiger.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, so my background's actually pretty varied, and I ultimately
so the recent Room thirty three came to be was
a variety of different factors. I you know, my background
wasn't in restaurant. I mean, I had, like, you know,
parts of my life where I was serving or bartending,
but that wasn't my direction, right, But I was very
(04:20):
much into hospitality, you know, working sales and marketing, event
planning and everything like that. And it was kind of
like a culmination of events. So the trigger ultimately ended
up being I had run for political office locally and
one of my pillars was investing in our downtown and
(04:41):
I didn't win. I end up losing only by a
couple hundred votes. But it's a dirty game, and I'm
kind of glad.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I'm not, yeah very much. So, well, what what'd you
run for city council? Okay, how did you enjoy that experience?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
I didn't so, Yeah, Like I I didn't mind. I
enjoyed being in the community, I enjoyed sport people. I
was looking for a way to support our community on
a greater level wasn't meant to be. But because after
that election, when I lost, you know, and investing in
our downtown was key, I wanted to put my money
(05:19):
where my mouth was. So my husband and I kind
of capitalizing on a mix of talents that we had,
where like we opened our first speakeasy restaurant, like we
wanted something different. He's a big history buff, so it's
like you walk in, it looks like a bookshop with
like old books, and you go through a bookcase to.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Get in it.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
So we launched that in twenty seventeen, and then you
fast forward and COVID happens and we are shut down
and mandated to take out only and in Pennsylvania not
legally allowed to sell alcohol to go, and ninety percent
of our sales came from the bar.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So either I shut our doors or.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
We come up with alternative options, and one of them
was bottling not colic versions of our cocktails.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I love that. Yeah, we had that same here in Texas,
but they quickly were like, oh no, no, you do alcohol
to goo that's fine.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, yeah, PA took a little while longer, they did
ultimately allow it.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
But it was not as early, So yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
How did you? I mean, so obviously you had great
mixologists to really get these recipes down right that you
guys were already doing great in the bar with and
then you're then you started selling them to go. Where
did the idea from going from that into well, why
can't we just mask market and do this all over
the place? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, it really was just insanity, John. I just woke
up one morning was like, I want to bring this
to market. Yeah, and went to the team and kind
of said, hey, this is my idea. Do you guys
want to come up with some original recipes that we
can kind of grow and execute. And I wanted to
at the time. I didn't know it would grow, you know,
into an emerging national brand, right, like, there's still a
(06:54):
long way to go from here. But I thought it
would be very much tied to the speakeasy. So Blind
Tiger is a moniker for Speakeasis, and I wanted everything
tied to pre impost provition eras.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So it's all it all surrounds that.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I had no idea that that's what the dot.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, it's like a well known thing unless you're into
like the speakeasy scene.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So which is becoming, just like the non alcoholic world,
more popular than ever because every like you could put
it in speakeasy, you'd probably in Des Moines, Iowa. And
there might be like five or six of them. It's insane.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah yeah, uh huh, I know it's crazy. It's and
some of them are really cool.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So yeah, yeah, without it up and some are just
dive bars behind a dive bar, and I'm like, wait
a minute, wait, just put a different wall over here.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Well, when you got into the packaging world, in this
whole world, I read that you knew nothing about it
and it was just probably like you know, drinking from
a fire hose at that point. What was something that
really kind of uh, it was like an oh wow
moment when you first entered the market. We're starting to
even enter the market, I guess.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I think it's a blessing and a curse on some
level that I have taken most of my life in stride,
so I have allowed myself to be fully overwhelmed in
the moment without knowing what I was getting into, and
then just finding a way through it.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
But nothing really shocked or on me throughout the price, right, Like,
I don't know. I think it's just one of those
things where I always expect the worse.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Maybe, so I'm always you.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Know, if I'm disappointed I knew it was coming, or
I'm you know, you know, wildly surprised.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So on the other end, that's if the bar is
low enough, it's either oh, well, okay, it was that
bad or wow, that was way better than I thought
it was going to be.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, And I honestly think today, you know, I've been
doing this for about.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Four years now, four and a half years.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And I I mean, I know, the more I know,
the less I actually, right, Like, the more I learn,
the less I know. Like it's so crazy because when
you go into an idea and you're open to it,
not when you don't have that background, you don't know
what to be afraid of or what to look forward to.
And now that I've been doing it for so long,
(09:08):
you know, then I start to learn. You really get
into the nitty gritty of the things that you know
you could do better as you're growing. And I think
it's definitely gotten harder, not easier, as we've scaled.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So yeah, because like you said, you want to continue
to be better, But then how are you going to
continue to be better while in this marketplace? And then
then it's like different goalposts of like okay, well we
want to be in this national brand or this national
store or whatever it is. And then of course you
want to hit this number when you sell stuff and
you want to keep growing from it. So no, I
(09:41):
could retalely understand where it gets harder. It's not a
getting easier, right.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And you know capital and cash flow, like as I
relate the biggest obstacles, Yes.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well where how did so you already have the name
figured out? How did you decide what the packaging was
going to look like with the size of the cans
or even if you were going to use cans or
even the actual varietals that you guys did pick.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah, so today what we have today is not what
we originally had. We launched with thirty two ounce glass bottles.
They were carry style in nature. We did want it,
I did want it as both ready to drink or
a mixer. Perceptually they were seen as mixers, right and
understandably given the size and everything like that, And so
(10:27):
that was a problem for us. And then we Unlike
most brands that launched during COVID, we went more into
retail and distribution, where most brands were e commerce, and
because of that, our retail partners really liked the smaller packaging,
so then we evolved into the sixteen ounce bottle size,
still had that perception problem, and then we were using names.
(10:50):
So our original varietals included the besnees, a south side,
a sidecar, and a Ward eight, none of them sparkling,
all in glass. Today we have we have kept the
bee's knees, that's the only one that's been consistent from
the beginning. We've added a lavender French seventy five, which fantastic,
kind of evolutionized the south side and the sidecar into
(11:13):
a southside mohito and a sidecar mimosa, and all of
those are sparkling. And we did that for a number
of reasons. You know, the consumer doesn't necessarily know what
a sidecar or southside is, but they do recognize them
mimosa for a mohito. So we kept kind of the
original recipes, but we then you know, made them sparkling.
(11:34):
And then cans. Cans just became easier. There was a
lot of demand there's a perception with cans that it
is more of a ready to drink than option, and
so it was just a you know, a whole bunch
of different things that kind of came together and evolved
over time, and we're very costly in the process.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
We also during the pandemic there was obviously an aluminum
shortage as well, So probably that would have been maybe
a setback from even when you wanted to start anyway,
because you would have had to wait on it or
pay way more for it.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And isn't that funny because bottles were so rampant, glass
was so easy to get, but now lately with the
terrace and everything like, become harder.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
To get stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, I mean everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Right exactly. You're right, Well, talk to us about what
the south Side and what the sidecar is for people
who don't understand what that means.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
So the south Side cocktail the original cocktail. The story
is it was al Capone's fair cocktail. At during Prohibition,
the North Side and the South Side of Chicago would
bootleg in different types of gin, and the North Side
of Chicago had a more palatable gin. They ended up
coming up with a cocktail that included ginger ale I think,
(12:44):
and it might actually be called the North Side, but
then they named the South Side because the gin that
they bootlegged in was less palatable, so it required more
citrus and sugar to cover it up. So they used
lime and obviously, yeah, you know, limeon sugar and mint
to give it the you know, the profile that it did,
(13:05):
and that the original cocktail is not sparkling. And then
so we kept all of the original flavors and then
we added this you know, the carbonation to it and
kind of glorified it as.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
A Southside mohido.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
So okay, that one, and then the sidecar. Actually, that
cocktail is originally a Kognac based recipe and it has
notes of bitters and orange, and it was purportedly originated
over in actually in Paris in the nineteen hundreds, supposedly
because I want to say, an army lieutenant rode up
(13:39):
in the sidecar of a motorcycle bartender created the drink
in his honor or something like that. Like there's a
bunch of stories out there that align with this, But
so we.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Kept all of that.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Our side car has you know, very clean label. We
use orange Lemon. We have a bitters brandy profile it
and it's also sparkling, so we it's kind of the
classic sidecar meets Mimosa.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah. I love that you are teaching a lot of
us about history as well. What I mean, were you
also in history as well? Was were you kind of
learning all this as you went and then obviously through
your husband?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, you know all of it.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
I'm learning as I go. I mean, I'm fascinated with
the era. So I've been obviously immersed in Prohibition almost
ten years now, right, because you were working on the
bar in twenty sixteen. But and then my husband's really
kind of the history buff, the bibliophile. He's not so
much into Prohibition, but he can pretty much tell.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
You anything else.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
What is his uh, what's his history? Era of history?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
He enjoys Oh, I mean I think he don't. I
think he enjoys it all. I mean, we have quite
a collection of good books around this house. A lot
of them revolve around presidential figures, so too.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
So Yeah, interesting, Okay, what do what what's the most
interesting fact that you think that you've learned about Prohibition?
And do you see similarities as from what we're seeing
with alcohol then as what we are I guess with
with marijuana now.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Uh So, the most interesting thing I have found about
the prohibition era was that it was not illegal to
consume alcohol illegal to purchase alcohol. So and that is
how you got around it. I mean, if people had
it or you know, you saw you could get prescriptions
for it.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
There were different ways, you know, you you could legally
consume alcohol.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
It was you know, I think they tried to get
rid of it in a lot of different ways, but
that was most surprising to me. And that's kind of
how speakeasy's got around it, right. The history of like
this is all purported, Like I'm telling you things that
may not ultimately be true, but this is what's the
lore that's out there.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
But a blind high.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
One of the stories was you could go to a
bar and you would pay five dollars to see like
a circus animal or something weird, right, like a blind tiger,
and then you'd get a drink for free because you
were just paying.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Admission to see.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
The live animal, right. So that was kind of their
way around doing that type of stuff. How it aligns today,
I mean, you know, provision was a federally banned a
federal ban, you know, with the THHC and the HEMP
and everything else. Today, you know they're they're they're looking
(16:35):
to do that, but some of it's still on a
state by state basis, you know that. It just it's
so complicated, and it's one of the reasons why I
don't think I could ever get into that market, because
people are always like, why don't you do functional stuff,
and I'm like, you just don't know how it's going
to play out. There's so much more micromanaging in the
government system today that I think there was historically, and
(16:59):
everything things far more complicated.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
So true, Yeah, it's uh, it's bonkers both ways. It
makes no sense. And it's like you take something away
from somebody or from a mass of people, what do
you think they want? They want that immediately, like.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Of course, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Yeah, And that's part of the reason why provision failed, Yeah,
because you know, everybody wanted and it also it was
not regulated properly. There were people making gin and dying
from it because they didn't you know, the way that
they were creating it or bringing it in.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And it was just yeah, it was a mess.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
And I mean historically, if you looked at the data,
like so many people died, so many people were murdered
over it, like it's just crazy.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And then obviously the mob was really started during that time.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So yeah, yeah, fascinating.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
One of the things I love though about the provision
era that I always try to tie into Blind Tiger
because we look at our product as an inclusive beverage. Right,
So drink or you don't. You want to feel part
of the occasion. Prior to prohibition, women were not allowed
in bars.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
So during when.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Speakeasies were created, all different classes of citizens.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Came together to celebrate and drink.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Like, you know, the jazz age ensued. You know, women's
right to vote came during that time, so there was
a lot of more inclusivity that built throughout those throughout
that decade.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I have not heard that fact that I love that. Yeah, huh,
I'm going to look more into that. It's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Well, So I read a quote from you saying, don't
ever be afraid to fail. If you're not failing, you're
not learning, which I love that so much. I think
that no matter if you're doing business or in life, whatever,
make sure to fail, because yeah, that means you're actually
learning and doing something. What do you think the biggest
failure you've learned so far or you've had so far
that turned into the biggest lesson you've learned.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Well, I think I fail all the time in candid
like you, I've had more failures than successes in this journey,
in most journeys. But I think what failure gives me
is the resilience to keep going right. And I think
that can't be taught, right, That's something you need to
(19:12):
continue to experience because you can't be successful if you
can't take the hits, and there's so many hits. And
I think the resilience and grit are just the biggest
part of why I continue to move forward.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So I love that. Yeah, it's the consistency and just yeah,
like you said, just keep moving forward on the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Yeah, I mean, you're not gonna nothing's going to come
out right. And nothing I've ever started has started perfectly right,
Like sometimes you just have to start and perfection and
I'm a perfectionist by trade, but you have to like,
if you waited until the very perfect moment, nothing would
ever come to life right exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Plus who's to say that perfect moment ever will happen exactly. Yeah.
So with the non alcoholic market growing bigger and bigger
by the day, obviously actually from the pandemic, we're five
years later and we're seeing the market as big as
it is. What do you kind of look like? What
do you see the category looking like maybe a year
from now?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah? So what I so, I'll find it interesting.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
One if the federal ban, you know, plays out, because
it's supposed to be a year, I'm hoping that they
come in and are able to have legislation that helps
kind of refine it and you know, supports the brands,
the responsible brands that are out there and doing that right,
because I think it's an important element alternative to alcohol.
(20:35):
From strictly from a non alcoholic space, I find that
retailers are really starting to adopt this overall, and they're
creating dedicated sections. I think it'll be interesting to see,
I mean everything ebbs and flows. But I also think
us as a as a market segment, really need to
(20:59):
educate and fine what we're doing, like we create. One
of the things I've learned from my own sector, like
non alcoholic cocktails, is consumers still think they're getting like
a sparkling.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Water, right.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
They don't understand why they're paying what they're paying for.
They don't know what they're getting, and then when their
taste doesn't meet the expectation in their head, then it
falls flat.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
But if they go into knowing this is supposed to
be a cocktail, this is supposed to replicate the taste
of a drink. You're not going to get the burn,
you're not going to get the effect, and you're paying
for these premium ingredients to create this, then they know.
And that goes the same thing for wine and spirits.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Beer his beer.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I think I just argue it has it easy, you know,
Like I think they do well. They have been able
to replicate I mean beer, you can taste it. A
lot of them tastes just like the you know, the
full blooded ones. So they've done well. And I think
the wine and spirits and nas need to continue to
to educate and reform in order to be successful.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Without a doubt. I mean I see it all the time,
the whole beer section. They make the sections themselves so
they can. Of course, whenever you see actual coronas or
buds or Heinekens coming into the non alcoholic world, they're like,
oh okay, they're obviously going to make a bunch of
excuse for them, and then Athletic, who has done the
best job out of anybody. I think there's maybe two
(22:25):
flavors that I'm not the biggest fan of, but everything
else tastes exactly like what it's supposed to taste. Like
the stout, I think they could work on a little more.
That's just me though.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah, it's the only beer I actually really like.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So, oh okay, do you get the Are you a
barrel aged person as well? Or are you just like
I do? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Well on furl aged everything for all aged wine, fairly spirits,
furl age bear, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yes, okay, well good I love all that too. And
we're entering the where we're in the perfect season four.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It too correct.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, but the beer world, like you said, has it
so much easier because they it's already build, They're already
gonna make the schematic the way they want, and since
they're controlling the schematic, they can put in all of
their non alcoholics. However, the wine section that's always been
kind of up in the air, or it's been like
three skews total, But now I'm actually seeing, like you said,
(23:16):
those sections are beating so much bigger, and we're seeing
it in Walmart Target, I mean, Albertson's down here in Texas.
ChB has done really well also, So it's like that
section obviously is getting bigger. And it's not just for
you know, recovering alcoholics or pregnant women. So it's for
people who are sober curious or like you said, still
want to celebrate with their friends and family, but they
(23:38):
don't want to drink. So it's a good alternative.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, And I mean I who do drink, you know,
I statistically most people who are drinking alcohol alternatives are
still drinking period.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
So I think it's just.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
A nice option to have when you get older, you're
designated driver, you're just taking a night off, like there's
a million and ten reasons, and now you don't just
have to go out and have a coker pepsi or coffee, right.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Or soda water in a line like, Yes, so you
were an adjunct professor for like four years, right, what
did you take from that experience that you still kind
of implement into your daily life now?
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yes? So I actually still teach one course and it's
a graduate level course called Innovation Entrepreneurship. So most of
my adjunct for has been in entrepreneurship. I did my
PhD and my dissertation had a focus on entrepreneurial leadership,
so that was always critical to me. But one of
(24:45):
the things I've always tried to do. You know, there's
what's the saying those who can't do teach vice versa,
like I try to marry those because I think the
real world is so is just as beneficial, if not
more so in my rema that is like the book world,
right like so I so for my students, and my
(25:05):
takeaway was always, let's make this a real life kind
of partnership versus you just going by the book and
learning historical you know, like different definitions of different terms
and all that stuff that could teach you nothing one
of the today.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
How much of what the class has taught you about
what you've been doing with your business.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
That's a good question. I don't I don't know that.
I don't know the answer to that actually, because i'm
you know, I think, yeah, I can't give you a
good answer right now.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I'd have to come back. Well, I don't know if
I imagine that some would you know, obviously know what
you do. They might look at your business and be like,
why aren't you doing this? Or you know, even some
suggestions or whatever. So I was always curious.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Yeah, you know, it's funny. Most of the students do
you know what I do or have done? And there's
actually never been much feedback from my world. So they
like the product. They've just never really yeah I questioned
it otherwise.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
So well, you also have a fresh eyes, fresh mind,
fresh ears when it comes to we're seeing all these
studies of you know, now people are really saying alcohol
can lead to this, that and the other and so.
And obviously the gen, the new the next generation is
not drinking as much, but you're seeing it from you know,
(26:33):
actually talking to them and being around them. What are
you seeing when it comes to their alcohol consumption or
even their thought process behind yes or no?
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah there, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
They don't really talk about that much, like they're just
kind of living their own lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And I didn't.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I don't interrogate at that level because you know, I
and I think even like probably us you know, well,
all right, so as a woman, not you John, like
if there were times I wasn't drinking back in the day,
people would be like, oh, are you pregnant? Right? You know, like,
so you didn't want to. I was like, you didn't
want to set yourself up for that. So I think
that in my head just always was ingrained, like drinking
(27:12):
is a personal choice.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
So unless somebody comes out.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And talks to me about it directly, I've never actually
broached the subject.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Okay, yeah, I actually have uncovered multiple friends being pregnant
that way because they were not drinking.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
I said that, and well, yes, I was like, oh,
I never have been, So that was never the issue
was So it's just always funny because I'm like, oh,
can I just not drink?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Right? Yeah? What if I don't want to drink? Or
what if yeah I just want to still be here,
I just don't want to drink. Yeah. Well, what does
the future kind of look like for blind Tiger? I mean,
you've gone the evolution in just four and a half
years has been huge, and now that I'm not saying
this is the final product of what it's supposed to
look like, but you're obviously found what your your groove
(27:57):
and what you're lane supposed to kind of be with this,
what do you kind of see the future look like
maybe the next two or to even five years for us?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Like what I really love so our product?
Speaker 2 (28:09):
How to position this best?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I really want to lean into the hospitality sector more
like tourism. So we got on We're fleet wide on
Royal Caribbean. We're going to be on Virgin voyages in
late January.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Like our pack so our product, packaging, taste, quality, all
fit from a very kind of quick and efficient standpoint.
So high volume restaurants things like that that don't need
anything from craft. So I'm really trying to lean in
more into those spaces, airlines, you know, things like that
that are easy options, but more sophisticated. That's what I'm
(28:47):
really hoping to get in the next couple of years.
One of the things I am looking at is potentially
opening up our own come manufacturing facility down the road.
That would take a lot of investment, but there's it
would also allow for more freedom and flexibility for us
to refine and create and do and potentially work for
(29:09):
different partners under like white label type stuff. And that's
a pipe dream and or nightmare. I'm not sure which
one you would.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Get a little bit of both.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
But yeah, I mean, ideally we want to continue to grow.
It's hard to grow from northwest Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's hard to grow.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Without major huge investment dollars or resources, right, So to
find that right partner down the line would be great too.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
But yeah, just continue.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
To to kind of educate and push the boundary on
what this product is and does and creates good alternative options.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I love it, you've met you mentioned education multiple times.
What do you think people are just not I mean,
like you said earlier, they think that they're just going
to be getting sparkling water with some flavor in it.
What do you think that they're kind of missing the
most when it does come to maybe not trying this
or not even giving it an option.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
So in my head, I've seen a lot of my
competitors have similar cocktail names but don't actually create cocktails.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Right Like, I've seen a lot.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Of other Mohidos and mimosas in the market which are
just you know, really kind of slightly refined sparkling waters,
but they're not true to a cocktail name. And I
think that's a huge discrepancy when you're out there trying
to sell a product that really does provide more of
that depth than consistency you get in a cocktail. So
(30:33):
that's on us both as brands, and then just from
the consumer standpoint to just recognize. I mean they don't
they don't understand the value yet, and that's not on them.
Like they don't you know, they think, if you're not
getting an effect, what are you paying for? And sometimes
when you go into something, you're paying for the ingredients
(30:53):
that it uses, or the small batch or the process
or different things, and that's really hard to explain in
ten seconds or five seconds, you know, to a consumer.
So I think that just takes time and consistency and
just continually repeating that message and you know, hopefully it
breaks through the noise. I mean there's a ton of
noise out there, but I think that's really what it is.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
It's not on them, it's on us. So as a brand, now.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
That makes sense. I mean, the more tastings, I always say,
get it in their mouth and then they could decide
from there.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yes, the lips is what I like.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, yes, yesips, the lips. I like that phrase too. Yeah,
I just forgot about it, so you said, I was like, oh, yeah,
I have a segment, So I call it the five count.
It's just five random questions. Okay, Number one, what would
your last meal be?
Speaker 3 (31:38):
My last meal, you know, just off the top of
my head was a black and steak, So I'm just.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Going to go with a black and misteak.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Okay, any side or just a steak?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Oh no, I mean probably mashed potatoes. Uh, maybe asparagus. Okay,
not exciting, but that's kind of what comes to top
of mine.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Hey, if that's what you want for your last Meala, gently,
if you were a progresser or MMA fighter, what would
your name be?
Speaker 2 (32:05):
I have mine to you? Blind tiger perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
As they say, there's not another blind tiger out there.
What were the last three things you googled?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
A lot?
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Probably so probably health related stuff to my mom?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Is she okay?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I mean she has so she was she was kind
of she was just real diagnosed with cancer. No, no,
I mean it's it's part of it. But that is like,
those are the last three things I was googling. Was different,
different things for that, So yeah, she'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I think. Yeah. It's a very slow growing So hopefully
there you go.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Number four, This might go right into this one also
who or what inspires you.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Or what inspires me? I mean everyday humans be good
people are what inspire me. I don't see a ton
of a lot of authenticity or humanity these days, so
when I do, it's really Yeah, it's really great to
see because we definitely need more of it.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I feel the exact same way, and I know it's
out there, they're just not covering like no one unfortunately
is paying attention to it. They're not paying attention.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, they like to cover the negative stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Which is so easy, and it's like you're not even
trying at this pot. Yeah, it's literally every day I'm
with you. Oh, it's so funny going online every day
it's like, all right, what are we upset about today?
And let's go Yep, I would have found goodible. I
think they're on Twitter still. That was one of my
favorites because it's just nothing but good news and good
(33:45):
things happening in the world. So yeah, I'm sure there's
an Instagram one, but I don't know. I don't spend
that much time online because.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I get probably a good thing.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Yes, And then number five, what would you tell your
seventeen year old self?
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Oh? God, let it go well, because I mean, most
things that seems and even today, most things that feel
like just the end of the world within like a
day or two are usually are usually fixed, right or
just not what you think they are, right.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, whatever seems huge to you now again a year later,
maybe a month later, you're like, I don't what what
was that? I don't remember exactly. Now, if people wanted
to find out more about you, follow you online, find
Blind Tiger, how can they do all the things?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (34:32):
So our website is blind Tiger spiritfree dot com. Our
most active channel is Instagram, so it's Blind Tiger Cocktails
at Blind Tiger Cocktails in the same handle for TikTok.
And they can find us on you know, on LinkedIn too.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
But just not as active there.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
That makes sense. Yeah, I mean Instagram, I think is
the best one, especially you're also Instagram. You guys do
really good things, so I think, yeah, people definitely need
to check that out. Well, re Becca, thank you so
much for your time. I've love this Blind Tiger. I'm
on the bes knees right now and this is phenomenal,
so I can't wait to try the other ones as well.
So I well, definitely it is holiday time, so I
think people need to go out of the way to
(35:10):
bring this to whatever holiday party you're going to Thanksgiving, Christmas,
New Year's Eve, because somebody there is probably gonna be like, oh,
what is this and then try it and love it.
So thank you so much for.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
This fun and easy so thank you for having me
no problem.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Thank you so much Rebecca for being on the show again.
It is the holiday time, so make sure to grab
some Blind Tiger, either for your holiday parties, your New
Year's Eve parties, or even for Sober January, whatever you
want to do. So definitely make sure to follow and
find Blind Tiger wherever you can. And while you're doing that,
make sure to follow us on social media. It is
(35:54):
bruisers Pod. That is b r e W sc rs
pod on the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter. If
you want to send us an email, it is Bruiserspod
at gmail dot com. If you want to follow me directly,
it is Roady John. That is r O d I
E j O N. Roadie John is the name on
the Twitter and an untapped in case you want to
find out when I'm drinking, maybe mean have beer together.
If you want to follow me on the threads or
(36:14):
the Instagram. It is official wordy John, So until next time,
make sure to enjoy life, drink local and cheers.
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