March 19, 2025 • 30 mins
Paul Corvino sits down with Justin Wolf, CEO of New Brew. New Brew is a "euphoric seltzer" containing kratom and kava, marketed as a mood-boosting and calming drink.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is CEOs you should know with division president of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino. Today I'm here with Justin Wolfe, the CEO
of New Brew.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome, Justin, Thank you, Paul. Awesome to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Before we get started and we learn more about your
journey and your company, I like to do a little
quick rapid fire Q and A where the first thing
that comes to your mind when I ask a question,
This just gets to your mouth moving and your brain working.
You're ready, ready, beat your ski vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
M quick, you gotta be quick, pal Bougie Alps.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh okay, very boogie. Michael Jordan or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Brady, Michael Jordan, Star Wars.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Or Godfather, Star Wars, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You know what, Daniel Craig.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Celebrity people say you remind.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Them of I get Justin Timberlake quite a bit. Yeah, yeah,
I mean I have the name, right, so it's kind
of a cheat.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, when you started off being cold Justin.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, yeah, especially in the nineties.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm a nineties kid, right, so it was very it
was very prevalent at that time.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Okay, so now we usually we do this these interviews
and it's really about your journey and where you started
and had you got there. But since you look like
you're about nineteen years old a short interview.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Thirty four, Okay, a little older than I look.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So tell me where'd you grow up? Tell me about
your background.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, I grew up in San Francisco Bay Area native.
I've been in LA for sixteen years, but always be
a an SF person my heart and soul for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I grew up as an athlete, pretty good student, just
a family kid, very close with my parents, my two brothers.
The two brothers are actually co founders of newbrou So
we remained very close to this day. You know, what's
what's relevant to the Newbrew story is I did start
drinking at a really young age. I was a party kid,
like through and through from a very young age.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Even when I was.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Like twelve years old, I was I was really getting
after it, and at that time I was kind of
a party thing. But that you know, quickly, I think
through my teens, became more of a coping mechanism. And
I wasn't aware of this at the time, right, I
thought I was just drinking to have fun, but I
was living with was what was the early stages of
depression and what I, you know, realized was sort of
(02:21):
a treatment resistant depression.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So I was self medicating.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Treatment resistant depression.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, I know it's treatment resistant because I threw basically
every treatment at it for many years for you know,
twenty years after that, different SSRIs, antidepressants, all sorts of therapy,
you know, you name it, and nothing really helped to
remediate the depression. So, you know, I found myself in
a place when I was in my late twenties, early
thirties where I realized, like the the tools that are
(02:50):
provided by you know, the standard sort of American healthcare
system protocol were not effective to me. This was treatment
resistant in that way.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Are interesting? So did you go to college?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I did.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I went to USC That's how That's what brought me
down here to La initially and then just never left.
I actually married a film producer, so I'm kind of
stuck here forever.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And what did you study in school? American studies?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So I studied American history, really twentieth century American history
with sort of a focus on race, class, and gender.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Through that lens, How did you evolve?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
How did you eventually? Did you found new brew or
you found it.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I did found it?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, business were you would before then?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, so you know, I wouldn't say that my USC
major is directly, you know, tied to what I've ended
up doing with my career. I actually had some experience
in the CpG world, the consumer products world, during and
after college with a different company.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It's called drip Drop.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
It's a rehydration solution sort of like liquid IV if
you've heard of liquid IV, but before liquid IV. And
this is sort of a medical geared product. So this
is a product that was developed by my family doctor
growing up in San Francisco, a rehydration solution that actually
is as effective as an IV in rehydrating your system,
(04:06):
but of course it can be consumed orally. And he
developed this for a disaster relief. He was flying to Haiti,
and you know, whenever there was a disaster, an earthquake,
a flood, he would fly there and wherever there was
a shortage of ivs to go. That's how most people die.
If there's an outbreak of cholera, for example, people are
dying of dehydration and there's a huge worldwide shortage of ivs.
(04:28):
They're very expensive they're difficult to produce, so he would
fly there and save you know, many many lives using
this technology.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So that's what he created the product for.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And he didn't have it really a business case for
it in his mind, right.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
What was your role in the company.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
So when I was a senior at USC, I went
up to his practice, just you know, for a regular
doctor's visit, and he said, hey, you got to try
out this thing I had created. It's called drip Drop.
And of course, for me, I was a big college
party kid at that point, in my mind immediately went to, well,
this has got to be the greatest hangover solution known
to man, right, So I had them ship me down
(05:03):
a palette of drip Drop to my you know house
down at USC, and I started to get the product
stocked at all the local stores where you know, the
students would go buy beer, wine, wherever they bought alcohol.
I would have drip drops sold there, and I did
my own sort.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Of shell directly to the convenience. The convenience short chain
is very restrictive.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
They've got certain Yeah, I would just show up meeting
that they work with totally well, I, as you can imagine,
at that point, had built some solid relationships with those
stores because I was there so much buying alcohol, so
they took a chance on the product, got on it
on the shelf, and then I ran these sort of
gorilla marketing campaigns through the Greek system at USC, through
the athletic program. I had people all over campus wearing
(05:46):
drip Drop shirts. You know, the sorority girls were wearing it,
and it just became a thing and it really does
solve hangovers, like almost instantaneously. So I built really what
was the first business case for the product. And when
I graduate, I moved back to San Francisco and worked
full time.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I was really like the first hire at drip Drop.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So let me ask you about that marketing end of it.
So you got people to start wearing those shirts, that's
not an easy thing to do. How did you get that?
Was it? Was it in the design? I mean at
a lot of people talk about about the iPhone that
it originally was the iPad, iPod or whatever the iPod
at the time, and it was based it became a
(06:26):
fashion accessory. Everyone knew those you know, the white ear
plugs and the nod and that's how it sort of started.
Was it something like that was it was it because
of the fashion and the design.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Of you know, honestly, I don't think it's like the
prettiest logo. I don't think it was really a branding
thing so much. That was a tool that was very useful. Right,
It did what it said it was going to do.
And that's I would say the same thing about Newbery,
which is what I'm working on now. Of course, this
solves a problem for people, and so it's the efficacy
of the of the product itself. Once people started trying it,
(06:59):
they realized, oh wow, this like actually helps me get
to class the morning after a big night. It just
kind of build a life of its own from there.
So that there was a connection between the name drip
Drop and the solution to a problem that many people
on campus were experiencing. You know, even the athletes, right,
they would still go out at night, they'd wake up
for like a five am practice, and they started relying
(07:19):
on drip Drop to you know, get through those very.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Interesting YEA telling you your career at drip drop.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, so you know, we actually so I moved back
up to San Francisco after I graduated, and I realized, okay,
we got to start getting this stocked at stores around
San Francisco. Of course, it's it's not the same environment
as USC around a campus. So I started going to
Walgreens and just showing up, no meeting, asking for the
store manager and just pitching them. And technically they're not
(07:44):
allowed to do to make buying decisions at the store
level to your point, right, it's not a franchise model.
They had to get corporate approval to carry products. But
I convinced one or two of them, so we had
a couple stores and then I would send everyone I
knew to go buy it there.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Right. I would take the sales data.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
From those coup stores, bring it to another five stores,
and we just kept building from there, and we got
into our first twenty five or so Walgreens in the city,
and that started to get the attention of corporate.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
How long did it take to get to that point
from when you were a senior work in college working
on this till now?
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yeah, until now orun till when we got into probably
six months after I graduated, we had got into those stores. Yeah,
And I in the process, you know, I kind of
realized that I had some business development shops. Right, It
felt very natural to me to just show up to
a store and start talking to people and you know,
pitching them on, you know, the solution to a problem
(08:38):
that many people are facing, not just with hangovers, right,
but people who were ill right and you know, people
who were facing dehydration for a variety of reasons. And
the products started moving right, we got the attention of corporate.
We got a meeting with Walgreens corporate and they decided
to roll us out nationally. So from there, you know,
we raised a bunch of money. We built out a
(08:58):
big team. It was like it's thirty person team, and
really scaled out what is Nation now a national brand.
And this is before the days of you know, e
commerce really being like a focal point of any brand
like this.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
We were selling it in stores.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
How long did you did you stay with the company?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
About four years? Yeah, And you know, once that company
was built out, I guess kind of my my honeymoon
phase with the company sort of ended and I just
sort of lost interest in it. I decided to move
back down to LA and entered the world of tech,
and I got a job at a startup called Tenor,
which is, you know, a gift sharing platform if you're
(09:37):
familiar with like gifts GIFs, right, those little moving pictures.
And I built out their content library with a small
team here in LA and we actually one year after
I joined Tenor were acquired by Google and all of
a sudden, I was working at Google and I went
down that.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Path for about five or six years from there.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Very interesting. How did you wind up getting involved with
your new business? Yeah, with Newbro and founding.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
This definitely so newbrew developed you know, out of my
personal life right, Like in my career, I was sort
of working my way up in the tech world and
having a lot of success. I wouldn't say I was
super passionate about it, but I was, you know, having
that positive feedback response and becoming you know, more and
more adept at like the Google ecosystem and how to
work your way up and get promoted and kind of
(10:24):
politicking there. But in the background, right in my personal life,
I was really struggling with my relationship with alcohol. As
I got into my late twenties, it became less of
a party thing and more of like a true coping mechanism, right,
and I could kind of feel that what I was
doing was actually self medicating for the depression that I
was feeling.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Is there's a point where you got to realize that
I actually do have a problem that you didn't realize
it until then. I'm just partying having fun.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, it's sort of I think even in college, there
was a voice in my head there was some part
of me, you know, beneath it all that understood there
was something different about my relationship's alcohol. Even from all
the other you know, party people I was around, my
relationship to it was a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Think it was really once I fell in love and
got married and started seeing the pain that I had
been feeling reflected in the person who I loved that
it became an issue. I couldn't really just sweep under
the rug every day, right. I was no longer able
to just send a couple apology texts the morning after
to the people who I had, you know, misbehaved in
front of or you know, said something stupid. It was
(11:31):
I was living with the person who was you know,
upset or embarrassed or you know, impacted by my behavior. Right,
And at that point I started to come to terms
the fact that this is something I need to leave
behind or I will one day need to leave behind,
which is really difficult to accept, right because I had
built sort of an identity around alcohol and this sort
(11:51):
of persona that I embodied.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
When I drank a lot of.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Alcohol, it was it felt like it was really a
part of me. So even then, even when the warning
signs were there, I decided to keep going.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I took all these sort of half measures, like, Okay,
I'm not going to drink hard liquor anymore. I'm just
going to drink beer and wine, and then of course
I just ended up drinking more beer and wine. I decided,
you know, I was going to try this medicine called noltrexone,
which you consume and it sort of limits the effects
of alcohol after one drink, like the second one just
doesn't actually feel good. So I did that for a while,
(12:25):
but then I found myself sneaking at like I'm not
going to take it tonight.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I want to have a big night.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
No, it's I don't know how to compare it to anything,
but it's a prescribed medication. There's another one, I forget
the name of it, that actually makes you feel sick
if you consume alcohol.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
This isn't like that. It just sort of makes drinking
not fun.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
But again, I would take maybe half this night, or
you know what, I'm not going to take it tonight
because I want to have a good night. So I
was sort of lying to myself that this was some
sort of solution. The only solution was leaving alcohol behind.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
It wasn't until I dove in to the world of
psychedelic therapy that I really really gained perspective on my
relationships alcohol. And again, I had been, you know, going
to different therapists and trying different SSRIs. I was cycled
on and off of different antidepressants for many, many years,
none of which really helped me much. You know, maybe
for a period of time I felt some relief, but
(13:19):
ultimately they had terrible side effects and they weren't solving
the core issue for me. So I wanted to experiment
with something a little more alternative. And this was four
years ago. Now around that time, ketamine assisted therapy started
to become, you know, a topic of conversation around town
here in LA and I learned about it and decided
(13:42):
to give it a go because I didn't know what
else to try at that point. So I went in
for you know, a series of eight sessions within one
month with ketamine therapy, and it's it's a wild experience,
you know you are. It is a very psychedelic experience.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
You could have a bad experience at the same.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Time, Yeah, I mean you could have very challenging experiences.
I wouldn't say there's any bad experiences. I think when
you experience something that feels, you know, very challenging and
maybe like incredibly uncomfortable, there's a reason for that. Right
You're working through a lot of discomfort that sits in
you and finding a way to you know, release it. Ultimately,
(14:19):
that's what healing is. And that happened very quickly for me,
Like something clicked after a couple of those sessions, and
it was very closely focused on my relationships alcohol. I
started to see, you know, from a different angle. It's
kind of hard to explain. There's sort of like an
ineffability to these types of experiences. But I started to
(14:40):
see the pain that I was causing not only in myself,
but you know, in my wife, all of the people
who love me in my life. And at that point
it became unavoidable, right, I couldn't compartmentalize it and just
shift it to the side and go back to alcohol.
Every time I drank it was on my mind, right,
So I realized there was an actual shift happening in me.
(15:00):
And once I completed that course of treatment, it became
very clear, like I have to leave alcohol behind. And
so it was within a few months after that, this
is October twenty twenty one, that I made that choice
and left it behind.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
And how did you find neubr yeah, or the or
the ingredients in there that are helping you find alcohol?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Sure, yeah, So in the months after quitting drinking, you know,
I decided to consume absolutely nothing, my mind altering. Like
I even didn't drink caffeine, no coffee, nothing. I wanted
to discover my baseline, which I hadn't done in my
adult life, right, Just what is it like to live
without nothing? I got off of the medications I was
(15:44):
on that were being prescribed to me and really just
kind of sat with myself and you know, became more
connected to my mind and body than I ever had
been before. I would say in the three or four
months after that, I started to get really curious about
the non alcoholic beverage market, which was really starting to boom.
Around that time three years ago. And of course we
(16:06):
live in la which is the mecca of all sort
of drink innovations. If you go to Airwon or Whole Foods,
there's an entire aisle dedicated to these kind of drinks, right,
And there are there are many brands that have developed
products that do an incredible job of sort of mimicking
the taste of alcohol. If you think about a non
alcoholic beer, there's Athletic Brewing, there's Visitor, There's all these
(16:29):
incredible and beer brands, And there's great utility in consuming
something that kind of tastes like alcohol that solves like
one problem.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
There are brands that do a great job of looking
and kind of feeling like alcohol, right in terms of
like holding it in your hand. Even a liquid death
like a water, right, it's sort of in the shape
and has the appearance of a tall can of beer.
So if you're at a bar, if you're at a
wedding a party, you're kind of like a part of it, right.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
You don't feel like you're missing out on that part
of it.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
But what I realize is all of the brands that
we're attempting to replace the effects of alcohol and provide
sort of an alternative experience. We're kind of missing the mark.
They were really riding the placebo effect more than anything.
You know, leveraging ingredients like oshwagonda or CBD or you know,
new tropics adaptogens. These are all very healthy ingredients, right.
(17:19):
I take supplements like that every day, But the idea
that they create some sort of tangible experience is sort
of it's just marketing jargon, right, It's a way to
sell products. In my opinion, you don't actually feel those
They kind of tell you you're going to feel something, and
therefore you're searching for something and maybe you find a
mild effect, a psychosomatic reaction exactly so. And meanwhile, you're
(17:42):
paying like ten dollars for a canned mocktail that's essentially
just glorified water with a bunch of sugar a lot
of the time too. So they're not necessarily healthy, but
they look cool, right, And I just sort of had
this gap in the market. What I saw as a
gap in the market. Identified millions of people are moving
away from alcohol, right, but they're not necessarily in search
(18:04):
of one hundred percent abstinence. They're looking for functional alternatives.
To alcohol, because alcohol is not a great fit for
a lot of people, myself included, right beyond the fact
that it's like a neurotoxin and it's genuinely bad for
your body, a lot of people have a hard time
maintaining a healthy relationship with alcohol, and yet in the
beverage format, it's really the only tangible experience that you
(18:26):
can actually access.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Cannabis beverages like THHC beverages are an exception to that,
but for the most part, until recently at least, you
have to go to a dispensary, right, those aren't widely
available at a liquor store or convenience store. So it's
really alcohol and maybe caffeine like an energy drink, you
feel that, right, But outside of that, there's not much
to choose from. So I had this on my mind,
and several months from there, my wife and I were
(18:52):
down in Mexico and we stumbled into a kava bar
and I had never heard of kava root, which is
one of the ingredients we have a neubreu had I
heard of cradam leaf, which is the other ingredient, And
this bar, this is a non alcoholic bar, was serving
mixtures of these two plants sort of you know, in
a coconut shell and sort of like a traditional fashion,
and my wife and I, not knowing much about these plants,
(19:15):
consumed it and were just kind of blown away by
the experience. We felt exactly what I was looking for,
what I felt was missing.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And served as an adult drink as a as a cocktail.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Yeah, it's it is sort of a mocktail, right, but
it differs from what we see in the mocktail sector
in the US and that you actually feel it.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So it's non alcoholic, but you feel some of the
effects that you might get with alcohol.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Exactly you do.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
But the crucial difference here is you're not inebriated. You're
not impaired in any way, right, You don't become disconnected
from yourself. What you feel is a feeling of calmness,
which is mostly derived from the kava root. It has
a sort of relaxing effect. You have a little bit
of energy and focus which comes from the cratom, and
(20:03):
the two ingredients combined for a mild euphoria. So you
sort of just get into a good mood really quickly
upon consuming it. So it's a little difficult to explain,
but you do feel all these tangible effects, and again
without feeling intoxicated at all. In fact, you're kind of
more dialed in. You're sort of in this flow state
where you're very present, you're focused, you're grounded, you're locked
(20:23):
into whatever you're doing, whether it's speaking to the people
around you or getting work done, you know, whatever it is,
working out, and you get that without feeling sort of
sloppy or disconnected from yourself. So when we try this,
it was this revelatory experience, right, Like, you know, first
of all, just this is incredibly enjoyable. I think just
about anybody would like this feeling. But secondly, how have
(20:46):
we not heard about these plants, Like, how have they
not found their way into this sort of non alcoholic
renaissance that's happening in the US and really all around
the world. So when I got home, my brothers and
I started to get very curious about these plants, learning
about their cultural history, you know, the clinical data that's
available about them, the sort of strange markets that have
(21:07):
developed around them.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
In the US.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
You know, there's about twenty million Americans who are regularly
consuming cradom, right, and we developed you know, began the
process of developing what ultimately became newbrou It was a
long formulation journey. These are two very bitter plants, and
it took some time to figure out how to get
them into an RTD drink that tasted good, that's low
(21:31):
in sugar, it's low calories. It's like fifteen calories three
grams of sugar where you're not really tasting those bitter plants.
But it's sort of like a complex adult tasting beverage,
right that can be positioned right next to you know,
white Claw or high Noon, like a hard seltzer. This
is sort of a plant based alternative with an alternate
experience to offer right next to that at a liquor store.
(21:53):
And that's exactly what's happened with Nuber.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
You don't have to be over a certain age. It's
not an alcoholic in any way.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
It's not alcoholic, but it is twenty one and up.
Oh it is, Yeah, it is. So it's really the
cradom leaf that makes it twenty one and up. Technically,
in California it's unregulated, so there's no age restriction in California,
but there are twelve states now that have passed statewide
regulations that make cradom twenty one and up. In some
states it's eighteen. And they also require you know, lab testing, GMP,
(22:21):
manufacturing standards, sort of all the basic stuff that frankly
the FDA should be requiring at the federal level is
now happening at the state level, and we as a
brand are a part of this push to get that
legislation passed in California and ultimately at the federal level.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
But United ebrated in any way, and is it addictive
in any way?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
It is habit forming for sure. Yeah, and that's really
I think what makes this a twenty one and up product.
This isn't something that kids should be drinking at all.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So it's not an alcoholic drink, but in some ways
it's you get the effects, so you've got to be
careful with it.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Yeah, absolutely, I think you know, what we try to
promote is mindful consumption.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
We have on the can Drink Responsibly twenty one and up.
We even say, you know, on the side panel of
the can that this can be habit forming and also
that it's not for people who are in substance abuse recovery.
So it's a very nuanced message we're going to the
market with.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
That's part of why it's called newbrew, because it's just
something new. I think that the can itself actually creates
a bit of confusion, or you could call it intrigue.
You know, you see twenty one and up right, but
then right next to it you see alcohol free. So
you're thinking, okay, what is this a weed drink? And
then next to that it says cannabis free. So people
are kind of forced to pick up the can, spin
(23:38):
it around and actually learn about it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
How do people learn? How do you market it? It's
just in a convenience store or a liquor store. Yeah,
and it's sitting there, and that's it's marketing itself by
looking at it. But how do people know about it?
Are you? Are you advertising marketing anywhere else? Right now?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
We don't spend a lot of money on marketing, honestly.
I think that we've built a brand or designed a
brand that will off the shelf. Yeah, I hope, so, yeah,
you know, we don't have to do a lot of that.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
When people drink it, they feel incredible, They usually want
to buy more of it, and they usually tell everyone
they know about.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
It which to try the first place, exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
It is about It's about encouraging trial, but also encouraging
trial through education and transparency about the ingredients. The idea
with nubreu is not hey, everyone go drink this. It's hey,
you've probably never heard of these plants. Come learn about them,
and then make an informed decision as an adult as
to whether this is something that you want to build
into your life, that's something you want to try, right,
(24:37):
And we are you know, it's not just within the
world of crowdam or kava. We are trying to set
a new standard for how companies that use ingredients that
we would call substances right that have sort of a
psychoactive effect, how they market their product. This is sort
of an approach that I think alcohol products should have
to take, or cannabis brands as well. Right, there is
(24:58):
a burden of education that we you have because these
ingredients are newer to people. Of course that's a big
reason why we do it. But even with alcohol, I
think there's a greater level of transparency and honesty that
we could get from the alcohol industry about, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Just how to actually build a healthy relationship.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Are you're sold primarily in convenience stores. Can you buy
it online?
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Also, you can buy it on our website as well.
What is the website drinknewbrew dot com.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Drinknewbrewed dot com exactly.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
And even there it's agegated, so you have to enter
you your full name and your shipping address a.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Company or how many Comedian stores are you in?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So in southern California, we're in around one thousand stores
now and these are all independent stores. There's one exception,
which is lescens if you're familiar with that grocery chain,
but for the most part, mom and pop liquor stores,
convenience stores.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Where do you manufacture in southern California?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, so's the health employees do you have? Now?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
We have five full time employees. It's a small, small company.
A number of you know, contractors and vendories.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
With manufacturing, so you're farming out the manufacturing.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yes, we work with a contract manufacturer. Yeah, and you
know Austin, Texas is our second biggest market. That's catching
up to Southern California. We've since launched in Florida in
several other states. So this is a product that's you know,
sort of exiting the startup phase and entering sort of
the mid market company.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
There are five of you, and you're in over a
thousand stores.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yeah, just in just in southern California. We're closer to
twenty five hundred in the country right now. So it's
it's happened in a short period of time, and we
launched this in March of twenty twenty three, so it's
a lot for us to keep up with, honestly, and
it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I try to think of who you competitors are, and
it's not the energy drinks, it's not the Red Bulls
and the Monsters. And then it's not the THC or
weed infuse drinks.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, they're not competitors. It's sort of its own, it's
its own thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
I would say that we are sort of a part
of a new category of beverage that I would throw
the THHC drinks, you know, the HEMP drived Delta nine,
Delta eight drinks that are proliferating right now. I would
say that we're joining them in this sort of new
category of alternate beverages, right, alternative beverages. So even at
a store like Total Wine or Bevmo, there's a section
(27:10):
for these kind of drinks now and at liquor stores
as well, which I think is really exciting. The premise
of newbru is to disrupt alcohol stranglehold over the ceremony
of drinking. We think it's just wrong that that's the
only option available to people. You know, it's the only
thing on a menu at a restaurant or a bar, right,
it's really the only option at a liquor store. We're
not anti alcohol. Alcohol will always have a place in
(27:33):
our society, right, We're anti alcohol being the only option
because yeah, for all the reasons we talked.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
About, right, are you in bars and restaurants down?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So we're just getting started on that, you know, we're
in our first couple in LA. We're starting that in
Austin as well. So there's a restaurant called Bakery Incredible Restaurants, Yeah,
sort of atap Us Restaurant.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
It's one of the best restaurants in LA.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
So there's Sherman Oaks location brought it on and yeah,
that's we've literally just kicked off our on premise strategies,
which is what they call bars, restaurants, hotels and gyms
a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
So what's what's the next step for you to grow
this business into a big national brand.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
And yeah, in company.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
So we're gonna try to do what we've done in
southern California and a handful of other markets.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
You know, we're looking at New York now.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
We just entered the New York market, Miami, Las Vegas,
and I think once we've gone deep in those markets,
we'll be entering discussions with national distributors, right and bringing
this out on a national scale in a real way.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, you're at a thousand locations now you're doing this without,
you know, with without a national distributor. That's pretty impressed.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
We are getting the attention of the big alcohol conglomerates, right.
They're looking around and seeing that their beer sales are declining.
Millennials are drinking way less. Gen Z has very little
interest in alcohol whatsoever, So they're trying to look towards
the future. They've done a lot of exploring with cannabis brands.
But frankly, cannabis is not the most social substance. It
(29:03):
is recreational, right, It's a great thing to have at home,
maybe with your spouse, a couple of friends, but not
that many people want to be stoned at a bar
or in a big group of people. So Newbrew and
this combination of crawdaman kava is the one to one
replacement for alcohol that people have been looking for. You
feel social, you feel talkative, you feel comfortable, you feel
engaged with the people around you in a way that
(29:26):
you can't really get with cannabis.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
So we really do see this as the future.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I think I'm gonna test one of you or your
New brews.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
I insist on right after the six.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Especially as we're approaching lunchtime. And once again we're here
with Justin Wolf, the CEO of Newbrew. Thank you so
much for coming on again. Give the the.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Website drinkneubrew dot com. That's the same thing on its
Instagram at drink nuberu.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Well go into your local convenience store and look for
the absolutely bright lime green container with the pink top.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Yep, there's a store locator on the website as well,
so you can find a store near you.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Once again, this is Paul Corvino, the division president of
iHeartMedia in Los Angeles, saying thank you for listening to
another episode of CEOs. You should know
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Listen to CEOs you should know on the iHeartRadio app
This is CEOs you should know with division president of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino. Today I'm here with Justin Wolfe, the CEO
of New Brew.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome, Justin, Thank you, Paul. Awesome to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Before we get started and we learn more about your
journey and your company, I like to do a little
quick rapid fire Q and A where the first thing
that comes to your mind when I ask a question,
This just gets to your mouth moving and your brain working.
You're ready, ready, beat your ski vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
M quick, you gotta be quick, pal Bougie Alps.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh okay, very boogie. Michael Jordan or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Brady, Michael Jordan, Star Wars.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Or Godfather, Star Wars, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You know what, Daniel Craig.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Celebrity people say you remind.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Them of I get Justin Timberlake quite a bit. Yeah, yeah,
I mean I have the name, right, so it's kind
of a cheat.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, when you started off being cold Justin.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, yeah, especially in the nineties.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm a nineties kid, right, so it was very it
was very prevalent at that time.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Okay, so now we usually we do this these interviews
and it's really about your journey and where you started
and had you got there. But since you look like
you're about nineteen years old a short interview.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Thirty four, Okay, a little older than I look.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So tell me where'd you grow up? Tell me about
your background.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, I grew up in San Francisco Bay Area native.
I've been in LA for sixteen years, but always be
a an SF person my heart and soul for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I grew up as an athlete, pretty good student, just
a family kid, very close with my parents, my two brothers.
The two brothers are actually co founders of newbrou So
we remained very close to this day. You know, what's
what's relevant to the Newbrew story is I did start
drinking at a really young age. I was a party kid,
like through and through from a very young age.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Even when I was.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Like twelve years old, I was I was really getting
after it, and at that time I was kind of
a party thing. But that you know, quickly, I think
through my teens, became more of a coping mechanism. And
I wasn't aware of this at the time, right, I
thought I was just drinking to have fun, but I
was living with was what was the early stages of
depression and what I, you know, realized was sort of
(02:21):
a treatment resistant depression.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So I was self medicating.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Treatment resistant depression.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, I know it's treatment resistant because I threw basically
every treatment at it for many years for you know,
twenty years after that, different SSRIs, antidepressants, all sorts of therapy,
you know, you name it, and nothing really helped to
remediate the depression. So, you know, I found myself in
a place when I was in my late twenties, early
thirties where I realized, like the the tools that are
(02:50):
provided by you know, the standard sort of American healthcare
system protocol were not effective to me. This was treatment
resistant in that way.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Are interesting? So did you go to college?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I did.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I went to USC That's how That's what brought me
down here to La initially and then just never left.
I actually married a film producer, so I'm kind of
stuck here forever.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And what did you study in school? American studies?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So I studied American history, really twentieth century American history
with sort of a focus on race, class, and gender.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Through that lens, How did you evolve?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
How did you eventually? Did you found new brew or
you found it.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I did found it?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, business were you would before then?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, so you know, I wouldn't say that my USC
major is directly, you know, tied to what I've ended
up doing with my career. I actually had some experience
in the CpG world, the consumer products world, during and
after college with a different company.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It's called drip Drop.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
It's a rehydration solution sort of like liquid IV if
you've heard of liquid IV, but before liquid IV. And
this is sort of a medical geared product. So this
is a product that was developed by my family doctor
growing up in San Francisco, a rehydration solution that actually
is as effective as an IV in rehydrating your system,
(04:06):
but of course it can be consumed orally. And he
developed this for a disaster relief. He was flying to Haiti,
and you know, whenever there was a disaster, an earthquake,
a flood, he would fly there and wherever there was
a shortage of ivs to go. That's how most people die.
If there's an outbreak of cholera, for example, people are
dying of dehydration and there's a huge worldwide shortage of ivs.
(04:28):
They're very expensive they're difficult to produce, so he would
fly there and save you know, many many lives using
this technology.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So that's what he created the product for.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And he didn't have it really a business case for
it in his mind, right.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
What was your role in the company.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
So when I was a senior at USC, I went
up to his practice, just you know, for a regular
doctor's visit, and he said, hey, you got to try
out this thing I had created. It's called drip Drop.
And of course, for me, I was a big college
party kid at that point, in my mind immediately went to, well,
this has got to be the greatest hangover solution known
to man, right, So I had them ship me down
(05:03):
a palette of drip Drop to my you know house
down at USC, and I started to get the product
stocked at all the local stores where you know, the
students would go buy beer, wine, wherever they bought alcohol.
I would have drip drops sold there, and I did
my own sort.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Of shell directly to the convenience. The convenience short chain
is very restrictive.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
They've got certain Yeah, I would just show up meeting
that they work with totally well, I, as you can imagine,
at that point, had built some solid relationships with those
stores because I was there so much buying alcohol, so
they took a chance on the product, got on it
on the shelf, and then I ran these sort of
gorilla marketing campaigns through the Greek system at USC, through
the athletic program. I had people all over campus wearing
(05:46):
drip Drop shirts. You know, the sorority girls were wearing it,
and it just became a thing and it really does
solve hangovers, like almost instantaneously. So I built really what
was the first business case for the product. And when
I graduate, I moved back to San Francisco and worked
full time.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I was really like the first hire at drip Drop.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So let me ask you about that marketing end of it.
So you got people to start wearing those shirts, that's
not an easy thing to do. How did you get that?
Was it? Was it in the design? I mean at
a lot of people talk about about the iPhone that
it originally was the iPad, iPod or whatever the iPod
at the time, and it was based it became a
(06:26):
fashion accessory. Everyone knew those you know, the white ear
plugs and the nod and that's how it sort of started.
Was it something like that was it was it because
of the fashion and the design.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Of you know, honestly, I don't think it's like the
prettiest logo. I don't think it was really a branding
thing so much. That was a tool that was very useful. Right,
It did what it said it was going to do.
And that's I would say the same thing about Newbery,
which is what I'm working on now. Of course, this
solves a problem for people, and so it's the efficacy
of the of the product itself. Once people started trying it,
(06:59):
they realized, oh wow, this like actually helps me get
to class the morning after a big night. It just
kind of build a life of its own from there.
So that there was a connection between the name drip
Drop and the solution to a problem that many people
on campus were experiencing. You know, even the athletes, right,
they would still go out at night, they'd wake up
for like a five am practice, and they started relying
(07:19):
on drip Drop to you know, get through those very.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Interesting YEA telling you your career at drip drop.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, so you know, we actually so I moved back
up to San Francisco after I graduated, and I realized, okay,
we got to start getting this stocked at stores around
San Francisco. Of course, it's it's not the same environment
as USC around a campus. So I started going to
Walgreens and just showing up, no meeting, asking for the
store manager and just pitching them. And technically they're not
(07:44):
allowed to do to make buying decisions at the store
level to your point, right, it's not a franchise model.
They had to get corporate approval to carry products. But
I convinced one or two of them, so we had
a couple stores and then I would send everyone I
knew to go buy it there.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Right. I would take the sales data.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
From those coup stores, bring it to another five stores,
and we just kept building from there, and we got
into our first twenty five or so Walgreens in the city,
and that started to get the attention of corporate.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
How long did it take to get to that point
from when you were a senior work in college working
on this till now?
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yeah, until now orun till when we got into probably
six months after I graduated, we had got into those stores. Yeah,
And I in the process, you know, I kind of
realized that I had some business development shops. Right, It
felt very natural to me to just show up to
a store and start talking to people and you know,
pitching them on, you know, the solution to a problem
(08:38):
that many people are facing, not just with hangovers, right,
but people who were ill right and you know, people
who were facing dehydration for a variety of reasons. And
the products started moving right, we got the attention of corporate.
We got a meeting with Walgreens corporate and they decided
to roll us out nationally. So from there, you know,
we raised a bunch of money. We built out a
(08:58):
big team. It was like it's thirty person team, and
really scaled out what is Nation now a national brand.
And this is before the days of you know, e
commerce really being like a focal point of any brand
like this.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
We were selling it in stores.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
How long did you did you stay with the company?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
About four years? Yeah, And you know, once that company
was built out, I guess kind of my my honeymoon
phase with the company sort of ended and I just
sort of lost interest in it. I decided to move
back down to LA and entered the world of tech,
and I got a job at a startup called Tenor,
which is, you know, a gift sharing platform if you're
(09:37):
familiar with like gifts GIFs, right, those little moving pictures.
And I built out their content library with a small
team here in LA and we actually one year after
I joined Tenor were acquired by Google and all of
a sudden, I was working at Google and I went
down that.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Path for about five or six years from there.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Very interesting. How did you wind up getting involved with
your new business? Yeah, with Newbro and founding.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
This definitely so newbrew developed you know, out of my
personal life right, Like in my career, I was sort
of working my way up in the tech world and
having a lot of success. I wouldn't say I was
super passionate about it, but I was, you know, having
that positive feedback response and becoming you know, more and
more adept at like the Google ecosystem and how to
work your way up and get promoted and kind of
(10:24):
politicking there. But in the background, right in my personal life,
I was really struggling with my relationship with alcohol. As
I got into my late twenties, it became less of
a party thing and more of like a true coping mechanism, right,
and I could kind of feel that what I was
doing was actually self medicating for the depression that I
was feeling.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Is there's a point where you got to realize that
I actually do have a problem that you didn't realize
it until then. I'm just partying having fun.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, it's sort of I think even in college, there
was a voice in my head there was some part
of me, you know, beneath it all that understood there
was something different about my relationship's alcohol. Even from all
the other you know, party people I was around, my
relationship to it was a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Think it was really once I fell in love and
got married and started seeing the pain that I had
been feeling reflected in the person who I loved that
it became an issue. I couldn't really just sweep under
the rug every day, right. I was no longer able
to just send a couple apology texts the morning after
to the people who I had, you know, misbehaved in
front of or you know, said something stupid. It was
(11:31):
I was living with the person who was you know,
upset or embarrassed or you know, impacted by my behavior. Right,
And at that point I started to come to terms
the fact that this is something I need to leave
behind or I will one day need to leave behind,
which is really difficult to accept, right because I had
built sort of an identity around alcohol and this sort
(11:51):
of persona that I embodied.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
When I drank a lot of.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Alcohol, it was it felt like it was really a
part of me. So even then, even when the warning
signs were there, I decided to keep going.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I took all these sort of half measures, like, Okay,
I'm not going to drink hard liquor anymore. I'm just
going to drink beer and wine, and then of course
I just ended up drinking more beer and wine. I decided,
you know, I was going to try this medicine called noltrexone,
which you consume and it sort of limits the effects
of alcohol after one drink, like the second one just
doesn't actually feel good. So I did that for a while,
(12:25):
but then I found myself sneaking at like I'm not
going to take it tonight.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I want to have a big night.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
No, it's I don't know how to compare it to anything,
but it's a prescribed medication. There's another one, I forget
the name of it, that actually makes you feel sick
if you consume alcohol.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
This isn't like that. It just sort of makes drinking
not fun.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
But again, I would take maybe half this night, or
you know what, I'm not going to take it tonight
because I want to have a good night. So I
was sort of lying to myself that this was some
sort of solution. The only solution was leaving alcohol behind.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
It wasn't until I dove in to the world of
psychedelic therapy that I really really gained perspective on my
relationships alcohol. And again, I had been, you know, going
to different therapists and trying different SSRIs. I was cycled
on and off of different antidepressants for many, many years,
none of which really helped me much. You know, maybe
for a period of time I felt some relief, but
(13:19):
ultimately they had terrible side effects and they weren't solving
the core issue for me. So I wanted to experiment
with something a little more alternative. And this was four
years ago. Now around that time, ketamine assisted therapy started
to become, you know, a topic of conversation around town
here in LA and I learned about it and decided
(13:42):
to give it a go because I didn't know what
else to try at that point. So I went in
for you know, a series of eight sessions within one
month with ketamine therapy, and it's it's a wild experience,
you know you are. It is a very psychedelic experience.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
You could have a bad experience at the same.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Time, Yeah, I mean you could have very challenging experiences.
I wouldn't say there's any bad experiences. I think when
you experience something that feels, you know, very challenging and
maybe like incredibly uncomfortable, there's a reason for that. Right
You're working through a lot of discomfort that sits in
you and finding a way to you know, release it. Ultimately,
(14:19):
that's what healing is. And that happened very quickly for me,
Like something clicked after a couple of those sessions, and
it was very closely focused on my relationships alcohol. I
started to see, you know, from a different angle. It's
kind of hard to explain. There's sort of like an
ineffability to these types of experiences. But I started to
(14:40):
see the pain that I was causing not only in myself,
but you know, in my wife, all of the people
who love me in my life. And at that point
it became unavoidable, right, I couldn't compartmentalize it and just
shift it to the side and go back to alcohol.
Every time I drank it was on my mind, right,
So I realized there was an actual shift happening in me.
(15:00):
And once I completed that course of treatment, it became
very clear, like I have to leave alcohol behind. And
so it was within a few months after that, this
is October twenty twenty one, that I made that choice
and left it behind.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
And how did you find neubr yeah, or the or
the ingredients in there that are helping you find alcohol?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Sure, yeah, So in the months after quitting drinking, you know,
I decided to consume absolutely nothing, my mind altering. Like
I even didn't drink caffeine, no coffee, nothing. I wanted
to discover my baseline, which I hadn't done in my
adult life, right, Just what is it like to live
without nothing? I got off of the medications I was
(15:44):
on that were being prescribed to me and really just
kind of sat with myself and you know, became more
connected to my mind and body than I ever had
been before. I would say in the three or four
months after that, I started to get really curious about
the non alcoholic beverage market, which was really starting to boom.
Around that time three years ago. And of course we
(16:06):
live in la which is the mecca of all sort
of drink innovations. If you go to Airwon or Whole Foods,
there's an entire aisle dedicated to these kind of drinks, right,
And there are there are many brands that have developed
products that do an incredible job of sort of mimicking
the taste of alcohol. If you think about a non
alcoholic beer, there's Athletic Brewing, there's Visitor, There's all these
(16:29):
incredible and beer brands, And there's great utility in consuming
something that kind of tastes like alcohol that solves like
one problem.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
There are brands that do a great job of looking
and kind of feeling like alcohol, right in terms of
like holding it in your hand. Even a liquid death
like a water, right, it's sort of in the shape
and has the appearance of a tall can of beer.
So if you're at a bar, if you're at a
wedding a party, you're kind of like a part of it, right.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
You don't feel like you're missing out on that part
of it.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
But what I realize is all of the brands that
we're attempting to replace the effects of alcohol and provide
sort of an alternative experience. We're kind of missing the mark.
They were really riding the placebo effect more than anything.
You know, leveraging ingredients like oshwagonda or CBD or you know,
new tropics adaptogens. These are all very healthy ingredients, right.
(17:19):
I take supplements like that every day, But the idea
that they create some sort of tangible experience is sort
of it's just marketing jargon, right, It's a way to
sell products. In my opinion, you don't actually feel those
They kind of tell you you're going to feel something, and
therefore you're searching for something and maybe you find a
mild effect, a psychosomatic reaction exactly so. And meanwhile, you're
(17:42):
paying like ten dollars for a canned mocktail that's essentially
just glorified water with a bunch of sugar a lot
of the time too. So they're not necessarily healthy, but
they look cool, right, And I just sort of had
this gap in the market. What I saw as a
gap in the market. Identified millions of people are moving
away from alcohol, right, but they're not necessarily in search
(18:04):
of one hundred percent abstinence. They're looking for functional alternatives.
To alcohol, because alcohol is not a great fit for
a lot of people, myself included, right beyond the fact
that it's like a neurotoxin and it's genuinely bad for
your body, a lot of people have a hard time
maintaining a healthy relationship with alcohol, and yet in the
beverage format, it's really the only tangible experience that you
(18:26):
can actually access.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Cannabis beverages like THHC beverages are an exception to that,
but for the most part, until recently at least, you
have to go to a dispensary, right, those aren't widely
available at a liquor store or convenience store. So it's
really alcohol and maybe caffeine like an energy drink, you
feel that, right, But outside of that, there's not much
to choose from. So I had this on my mind,
and several months from there, my wife and I were
(18:52):
down in Mexico and we stumbled into a kava bar
and I had never heard of kava root, which is
one of the ingredients we have a neubreu had I
heard of cradam leaf, which is the other ingredient, And
this bar, this is a non alcoholic bar, was serving
mixtures of these two plants sort of you know, in
a coconut shell and sort of like a traditional fashion,
and my wife and I, not knowing much about these plants,
(19:15):
consumed it and were just kind of blown away by
the experience. We felt exactly what I was looking for,
what I felt was missing.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And served as an adult drink as a as a cocktail.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Yeah, it's it is sort of a mocktail, right, but
it differs from what we see in the mocktail sector
in the US and that you actually feel it.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So it's non alcoholic, but you feel some of the
effects that you might get with alcohol.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Exactly you do.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
But the crucial difference here is you're not inebriated. You're
not impaired in any way, right, You don't become disconnected
from yourself. What you feel is a feeling of calmness,
which is mostly derived from the kava root. It has
a sort of relaxing effect. You have a little bit
of energy and focus which comes from the cratom, and
(20:03):
the two ingredients combined for a mild euphoria. So you
sort of just get into a good mood really quickly
upon consuming it. So it's a little difficult to explain,
but you do feel all these tangible effects, and again
without feeling intoxicated at all. In fact, you're kind of
more dialed in. You're sort of in this flow state
where you're very present, you're focused, you're grounded, you're locked
(20:23):
into whatever you're doing, whether it's speaking to the people
around you or getting work done, you know, whatever it is,
working out, and you get that without feeling sort of
sloppy or disconnected from yourself. So when we try this,
it was this revelatory experience, right, Like, you know, first
of all, just this is incredibly enjoyable. I think just
about anybody would like this feeling. But secondly, how have
(20:46):
we not heard about these plants, Like, how have they
not found their way into this sort of non alcoholic
renaissance that's happening in the US and really all around
the world. So when I got home, my brothers and
I started to get very curious about these plants, learning
about their cultural history, you know, the clinical data that's
available about them, the sort of strange markets that have
(21:07):
developed around them.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
In the US.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
You know, there's about twenty million Americans who are regularly
consuming cradom, right, and we developed you know, began the
process of developing what ultimately became newbrou It was a
long formulation journey. These are two very bitter plants, and
it took some time to figure out how to get
them into an RTD drink that tasted good, that's low
(21:31):
in sugar, it's low calories. It's like fifteen calories three
grams of sugar where you're not really tasting those bitter plants.
But it's sort of like a complex adult tasting beverage,
right that can be positioned right next to you know,
white Claw or high Noon, like a hard seltzer. This
is sort of a plant based alternative with an alternate
experience to offer right next to that at a liquor store.
(21:53):
And that's exactly what's happened with Nuber.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
You don't have to be over a certain age. It's
not an alcoholic in any way.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
It's not alcoholic, but it is twenty one and up.
Oh it is, Yeah, it is. So it's really the
cradom leaf that makes it twenty one and up. Technically,
in California it's unregulated, so there's no age restriction in California,
but there are twelve states now that have passed statewide
regulations that make cradom twenty one and up. In some
states it's eighteen. And they also require you know, lab testing, GMP,
(22:21):
manufacturing standards, sort of all the basic stuff that frankly
the FDA should be requiring at the federal level is
now happening at the state level, and we as a
brand are a part of this push to get that
legislation passed in California and ultimately at the federal level.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
But United ebrated in any way, and is it addictive
in any way?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
It is habit forming for sure. Yeah, and that's really
I think what makes this a twenty one and up product.
This isn't something that kids should be drinking at all.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So it's not an alcoholic drink, but in some ways
it's you get the effects, so you've got to be
careful with it.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Yeah, absolutely, I think you know, what we try to
promote is mindful consumption.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
We have on the can Drink Responsibly twenty one and up.
We even say, you know, on the side panel of
the can that this can be habit forming and also
that it's not for people who are in substance abuse recovery.
So it's a very nuanced message we're going to the
market with.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
That's part of why it's called newbrew, because it's just
something new. I think that the can itself actually creates
a bit of confusion, or you could call it intrigue.
You know, you see twenty one and up right, but
then right next to it you see alcohol free. So
you're thinking, okay, what is this a weed drink? And
then next to that it says cannabis free. So people
are kind of forced to pick up the can, spin
(23:38):
it around and actually learn about it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
How do people learn? How do you market it? It's
just in a convenience store or a liquor store. Yeah,
and it's sitting there, and that's it's marketing itself by
looking at it. But how do people know about it?
Are you? Are you advertising marketing anywhere else? Right now?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
We don't spend a lot of money on marketing, honestly.
I think that we've built a brand or designed a
brand that will off the shelf. Yeah, I hope, so, yeah,
you know, we don't have to do a lot of that.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
When people drink it, they feel incredible, They usually want
to buy more of it, and they usually tell everyone
they know about.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
It which to try the first place, exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
It is about It's about encouraging trial, but also encouraging
trial through education and transparency about the ingredients. The idea
with nubreu is not hey, everyone go drink this. It's hey,
you've probably never heard of these plants. Come learn about them,
and then make an informed decision as an adult as
to whether this is something that you want to build
into your life, that's something you want to try, right,
(24:37):
And we are you know, it's not just within the
world of crowdam or kava. We are trying to set
a new standard for how companies that use ingredients that
we would call substances right that have sort of a
psychoactive effect, how they market their product. This is sort
of an approach that I think alcohol products should have
to take, or cannabis brands as well. Right, there is
(24:58):
a burden of education that we you have because these
ingredients are newer to people. Of course that's a big
reason why we do it. But even with alcohol, I
think there's a greater level of transparency and honesty that
we could get from the alcohol industry about, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Just how to actually build a healthy relationship.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Are you're sold primarily in convenience stores. Can you buy
it online?
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Also, you can buy it on our website as well.
What is the website drinknewbrew dot com.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Drinknewbrewed dot com exactly.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
And even there it's agegated, so you have to enter
you your full name and your shipping address a.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Company or how many Comedian stores are you in?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So in southern California, we're in around one thousand stores
now and these are all independent stores. There's one exception,
which is lescens if you're familiar with that grocery chain,
but for the most part, mom and pop liquor stores,
convenience stores.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Where do you manufacture in southern California?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, so's the health employees do you have? Now?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
We have five full time employees. It's a small, small company.
A number of you know, contractors and vendories.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
With manufacturing, so you're farming out the manufacturing.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yes, we work with a contract manufacturer. Yeah, and you
know Austin, Texas is our second biggest market. That's catching
up to Southern California. We've since launched in Florida in
several other states. So this is a product that's you know,
sort of exiting the startup phase and entering sort of
the mid market company.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
There are five of you, and you're in over a
thousand stores.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yeah, just in just in southern California. We're closer to
twenty five hundred in the country right now. So it's
it's happened in a short period of time, and we
launched this in March of twenty twenty three, so it's
a lot for us to keep up with, honestly, and
it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I try to think of who you competitors are, and
it's not the energy drinks, it's not the Red Bulls
and the Monsters. And then it's not the THC or
weed infuse drinks.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, they're not competitors. It's sort of its own, it's
its own thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
I would say that we are sort of a part
of a new category of beverage that I would throw
the THHC drinks, you know, the HEMP drived Delta nine,
Delta eight drinks that are proliferating right now. I would
say that we're joining them in this sort of new
category of alternate beverages, right, alternative beverages. So even at
a store like Total Wine or Bevmo, there's a section
(27:10):
for these kind of drinks now and at liquor stores
as well, which I think is really exciting. The premise
of newbru is to disrupt alcohol stranglehold over the ceremony
of drinking. We think it's just wrong that that's the
only option available to people. You know, it's the only
thing on a menu at a restaurant or a bar, right,
it's really the only option at a liquor store. We're
not anti alcohol. Alcohol will always have a place in
(27:33):
our society, right, We're anti alcohol being the only option
because yeah, for all the reasons we talked.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
About, right, are you in bars and restaurants down?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So we're just getting started on that, you know, we're
in our first couple in LA. We're starting that in
Austin as well. So there's a restaurant called Bakery Incredible Restaurants, Yeah,
sort of atap Us Restaurant.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
It's one of the best restaurants in LA.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
So there's Sherman Oaks location brought it on and yeah,
that's we've literally just kicked off our on premise strategies,
which is what they call bars, restaurants, hotels and gyms
a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
So what's what's the next step for you to grow
this business into a big national brand.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
And yeah, in company.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
So we're gonna try to do what we've done in
southern California and a handful of other markets.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
You know, we're looking at New York now.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
We just entered the New York market, Miami, Las Vegas,
and I think once we've gone deep in those markets,
we'll be entering discussions with national distributors, right and bringing
this out on a national scale in a real way.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, you're at a thousand locations now you're doing this without,
you know, with without a national distributor. That's pretty impressed.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
We are getting the attention of the big alcohol conglomerates, right.
They're looking around and seeing that their beer sales are declining.
Millennials are drinking way less. Gen Z has very little
interest in alcohol whatsoever, So they're trying to look towards
the future. They've done a lot of exploring with cannabis brands.
But frankly, cannabis is not the most social substance. It
(29:03):
is recreational, right, It's a great thing to have at home,
maybe with your spouse, a couple of friends, but not
that many people want to be stoned at a bar
or in a big group of people. So Newbrew and
this combination of crawdaman kava is the one to one
replacement for alcohol that people have been looking for. You
feel social, you feel talkative, you feel comfortable, you feel
engaged with the people around you in a way that
(29:26):
you can't really get with cannabis.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
So we really do see this as the future.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I think I'm gonna test one of you or your
New brews.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
I insist on right after the six.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Especially as we're approaching lunchtime. And once again we're here
with Justin Wolf, the CEO of Newbrew. Thank you so
much for coming on again. Give the the.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Website drinkneubrew dot com. That's the same thing on its
Instagram at drink nuberu.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Well go into your local convenience store and look for
the absolutely bright lime green container with the pink top.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Yep, there's a store locator on the website as well,
so you can find a store near you.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Once again, this is Paul Corvino, the division president of
iHeartMedia in Los Angeles, saying thank you for listening to
another episode of CEOs. You should know
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Listen to CEOs you should know on the iHeartRadio app
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