Authentic RTDs Built on Live Music Roots 🎸🍹✨ Interview with Ruby Honerkamp

This week 📢I talk🎙️with Ruby Honerkamp Founder and Co-CEO of Talkhouse Encore created in honor of the iconic Hamptons venue, Stephen Talkhouse! 👏🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏 🥂 😁

Ruby Honerkamp talks TalkHouse Encore 🍊🍸 RTDs, real tequila, vodka, & legacy bar roots in the Hamptons 🎤🎶 A brand built on taste, data, & community ❤️‍🔥 

Ruby grew up in the music venue and shares a story of wearing her best dress for Sting as a kid. Her parents founded and manage the venue. Created out of a way to pivot from COVID "Talkhouse Encore" was born. It honors the top drinks requested at the bar and is made with fresh ingredients.

🎤 From the stage to the shelf! Ruby Honerkamp, Founder of TalkHouse Encore, brings the soul of an iconic East Hampton live music venue into every can. These tequila & vodka RTDs are no boardroom – they’re grassroots, authentic, and crushable. Ruby shares the startup journey, operational smarts (hello KPIs), flavor formulation secrets, and the hustle of scaling without selling out.

💡 Top Takeaways:

• Built on heritage, not hype
• Tequila & vodka-based RTDs with real fruit juice
• Flavor-first, calorie-smart
• Strong local focus > chasing every market
• CRM-driven growth & velocity KPIs
• Distribution done right: beer-style mindset
• Authentic storytelling builds sub-communities
• Howard Stern & Metallica fans approved 🎸🎧

NOW ON YOUTUBE!!! Thank you for Listening! Join us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!

Host Jessie Ott's Profile on LinkedIn

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to TalkHouse Encore and Ruby Honerkamp
• 1:36 The Impact of COVID-19 on the Beverage Industry
• 3:27 Growing Up in the Hamptons and the TalkHouse Experience
• 5:16 Celebrity Encounters and the TalkHouse's Unique Atmosphere
• 7:08 The Evolution of TalkHouse Encore
• 10:40 Creating Quality Beverages: The TalkHouse Encore Story
• 16:12 Flavor Development and Market Research
• 18:14 Target Audience and Brand Authenticity
• 20:15 Standing Out in a Crowded Market
• 27:45 Distribution Strategies and Partnerships
• 31:13 Bridging the Gap: Beer and Spirits
• 32:50 Navigating Compliance in the Alcohol Industry
• 35:22 Marketing and Storytelling for Brand Growth
• 37:05 Staying True to Brand Values
• 39:02 Overcoming Industry Challenges
• 47:16 The Importance of Mentorship
• 56:00 Learning from Mistakes and Growth
• 59:43 Future Outlook for the Brand and Industry
• 1:00:15 Year-Round Beverage Strategy
• 1:01:30 Industry Insights and Changing Consumer Preferences
• 1:01:42 Rapid Fire Personal Questions
• 1:03:35 Tasting the Vodka Soda Lime
• 1:06:32 Exploring Grapefruit and Tequila Soda
• 1:08:07 Pineapple Tequila Soda: A New Flavor
• 1:08:55 Blood Orange Tequila Soda: Consistency Challenges
• 1:10:53 Iced Tea Lemonade: A Classic Twist
• 1:12:43 Cranberry Vodka Soda: Iterations and Consistency
• 1:14:40 The Hamptons Mule: A Unique Take

Transcript

Ruby Honerkamp (00:00)
So standing out, like how we stand out is taste. And we have a real story. We have a heritage. we're a heritage brand. We weren't born in a boardroom. You know, we're not sterile.

I think when it sticks, it clicks, and then it drives authentically. It's very grassroots. I think building sub-communities and authentic relationships has been the key driver in our success.

Jessie Ott (00:50)
Hello everybody. And welcome to Thursday Thursdays. My name is Jessie Ott and I've got an exciting guest today. Ruby Honerkamp founder and Co-CEO of TalkHouse Encore, refreshing tequila and vodka seltzers inspired by an iconic bar in the Hamptons. They are real spirits and authentic flavors. Welcome Ruby.

Ruby Honerkamp (01:10)
Thank you, I really appreciate you having me.

Jessie Ott (01:13)
Yeah, no, I'm really excited to have you. I've been looking at your cans over here. So we are doing a tasting just FYI out there audience. I'm pretty, pumped about this. The cans look awesome. The coloring, the design, everything. Look amazing.

Ruby Honerkamp (01:27)
Thank you. Yeah,

you we actually just went through an iteration to make sure that they stood out more on the shelf, which was feedback from our customers, but it was a lengthy process. And I think the beauty of it was we always came back to our roots. You know, we had an initial design, initial story, and just figuring out how to emphasize those keynotes to make sure it pops on the shelf and looks good in the hand.

Jessie Ott (01:43)
Great.

Yep. It's all about storytelling and, and, know, getting that liquid to lips and that trial to, to, to continue the, the, you know, getting that pull. So I'm excited to learn how you've done it all. So where are you calling from Ruby?

Ruby Honerkamp (01:58)
Yep.

I'm actually calling from East Hampton. It's where I was born and raised and it's where my family's live music venue is. I lived in New York for a few years and boomeranged home during the pandemic, which is what was the catalyst to start this business.

Jessie Ott (02:25)
Yeah, we've seen that. COVID was a catalyst for a lot of brands and it's been exciting for people who, you veterans like me who have been in the business over 20 years. You know, it's fun to see that our industry is growing in all different kinds of ways because it's been pretty basic and stagnant until the last five, 10 years. And now it's just been exploding, especially after COVID.

Ruby Honerkamp (02:28)
Yeah.

And

I think also before COVID, everybody was stuck in their routines. So whatever you were served or whatever you did was just part of the status quo. And by having this time away from nightlife and on-premise experiences, there was an opportunity for innovation and people were drinking at home. So they were getting more creative. And I think this innovation really set the tone for what consumers want and demand in terms of premiums, flavor.

quality, style, format, things like that.

Jessie Ott (03:24)
Yeah. And so it's, you were born and raised out there in the Hamptons, East Hampton. And it sounds like you were kind of born into the industry. Your parents have a, a music venue, which that's pretty cool growing up in a music venue.

Ruby Honerkamp (03:30)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you know, it was really funny growing up. it's it's a, it's a famous live music venue. Didn't start that way. was a, it was a dive bar that my family purchased in 1987, turned into a live music venue. It's an old school dive bar, rock and roll. All of our staff have worked there for 20 to 30 years, which is hard to say in a seasonal, alone service industry. So it's this really special, uh,

Jessie Ott (03:57)
Nice.

Ruby Honerkamp (04:04)
destination and growing up I had the opportunity to a lot of live music and kooky characters through the door but I didn't get to really appreciate the magic of it until I turned 21. ⁓ But yeah, I can sleep through almost any sound now because I grew up listening to live music and yeah it's I always say there's no vice that can surprise me at this point.

Jessie Ott (04:09)
Amazing. Of course.

Hahaha!

That's funny.

Yeah. Well, you've seen it all. You've seen all kinds of characters and all kinds of music come through there, I'm sure. Which is a good experience for, you know, experiencing the world, you know, right in your backyard.

Ruby Honerkamp (04:35)
And I teach it.

Yeah, and

it was that and it was also just like such an important exposure to people of all walks of life and having no judgment. Everyone was welcome and has always been welcome there. You could be in board shorts, you can be in a tuxedo, you know, even though it's in the Hamptons, which might seem like a pretentious destination, it's a very accessible local bar that serves the community. And it doesn't matter if you were, you know,

Jessie Ott (04:47)
Yeah. Yep.

Ruby Honerkamp (05:05)
born on third base and think you hit a triple, everybody is one of the same. And I think those were really important values that were instilled in me by being exposed to something like the talkhouse.

Jessie Ott (05:12)
Nice.

So I have to ask, being a Howard Stern fan, has he ever popped in?

Ruby Honerkamp (05:20)
Of course he's popped in. Howard's been a fixture coming to the bar for many years and he was actually just there a weeks ago because Metallica was performing.

Jessie Ott (05:22)
Nice.

Good.

No way! I wish I could have been there.

Ruby Honerkamp (05:31)
Yeah,

yeah, we have a partnership with Sirius XM radio and so year over year they brought some phenomenal talent to our stage and it's been really special. Do live recordings. Yeah, Howard. Metallica just launched a new radio station and they announced it on Howard. Howard's just been a fixture.

Jessie Ott (05:41)
That's amazing. Is that, did Howard help with that? Was he kind of like the facilitator of that or was that independent of Howard?

Okay.

Ruby Honerkamp (05:59)
within the Sirius XM family and in the Hamptons. He's come to many of shows, but I think that's also the beauty of the time house is a local band could be performing or Metallica be taking the show and the consistency and quality of experience isn't jaded by who's there, who's performing. It's the people you're in the moment you're sharing, which really inspired this next venture, but.

Jessie Ott (06:04)
Yay.

Ruby Honerkamp (06:22)
I think also that's why so many celebrities and politicians and people like coming to the talk house because everyone's treated the same. And you can be a nobody and you can be a somebody and you could also be totally unseen and have the time of your life.

Jessie Ott (06:33)
that's great. I like that people can come there and just feel like everybody else because, you know, it can get overwhelming for it's not like I'm a celebrity or anything and I don't know how they feel, but that's, but it's a safe. It sounds like it's nice safe place for them. That's great. Cause I know how much Howard loves rock and roll and you know, he's like, it's a dying art. And so for him to have a local spot for him to go to then feel comfortable, that's, that's great. I'm glad. Cause you know, he didn't get out of his house for two years.

Ruby Honerkamp (06:47)
Yep. Yep.

during COVID, yeah. And I also think it's the intimacy of the space. So it's a small bar. We're not talking about Madison Square Garden. It's literally an old school dive bar that has a stage. And I think that's also why so many music to play there because it's that intimacy with the audience. I remember Sirius XM brought Coldplay the year they played the Super Bowl. And it was just magnetic to see the energy that they could read in an intimate venue versus, you know, a football field. And then

Jessie Ott (07:24)
Wow.

Ruby Honerkamp (07:29)
Mumford and Sons came the next year. Yeah, Mumford and Sons came like two years later and they were, I think it was really nostalgic for them because they started out playing in, know, pubs and local places and to be able to have the opportunity at the level they are to come back, it felt like home. It felt familiar. And I think that's what the Talkhouse does for artists, customers, staff. It's just this place of familiarity and ease. It could be your first time.

Jessie Ott (07:30)
I just got the chills.

Ruby Honerkamp (07:56)
or could be your first time and your parents met there, your grandparents went there. There's so much generational affinity because of the feeling of familiarity and consistency.

Jessie Ott (08:02)
That's great.

So among artists, meaning musicians, it's a famous place for them to go. Like if you're getting up and going and you got an invitation to come, that's like a really big deal kind of thing.

Ruby Honerkamp (08:19)
Yeah, I think so. mean,

my brother's been taking over the bookings and he's way more involved in the day-to-day management, but something that he's really wanting to be thoughtful about is making sure talent, up-and-coming talent, have this place to perform and have a stage to share. And so, you know, his goal is that everybody comes through the talk house or one day too famous for us to afford. And it is...

range of talent, but yes, there's definitely like an acknowledgement to, you know, the types of, you know, famous talent that have played versus up and comers. And I think also, because we're so close to New York City, we've gotten a really big range of talent that are willing to make a stopover and come out today or the night.

Jessie Ott (08:59)
Yeah. Yep.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that is so cool. I didn't know about that. I didn't know about this venue. That's really, really cool.

Ruby Honerkamp (09:07)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was just

having this conversation with someone actually yesterday. I remember growing up and Sting played at the talkhouse in the early 90s. And my mom, I think it was going on, I was a little kid and my mom was like, you have to wear your favorite dress, have to look beautiful. And I remember I pulled out like a Christmas dress from, you know, the early 90s, like thick velvet and it was August. And I just remember

sweating, being so hot, sitting on the bar, just shoving ice cubes down my dress because it was so ridiculous. But it's like these core memories of my childhood of moments where like, I didn't know who's, I did that for Sting and I'll never, didn't, and you realize like the magnitude of that moment and now later in life, I'm like, I saw Sting and I was putting ice cubes down my velvet dress because I was sweating. You know, it's really, it's really crazy. You could be talking to someone and.

Jessie Ott (09:37)
Ha ha ha!

Yeah. You did that for Sting.

Ruby Honerkamp (09:58)
I remember I was once having a conversation with some at the bar and they were Secret Service because there was a political figure in the bar. I had no idea. So there are so many happenstance moments that happen and I think that's also, my dad always said, people come here to grieve, they come here to celebrate, they come here to have fun. There are so many different verticals that this bar serves. It's almost like a sanctuary.

Jessie Ott (10:05)
You had no idea. That's the way it's supposed to be. Just like that. Yup.

That's great. And then how many nights is there live music?

Ruby Honerkamp (10:28)
In our summer season, we're open seven nights a week. In the off season, it kind of fades. Like right now we're open Wednesday through Sunday or Wednesday through Saturday night, Sunday, depending on how late people stay there on a Saturday. But the music definitely evolves with the seasonality. Winter we close a little bit for renovation because again, it's an old school wooden house that with a lot of liquor spilling on the floor, you know, it needs a little...

Jessie Ott (10:28)
a week.

⁓ it's a house?

Ruby Honerkamp (10:54)
yeah, it's an old school house. It's a house. Yeah.

Jessie Ott (10:57)
Wow, how

I just, I'm just in awe of this amazing place.

Ruby Honerkamp (10:59)
Yeah, well, it's

really a house. It's like a three-floor house with a backyard and it's right on Main Street. So it started as a beloved bar and it had a jukebox, which is why our cans have this encore logo that looks like a record. It's like ⁓ a nod time of the Talk Houses Foundation. And then my family came in and added a stage to turn into a rock and roll club.

Jessie Ott (11:16)
Okay.

Cool. Very cool. I love live music.

Ruby Honerkamp (11:29)
Yeah, yeah, there's something really special about it. you're not in it, it's easy to think like, I can just listen to my Spotify playlist. And then you go and see the energy and the performance of live music and your soul is enriched.

Jessie Ott (11:30)
It's fun.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I Coldplay, I'm a fan. I'm not a super fan, but I love watching them live. That would have been really amazing. Yeah.

Ruby Honerkamp (11:53)
Well, I think that's

the other thing too. You're not at MSG where someone could be lip singing and it's more of a performance. The intimacy really supports the talent in a way that is truly intoxicating. It's really special.

Jessie Ott (12:00)
Yeah.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to get out there. That sounds amazing. Really, really and truly. So how does all that have to do with what you're doing now? Like, can you talk us through that whole process?

Ruby Honerkamp (12:13)
Yeah.

Yeah, so, you know, this venue, larger than life, full of magic, full of really core foundational values that mean so much to me and our community. And when we were closed during the pandemic, you know, we were scared. We didn't know when we were going to be able to open again. And there was this longing for the TalkHouse experience and there was such an appetite to keep the TalkHouse spirit alive and for people to bring it home. And so we were

exploring and having conversations about different verticals. Well, what does it mean if Takas is in a physical footprint? And this idea of creating a beverage came to mind. And we weren't going to do a beer. We don't even have beer on draft. We're not known for beer. And the ready to drink category was really taking off at the time. It was still very the early days, there was significant pull. But what we kept coming back to when we looked at what was on the market, it still felt like there was a gap for us because

Jessie Ott (13:07)
Mm-hmm.

Ruby Honerkamp (13:15)
You know, there were a lot of other brands that were more that are malpies and their whole narrative was we're a beer alternative. So we're convenient, but if you're gluten free, you can have a white claw or a truly they're convenient. They're maybe better for you and they're lowering calories, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're prioritizing taste. And then the other thing we saw was there were a lot of other brands on the market like high noon, which is very much a seltzer. You know, you crush it. It's kind of gone.

flavor agnostic. could sometimes have a lime or you could have a peach. It's kind of whatever is available. It's not necessarily I mean, I know there's some diehard flavor enthusiasts, but it is a seltzer. And so while there were a lot of other brands coming to market, they were really focused either on this health trend of being zero calorie or a hundred calories, zero grams of sugar. And as a result, you stripped the fun. You're just drinking to drink and you're not really enjoying the experience. And so

The other vertical is like a drink like cut water. It's really high ABV, more calories. You might have one and pivot to something else, or it might be so flavorful and delicious, but you're just having one. It's not the drink you might stick to all night. And so what I always found when I went to a bar, I would always order tequila soda, just because that was simple and easy, or vodka soda. But what I realized is that drink never tastes the same. It's a strong pour, it's a light pour, the seltzer's flat, the added fruit juice is like shit.

really strong, full of sugar. And I just wanted a clean, simple drink that I would make at home. What is the baseline for a vodka soda with lime? What is the baseline for a tequila soda with grapefruit? How do you make it flavor forward so you're enjoying it, you're enjoying the experience, but then you're also mindful of our calories. Our vodka drinks are 100 calories, our tequilas are 110. I added 10 because I wanted it taste good.

Jessie Ott (15:00)
Mm-hmm.

Ruby Honerkamp (15:02)
In the same way that the talk house experiences of quality and consistency, we wanted our drinks to be a quality version and a consistent version. So if you're at a bar or you're at home, that baseline drink always tastes the same and it's real fruit juice. It's refreshing. It's enjoyable. It's crushable. It has everything you'd kind of want and anticipate when you think of a vodka soda lime. So I've had some, I do a lot of tastings and I've had someone say, you know, yeah, this is good. This is refreshing. Doesn't blow my socks off.

That's okay. That means you're going to have a lot of them. vodka soda lime should have a baseline. You know, it's funny you didn't mention the lime because it was a sleeper for a while. Because I think so many people were jaded that lime had this artificial or not crisp flavor unless you're squeezing an actual lime. Our lime is fresh squeezed lime. We wanted to really prioritize the flavor profile, but also make it convenience. Like what is convenience?

Jessie Ott (15:35)
Yeah.

It does. Yeah.

Yep.

Ruby Honerkamp (16:02)
And so the brand TalkHouse Encore is the idea the show goes on. You'll have an encore, you'll crush an encore. And so that's where we're at today. And that was about five years ago, we had the initial idea and we've been in the market for about three or four years now.

Jessie Ott (16:17)
Okay, so talk about that process. So you're close for COVID and you knew exactly the kind of quality drinks that you wanted to make, the quality ingredients, the differentiation that was out there. Then how do you come up with the flavors? Because I've got one, two, three, four, five, seven flavors here. So walk me through that process of what that was like to try to come up with those flavors.

Ruby Honerkamp (16:37)
Mm-hmm.

So to be honest, use, we, our brand is very human, but we also look to research, research connected to human decisions and preferences. So our initial, our initial start was running through our, our backend of the bar. What are people ordering? What do we need? What are we constantly making? And then we went to our local bars and our friends, a family that have bars and asking, what are the most popular drinks that you, your bartenders are making day in and day out? That's also

Jessie Ott (16:58)
Yeah, that's what I was wondering.

Ruby Honerkamp (17:10)
taking a lot of their time away because they can't serve as many. The time it takes to make one vodka soda lime, you've cracked five cans. You're actually making more money. So our flavors have the initial core where our tequila soda blood orange, our tequila soda grapefruit, our vodka soda lime, and our vodka soda cranberry. And that's because those were like the most popular drink orders. Our cranberry might not be the fastest selling skew, but there's a really important audience. It's like, what are those basic drink orders that people order at a bar?

Our pineapple was an evolution of people consistently demanding like I drink a tequila pineapple, please, please, please. Our Hampton mule was kind of our first iteration spin of bringing in Hampton's locality and like a regional reference. But everything we do is a direct relation to what are those standard drink orders? How do we streamline the experience both in quality and convenience?

Jessie Ott (18:04)
So this product is just sort of in general. It's not gender specific or age specific. It's just what are people ordering. It's more just general overall bar kind of bar. Is it bar and restaurant or is it kind of just more bar focused?

Ruby Honerkamp (18:11)
No.

See

It's bar and restaurant and it's also at home. It's at home consumption as well. I think sometimes our drinks make a really great spinoff. My friend and I recently took our iced tea and lemonade, poured it over ice, a little Prosecco and some honey and it was the best tasting drink. So, you know, I think at home, I was surprised it was delicious. But it definitely is not gender specific and it's not age specific. I remember we had an account out here.

Jessie Ott (18:24)
Okay. Yep. Okay.

yummy. That does sound really good.

Ruby Honerkamp (18:49)
that donated a bunch of cases to our local fire department. And then all of a sudden, all the local firemen were going to one of the liquor stores and just heating up our vodka cranberry, buying and buying and buying because they had that opportunity. And we look at our tasting data because we do different programs in our tasting data and in our POS rebate programs. We look at the data and we've been so impressed because

Jessie Ott (19:03)
Mm-hmm.

Ruby Honerkamp (19:18)
not only has a gender split been almost equal, it's also been a very equal tier for like age. Like it's not, you know, specific to one demographic, which is really exciting because that's who we are and we want to be that drink for everyone. And then even more recently, the Gen Z craze of are they drinking or are they not drinking? We're actually seeing a huge uptick in our Gen Z.

engagement with our brand because of the quality and they're looking for brands that are authentic and taste real and that is really a huge huge market for us now.

Jessie Ott (19:51)
Yeah, well, you definitely have the story and they want, like you said, authenticity. They want a story. They want to feel like they're part of the journey, you know, and of course, flavor. If it doesn't taste good, they're not going to buy it again because there's, know, you know, it's sort of like my question to you next is like, how do you stand out in a crowd? Because I'll tell you in our,

Ruby Honerkamp (20:00)
Mm-hmm.

Jessie Ott (20:15)
We do a quarterly review on Thursday, Thursdays, and I have different women in completely different areas of the industry. And we come together and kind of talk through the data. I've got some syndicated data and you know, your top 20, 25 brands that are growing are all RTDs. So you're coming in at the right time, but how do you play with the noise or how do you overcome that noise that is out there? Because it's so popular.

Ruby Honerkamp (20:39)
And, you know, it's not easy. It's really not easy. We've seen a lot of brands come in the past few years that have raised a lot of money with VC money, created killer designs, but the taste isn't there and they're not consistent. so, you know, a celebrity to a brand that doesn't necessarily mean it has longevity. A lot of people have thrown a lot of things at the wall to see what sticks and a lot of brands, these

Jessie Ott (20:51)
Yep. Yep.

Ruby Honerkamp (21:03)
Like bigger brands that have a lot more money have also thrown a lot of money into product iterations, spinoffs within their portfolio. But how we stick true to who we are is one, we play the grand game. We are so engaged with our community and our buyers. build real relationships. There's a lot of this industry that hasn't evolved and changed. And, the key thing, or some of it has changed and evolved, but the key thing that hasn't is relationships and building authentic.

Jessie Ott (21:30)
That's right.

Ruby Honerkamp (21:31)
Lip is an extension of who we are. So we have a team in the field. You know, we work with a distributor and we have great distribution partners. But we also match that distribution partner with our own sales force to make sure our brand is always front and center and our brand shows up for our customers the way we would expect any brand to. We also just lean into taste. We do a lot of tastings. Liquid to lips. The second people try our drink, they're like,

wait, this is really good. Or wait, this tastes so much better than I've ever had. It's a surprise. But you're right. It is saturated. It's a really crowded shelf space.

So standing out, like how we stand out is taste. And we have a real story. We have a heritage. we're a heritage brand. We weren't born in a boardroom. You know, we're not sterile.

Unfortunately, we don't have as big of marketing budgets as other brands to tell that story as far and wide, but.

I think when it sticks, it clicks, and then it drives authentically. It's very grassroots. But yeah, I think building sub-communities and authentic relationships has been the key driver in our success.

We've also kept our head down to run really thoughtfully. So instead of going far and wide to every possible state, we're not sunshine chasers necessarily. is always like, well, we're Florida. Why aren't you in California?

Jessie Ott (22:44)
Yeah.

Ruby Honerkamp (22:48)
to play the ground game locally. You you stay narrow, you go and you build a community. And once you have that community, you can build more thoughtfully and methodically. But the second you go far and wide, you mean nothing to anyone, to everyone. And when you mean nothing to everyone, there's going to be a new can that replaces you on the shelf. Whereas if you build thoughtfully and ingrain yourself in the community, you you become a legacy brand.

Jessie Ott (22:50)
Yeah.

Yeah, no, that's exactly on point when what we've seen with success in this channel, because you can't be everything to everyone. And the community aspect to it and storytelling has been such an important part of brands that actually have the longevity. To your point, I think it's almost a good thing you don't have all that marketing money because look at the brands that waste it like you've talked about. They don't do the research.

Ruby Honerkamp (23:19)
you

I mean, the amount.

Jessie Ott (23:38)
They don't understand

Ruby Honerkamp (23:39)
No.

Jessie Ott (23:39)
the market. They don't understand the distribution. They don't understand so many aspects of the three tiered, you know, part of it. And ⁓ too much money is too much pressure to your point. Make the most beautiful thing. if, yeah, if you don't have the right product that people are going to want to rebuy and it doesn't have a story that sticks.

Ruby Honerkamp (23:47)
Yeah, that's a great point. had too many problems. Yeah.

What is that? Yeah.

Jessie Ott (24:02)
You know,

it's going to be a crowd for a while and then it's going to, people are going to run out of money.

Ruby Honerkamp (24:08)
Yeah, and I think that's the other thing too is like we are a startup. We're just building a lot of our investment has been friends and family. And it's me and my business partner Rob working day in and day out to bring this product to the hands as many people as possible. But thoughtfully, you know, people are always like, where's the merch? Where's the flag? And it's like, well, we can make t-shirts when it makes sense. But like the cost of making that 16 tastings and 16 tastings is much better than two t-shirts.

Jessie Ott (24:24)
Yep. Bright.

Hahaha! ⁓

Ruby Honerkamp (24:38)
So we're really thoughtful about everything that we do, but I think, you know, research is really important to us as well. So Rob is the most brilliant operator. I, this business would be nothing that it is today without him. is such a true operator. He's evolved our KPIs even for our team day in and day out. It used to be, you know, how many points of distribution we got. And now it's like, well, what's our velocity rate?

account. It's better to have a stronger velocity per account than 100 accounts. And what's our POS? How much bonus sale and what's our merchandising strategy? So he's really crunched the numbers to, you know, make sure data is informing what we're doing. And we're not just guessing what we think. We were also afforded this amazing opportunity to work with this research company called PanaPlay. And they did a lot of great research with local markets so that we really understand our audience. And just because I

the brand should speak like this, that doesn't mean it's always, it doesn't register the same way to our audience. So making sure we're always dialed in our communication and our offering. We stay true to brand and we have a North Star no matter what we do.

Jessie Ott (25:46)
Nice. That's so important to keep focused on that because everything evolves around that. Your value, your purpose.

Ruby Honerkamp (25:53)
Yeah.

And once you have a foundation, it's easier to evolve. think in the early days, when I was just trying to figure this out, it was, you know, it's easy to get overwhelmed and want to do everything, but you really need to stay focused. And when you see focus with those key drivers and, or have a foundation, think a lot of brands also, they get excited about launching something and they use all their money for marketing. make this huge splashy sparkly marketing entry to the world.

Jessie Ott (25:59)
Yes.

Ruby Honerkamp (26:22)
And then you lift up the hood on their car and their operations are like so messy. There's so many knots and missing cables. Whereas I'm fortunate to say, if anyone were to lift the hood up on our car, our operations and the ways in which Rob mostly runs this business is so dialed that it allows for us to now do marketing stuff that is exciting. It now allows us to take risks and be louder because we have our backend completely.

Jessie Ott (26:30)
Yeah.

Yeah, that is so important. Yeah. Yeah. It's important for efficiency, communication and scale for sure. That that's great to hear. And not a lot of people talk about that. Not a lot of people are using that as the backbone of growth and scaling.

Ruby Honerkamp (26:50)
you know, he's like a ⁓ soundboard on the back end.

So yeah.

Oh, absolutely not. When I first had this idea, mean, the first thing I thought about was, what's it going to taste like and what's the logo? And I called my friend in the beverage industry for a long time and I said, I have this idea, where do I start? And her first piece of advice to me, her name's Marielle, the first piece of advice she said to me is hire this guy Rob, because you need your operations dialed because our biggest mistake or mistakes I've seen other brands do.

Jessie Ott (27:15)
He.

Ruby Honerkamp (27:34)
is they grow too fast and then they're spending so much money, resources and time fixing the operations and the flow and finances and backend that they fit. they don't necessarily fail, but like they struggle to, they break because their systems are broken. But if you have a strong system from the outside, you can move it. You can turn pulse up and down as needed. You don't have to reroute the whole course.

Jessie Ott (27:47)
They get broken. Yeah.

Yep.

Yep. That's awesome. I mean, it sounds like he built you as a startup, but built you in the right way to scale when needed. Without blinking.

Ruby Honerkamp (28:09)
Yeah, it's yeah.

I mean, I'm so fortunate to it because I, you know, even in the early days when we had sales teams, have weekly sales calls and trying to figure things out. And he's built an incredible CRM system to manage our sales team day in and day out. Like he is, we have tasted, so we call the account. Did they place an order? Like the logistics are what make us so successful.

Jessie Ott (28:26)
that's great.

So when you were sitting down with your team, you know, as you were creating these flavors, what was the idea that you had in terms of distribution? Because there's two different models now, right? There's the traditional wine and spirits distribution, or you can go through the beer channel. So which did you guys go with?

Ruby Honerkamp (28:53)
Great question. And we've gone through a few iterations. So I think when we first started, we actually worked with MHW, which is more of a self-distro model where they handle the compliance, you're locking the accounts. we talked to a number of distributors, but we also knew if we went to one of the big distributors, we would get lost in their portfolio. We were just launching. We no incentive to prioritize us. If anything,

Jessie Ott (29:02)
Yep. huh.

Yes.

Ruby Honerkamp (29:17)
we could go to a big distributor to die because they would intentionally not get a shelf placement. And so what we decided to do was, okay, we're a small business. We barely have any money to operate and we're a brand nobody knows. Let's also now work with a distributor that makes it really difficult by having not a singular invoice, maybe not as well known and let's grow it because if all the odds are against ourselves and we can find success, we know we have something special.

So in the early days, was truly Rob and I knocking on doors, falling up with counts, getting orders, and then just delivering them to MHW to process, deliver, and do compliance. But we did not have a traditional sales force. And then we kept marinating on the conversation of who's our next partner? Because we know that distribution isn't what just builds brands. Distribution is a partner to helping build a brand. I think a lot of people make that mistake, well, I'm with this distributor, so why aren't I successful? Because they're just a partner.

They're not the reason you're gonna scale as fast as you might want to, maybe in summances, but we knew that wasn't for us. So we found a mid-size distributor that was New York based, because we were just in New York for the first few years. They were wine spirits. And I think what we learned through that process is we needed to think about the ways in which our drink is being consumed, and it was much more similar to a beer. So I think...

ready to drinks, kind of sit in this awkward, they're the awkward stepchild. As they're not spirits and a lot of liquor stores get annoyed selling them because it's lower profit margin for them. But I don't think they realize volume and bulk velocity. Whereas grocery stores and bars and restaurants, they know bulk velocity. So we were kind of this awkward child between the, the, the tears. And so we launched New Jersey late last year with an incredible partner.

Jessie Ott (30:39)
They do.

Ruby Honerkamp (31:04)
Kohler, they are a beer focused distributor. The way they understood and could speak the language of our product, we knew that was who our types of partners we needed to engage with. And it's not always one to one in every market, but seeing what they were able to do with our brand post-season, just as an initial launch, we were so impressed that we then had this conversation with Union Beer Distributors in New York and their portfolio of

companies as well as their sister companies in Massachusetts. And we're with Mancini Beverage in Connecticut. I think the opportunity has been working with people that understand both spirits and beer. Because we're a velocity product. It's a lower margin. But when you understand volume and you understand cans, it's a very different logic. So I play more beer. But.

Jessie Ott (31:51)
Yes.

Yeah.

Ruby Honerkamp (31:54)
I think it all market to market and you know sometimes vendor to vendor because I have some liquor stores that aren't used to working with beer vendors so they don't understand it either. ⁓

Jessie Ott (32:02)
Right. Yeah. And

you know, it's interesting for the longest time you had both. You had the wine and spirits and you had beer and we didn't, know, Constellation tried to bring them together. It didn't work, you know? And, and so what we saw, I think Beatbox was the brand that kind of forged that relationship because they were, you know, in the Tetra packs and it just made sense for beer.

Ruby Honerkamp (32:13)
Yep.

Jessie Ott (32:26)
companies to carry them because they're going into convenience, is where these, this is a great channel for them to sell. And so now you have all these, these, you know, RTDs and whatnot in this, in this format. And it's bridging the two together. It really kind of is. And, and, but the sales models are completely different.

Ruby Honerkamp (32:42)
Yeah.

Totally, totally. And it's also what I was going to even add to that is the state to state model is even different, which I don't think people always realize is that liquor is not being sold in a grocery store in New York.

Jessie Ott (32:59)
Right. A hundred percent. Yeah. It's different. It's a,

you have to wait till noon to go to whole foods. So they put the curtain down in Texas and then in Florida, it's just like, get your booze, get your booze on anytime.

Ruby Honerkamp (33:04)
you

Yeah, well that's the you have

to be totally literate in 18 different languages as it relates to the liquor industry. ⁓

Jessie Ott (33:15)
Yeah. The compliance

is definitely hard and I'm glad that you have a company like MHW to help you navigate that because especially, you know, coming in kind of new, I don't know Rob how new he was. It sounds like he was a pretty seasoned veteran, but the legal piece, it sounded to me like he was like, let MHW handle it. And I think that's a wise decision until you can get bigger and add people as you need to.

Ruby Honerkamp (33:38)
Yeah.

now we've, so MHW helped us initially, but now we kind of are able to manage a lot of it internally because we, it's like fast track education. But you know, something we didn't realize was a three tiered system. So I actually had to lock the New York state to pass a bill to exempt TalkHouse Encore, my brand from, and TalkHouse, bar, Stephen TalkHouse, from the Tidehouse laws.

Jessie Ott (33:49)
Yeah.

Ruby Honerkamp (34:05)
because you can't have an interest in a wholesale and a retail liquor license. And we wanted the brands not feel like awkward step cousins. We wanted to feel like continuity and a genuine family. And so we passed, we lobbied the government and we made in New York state and we passed a bill to exempt us so that it could become like this talkhouse brand, which was not something I would have.

thought was necessary, but again, as it comes to.

Jessie Ott (34:30)
I didn't even think about that.

Yeah, because if you own anything in the bar, you can't, you're not supposed to be able to own on the other side. Yeah. So they just exempted you from this example.

Ruby Honerkamp (34:38)
And I think a lot.

Yeah, so unfortunately I wish it could have been a larger win for the industry, but they do let you do it's based. You also have to tie it to meets and bounds of your address. So it's like very the vernacular and nuances are very much from the prohibition era. I was like, what's a meets and bound? But yeah, I mean, when you like think about other CPG brands,

not an alcohol space. You have Carbone, a famous hot restaurant now has their own tomato sauce. You can take that home. You know, you think about all these brands that have evolved into CPG and how come liquor doesn't have that same entity. And of course it's because of, you know, you don't want to have like a mafioso

Jessie Ott (35:10)
Bright.

Ruby Honerkamp (35:23)
grip on the industry. So I understand that, for small brands who are telling their story, we had to learn that through trial and error. Part of the reason we were delayed because we wanted to do everything by the book. We dotted every I, crossed every T. I know a lot of brands probably don't do the same type of compliance, but we were really intentional about every decision we made.

Jessie Ott (35:43)
Yeah, no, it's the right move. You don't want to get on the wrong side of that.

Ruby Honerkamp (35:45)
Yeah,

better safe than sorry, always.

Jessie Ott (35:50)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it sounds like you're in what, four states now? Five states?

Four states. So that's awesome. And it's just been a few years. Yeah. So what is your, um, what's your future look like? What it like, what's your, um, next three to five year plan? you have, do you have anything that you want to share with us?

Ruby Honerkamp (36:11)
Yeah, I mean, I think for me, building out our marketing and storytelling is something that's super important. My background's in marketing, but I think because the story is so close to home, sometimes it's hard to figure out how to share it in a way that doesn't feel like an advertisement, but is authentic. So really like honing in on the community storytelling, bringing other people into that and making it feel even more.

Jessie Ott (36:24)
Mm-hmm.

Ruby Honerkamp (36:38)
inclusive and making the talkhouse feel accessible beyond the physical footprint. So what does talkhouse mean to people in New Jersey or what does talkhouse mean to people in Nantucket or Massachusetts or Boston or wherever we want to make sure we figure out and work with our customers to make sure the spirit of this brand resembles those same values. But I think we want to keep growing. We want to hopefully open up Rhode Island.

Ideally in the next few years we'll open up a warmer state, even though I said we weren't going to be the snow chasers. You know, the functionality of our drinking of spirits is real. But again, we didn't just open it, not be able to give it the attention and love the state deserves. So growing our team and growing to support with marketing and sales and growing our footprint to get more drinks in hand is definitely the priority for the next three to five years.

Jessie Ott (37:14)
Yeah.

Yeah. I love what you're doing. mean, it's kind of like the whole, whole, the surfside, you know, story of where they're building one community at a time and they're not going outside of that vision of just building one community at a time. And you just, that's the definition to me of success because you're not going outside your boundaries. You're not going outside of some vision. You're not tunnel vision, but you're focused. You're very focused and keeping true to your roots.

Ruby Honerkamp (37:53)
Yes.

Jessie Ott (37:56)
true to your mission, true to the core of the brand and trying to get as many people aware of the brand one day at a time. And I think that's the way we used to do it. That's the way it used to be done. And people think Tito's was an overnight success. He did the same thing. His whole mission with the dogs is because he had his dog in his truck in one of his first distributor meetings. And it became this thing. Now he's their big, you know.

Ruby Honerkamp (38:08)
Yeah, and you know, romance is dumb.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, yeah.

Jessie Ott (38:24)
partners with the Humane Society or whatever it is that they do. But, you know.

Ruby Honerkamp (38:28)
Yeah,

it's, but it's authentic. And it's a part of his like, and it's, you know, and this isn't an easy industry. Like I want, you know, I feel, especially as a woman, like I have definitely been told multiple times, nice lemonade stand kid. And I'm like, I come in and I know how to close a deal and I know how to have the conversation, but it takes a lot of energy to constantly have to prove itself and not just be taken seriously. So.

Jessie Ott (38:31)
It's authentic.

Ruby Honerkamp (38:55)
It hasn't, it's been, it's definitely had its challenges navigating it, but at my core, I know we have something just based on the blood, sweat and tears we've put in and the reaction from people to the brand has made it really motivating to see like, okay, well, what is this and how does this grow and how does it mean something to other people?

Jessie Ott (39:17)
So are you being facetious or did someone really did tell you, nice lemonade, stank kid?

Ruby Honerkamp (39:22)
Oh,

I have been told that so many times. I'm five foot. I look like I'm 17 some days in the market without makeup on. yeah, I mean, especially when I first started. Yeah, I mean, I had big eyes and big ambitions. And I think, unfortunately, there's been so many tried to players in this field that a lot of people were also over the narrative of this actually tastes good. This is a real good drink. And they...

Jessie Ott (39:33)
It's so disappointing.

Ruby Honerkamp (39:50)
you know, some people were very dismissive. Some people were, I'll give you the time, but I'm not giving you the buy. ⁓ I'm a curious person. So even if it was rejection, I asked a hundred questions because asking those hundred questions would only make me more aware of the category and how to innovate our brand to match to the consumer demand. So maybe my ambition curiosity early on is what

Jessie Ott (39:57)
Yeah.

BULL

Ruby Honerkamp (40:17)
made me seem not as strong, but I think if anything, it set me up for longer term success in like educating myself.

Jessie Ott (40:23)
No, I don't.

Right. think, I think asking the right questions because, know, it's probably one of these things where like, okay, we got another one guys. You know what I mean? Here's, here's another one. Here, here, here we go again. And when you come in there asking questions when, when, because you're really wanting to navigate this industry the right way, they're like, okay, this kid, this kid, this, this person, this business woman wants to learn.

Ruby Honerkamp (40:35)
yeah.

Jessie Ott (40:50)
actually how to do it right. And the product, by the way, is really good. Let's help her. You know what I mean? I think that they just see so many people in and out that they can tell the authenticity right away.

Ruby Honerkamp (41:02)
Yeah, there's been, I mean, and also I think the other brand, it's like every other month that there's different incentive for another brand to be put on the shelf. And I've seen a lot of liquor stores buy a lot of cases of brands because they bought them on a deal and then they don't move. And I think the thing we, and the thing we take the most pride in is that our product moves. So you buy it, we're gonna help you move it. We're gonna do tastings. We're gonna support you and

Jessie Ott (41:18)
Then no move.

Ruby Honerkamp (41:29)
We don't believe in finding accounts that won't do a second reorder. And for us, it's not about volume of accounts, it's about quality and health of an account.

Jessie Ott (41:36)
quality.

Yep. That's going to drive you far. It's so smart. Yeah. It's really, really smart.

Ruby Honerkamp (41:42)
Yeah. Yeah. mean,

you do favors for people and then you see a drink collecting dust under the bar and it went nowhere. And I don't want to be a favor. I want to be a partner and an additive. You know, I think even in the early days when we first launched this, the bartenders and the families bar, they were excited for me, obviously, but they were opening the cans and, you know, there was like pride in what we were doing. But over the years,

Jessie Ott (41:50)
Right.

Ruby Honerkamp (42:09)
you know, not, but they weren't non-believers, but now they're like, thank God for this product because now crack five of these, I get the same amount of tip, if not more people aren't just ordering one drinks. you have one drink on the dance floor, you're likely going to spill it on yourself or like nurse that drink and wait online. So they're able to serve faster. The quality is there. The tip money is still there. And when you're serving more drinks,

Jessie Ott (42:14)
Right.

Yep.

That's great.

Ruby Honerkamp (42:34)
Even though the margin on making it tequila soda might be more than selling it to Kielisoda Talkhouse, you're selling more Talkhouse that actually is making your margin increase because you're providing more drinks. Yeah, it's just a mindset shift. Like I think a lot of liquor stores recently, they've been saying their numbers are down. But I think it's also the mindset shift of, well, the industry has evolved and consumers are purchasing differently. So actually, your

Jessie Ott (42:43)
That's great. More drinks, more volume.

Ruby Honerkamp (43:03)
collection appropriately curated to who your audience is.

Jessie Ott (43:07)
Exactly. Right. 100%. So what's your shelf life?

Ruby Honerkamp (43:11)
I mean like two or three years. I say that only because we've been around for two or three years, but we've done testing year over year. And so we have a shelf-sable product. but I'd say about like two, two or three years. And that's only again, because we do testing year over year and the cans we made in the beginning still technically are good to go. ⁓ yeah.

Jessie Ott (43:16)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's great.

taste is good. I'll

tell you, one of the reasons I asked that is in our Q2 review, which I launched last week, Kate, who is with Uncle Nearest out in California, went to a pretty high end retailer, grocery. And apparently because the non-alcoholics are not as shelf stable and they're not selling like they should be,

Ruby Honerkamp (43:42)
Mm-hmm.

Jessie Ott (43:56)
They're cutting it in half. Now I've seen pictures of some of these stores and they're wall to wall, which is overwhelming. And I've seen posts of people so proud of that. And I'm like, I would just pass on by because I wouldn't even know what to do with it. You know what I mean? To your point, are you really on point with your customer?

Ruby Honerkamp (44:10)
Yeah, I do, but it's overwhelming.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And who's demanding that product curation? Is it the distributor or brand partners or is it your customer? If it's your customer and you're moving to the product, great, that works for you. And I have the greatest respect that you've nailed that. But it's also easy to also have your shelf stack and stack and stack and not see the drinks go home. But alcohol doesn't really have a shelf life.

So even though we use real fruit juice and real ingredients, the way our products, yeah, no, we're again, Rob, Rob, I call him my Tom Brady because without him, wouldn't be scoring so many touchdowns, but he really made sure that throughout our product development that the can shelf stable.

Jessie Ott (44:41)
That's what I was concerned about. Yeah.

Awesome.

Ruby Honerkamp (45:04)
And corrosion, you also have to make sure your product doesn't corrode the can, which I don't know if people are gonna think about. I certainly didn't think about that.

Jessie Ott (45:04)
are.

you got to get the right liners

inside, right? Yep.

Ruby Honerkamp (45:12)
And make sure that your formula is formulated in a way that won't corrode it. So we've done so much testing and we work with an incredible formulator that is mindful of that because some brands will develop a formula, assume it works in a can, and then it's bleeding through the can. ⁓

Jessie Ott (45:29)
Yeah,

especially with the, I guess, the citrus acid and whatnot.

Ruby Honerkamp (45:33)
Yeah, yeah,

exactly.

Jessie Ott (45:35)
Now, what is, the packs come in four packs, four pack cans?

Ruby Honerkamp (45:35)
Yeah.

So we do four pack cans and we have a variety pack which is eight. Yes.

Jessie Ott (45:44)
Eight. Okay. And so what

are those typically retail for?

Ruby Honerkamp (45:47)
Um, it ranges, I think usually like the four pack is around 1299. Um, yeah. Oh, well then some, I thought you were going to say, well, it's funny because, you you go to a bar and one can can be at that. So it's all about, uh, the location, but 1299 some places, 1999, I think it kind of just depends on the market and who their clientele is. I think that's something people also might not realize is we don't control what retailers price their product at. Um, and that's why it's not consistent.

Jessie Ott (45:52)
Wow, that's a great price!

Right.

Right, of course.

Now, are you selling on e-commerce? Sorry, I interrupted you.

Ruby Honerkamp (46:18)
but I, so we have an online e-

no, you're fine. You're fine. We have an online, e-commerce, but that's more about making sure we can get drinks to people in markets that we don't serve. But when you're buying cans, most of the time, the consumer intention is convenience. So ordering cans to have it shipped home and paying shipping fees just hasn't always resonated with our customer.

So we have it available, we haven't invested as much in e-comm because it works when it works and it's a great opportunity for those instances. But we found that IRL experiences have just driven our brand more forward.

Jessie Ott (46:44)
Yeah.

Gotcha, gotcha. Is there anything else about the brand you want to talk about before we move on to tasting and kind of talking a little bit more about you and your personal journey?

Ruby Honerkamp (47:09)
I mean, that's it all feels like the same. Yeah, yeah. No, think, you know, think, I think the only thing to say is that it's, it's a really hard industry, and there's a lot of archaic procedures or ways of doing things and

Jessie Ott (47:12)
Well, it is, but I'm, mean, I'm going to shift over to mentors and you know, resources, things like that.

Ruby Honerkamp (47:30)
What we've tried to do is we're not trying to break the system. We're trying to innovate thoughtfully and by doing so, being a good partner to everyone we work with and our values and the integrity we have as a brand and team is something that we will never fall short of. And if someone in our team isn't performing to the degree of quality in, you know, human touch, like White Glove Service is the kind of brand we want to be.

because that's who we are at our core.

Jessie Ott (48:00)
Nice. And do you want to share your website on where they can get information?

Ruby Honerkamp (48:04)
Yeah, so

if you go to talk, T-A-L-K, encore, E-N-C-O-R-E dot com, we have a menu bar that says shop drinks. And it brings us to our partners page that you can then buy and sell. And our variety pack is on there. And our variety pack is one of the more unique variety packs on the market because

it offers both vodka and tequila options. So it's two vodka and two tequila. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jessie Ott (48:34)
Okay. Nice. Very cool. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, do

you want to talk about mentors and resources and whatnot, or do you want to do the tasting? I'll leave it up to you.

Ruby Honerkamp (48:45)
We could have mentors get it in the gate. I want to make sure you're extra thirsty.

Jessie Ott (48:47)
Let's do it.

Okay. You can't see that. I'm like, you know, what do you call it? Drooling already. Um, okay. So do you want to talk about any mentors that have kind of helped you through your journey?

Ruby Honerkamp (48:52)
We'll back.

Thank you.

Yeah, I mean, we at a high level, we have some strategic investors that have just been so thoughtful and supportive, not just on an economic principle, but in relationships and networking and helping us see big picture. I've also had three gentlemen that have taken me my business partner under the wing and guided us in ways and shared practices that have been invaluable.

to us as a business. One of them is a gentleman named Joseph Kelly. Joseph Kelly has decades of experience in the spirits industry. And he really helped us navigate the complexities of distribution, because I think we might have signed the wrong deal or not advocated for ourself early on. And sometimes when you sign the wrong deal, you're the rest is history. And so he really helped us understand the importance.

Jessie Ott (49:49)
Yep. Can't get out of it.

Ruby Honerkamp (49:52)
Yeah, he was, he really explained the nuances that it's not just a dotted line you sign. There's a lot more that you need to think critically about. So he really helped us position ourselves strategically in the market because of his experience. Then there's another gentleman named David Strasser, who's the managing director at the VC company. He, some of his portfolio was like kind bars. And so he really knew

and has seen CPG brands scale and grow. And while he doesn't invest or isn't working in the spirit world, he really saw what my partner and I wanted to achieve. And he really felt that he's familiar with my family's bar, he's a music enthusiast, and he really is a believer in our story. And I think the two most fundamental principles that have saved

Jessie Ott (50:23)
Nice.

Ruby Honerkamp (50:46)
and change our business came from David. And the first was the answers always know if you don't ask. Because I think sometimes when you're a small business, you're nervous to ask questions. I mean, maybe that's just specific to me, but I'm always nervous to ask favors. I'm nervous to ask for help. But he always said, if you if you don't ask the answers now, so why not ask? The answers could be no, but it was going to be no if he didn't. And that has been so important because as a result, people have actually been more willing to help.

Jessie Ott (51:05)
Yes.

Ruby Honerkamp (51:14)
because of that. And then I think the wisdom that he shared with us that has been pivotal is don't always say yes right away, just because there's a great opportunity saying yes, which is a continuation of what Joe Kelly taught us about on the right distribution partner is don't jump at the first opportunity. Be really thoughtful because you can make a decision today that seems like the best decision you.

Jessie Ott (51:15)
They are. Yep.

Ruby Honerkamp (51:42)
want to make it quick and act fast and grow. But fast scaling growth doesn't mean long term success. And that was really boring and perspective. And then I think lastly, another gentleman that has just been so helpful is this man named Frank Polatino. And he's the VP of sales at our incredible distribution partner, Kohler New Jersey. And you know,

Jessie Ott (51:48)
Right. It doesn't.

Ruby Honerkamp (52:06)
They're one of the most respected distributors in the industry and he took a chance on us. He recognized our passion. He recognized our hunger to grow. And he really felt that energy and took a chance on it where I think a lot of people, it's easy to overlook it because we are not maybe bringing in the same amount of dollar value as other partners, but it felt like he could smell the home run.

to hit and want to do everything he could in batting practice to make sure we are set up to do so. So it's kind of a range of people both in and out of the industry, but those two have created founding principles for my partner and I to really lean into and make sure every decision or every opportunity kind of matches within those parameters.

Jessie Ott (52:54)
Nice. Well, it sounds like you surround yourself with the right people to help you get those, to navigate these waters and do it right. That's fantastic. Cause not everybody's that lucky.

Ruby Honerkamp (53:02)
Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, we've been really lucky. No, no, no, we are really lucky with the people around us. You know, there's also been a lot of great people in our lives that have taken a meeting and then we've never heard from again. You know, you knock on a lot of doors and not every door is going to open. But when you find the door that's going to open and the right person standing there, everything can change.

Jessie Ott (53:08)
Not that you're lucky, but you know, it happened.

You too.

Everything can change and it just takes one. You know, it just takes one and it is that sales, right?

Ruby Honerkamp (53:31)
Yep. ⁓

Jessie Ott (53:37)
At least you're, you know, I mean, some of these sales teams are on the phone. All they do is dial all day long. Like, that would be so hard where at least you get out, you got your relationships, you got your accounts that you can go and see. And, and yeah, it is somewhat of a call cold call thing, but you also have a distributor partner that helps with those relationships, you know.

Ruby Honerkamp (53:58)
Yeah.

And you know, sometimes it's days of cold calling, but that's sometimes really difficult because it doesn't feel as genuine. And I'm not calling just to take your order, even if it's a hundred accounts, it's not just about an order. It's about, is our brand doing well? And like, what can we do more of or how can we help you? Everything is a partnership.

Jessie Ott (54:15)
What can we do more to help support?

Ruby Honerkamp (54:19)
Nobody is the responsible party. It's a, I mean, we're the responsible party, but none of our, none of the people we work with are the responsible party. They're our partners.

Jessie Ott (54:29)
Yeah, that's great. That's awesome. What about any resources, know, podcasts outside of people, know, books, magazines, websites?

Ruby Honerkamp (54:37)
Yeah.

There's a

newsletter that I'm subscribed to. think it's the Mark Brant, what is it? Cool. Yep, I get that in my inbox every morning at what, like 5 a.m. Whenever I wake up early, and the first thing I always do is open my inbox. And if I wake up earlier than I usually do, I open my inbox and without question, Mark Brown's newsletter is in there.

Jessie Ott (54:45)
Mark Brown, yep.

Yeah, whatever it comes through.

Ruby Honerkamp (55:02)
Um, Mark Brown's newsletter is so helpful because it is a combination of research and data from research, insights into the industries and storytelling. And I think it's a really good way to kind of wake up and read the news and where the market's at. Uh, in terms of other people, it's like, talked to a lot of bartenders. I talked to a lot of liquor store owners. I like to hear what's going on.

I have this buddy, John, who owns a liquor store in East Hampton called Riesling. And I go there for 45 minutes every once in a while and we just talk. What brands are coming in? What are distributors doing differently? What's bothering you? What's your type of communication? What do you like? like a, he'd kill me if I say father figure. He's like a big brother to me. But he's like somebody that helps me understand because he's from, he worked in distribution. He opened his liquor store and now he's just been.

like a mentor to me as I guess as well in the sense of like, we're always talking about the market. Well, this drink did it this way. People want it, but is it good? Is this a blip? Is this lightning bottle or this like sustainable? And I think having a conversation constantly in a multi two-way street of what works for you. Well, we can't sell this because of this. All right. Well, have you thought about this? And then it's like, you open up the conversation of how you're running the business. Not that that's my place, but

Jessie Ott (56:06)
Right. Yeah.

Ruby Honerkamp (56:25)
It's more about a conversation. I think constant conversation with different verticals people in the industry only allow for more dialogue about this change.

Jessie Ott (56:36)
So switching gears here, what about...

a pain point that you've experienced that you've overcome that you're really proud of. Do you have any of those that you'd like to share?

Ruby Honerkamp (56:49)
Yeah, I mean, there's so many. think the one that strikes the cord the most. I mean, there's so many. There's this this industry is a roller coaster. I think owning your own business in general, as you know, it's a roller coaster. Yeah, hit the highest highs and the lowest lows, but the highest highs make you forget about one high can override 10 lows. And I think that's something

Jessie Ott (57:00)
Yeah. Yes. Entrepreneurs. Yes.

Ruby Honerkamp (57:16)
It's actually interesting. In all the business roles I had in my career, I used to take things so personally. Like if I made a mistake, something wasn't delivered on time, I kicked myself and I kicked myself. And for the first time, it's not that I'm not a perfectionist or I don't care as much, but you're juggling so much. You're just driving. You're just constantly driving. You have to keep moving. You have to keep evolving.

Jessie Ott (57:23)
Yeah. Yep.

Gotta keep going.

Ruby Honerkamp (57:42)
We've made so many mistakes. mean, and the mistake that comes always to mind first is when we first started, we did our first production run and we had gone through a few label designs and it was hard to get the color exactly how we wanted, but on the label, but we are stuck on time. So we had to pull the trigger and we go to the plant or the manufacturing center for our first production run. And, you know, it's like,

So exciting. It's like your Christmas toys are coming out and everything you've been building. It's like Santa's workshop on steroids. And we are so excited. We crack open the first can that comes on the line. You hear that and it's fresh and take a sip. And we're like, we did it. And I look at the label and I'm like, my God, this is the wrong label. They printed the wrong label on all of our cans. That was the first can and we had.

Jessie Ott (58:11)
Great.

Mm-hmm.

Ruby Honerkamp (58:35)
multiple pallets of product to produce and we had to keep going because the fresh juice would go bad because you have to defrost the juice and throw fruit juice. So it's either do you fill all these cans with the wrong product, you lose all this money and you lose this timeline. So we decided to keep the production run going. Meanwhile, I'm like slamming my head against the wall like, oh my gosh, what did we just do?

But then what we did is a week later, we went back, we banged on the manufacturer's door. He let us in and I, my business partner, Robin, I stood on milk crates starting at five in the morning and either took razor blades and resealed every can or put stickers to relabel. And we just relabeled every single can. So we have quite literally done every job in this business now, but it was a decision that was not easy, but it was, we not launch? Do we launch till it's perfect?

Like does the brand have to be perfect? The label has to be perfect. I mean, the label has to be compliant, which we needed to make sure it was done. But the colors weren't perfect for the first two years. We couldn't get the colors right because we kept moving printers as we were growing. And so every time that, well your blood orange is a little more orange this year, or I don't want your product this year because it's a different color. And we couldn't get it right. And it was driving me insane. But as a perfectionist, I let go. So I'm like,

Jessie Ott (59:29)
No.

Ruby Honerkamp (59:56)
Our product tastes good and that hasn't changed. And if the label is not perfect, it's not perfect. And I'll find someone who doesn't care. And if you care too much, we're not going to run for you. And so I think that can situation, which happened on our first production run in the first few months of starting the company, kind of set that tone where we're going to make mistakes, but we're going to evolve. And with purpose, we're going to know when we need to pull back or where we just need to pivot.

Jessie Ott (1:00:20)
Yeah. that's great. No, that's a good example. I really appreciate you sharing that with us. So what about your outlook? What do you think for the remainder of the year and turn it into 2026?

What is your outlook for the remainder of the year and into 2026?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:00:36)
as an industry or as a brand? Both.

Jessie Ott (1:00:39)
either or. I

mean, you're probably pretty positive on your brand because you're doing really well.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:00:44)
I'm trying. We're trying. You know, I think for us, what we're trying to be really bullish on right now is our on-prem experience because, you know, in the same way that rosé was a summer drink and how people drink rosé like throughout the year, maybe more bulk in the summer, it's not just a summer drink. I think so many cans

Jessie Ott (1:00:52)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:01:03)
launched this industry, made it so much about poolside drinks, beachside drinks, like so occasion heavy in the summer. But we know we're a year-round drink. Yes, the volume might uptick during the warmer months, but we're a year-round drink. So we're really bullish on making sure we show up to our consumers in the different formats. Tailgating, we're there. On-prem, football night, we're there. Karaoke Fridays, we're there. And it's not just a drink in the summer, but it's a narrative that, you know.

We're consistent all year and we're always there for you. So that's something we're, we're keen and focused on. I think the other thing is just talking about the industry as a whole and the insights. think so many people, which we've talked about say the industry is down or the younger generation is not drinking. And while that might be true in some capacity, we are doing so much research right now and it's specific to our brand, but

we're seeing the demand grow. And I think the reason people think the industry is down is because maybe Gen Z isn't buying that really expensive bottle of wine or whiskey anymore. Their preferences are changing. So how is the industry evolving and changing versus like this blanket statement that it's down? And that's something we really want to advocate in being part of that conversation.

Jessie Ott (1:02:19)
Yeah, no, absolutely. All right, well, I think that's all my questions. Anything up to wrap it up? I have a little game I want to play and then we'll get into the tasting.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:02:24)
Hey.

Okay, perfect.

Jessie Ott (1:02:31)
Okay. It's kind of a rapid fire game and it just kind of gets to know you a little bit more on a personal side. Are you, are you ready?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:02:37)
Okay.

I'm ready and nervous.

Jessie Ott (1:02:40)
Don't be nervous. If you were a cocktail, what would you be?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:02:42)
Hahaha

spicy margarita because you yeah you know a spicy margarita because consistently i'm good but i can pack a punch

Jessie Ott (1:02:47)
Really deep stuff.

Yeah, I like that. Nice. That's good. What is your favorite food?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:03:00)
French fries or sushi. Not together.

Jessie Ott (1:03:03)
Yeah. Well, I don't care. can eat a french fry with anything. Maybe not pizza or pasta, but I love fries. I'm with you on that one. And what is your favorite place to travel?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:03:12)
Ooh, somewhere warm. I spend a lot of time scuba diving. I like to be under the water as much as possible. Swimming, not just drowning.

Jessie Ott (1:03:19)
Nice.

Right. Where have you gone scuba diving before?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:03:24)
I've gone scuba diving in the Bahamas and Belize, Mexico, various places. A lot of my friends growing up were skiers and my dad had us be water babies so we learned to scuba dive and snorkel and that was kind of, you know, my segue into wanting to become a mermaid.

Jessie Ott (1:03:43)
Hey, you know, there's a place down here in Florida, there's a mermaid show. So if you break into the market, I'll take you to the mermaid show.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:03:47)
Well, I got my license. Yeah, I got my license.

No, I got my license in Key West or my scuba permit. That's Yeah. ⁓

Jessie Ott (1:03:58)
⁓ okay.

Good place. Good place to get it. Yeah. Nice. I got mine in the dirty ponds of Texas. Five foot of visibility.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:04:08)
Lucky you.

Nothing like a dirty adventure.

nothing like a dirty adventure.

Jessie Ott (1:04:17)
That's right. That is correct. All right. So you ready to jump into the tasting?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:04:23)
Yeah, let's do it.

Jessie Ott (1:04:25)
Let's do it. Okay. So we are starting off with the lime, the vodka soda lime, right?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:04:31)
Mm-hmm.

Jessie Ott (1:04:32)
And you can see the record here.

Okay, so it's got sparkling water, obviously, because it's soda. This is my wife's favorite drink in the planet.

Hmm, the lime does smell real.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:04:45)
Yeah, and it's the color of our drinks I should have mentioned too, or the color of the fruit juice, because we use real fruit juice. So it's like this ever-destined color. And you'll see our blood orange is orange. We're not a clear drink where the color of the flavor is what the color of the drink should be.

Jessie Ott (1:04:52)
Yeah.

Yeah, I've tasted very few canned cocktails that can do lime. Lime is really hard. And you guys nailed it. Yeah, I'm impressed.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:05:08)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, it was,

you know, but you know, it's interesting is at times we've talked to different, you you're always whether or not you pivot, you're always talking to different suppliers and having conversations like also because we have real fruit juice, you have to be mindful of the crop that they're getting. And there have been years where we

Jessie Ott (1:05:28)
Yeah.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:05:31)
had to adjust like the blood orange or fruit we're using because the crop isn't consistent. so the lime, various crops really change the acidity. So finding a good lime partner has been very important. But I don't think most people think that much about it. so lime for the first year was a sleeper. And now it's one of our best seller because of the lightness and crushability.

Jessie Ott (1:05:55)
Yeah, people had to taste it because

I think they've been burnt by bad lime.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:05:59)
L-Lime,

may I help?

Jessie Ott (1:06:01)
I know one of the, I had Fresh Victor on the brand, amazing brand. don't know, have you heard of it? Fresh Victor? They're real, they're real cold press fruit juices that you can use for cocktails or salad dressings. Like I used to put just a little bit in my water just cause I get tired of just plain water sometimes. And I just want a little flavor. That was really fun.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:06:06)
Yeah.

Now, look it up. yeah. Yep, yep.

Yeah.

Jessie Ott (1:06:25)
But anyway, one of the things that I learned from him was to get your contracts set and, you know, especially with the volatility of potential tariffs and all the things, get a long-term contract with your vendors so that you don't have that price volatility.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:06:41)
Yep, yep, yep, somebody was asking me about it.

Jessie Ott (1:06:44)
Alright, so...

Go ahead. Somebody was asking you about it.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:06:48)
No, People

ask about it all the time, but again, it's when you find the right partners. But when the volatility in the market happens, it impacts small businesses like us so much because merchants are small. You know, we're selling a can for a couple bucks. Well, when the cost of the cans or the flavor or the ingredients goes up,

We don't want to keep raising the bar on our price, but small pennies add up quick in this industry.

Jessie Ott (1:07:13)
Yep.

Yep. Yeah. Every penny counts for sure.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:07:18)
every

time you talk, I promise.

Jessie Ott (1:07:21)
Yes.

So we're moving on to grapefruit, tequila soda.

Just out of curiosity, are these limes and grapefruit from the US or do you outsource to Mexico or?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:07:33)
well, no, our, I don't really know the answer to that, to be honest. but our, I know that our tequila is obviously from Mexico. We, we work with a partner there and, you know, have to, that was a whole other thing, learning about tequila brokers to make sure, you know, you're paying the duty taxes there because it's from coming from Mexico. So you have to import it.

Jessie Ott (1:07:37)
Okay, it doesn't matter.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:07:57)
Otherwise it's called an agave spirit and we wanted real tequila so to use that that's why our tequila drinks cost more to make because we have to factor in those additional costs to get it over.

Jessie Ott (1:08:07)
Yep. Yep. No, a hundred percent. No, this is great. So I've already had a sip, but you can kind of see the color is, you know, a little, it's definitely got a pink tinge to it. And it definitely, it tastes, really, you, it's on point with grapefruit. A hundred percent.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:08:12)
you

Jessie Ott (1:08:24)
Like I can't believe that you can get that authentic flavor. It's like you're biting into the fruit with the fiber, right? It's like you're actually eating the fruit with the whole thing. It's awesome.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:08:33)
Yeah.

Yeah, there's no added sugar I should have mentioned too. So some brands will use artificial sweeteners to have the flavor or the calorie count go down, but our sugar in our product is truly from the fruit and fruit juice. There's no added sugar or artificial flavor.

Jessie Ott (1:08:52)
That's great.

man, these are good. Okay, so pineapple tequila soda.

So we're.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:09:01)
That's our

newest one, Julie, just launched that in June of this year.

Jessie Ott (1:09:05)
I love pineapple.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:09:06)
Pineapple was the most interesting flavor that took time to iterate on besides the lime because some pineapple, even if it's fresh pineapple juice, tastes candied. And so what we wanted the flavor, even though some people liked the candy, to fit within the portfolio of the others.

Jessie Ott (1:09:14)
Yeah. Yeah.

That is really good. That's my favorite. I love pineapple and I'm a tequila girl more than vodka.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:09:24)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Perfect.

Jessie Ott (1:09:29)
Wow, these are impressive. I get it. I really do. I mean, I've had three and I'm I'm sold. These are amazing. The slender cans, I really do like.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:09:33)
Hahaha

Perfect.

It's so much

easier to hold. In the early days, people were like, why don't you do the short cans? I'm like, because you can't stack them. It's easier to hold when I'm on the dance floor.

Jessie Ott (1:09:52)
Yeah,

exactly. You have a whole purpose in mind. So we're doing the blood orange tequila soda.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:09:57)
Yeah.

Jessie Ott (1:10:01)
Ooh, look at this color. Nice. I love blood orange. Not a lot of people do, I don't think.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:10:02)
you

Jessie Ott (1:10:06)
I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. It's there. They're not hard to come by, but you got to look for them.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:10:13)
Yeah, well that was the other thing too when we the first year we launched with our blood orange. Blood orange was such a hot flavor and so a lot of the crops were getting overpicked and so you weren't really getting like the dark more mature blood orange and so it almost was a little more orangey. That's why our drink the color is a little more orange versus like dark purpley orange.

And the next year, our supplier was like, we actually have real blood orange juice. Like this is the perfect crop. I was, he said delicious, but I was a little nervous because our blood orange had become the best seller. And I wasn't sure if the mature flavor, which we initially set out to do, would resonate as much. It wasn't as commercial. So we actually had to taste test the juices with our consumers to see what they liked better.

Jessie Ott (1:10:43)
Yay.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:11:01)
We actually stuck with the original blood orange first getting them more mature because the other thing we wanted to be mindful about is this is the first time you've had this more mature idealist blood orange. Is that going to be what happens every year? Cause we don't want our best seller to change and profile you every year. That's not fair. What our audience wants. So that's something. Yeah. Things I learned on the job. Yeah.

Jessie Ott (1:11:15)
to fluctuate. Yep.

Wow, that is super interesting.

People don't do that. People don't do that.

They don't ask their customers. They just make a decision.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:11:29)
Yeah,

yeah, and that's definitely the brand we will never be.

Jessie Ott (1:11:35)
I love that. I hope so. I know companies get bigger and you get more people, but that would be awesome.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:11:37)
I'm

No, yeah.

Jessie Ott (1:11:42)
Okay, so you just heard me pop another can. I've got three more to go. All right, we've got iced tea. Can you read that? Iced tea lemonade.

Vodka soda.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:11:52)
Yeah, so also with this flavor, there's a drink that I grew up with called the Bonic Tonic, which is iced tea and lemonade.

And iced tea and lemonade is obviously one of the more faster growing flavors in the industry. And we don't want to chase trends, right? We're not just going to chase and put what's popular in our portfolio. We're also never really going to do anything exotic like a tutti frutti margarita. But iced tea and lemonade, based on consumer demand and our roots of this drink called the Bonnock Tonic, it made sense in our portfolio.

Jessie Ott (1:12:22)
That's awesome. Do know what kind of tea you use by chance? Is it black tea?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:12:26)
Black tea?

It's black tea. But it's also it's I don't even know if you've even thought about this, but a lot of the tea drinks too, you have to be mindful of the caffeine. I don't think people realize the caffeine. So ours is very low in caffeine. I don't know the percentage top of mine, but some of the tea drinks have a lot of caffeine, which I remember people were crazed over the four loco days where it was a caffeine rush. I don't think people realize he has caffeine.

Jessie Ott (1:12:50)
Yeah, yeah.

I will tell you this, I've tasted a few tea. I'm not a black tea person, but that's what they typically use in brands and I've tasted a few of them. I haven't tasted one that got this, that particular black tea flavoring. Like you've nailed it without any wave of flavor to me.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:13:16)
Thank you.

Jessie Ott (1:13:17)
Yeah, I'm super impressed and I love the lemonade because I'm a lemonade person. I put lemonade in a lot of drinks. Yeah,

Ruby Honerkamp (1:13:17)
Thanks. Great.

Jessie Ott (1:13:25)
no, I'm not dumping anything. I'm just saying.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:13:28)
I love it. I love it. That's why I send you more than one of each.

Jessie Ott (1:13:31)
Yeah,

I'm excited. Party time. So this is the cranberry vodka soda, which, you know, became popular with

Ruby Honerkamp (1:13:40)
This one has gone.

Yeah.

Jessie Ott (1:13:43)
This one what?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:13:44)
No, I was just going to say, you know, I feel like this was like your first drink order when you're first learning to order drinks. Cranberry vodka. Yeah. Sex and City Cosmo. This one has gone through a few iterations because the cranberry in different production runs, even though it's been the same.

Jessie Ott (1:13:49)
Yeah, exactly. Sex of the City.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:14:02)
consistency, sometimes it's more tart, sometimes cranberry can taste medicinal. Like cranberry isn't just a black and white ingredient. So where it is today is where we want it to be, but different seasons have had different batches of cranberry.

Jessie Ott (1:14:05)
Yeah. ⁓ Yep.

That is super interesting. And you know, when you think about it and the fluctuation of the blood orange, it's almost like a vintage, like wine.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:14:24)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm start using that.

Jessie Ott (1:14:29)
Yeah. But this

is a beautiful color, I think. it's cranberry. It's not red. It's a pretty pink cranberry. It's really lovely, actually.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:14:41)
Yeah, thank

you.

Jessie Ott (1:14:42)
That's really good.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:14:43)
Yeah, look, cranberry, we had moments of almost discontinuing the cranberry. Cause we also don't want to be a brand fighting ourselves on the shelf, right? We don't want to have like a huge portfolio, but the cranberry has it. They're like the sub diehard enthusiasts for our cranberry and it's only grown.

Jessie Ott (1:14:44)
and

Really?

Yeah.

you're kidding.

No, and I could be, you know, mistaken, but I don't know that I see too many of these on the shelf. This flavor.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:15:07)
Yeah,

well there was, I think Absolute does one, which makes sense, ⁓ like the vodka cranberry, but I don't think there's enough on it because also cranberry can be very sugary. You can add a lot of sugar and the drink can change very quickly. So that's why this one was a little difficult because you wanted to get the medicinal out but not kill the cranberry.

Jessie Ott (1:15:11)
Okay.

Okay, so this one, the last one, the very last one is the Hamptons mule. Bacchus soda ginger. All right.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:15:38)
So this one too, most Moscow mules have molasses or added sugar to make it a Moscow mule. We use fig concentrate. again, when we were making it, we were like, wait, this tastes good, but it's sugar. And our core values are no added sugar, no additives. So we use fig because fig's a natural ingredient and we were able to formulate it to keep it within our core values, but still tastes damn good.

Jessie Ott (1:15:40)
Ooh, look at this color.

Mm-hmm.

That's amazing. I love Fig, by the way. I'm a ginger. I'm a fanatic. But I don't like ginger beer because they make it so overpowering that it's just too much. I love the freshness of the ginger that just popped. It just drifted right into my nose when I opened it and it was...

Ruby Honerkamp (1:16:11)
Okay, great.

Yep.

Jessie Ott (1:16:31)
It was a whiff of greatness.

That is really good. It's got that nice... Yeah, look, I'll make a commercial for you. I'm not kidding. I love this stuff.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:16:34)
I need to take you to where I am.

Jessie Ott (1:16:42)
I like the finish on it because it smells a little bit spicy. And then when it kind of comes in and you swallow it, it sort of has this almost like a sushi ginger, like mellow after, ⁓ what do call it? Yes, like a palate cleanser kind of thing. And it's very smooth.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:16:57)
Yeah.

the palate cleanser.

Thank you.

Jessie Ott (1:17:09)
I enjoy it a lot. That's a good one too. Oh man, these are excellent. I'm super impressed. I mean, I really am. The good work. I mean, obviously you have an amazing team behind you, Ruby, that is kicking it out of the park. And I wish you all the success that you guys deserve because you've got all the elements in play. You're doing it by the new playbook.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:17:16)
Thank you.

Thank you.

Jessie Ott (1:17:35)
that not too many people are familiar with, but those that are are winning in that space. So congratulations.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:17:42)
Thank you. And I really appreciate you taking the time. I know you know this industry in many different iterations and for several years. So I take that compliment very to heart because it is a very dynamic space and to know it and to see it is something different. So thank you.

Jessie Ott (1:18:02)
Yeah,

of course. We all have our different experiences and bring different things to the industry. And that's why I love this podcast because yes, it's about a brand. Yes, it's about innovation, but it's about the people behind all that. That's what drives me more than anything is just everybody has a different experience to get to where they are. And there's reasons why they are doing what they're doing.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:18:16)
Absolutely.

Yeah.

Exactly. Yeah. Great. Enjoy the flavors if you need to stock up. We'll make sure we take care of you until we're serving Florida.

Jessie Ott (1:18:32)
Well, it's been lovely. ⁓

Okay. Awesome. I

love that. I love that. have a lot of, we have a lot of companies so we could spread the word.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:18:47)
I

love it. You're hired.

Jessie Ott (1:18:49)
that's so fun. Well, next time Howard comes in, give him a hug. For me and my wife, we're huge fans. She's a long-term fan. She kind of got me into him just because I think he's a really good dude, really, at the core of who he is. I love that he supports your venue and I'm sure he and Beth love the drinks. I know that... Yeah, you'll have to...

Ruby Honerkamp (1:18:55)
Thanks.

I don't, I think that's,

there's so many famous rock and roll people that everyone's always like, who's going to be the face of your brand? I'm like, so many of them are sober now. I don't know.

Jessie Ott (1:19:20)
Yeah, that's right. Howard doesn't really drink, does he?

Ruby Honerkamp (1:19:23)
No, I don't think he does.

Jessie Ott (1:19:25)
Yeah, I think he drank a little wine. I don't think he's ever been a big drinker, yeah, that's right. I don't think he's drinking right now. But anyway, what a good dude. And I just bring that up just because I think it just kind of coming full circle here, but it's been an honor and thank you so much for coming on the podcast and I wish you all the best.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:19:40)
Yeah.

Thank you so much and thank you so much for your time. really appreciate it.

Jessie Ott (1:19:50)
You bet. Hey, if you have a new flavor, feel free to come on and we'll, we'll do this again. And it'll just be like 15 minutes. We'll just do, we'll do a brand launch. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. All right. Well, I will let you get back to it, Ruby. Take care. Bye.

Ruby Honerkamp (1:19:52)
Thanks.

I love it. I ⁓ love it. it. You'll be a teacher. Perfect. I love it.

for five years, thank you.