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Business of Drinks

@bizofdrinks

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Great lesson here: A product can reach 30K cases and still be the wrong SKU to keep funding. Grounded Wine Co. founder Josh Phelps learned that with Space Age RosĂ© Spritz, a wine-based seltzer. Buyers and consumers liked it. But it wasn’t selling quickly enough to reach the scale its economics required. “We hung on to it a little too long,” Josh says. Grounded now exceeds 80K 9L cases, with volume growing roughly 28% year over year. Supporting the spritz took resources that its small team could put toward wines already moving. For founders, positive feedback can make a tough decision harder. But how much more investment will the product need? And what else could those resources accomplish? Brands: What helps you decide when to give a SKU more time — and when to pull it? Watch the clip: by @bizofdrinks
“If you’re begging them, it’s probably not gonna work.” That’s Grounded Wine Co. founder Josh Phelps on chasing a distributor that isn’t really interested in your brand. Grounded exceeds 80K 9L cases, with volume growing roughly 28% year over year. But over about 18 months, it had to transition most of its distribution network while protecting its hard-won national accounts. Now, Josh evaluates partners state by state: Where does Grounded fit in the portfolio? How will the teams work together? Does the distributor actually want the business? “It has to be mutual, like any business partnership.” For founders with a distributor wish list, the homework matters. Study the portfolio. Understand who you’ll compete with for attention. Enthusiasm at the first meeting is just the first fit check. Brands: What helped you recognize a strong distributor partner before signing? Watch Josh’s take in the clip. by @bizofdrinks
Girl Beer founder Ray Biebuyck spent eight months self-distributing. Her assessment: It “set us back eight months.” She’d secured roughly 40 Whole Foods stores in Southern California but couldn’t get a distributor. So she started delivering the beer herself. “It was totally brutal,” she told Scott Rosenbaum on Business of Drinks. Her warning to founders: Self-distributing for too long can cost you critical momentum. For its Arizona expansion, Girl Beer had statewide distribution, major retail commitments, and a sales rep in place — giving the brand a model it could build on. Now, Hurray’s Girl Beer expects 10x growth in 2026 and a footprint of around 3K stores. Landing an account is exciting. Having the infrastructure to service it and support sales is what makes that opportunity work. by @bizofdrinks
The best stealth brand-building hack I’ve heard lately: Burner TikTok accounts. Before launching Hurray’s Girl Beer, founder Ray Biebuyck used them to test jokes, copy, and positioning — learning what people responded to and who those people were. The brand now expects 10x growth in 2026 and a footprint of around 3K stores. Girl Beer’s humor needed to be provocative enough to get attention and funny enough to share. Ray watched what resonated, then used those reactions to develop the voice. And the audience proved broader than she expected: Today, 31% of its consumers are men. So much brand development focuses on logos, colors, and packaging. Ray was also testing how the brand would sound in someone’s feed — and what would make them send it to a friend. A smart idea for founders: Put the voice into the world early, and let the response help shape what you build. Watch Ray explain in this clip from Business of Drinks. by @bizofdrinks
Here’s a super smart example of how a founder tested for product white space before making a big investment. Before launching Hurray’s Girl Beer, founder Ray Biebuyck surveyed about 2K women. Roughly 60% said beer lacked flavor or interesting flavor options. And 75% couldn’t distinguish among common beer styles. That’s a lot of shoppers standing in front of a shelf without much guidance on what they’d enjoy. So Ray developed a 4.2% flavored light lager with juices and natural flavors. Then she worked to get it alongside seltzers and flavored malt beverages at retailers like Walmart and Kroger — where her intended customers already shop. Girl Beer now expects 10x year-over-year growth in 2026 and a footprint of around 3K stores. And those early objections that the name would alienate men? Ray says 31% of its consumers are male. What I love here is how directly the research shaped the business: The liquid, the language, and the shelf placement. Hear Ray’s conversation with Scott Rosenbaum on our latest Business of Drinks episode. Link in bio by @bizofdrinks
“I don’t work for you. Our goals are different.” Brian Evans has a reminder for suppliers asking why their brand’s sales at his bars are down: Your sales target isn’t his job. As Director of Bars for Sunday Hospitality Group, he oversees eight venues that served 1.5M drinks in 2025, including coffee, tea, and soft drinks. What does make a supplier stand out? Brian points to High Road Spirits: Producer master classes, updates on allocated whiskies, and arranging distillery visits when two of his bartenders planned trips to Japan. “My job is hospitality,” he says. Seeing that care from a supplier is “what I live for.” For drinks brands, the question is practical: What would actually help this account? Give the team useful education, access, or introductions that support their business. Watch the Business of Drinks clip. by @bizofdrinks
On cocktail menus, the right name can make all the difference. That’s according to Brian Evans, Director of Bars for Sunday Hospitality Group. He created a signature martini for NYC’s Hotel Chelsea Lobby Bar, which served around 280K beverages in 2025. He called it the Mercury Pool, referencing a Jim Carroll poem and the hotel’s history. “That cocktail barely sold,” Brian told me on Business of Drinks. Meanwhile, the clearly named Dukes Martini was selling like crazy. Brian and the F&B director spotted the problem: “It’s not called a martini.” They renamed it the 1884 Martini. It used the same recipe, but the name change resulted in a “night and day difference” in sales. It’s now the bar’s most popular cocktail. For drinks brands thinking about names, packaging, and storytelling, ask yourself: Does the customer understand what they’re buying? The literary reference meant something to Brian, but “Martini” meant something immediately useful to the guest. Watch the clip from Business of Drinks. by @bizofdrinks
“A two-minute martini is gonna taste quite a bit better than a 12-minute martini and way better than a 20-minute martini.” Brian Evans oversees eight venues as Director of Bars for Sunday Hospitality Group. Together, they served 1.5M drinks in 2025, including coffee, tea, and soft drinks. Keeping those drinks moving starts well before service. Most cocktails require just one to four touches to execute. At Dynamo Room, near Madison Square Garden, five freezers hold batched martinis for the pre-event rush. “It’s a sea of people. It’s shoulder to shoulder,” Brian says. Those freezers help the team get drinks out quickly — giving guests more time to enjoy them, and potentially order another round. “They want their drinks as cold as possible and as fast as possible.” Watch the full Business of Drinks episode on YouTube. by @bizofdrinks
One unexpected upside of the whiskey glut? It’s enabling a new/old tradition of independent bottlers. The model is familiar in Scotland, but rarely used in the U.S. Lost Lantern buys mature casks from other distilleries, then releases bottlings from individual casks or blends whiskey from multiple producers. The distilling and years of aging have already happened. “We don’t need a big still, we don’t need fermenters,” says co-founder Nora Ganley-Roper. Now more older stock is becoming available, along with whiskey Lost Lantern couldn’t previously access. “We will play in areas that we weren’t previously welcomed into,” Nora says. The brand recently crossed $1M in TTM revenue and expects 2026 sales to double those of 2025. For distilleries, it offers another outlet for mature inventory. For Lost Lantern, that inventory can become its next release. Watch the clip by @bizofdrinks
Lost Lantern’s most ambitious project yet? A blend of straight bourbon from all 50 states. United States of Bourbon helped the brand reach beyond “whiskey nerds” to a broader audience of “whiskey lovers,” says co-founder Nora Ganley-Roper. One addition to the marketing campaign helped customers find their own connection: A QR code inviting them to discover which distillery was selected from their state. “That has been huge for us,” Nora says. “Everyone wants to know.” Places with large military populations, including Virginia, became more prominent in the customer data — audiences the team hadn’t anticipated. The launch earned a New York Times exclusive, and e-commerce sales came in at about 3x forecast. Watch the clip #BusinessOfDrinks #BeverageIndustry #FieldMarketing by @bizofdrinks
Here’s an interesting story: An American whiskey brand built on Scotland’s independent bottler model. Lost Lantern buys mature casks from U.S. distilleries, then releases them individually or blends them. Since 2020, it’s released 100+ SKUs, some just 200 bottles. It recently crossed $1M in TTM revenue and expects 2026 sales to double those of 2025. Co-founder Nora Ganley-Roper says the early advice was: Launch with a flagship! Welp, they took another route. Small releases in seasonal, themed collections gave customers something new to discover — and a reason to buy before bottles were gone. Think sneaker drops, rotating cookie flavors, and limited-time beauty launches. Their newsletter drove online purchases and showed them which stories sold. Some landed with “total crickets.” Others surprised them with strong demand. And after an online sellout? Another email could send readers to retailers that still had bottles. That gave stores evidence of demand, plus a brand helping customers find them. Watch Nora’s full story in our latest Business of Drinks episode. #BusinessOfDrinks #BeverageIndustry #FieldMarketing by @bizofdrinks
“What do you love about your mixers? What do you hate about your mixers?” David Vogel asked bartenders as he developed Badger Bevs. Their answers shaped a brand that sold more than 100K 9L cases in 2025, up more than 230%. One frustration: Mixers that fizz when poured, then go flat before the cocktail is finished. Badger increased the carbonation and chose cold processing to help keep the bubbles in the liquid. Another: The common 200 mL bottle holds about 6.8 ounces — short of the roughly eight ounces needed for two cocktails. Badger made its bottle 250 mL and resealable, so bartenders could get two full pours without wasting what was left. The product brief came from service: Keep the second drink lively and get two cocktails from one bottle. Hear David explain it on Business of Drinks. #BusinessOfDrinks #BeverageIndustry #FieldMarketing by @bizofdrinks

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