Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Lessons from Maverick Brand Builder of Luc Belaire | Brett Berish

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey guys, Ryan Alford here, host of Right About Now. What to tell you about another show on our network, the Radcast Network, Harder Than Life with Kelly Siegel. Kelly's a personal friend, but let me tell you, even if he wasn't, I'd be listening to his show. This is about self-improvement. This is about telling you life stories and practices and principles that are good for business, good for life, and just good for your overall well-being.

Starting point is 00:00:24 Kelly, energy is through the roof. The dude can bench press like a thousand pounds. And look, you'll want to express a thousand pounds after you listen to this show. All the motivation and insights that you want about getting ahead in life, working out, lots of tips and tricks that you don't hear anyone else. And he's got an amazing platform, harder than life. The book, the story. He is Kelly Siegel. And it is on the Radcast Network.

Starting point is 00:00:50 Check it out today. I think building businesses is like improv. When a comedian goes on stage and tells a joke, they get the audience's reaction and then they tweak it for the next time. And then they tweak it again and again and again. And it could be 20, 30 times before they're tweaking that same joke. And it nails it. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over one million downloads a month.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cash in checks? Well, it starts right a business. About Now. What's up guys? Welcome to Right About Now. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. And you know, we like to, we used to have a little moniker.

Starting point is 00:01:39 It said if it's radical, we cover it. But you know what? I don't know too many brands and too many people doing more radical things than my good friend, Brett Barris. He is the president and CEO of Solverin Brands. And if you're watching the YouTube, which you should be, you would see the lineup of beauties here on the desk. Brett, what's up, brother?

Starting point is 00:02:04 How are you, Ryan? Thanks for having me on. Yeah, man. My pleasure. And just real quick, on the radical side, you made me think of my brother, who I work with, he says, what you'll get you fired at any other company will get you hired by mine. So that's how we think. It's funny.

Starting point is 00:02:20 I own a digital agency called Radical. And our show used to call the Radcast. Now we have the Radcast network for multiple shows. We didn't want confusion. But I literally, when I have. have meetings with my team and my and I need to get acknowledgement from here like I go in there I go our name is fucking radical that's right we need you have the license to live up to this name every day and our clients hired an agency name radical so you know what that means it means

Starting point is 00:02:46 they can't call me and go what the hell were you thinking you and I'll go you hired an agency named radical it works it works it's you say the quiet part are allowed you but this is what expect to expect that. Exactly. What's up, Brett? I mean, you know, snapping next cash and checks. You know, what I love what you're doing, man. I love anyone that's got bravado and doing things a little different and understands marketing. And you got all that in spades, pun intended. For me, it's, with my brands, Ryan, it's all based on making mistakes and kind of learning. So if, If I'm veering off in my own direction, it's because a long time ago I realized I have to stop being like everybody else in my industry because I can't be them. I can't be Diageo.

Starting point is 00:03:41 I can't be McCarty. I can't be Jack Daniels. And every time I tried to do things the way they do, I failed miserably. So I started leaning in on what do I like? Who am I? What do I want to be? And that's when it started working. Why spirits?

Starting point is 00:03:56 You know, like what got you into spirits? So I, like most people, ended up following what my dad did for a living. So if you, my dad spent 45 years in the liquor business. In some ways, he loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it, and lived it. At the same time, he hated it for me because, like, and I realize this is a parent myself, you want your kids to do something that you perceive as being easier.

Starting point is 00:04:24 You know, you perceive as being just something more simple, something that's got more benefit. He really wanted me to do finance, something in money, which I started out doing. But I veered back into this, and I have never looked back. Yeah. Well, I think it's turned out all right for you. Yeah. It's funny, Ryan, and I tell this to people.

Starting point is 00:04:46 I think there's, you know, there's one type of person who knows exactly what they want to do in life. And God bless, they're the luckiest people in the world. And there was somebody like me who I had lots of ideas and I was the worst one where I never picked anything because I was always scared that the one idea I'm going to do is not the right idea or I'd run out of ideas. Therefore, I'm just in kind of nowhere land. So it sucked for 10, 12 years until I picked something and I picked this industry and stuck with it.

Starting point is 00:05:18 It's been a fascinating industry because, you know, you've got the tiered system right in the U.S. with alcohol. and I know enough to be dangerous. You can enlighten us further than my brain can probably do it. But, you know, the inability forever to not be able to do D to C and, you know, having to go through the tiered system, distributors and all that stuff. I mean, I'd love, you know, just the business of liquor, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:44 give us a little bit of like the evolution, you know, from where things started of where it is today. It's funny. It hasn't changed since real vision. Exactly. Literally. Charlie's gotten a little better, right? We can run ads about it.

Starting point is 00:05:59 I'll give you one example because it'll be, it'll come home to you in South Carolina. Yeah. But the industry hasn't changed. It's been a three-tier system and a three-tier system for those of you who don't know what that means is I'm a supplier. I own the brands and I sell the distributor and the distributor sells to bars and restaurants. I is a supplier, the owner can't sell direct. And then every state's a new distributor. And then you have some states that are franchise states like the state of Georgia,

Starting point is 00:06:24 whereas if you give the brand to a distributor, you can never get it back. Or a state like Pennsylvania, where the government is the distributor. In fact, they're probably the single biggest retailer in the United States, and it's still owned by the state. So it's fucked up, but it works.

Starting point is 00:06:43 But I'll give you one change that's happened in the past 20 years of South Carolina. And if you're old enough to remember, in South Carolina, on-premise, bars and restaurants were only able to serve the customer mini bottles, airplane bottles, by law. And so he had billions and billions and billions of mini bottles in bars because it was the only way to control serve and you get a perfect serve.

Starting point is 00:07:09 You couldn't get any more or any less because it was straight out of the mini bottle. Oh, yeah. South Carolina, I remember it. I came up. I was in college when mini bottles were still a thing in South Carolina. And look, that made a pretty strong drink, you know. Like a mini bottles, I'll actually a lot. But it was so funny because people would come into town like, what is that behind the bar?

Starting point is 00:07:31 Right. They thought it was a novelty. And I'm like, no, that's how you order drinks here. I still share it. You know, since we sell globally in 80 countries, I share that story. People can't comprehend the fact that bars and restaurants sold the little airplane bottles. Yeah. So it's just the industry has not changed except that's been a change.

Starting point is 00:07:52 But so we still cannot. and I think I know the answer, but leading the witness. So we cannot, like these beauties on my table here, everything that you're making and branding, you can't sell direct. No, cannot. I cannot sell direct to a bar or restaurant to retailer. I have to go through a distributor,

Starting point is 00:08:11 and they're the ones. So in the state of South Carolina, we have a distributor. Empires are a distributor in that state, great distributor, and they take on the delivery, the sales, and we have, call it somebody in the, the market who supports them and goes out and visit accounts and sells my brands, Bel Air, Bambu, McQueen, Deacon, our brands.

Starting point is 00:08:32 Wow. But they're all in it. I mean, I should say, you know, it's convoluted. It's strange. It's crazy. But it works. And the key to anybody's business and whatever industry you're in is you got to figure out how to make it work for you.

Starting point is 00:08:47 And that's what we've done is how do you make it work for you? You know, I think that's to be kind of your statement, how you've made it work for you. you know, along with self-made taste better, which we'll get to shortly. I'm like, I love taglines. So I'm in the business. The, but Brett, talk about, you know, it's such a hoity-toity champagne market. Some of these, you know, stuff is just so, I don't know, they take themselves maybe too seriously. There's like this fine line of taking yourself, taking your brand seriously and having a steak in the ground versus some of maybe the irreverent.

Starting point is 00:09:24 non-traditional ways that you've gone at it. I mean, like, what gave you the confidence to go there? Again, it's the way I've looked at everything. As I look back, it's learning from my mistakes. I think I realize I've got lots of sayings I live by. You know, one of them, which is a strange one, is sometimes not having a plan is a great plan. And what that's taught me is, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:50 if you stick to your plan for a year or two, you're going to be wrong, and you're wrong, you're wrong for the next year or two. And the key is to be really flexible. And that's what I've been leaning into. That's one example of, you know, the way we build our business, it's leaning into what works and being very, you know, nimble. And that's how I built the business. And it's empowering people.

Starting point is 00:10:15 It's, you know, everyone we've hired, we have a few hundred people in the company. You know, we're hiring based on hiring people who are, are self-starters who are leaders who if they're waiting for me to tell them what to do, they're too late. That's not the person for us. So it's lots of things like that all coming together that's made my success. That's huge. And I'm going to circle that for our audience.

Starting point is 00:10:38 We have a lot of budding entrepreneurs, people wanting to start their thing or maybe already in their thing. If you have the wrong plan and you don't pivot, then you can get stuck. where spending your wills for a lot longer than you should have, you don't and aren't flexible to what's happening around you. That is huge. 100%. And it's an interesting, I have a story that I use.

Starting point is 00:11:06 I think building businesses is like improv and a comedian. You know, when a comedian goes on stage and tells a joke, they get the audience's reaction and then they tweak it for the next time. And then they tweak it again and again and again. and it could be 20, 30 times before they're tweaking that same joke, and it nails it by the end. And to me, that's business. You've got to constantly learn from your audience and what's working and what doesn't work, what the consumer is reacting, how the trade's reacting. And it's constantly evolving.

Starting point is 00:11:36 So it doesn't, it's not a presentation. It's kind of a presentation is going to live. And that's what we're doing. What do you consider if there's like a thread with sovereign brands and what you guys are doing, you know, across the bottles here. other brands you have. What's the thread? Like, what's the, what's the common brand denominator for like all, all of them have their own uniqueness? I've been fastened. I've been, I've spent more time, Brett, with these bottles, like when they came. And so thank me. Red so generous sent me like some of his best things. I was been staring at them. I was going to, I've been wanting to taste

Starting point is 00:12:09 them, but I didn't want them to like not look good on camera. So, uh, but it, what's the thread for sovereign brands and kind of how you bring any bottle brand to, like, It's, it always, always, always, and it sounds canned, but it's the taste. That's going to dictate everything, because if it doesn't taste good, Ryan, they're never going to come back again. And what my brother and I decided a long time ago is, if we think it, you know, we don't have tasting groups and sommeliers and all that goes with that. If you were in our office on the day of the tasting, I'd have you taste with us and tell me what you think. And my goal is in the category we're in, it's got to taste better than the competition. So if I, if you tasted bamboo, which is the rum with the X on the front there, it tastes better than any other rum in the category.

Starting point is 00:13:02 And that's why the brand today is the number one premium rum in the world. Six years ago, we launched it. It's the one thing, Ryan, all my brands have in common is no one believed in them. No one, no one believed in them. No one thought they would work. They're in sleepy old. categories, which I love. But it's the taste because if it tastes great, people are going to talk and you're going

Starting point is 00:13:25 to build something from there. So it's always that. You know what? I love it when the guest goes like absolutely. I didn't. It wasn't I didn't think you were going to go there because all your stuff, believe my friends have told me how great some of these things tasted. I haven't tasted.

Starting point is 00:13:38 Like Brett, Brett's coming on. Yeah. You know, such as such is the best thing I've ever had. But let me, because I was going to ask you, you know, you guys lean in to the influence the spokespersons, the celebrity atmosphere. So I was going to say, you know, if, and I'm not saying, I know you've got names, but, you know, if Post Malone says, bumboe tastes great,

Starting point is 00:14:00 does it matter if it does taste great or not? You know, like, I was going to ask you, you know, like what the interplay of that brand, I don't know, recognition and leverage that you get from those celebrity endorsements versus the product itself. It's, if you want to use the example, stick to the artist. If the artist has a shitty song, it's a shitty song. It doesn't matter who the artist is.

Starting point is 00:14:25 You know, there's a reason why, you know, if you try to pick an artist, you know, he's got 10 great songs and that's it. And that's hard to do in itself. But if you can be the single greatest artist, but if the song's not good, it won't play. And to me, it gets back to the taste. If the taste isn't good, no matter how big the celebrity is, it's not going to work. But all the other stuff, don't get me wrong. Package is an example. And your marketing guy means everything, especially at my level.

Starting point is 00:14:58 I can't spend the way a Bacardi does and build a brand. I think my packages in the design or the name or the storygoor with it matters too because I want the consumer hopefully will see us on the shelf or they recognize us and pull it and then taste it, and then they'll come back again. But if they don't like the look, they're never going to try it. So they work hand in hand. Yep, similar to wine bottles. Consumer packaging is critical.

Starting point is 00:15:26 To me, at least, you know, I have to believe in what I'm putting out there. I have to look in the eye and say, Ryan, you're going to taste the best frickin whiskey in the whole world, and there's nothing else like it. And I can look at the eye and tell you why and tell you stories behind it. and you're going to taste you, you're going to love it, and you're going to love the stories to go with it. Who's your favorite baby on the table here or in general? So I'll say it differently. I have six kids in my house.

Starting point is 00:15:56 And if he asked me, who's my favorite? Every day of the week, I got a favorite. And that's just real. I love them all, but someone kind of stands up today and it's like, oh, she or he is so cute or, oh, this is the best. Right now it's the deacon. It's my whiskey. I'm wearing my shirt that says the deacon. Yes. It's if you like bourbon, if you like whiskey, if you like Irish, if you like anything, this thing is smoky, it's sweet, it's Pete, it holds up in any cocktails.

Starting point is 00:16:27 You can still taste it, which you can't do with any other whiskey. And it just gets me excited. And I'm probably also saying that, Ryan, because it's the new one. It's the newest one. So the newest one always gets more love. I love it, Brett. And I'm going to tell you this. I worked with Apple.

Starting point is 00:16:41 for quite a bit. And the way Apple does one thing is the way they do everything. And this is the details that matter, especially in packaging and design. And let me tell you folks, again, watch the YouTube video. The feel of this bottle, the textures, the design, I immediately, when I was the first thing I pulled out of the box. I'll just say that right now because the copper kind of look, grab my attention. And I'm telling you, a brand experience happens like the most. The moment you touch it like like for apple like how easy it is to open the box you know like that's the first thing but for you it's like i felt this i'm like okay must have and i love the attention to detail and in just the overall bottle and everything but it is true and that softness of apple

Starting point is 00:17:29 packaging you know it's it's it's it's nothing expensive but it feels it feels a little more expensive but it's true and you look at that deacon bottle you know there's white axe in the background behind that character. That's the Scottish flag. There's little divots all over the bottle, which are actually X's. It has to do with Scotland. It says aquavits on the main label and then deboss in the back, and that has to do with Aquavit is Latin for the spirit of life. The face has meaning. It has to do with the plague and plague doctors. The goggles have a meaning. The name in Scotland means if you're the best of what you do, if you're the best podcast, you're the best economist, if you're the best barber, you're the deacon.

Starting point is 00:18:14 Everything has meaning to me and I needed to live and breathe in the brand. I need to believe in it. Well, I think it's showing through. And I think our audience definitely just heard it. And look, let me tell you this. If you're listening, those details matter. Like, you know, it's called, you know, in web design, it's like CX, a consumer experience. Like, it's the similar, the same thing with consumer packaging.

Starting point is 00:18:37 You know, like that shit matters. and people pick up on it. And that's the beauty is I'm always, I always look at it. I never, if you ask me, who's my target audience? This is a funny one. I don't believe in demographics. I don't believe in channels. I don't believe in on-premise, which is bars, restaurants, off-premise, which is retail.

Starting point is 00:18:58 I don't believe in cities or states. I believe in selling to everybody, everybody. Because the consumer who likes it is the consumer. You don't know what you have until you let it go until you put it out there. So I want to sell to everybody. And that to me is how you build a brand. That is. Ding, ding, ding.

Starting point is 00:19:19 The, they say riches and the niches. And I've fought that my whole career a little bit. You know, like you certainly have to have some amount of like focus. But you want mass appeal. And you want, you know, people talk. something makes people talk. You know, it's like that's what gets, that word of mouth is like the most powerful thing in marketing still.

Starting point is 00:19:45 100%. And what it's, what it's, I learn from everything around me. And if I use, again, music, which I'm a big fan of as an example, if you ask any artist, what their number one hit was. And did they think that song was going to be successful? They'll all say no. They didn't like it. They didn't think they should put it out.

Starting point is 00:20:05 They didn't think it was going to be a hit. hit and lo and behold it is and that tells me you got to try shit and for me if i use bumboo again as my as an example our biggest single market in the world outside the u.s is Canada known for my company's ever been there you know we crush it in places like latvia Romania Poland where rum isn't the thing but they love bamboo if i didn't let it breathe we would never have known it would be like this my favorite drink on earth is if you go down to the british virgin islands we've stayed down there. I've spent a lot of time in Tortola.

Starting point is 00:20:39 And if you go to the sandy, the soggy bottom dollar bar and you have a painkiller. It's got rum in it. And it needs to have this rumbo in it. A hundred percent. That's good with you from that. Pain killer. Go look it up.

Starting point is 00:20:57 Your bartender won't be able to make it. You're going to have to go down to the, you know, BVI to get the best one. I agree. It's better if you're in the, if you're in Totola. Yes. Yes. Sailing.

Starting point is 00:21:09 What's, Brett, you're a personal brand. I mean, you're carrying the brand of the company yourself. When did, I think I can sense you've always had this personality and this, this sort of gravitas that goes with you and the brand and what you're doing. But when did that light bulb maybe go on that you are part of the brand and part of the story? It's a great question. It happened for me, maybe. a year before COVID. So not long, not that long ago.

Starting point is 00:21:41 And the reason is I was, I, my brother and I, if you ever asked us, we've always said it's not about us. We don't want to make it about us. It's never about us. It's about the brand. We don't matter. Who cares about who I am? And it wasn't until I started doing that, an interview series called self-made where I wanted to hear

Starting point is 00:22:05 people's stories, people started coming to me and thinking, I have always been successful. And my response is, no, that's not true. I went through shits. You know, I lost my house. I had the IRS to be my bank account. I lost everything in this business. And I started realizing I want people to know that side because that's the side that motivates me. And I want to hear that side from other people. and then I started realizing, boy, I think I can help. I think I can help my brand. At the same time, Ryan, I realize I can help people. I wish there was somebody like me when I was 19, 18, 17, 16,

Starting point is 00:22:45 where they're telling shitty stories about failure and look at me now. Because I think that's very important. That's the most important story to tell if you're successful. Yeah. Talk with Brett Barish. He's a badass and he's the president, CEO, So sovereign brands. Brett, I mean, I get all that, but you know, you brought Post Malone on for episode one.

Starting point is 00:23:08 That's not fair, dude. Ryan, what's cool about that is, and again, it gets back to how we think and breathe, you know, there's no question that's awesome to talk to a Wiz Khalifa or a Little Wayne or Rick Ross. Post wasn't Post back then. He was still up and coming. He had one song, White Iverson. Yeah. So to me, I love, that's my favorite part.

Starting point is 00:23:40 If you give me Ed Shearing, great. I'd love to talk to him. But I love talking to the guy who's about to become huge, or maybe we can help him become huge and kind of hear that story. That was his most fluid I've ever heard Post. Like, like he, like you were a great conversation with him. Like, I know it was short, but like the part, I watched like an 80-minute clip.

Starting point is 00:24:02 But that was the most, I don't know, transparent. And I don't know, he's gotten so ethereal or something. Like, I mean, he's such an artist. Like, I respect the hell out of him. I love his music. But I don't know. I felt like it was just, there was some clarity in y'all's discussion that I haven't heard elsewhere. And sometimes it's honesty when you're young, right?

Starting point is 00:24:24 It's just honesty. You know, I remember I interviewed, was it, A. A. Boogie. They both with a hoodie. And we were in Houston together, and he had a show. It was first time on tour. And before we did the interview, we'd call down to the manager of the venue because he didn't think he could fill up 2,000 people in the audience.

Starting point is 00:24:46 And he didn't think anybody knew who the hell he was. Like there's something special about that. There's something truly special about talking to people before they get huge because there's just honesty. There's transparency. There's more transparency there. That makes sense. I think when you get them when they're old and get them when they're young.

Starting point is 00:25:05 Yes. Because that was care. Exactly. How do you make these plays? You understand personal branding. You understand the power of branding. You're doing non-traditional things with marketing. So how caught up do you get on laddering back to like ROI?

Starting point is 00:25:27 Like do you go? how often does your CFO go, Brett, is this, you know, what's this doing? Like, I think that's when people hear these things. They go, well, Brett can do that, you know, with sovereign brands. But, you know, how do you ladder to back up? Do you worry about that? Do you know it's working? You know.

Starting point is 00:25:48 It's the hardest thing in the world when it comes to quote unquote advertising and are you getting a return. So I try to, I think of myself. in two ways. One, I'm an old school brand builder. And what that means is I want to get in front of the account. I want to talk to the account. I want to taste customers. I want to have retail tasting in stores. To me, I can quantify that, somewhat quantify that because I can see what we're selling. It's an expensive way to do it, meaning tastings and things. But at least it's at a location where they're going to keep coming back and they're going to keep coming back and I could build something. I use, you know, when my first brand, Aces Spades, we didn't have, it became the most successful

Starting point is 00:26:32 new champagne in 100 years. And this was before social media. We didn't have, you know, Instagram. We didn't have, we had blogs maybe at best, but it was old school traditional media. And now with Instagram, I love it because it tells me if I'm connecting to the consumer by not, you said it, by not forcing it on them, by, by word of mouth. And if you look at our social media, Bambu or Bel Air, Bumboo has more followers than Captain Morgan and Bacardi. And they're spending hundreds and millions in advertising and we're not.

Starting point is 00:27:04 So that tells me we are connecting. We are. It's in a different way, that's my barometer. I must be doing something right because I'm building an audience. Bingo. Because if you're building the audience, they're buying something somewhere along the line. They're telling someone. Correct.

Starting point is 00:27:21 And I think that's the hard part is if you're buying your customers, That's not really a customer. That's not real. And I don't want that. And that's why, you know, I love, I love seeing what the reactions of the consumer. And I can learn from that. And they're, they're, you know, it's, it's the equivalent of, again, I go back to music. It's an artist and his fans.

Starting point is 00:27:42 Like, I think we have, our brands have fans. Now I got to support my fans. 100%. Brett, what is, is there fine lines with like rarity, like, versus, you know, know, like how all difficult or how rare, you know, because all your stuff looks like, okay, oh, God, where am I going to be able to find this, you know, but like, does the scarcity factor, the rarity factor, like, you know, you think about luxury brands, Louis Vuitton and those kind of things, like they're not necessarily scarce, but there's somewhat of a rarity factor to

Starting point is 00:28:16 them. Does that play into any of your stuff? I mean, obviously your mass market, but like, is that even run through your mind? Yes and no. I don't think it's really hard to create scarcity and build a business and sustain a financial business model. You can't have it both ways. One, you're looking for rarity. Boy, you better have deep pockets because it's not going to pay the bills.

Starting point is 00:28:48 And two, if you don't have the money, well, you need to make sales in order to survive to the next. day. So I think it's a tough one. For me, being small, it's going to be rare no matter what, because I can't force it everywhere overnight. I can't make it go into Walmart and Walgreens and, you know, the total wines of the world overnight. It's never going to happen. So scarcity, rarity comes with, I got to build my distribution over time and it's going to happen with every brand. Bingo. Exclusivity can happen without having scarcity. How about that? 100%.

Starting point is 00:29:27 And that's what we're talking about. You can't, this is why I come back to, you know, whoever wants your brand is the buyer, is the consumer. And if you're saying, you know, for whatever reason, and I use bamboo again as an example, bamboo in North Carolina is hugely successful. Who knew? So you've got to feed that fire. And what it does is creates a bond with. consumer. If you don't feed it, it's going to die out and the consumer won't want you anymore.

Starting point is 00:29:59 So you can't, you, you can't have it both ways. I think it's really hard. You guys evaluate partnerships, you know, like we talked about it with, whether it's with people. Is it just gut reaction? Like, if it seems like the right audience, I mean, is it, you know, how much thought process and meeting and planning goes into, you know, whether it's influence, sponsors, celebrities, etc. What's the process there? It's a great question, Ryan. The way I look at it, and again, it's based on making mistakes, is I want to work with people we know. I want to work with people that we already have built a relationship with. I think it's like, I think brand building is the equivalent, especially at that level, is the equivalent of marriage, marriage. You don't, you don't just get married after the first date. You got to get to know something.

Starting point is 00:30:54 And my goal is if I'm going to work with somebody and take Rick Ross, we've been working together for 12, 15 years, that's the goal. It shouldn't end. It's not supposed to be a finite period that goes away and you're done. You just figured it out. You just figured out like both sides is, you know, bad sides and both sides is good side. Now you know how to work each other and it ended. So to me, it's supposed to be long term. It's supposed to last a long time.

Starting point is 00:31:20 So I want to meet the people first. I want to be a relationship. I want them to love our brands. Called authenticity, buddy. That's what you're doing. That's an authentic way to build partnerships. And I've heard a lot of answers to that question.

Starting point is 00:31:35 And it's never as thoughtful as you just made it. It's definitely slower. There's a slower way to get there. But I think it's, here's my analogy. I think it's like somebody's saying, my idea is going to go viral. No one knows. No one knows.

Starting point is 00:31:52 So it's the same thing with influencers or anything. You don't know what's going to work. You don't know. And you've got to try a bunch of shit. What's the culture of spirits these days? You know, like, I feel like all these brands have such different lives. It's probably a broad statement to make. But you've got the champagne lifestyle.

Starting point is 00:32:10 You've got, you know, the beautiful Rome and like, like there's a culture. I feel like that that belongs with each one of your brands under this. I mean, am I right there? It feels like there's almost like a subculture for everyone. No, 100%. They have meaning. It's supposed to. There's a reason why people are picking up the bottle and holding it and taking a picture of it.

Starting point is 00:32:34 It's no different than a Rolex or Valencia or a car. It means something. You've got to be proud of it. At our price point, you know, we're premium. We're prestige. We're super premium. So they have to have meaning. It has to have authentic.

Starting point is 00:32:51 It has to have a feeling. I get an email today from somebody in Austria who's an intern at our importers saying, I love what your brands represent. I want to work for you. I see how people react to them. That's what brands are. It's supposed to be a badge of honor. It's supposed to feel like a tattoo.

Starting point is 00:33:09 You know, it's something, I remember, and it's not even my brand, Ryan, but I remember, you know, 30 years ago being at a club in Miami and it was a bachelor party and someone order a bottle of kettle one. and I just thought, I didn't order it, but I remember, boy, that's the coolest brand I've ever seen. That's now my brand. You know, it's those moments where there's this connectivity to a brand. And that's what I want with mine. You kind of went there.

Starting point is 00:33:36 I mean, what's been your proudest moment? You know, like amongst moments, like with all this stuff, the successes, I know you've had the ups and downs and you've told that story. I didn't want to tell a story you've already told. You've picked yourself off the ground. but like but what's the what's the proudest moments you know or bottle or like experience that you can reflect on oh it's a good question was there like a dream you had like once you started rolling did you have like these you know i don't know tick list that you're hitting off like there's strange moments i think it's you know i i remember pretending my office was in my apartment

Starting point is 00:34:17 in New York and we would pretend it was an office, but actually it's where I lived. And I remember I had one employee and Scott looks at me and who's still with me and he says, Brett, we had no air conditioning. And he says, Brett, come on, man. It's too hot here. We need air conditioning. And I spent $1,500 on two air conditioners, two 5,000 VTU air conditioners. And that was a huge moment.

Starting point is 00:34:41 Huge. I remember, you know, back then I'd take checks to the bank and deposit of them. on Prince Streets and West Broadway at the Chase. And every time I took it to the teller, she never looked up. He or she never looked up at me. Never looked up. Like it was not a lot of money.

Starting point is 00:34:58 One day I walked in with like $700,000 in checks that I wanted to deposit. She still didn't look up. Like I remember all the moments where people have said, no, it couldn't be done or where we've, it's fun to prove. people wrong or or to see them change and become fans you know that's that's what i love if i can make a believer out of somebody that's a that's a fantastic moment like i look at these balls like i'm not a champagne guy but as soon as i pulled them out the champagne in the blue i was like i bet you these are bestsellers like immediately like blue shampoo champagne come on yes give me that stuff right

Starting point is 00:35:42 now if i go to a party i'm drinking the blue champagne damn it but what's great Great, Ryan, is when we launched that, one of two things was going to happen. It was going to fail miserably or it was going to succeed fantastic. No way between. It was amazing. And then on top of that, which is just amazing to me, is in France, which is the most sophisticated champagne market in the world, the most competitive champagne market in the world, Bel Air Blue is the number one cuvei. They can't get enough. And it's a, again, it comes back to it's a great tasting product.

Starting point is 00:36:16 And if it tastes great, people will try it. They will love it. And that's my goal with all the brands. I love tasting people. I love it. Where's the business headed, man? Like, where are you, where's this playing headed to? I mean, you're headed somewhere, right?

Starting point is 00:36:32 My brother and I had the same view 20-some years ago is if we, and the goal was, if we have an idea and a category and we come up with a better product than the competition, we want to try it. and we keep doing it. So I don't want it to stop. I love what I'm doing. Deacons are latest in the whiskey category. We got something in gin with McQueen. We've got something in the Cognac lique category with Vion. We've got Bel Air, which is just killing it in 80 countries and champagne. And then we got Bambu, which is now then, and again, which is crazy. Five years ago, everyone said don't do rum. It's not a category that's growing. Today, Bambu is the only thing in the

Starting point is 00:37:12 category that's growing and it's because of Bambu. What are I mixing Villon with? What am I mixing this guy with? You can mix if you like Coke, straits, any liqueure. If you like cognac and you drink, however you drink cognac, you can do the same way of Vion. Or just on the rocks, it's killer. I make a cognac cream sauce. Try it.

Starting point is 00:37:36 It'll taste amazing, Ryan. Yes. Is there a athlete, a source? Celebrity. I mean, you know, like anyone on the radar? Any like things or plans or exciting things that we should know about? Well, the neat one for me, it's not in those categories, but in the music space. We're in, so the brands are global, which I believe in because I think, I think if,

Starting point is 00:38:05 Ryan, if you're loving bamboo and you go to Paris tomorrow, you want the same brand. And if you go to Amsterdam the next day, you want the same brand. we're doing amazing business all over the world, and I'm loving Africa right now and loving Afro beats, on piano, music. And so now we're leaning into that, and we're going to put out an album

Starting point is 00:38:27 together with some of the biggest artists in Africa, with some of the big names like Rick Ross in the U.S., all about promoting African artists. So that's kind of a new project that we're working on, but it feels right. It leans into what we're good at. And it's helping people. And I love it.

Starting point is 00:38:47 That's amazing. And a way to spread the brand across the, you know, the pond. And, you know, leaning into, you know, that African culture. And it's a nice tie-in with stuff you guys have already done, right? And on a personal note, I like going where other people don't want to go. I like smaller cities. I like smaller states. I like anything that's.

Starting point is 00:39:10 It's, you know, you got to show love to other. Everyone deserves a little bit. It's the 80-20 rule doesn't work for me. I love it. You give more than you expect to receive. Go figure. It happens every time. Go somewhere where others aren't and you're going to see what happens.

Starting point is 00:39:28 You're going to get the attention. You're going to get the love. People appreciate it. What will that look like as an output as far as the music goes? You guys have put up like a record together or something or, you know, with the solvent brands, like as a sponsor or partner or like executive producer, well, how's all that tie together? We're putting the whole thing together.

Starting point is 00:39:47 We're picking the songs. We're picking the beats. We've got great people all involved in the music space. And, you know, fortunately for me, because the brands are so known, I can talk to anybody in the music space. And again, for me, it's about shining light on Africa. I want to shine a light on Africa and, you know, on Nigeria, on Ghana, Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and those artists and show the U.S. artists as an example.

Starting point is 00:40:17 If you show them love, they're going to love you so much more. So we're doing everything. We're going to be recording videos in six or seven countries, just a lot of fun stuff like this. And then based on how that goes, we'll probably do another one, but I want to do it in Europe and I want to do it in the Caribbean and keep doing it. That's awesome. Do you tie it to one of the specific brands or just sovereign as a whole? So it's a good question.

Starting point is 00:40:40 It'll be what brands are out there. So right now in Africa, it's Bambu and Bel Air. So those two brands will be leading the album, kind of, you know, it's an album put out by those brands. Yeah. That's the full brand experience, you know. You've got the look, you've got the taste, you got the founder rocking and rolling, you got the giving back. Boom.

Starting point is 00:41:02 There it is. And the beauty is, you know, I'm literally. on a pillow that my mother gave me and it says if the mood moves you move in move with it and that's what I'm doing if it feels right I got to try it Brett I can't appreciate you enough for coming on the show uh let's talk where everybody obviously got the distributor stuff but where can people keep up with you the brands all you know learn more about everything that you're up to and and where to get these delicious drinks uh let's me on Instagram Brett Brett Brecht bearer CEO the brands deacon whiskey Bumbo original, official Bel Air, McQueen, Violet Fogg, Vion, France.

Starting point is 00:41:45 Hit us if you have questions. If you want to be a brand ambassador, be part of our team, just hit us. That's how it starts. And if you're looking to do anything in business, the key is don't rely on anyone. That's the key. There you go. Self-made, taste better. That's right.

Starting point is 00:42:05 Don't rely on anyone. Brett. Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate your wisdom, your time, and your gifts. Thank you so much for having me, Ryan. Take care, everybody. Hey, guys, you know where to find us. Ryan isright.com.

Starting point is 00:42:18 You'll find all the highlight clips from today. Links to all of Brett's brands. And, of course, links to all of mine. Thank you for making us number one. This bill's real and number one because we are number one because you made us that way. We'll see you next time. I'm right about now. This has been right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production.

Starting point is 00:42:36 Visit Ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.

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