The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - How To Build A $100 Million Dollar Business With Ashland Hard Seltzer Founder, Josh Landan

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

#259: On this episode we sit down with Josh Landan. Josh is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Saint Archer Brewing Company. In 2015 Josh sold the business to MillerCoors for roughly 100 Million dollars. Now, Josh is back in the saddle with a new venture called Ashland Hard Seltzer. In this episode we discuss what it takes to build a brand, how our significant other can help us or hinder us, and how to stay in a healthy relationship while working together.  To learn more about Ashland Hard Seltzer click HERE To connect with Josh Landan click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by FOUR SIGMATIC We have been drinking this company's mushroom-infused elixirs and coffees for over a year now. When we need a break from coffee but still need that extra morning jolt and focus the Mushroom Coffee with Lion's Mane and Chaga is the way to go. Lauryn also drinks the Mushroom Matcha which is a green tea designed as a coffee alternative for those of you who want to cut back on caffeine without losing focus and cognitive boosts. This stuff doesn't actually taste like mushrooms, it's delicious. All of these blends have a ton of nutrients and amino acids to give you balanced energy without the jitters. To try FOUR SIGMATIC products go to foursigmatic.com/skinny and use promo code SKINNY for 15% off all products. WOO MORE PLAY is the all natural and organic coconut love oil that is changing the way we have sex. With only 4 all natural ingredients WOO is the perfect personal lubricant to spice up your sex life. That's just the pre-party.  All Him & Her Listeners will receive 20% off your entire order plus free shipping when when visiting www.woomoreplay.com & using promo code HIMANDHER at checkout. Produced by Dear Media

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That's TITSANDASS at woomoreplay.com, W-O-O, more play.com. W O O more play.com. Tits and ass. And don't worry, we got you covered. Everything comes discreetly packaged. Your nosy neighbors won't know what's going on. Unless they they might hear what's going on, but they won't know when they when they see the package. So guys, woo more play.com and use code tits and ass for 20% off. Enjoy. Time to get back into the show. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire fantastic and he's a serial entrepreneur a very smart cookie and now lauren everts and michael bostick are bringing you along for the ride get ready for some major realness welcome to the skinny confidential him and her when you come out and you want to do your own businesses, 99% of it is when you're sitting in front of folks and asking them for money to basically create your vision, they're believing

in you. Not the idea. No one knows anything about beer. You guys don't know anything about hard seltzer, right? So you don't know. You're saying, do I think Josh is the guy who can actually do this? Because you don't know. You're saying, do I think Josh is the guy who can actually do this? Because you don't know. You're just believing in me. It is Tuesday. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential, him and her show,

coming at you from quarantine. Today, you have me, Lauren Everett, and my husband across from me. We've been across from each other for a long time. These last few weeks. Yeah. I'm losing my mind yesterday. I was massaging Boone's leg for like five minutes straight and looked down and realized it was his penis. Well, you know what? We're jumping, we're jumping right in. I'm so quarantined. I'm so on my, my head's spinning so much. I forgot to even introduce myself guys, Michael Bostic. I am the CEO of the Dear Media Podcast Network. Boone P is our chihuahua, to give a little more context there. So apparently my wife's rubbing our dog's dick and we're in quarantine. You know what?

Things are happening, guys. We are at home. It's kind of nice in a way to just be with Zaza at home and hang out with Michael and let him have his paternity leave because he thinks that's what this is. She's doing a lot of tummy time drinking a lot of milk there's a lot of milk with babies like so much so nice to be home with you and the baby every day yeah lauren every single day it's so nice to watch you do zoom meetings every five seconds michael it's my favorite thing ever can i just be this can i just say that in the beginning it was fun

everyone's like oh zoom new thing like what this is a great like you know we're all like oh look there's there's jenny there's jim like you know we're all like you know on the zoom and it was fun for a while but i can i'm done with it now i'm done with zoom i put a background up because i'm like listen i don't need people to look at me we're done can we go back to phone calls i don't we get it i try to do a team happy hour and my team's probably gonna listen to this and some of them are gonna like this and we're not but i try to do like a team happy hour okay where we sat you know because i read a wall street journal article where like hey these companies are doing team happy hours and all getting their drink of choice and staring at each other on the screen yeah and so i did it with the team and we're all

sitting there and we're drinking in about 30 minutes into it i just i was like guys i'm i'm sorry this is a little bit depressing this is not nearly the same as us all being together at a bar at a venue, having fun, or even in person. We were just basically drinking alone, staring into a screen, even though we were all there doing the same thing. We're all in our places just drinking alone. What were you drinking?

I was drinking Ashland, which we're going to get into. Ashland hard seltzer. That is fitting. I really was drinking it. I have a picture to prove it. But yeah, I mean, who's with me on the Zoom thing? Are we done with Zoom? Are we going to keep doing it?

I'm not doing Zoom. I'm just doing calls. You know, I'm just saying to prove it. But yeah, I mean, who's with me on the Zoom thing? Are we done with Zoom? Are we going to keep doing it? I'm not doing Zoom. I'm just doing calls. You know, I'm just saying sorry, guys. Like my brown mustache. I've got no manicure. My roots are grown out down to my ears. I need a double tint. I need a spray tan.

I mean, my fingers literally look like penises because there's no nail polish on them. Things are bleak. We're just all watching each other deteriorate week after week after week on Zoom. I try to keep it together and get dressed every day and comb the hair back. But we're just slowly deteriorating. We're slowly letting ourselves go. It's really, really weird because my husband's actually seeing what I really look like. Who are you? Who is that? It's unrecognizable. But you guys, if you're looking for some fun content from me, I am really hitting it hard at TikTok.

It's at Lauren Bostic, Lauren with a Y. And yeah, last night I put up some of my favorite glossier products. I also did one on Five Finds at Target. There's some Amazon content on there. So head over there and follow me. I'm going to try to do this one where you, uh, scare the fuck out of your husband. I've been trying to, is that what you guys have been doing? Yeah. You have been scaring the fuck out of me every time I turn around really uncomfortable positions. You know, um, I want to throw something out there before we get into the interview where Lauren and I are thinking, you know, we're on quarantine. We set up a home studio, but we're back to our roots. When this

all happened, I was like, well, back to basics, back to home recording. This is how it all began. Don't have this fancy studio anymore. Here we go. But I was thinking, would you guys like, and maybe right into Lauren's Instagram, mine's not as active. Would you guys like if we did maybe a couple mini episodes, maybe five to 15 minutes a day, random days, just pop out on specific subjects like, you know, motivation, what we're reading, what we're doing, what we're thinking, random days, just pop out on specific subjects like motivation, what we're reading, what we're doing, what we're thinking, mindsets, just quick things that we can pop into 10 to 15 minutes. It doesn't have to be official episodes, but just to give you a little bit more out of this show while we're all on quarantine. Solo episodes, if you will.

Solo. Yeah. If you like them, let us know. Also, I think what we're thinking about opening up the hotline again and taking listener questions. I'm sure it's been a while since we did that. And for new listeners, you may not know that this show started as a Q&A from the audience back doing a throwback, the first original 25 episodes. And so we're also thinking like, hey, let's go back to roots again. Let's open it up to listeners again. Let's open it up, ask some questions, get some answers. So also thinking about doing that. If you guys are interested, let us know.

Also, I've been paying a lot of attention to the skinny confidential facebook group i'm like a silent stalker in there also i'll like like stuff sometimes or comment but i like to leave it for a community for you guys to sort of talk to each other and i've seen that you guys are also really interested in more solo episodes so we're paying attention we're listening we're always listening to your feedback so uh yeah if you guys are interested in that, like Michael said, leave it on my latest Instagram at the Skinny Confidential and maybe we'll feature your idea. You think we're going to be able to get through without usually we have a third person in the room to, you know, kind of get in the middle of us and make sure we don't beat each

other up. Maybe. I don't know after this quarantine though. I mean, if you do one more zoom call, I'm going to just like, no, I think we're, I think we're done. I mean, we're still going to do zooms, but I've been rebelling. I just been doing the one tap call in, you know, and people are like, oh, why can't I see on the screen? I'm like, listen, we're done with that're done i mean we're still going to do zooms but i've been rebelling i just been doing one tap call-in you know and people like oh why can't i see on the screen i'm like listen we're done with that you've seen me it's over all right probably still gonna

have to do a few but let's introduce josh okay guys we have josh landon on the podcast today josh is an amazing entrepreneur very interesting character we met him a couple months back and were very taken by his story originally coming from coming from the surfskate culture, just to give you guys a little context, he fell in love with creating surfskate videos. And from there, realized there was some white space to come into the craft brewing industry, yes, craft brewing, and create a beer brand for the surfskate community, which was really, it really like caught our attention when we first heard the story, because it was so niche, and it was so smart. And we love anybody that understands brand and branding and josh definitely does so he created saint archer many of you guys may know it may have drink in it may love it and from

there he built that brand out had a huge exit and sold the business for about 100 million dollars which is an amazing entrepreneurial story and from there he now you know he was looking for something what was the next thing to do and he landed on hard seltzer ashland it's an amazing brand. Lauren and I personally invested in it. Dear Media also invested in it. We're proud to partner with the brand. It's rare that we actually invest personally into things so heavily, but we did because we really believe in Josh's story, the seltzer brand. It's great. And, you know, I think it's a, it's a product that everyone can enjoy. And I personally am a huge fan. And the reason I wanted to invest myself like separate from anything was because I obviously need to lose like 25 pounds after pregnancy. But I still want to have a cocktail because let's be honest, I didn't have one for nine months besides a glass of wine here or there. So, so for me, like, it's so nice to have the seltzer that I can drink. It's 5% alcohol. It's amazing over ice, but it's also amazing in like a Campari soda or an Aperol spritz or a margarita. So it's really multifaceted and I'm super excited to be a part of

it and share it with you guys. And there's no sugar and no carbs, right? So everyone can enjoy, right? I don't have to worry about that beer gut. With that, let's welcome Josh of Ashland Hard Seltzer to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her. I'm in the tangerine right now, but you know, we jumped right into this, Lauren. You came in hot. Okay. We're here with our friend, Josh. Josh, the founder of Ashland, founder of many things. Let's take it back a little bit before we get into this deep, deep taste test. Because I mean, by the time we get into it, we're going to be so sloshed up that we're not going to know where we do have a lot of cans.

There's a shitload of cans on the table. Yep. But for the audience, let's get it. Let's get a quick background. And then you know, we're going to dive into some questions. But you know, you your story, where you're from, how you came up with this brand, your childhood, give us the deep. Yeah, I was born and raised in Ventura. If you're not familiar, just about 30 minutes South of Santa Barbara, like a sleepy coastal surf town, blue collar town. And I just, I guess I started making surf films. And when I realized I'm not going to be a pro surfer and which you realize very quickly, I fell in love with surf films when I was like, you know, 17, 18 years old and specifically Taylor Steele. And I started watching his films and picked up a video camera and, and one thing led to another and I wound up

filming for him and traveling and filming surfing. And I made my first film when I was 20. And yeah, I was a film. I mean, I still am with all these brands, all the films for, for all the brands I've done, but yeah, I was a filmmaker and kind of grew up. I was an only child. You know, a lot of, a lot of the times I think you realize that you're an entrepreneur. A lot of people will say, well, how, what happened? Like, how did you get there? What did you do? Or what did you, you know? And for me, I think a lot of it traces back to just being an only child and not, you know, a lot of, a lot of people will say, oh, you're an only child. So you're spoiled or you're this or that. And for me, it was my, both my parents worked. And so I was alone, you know, often, you know, I, every time I got home from school and

got myself the sports and got, you know, so I was kind of self-sufficient and was fine kind of relying on myself, you know, going into filmmaking, which is very entrepreneurial. It's really not that big of a jump. You know, everybody says you went from making films to creating St. Archer. I don't get it. We're going to talk about it in a second. I think that's a jump. And then we probably should have done a better job of letting people know that that was your previous, that you did. But so when you, when you were getting into surfers, was anybody, was there even any money in the space at the time? Like, no, I mean, there still isn't. I think making surf films, I was just so in love with it and love with being a surf filmmaker and what that meant traveling around and you're with the best surfers in the world and getting

to see all these places that most people never get to see and make a film and do something creative. So I want to jump into St. Archer in a minute, but I want to, I kind of want to talk to young people because there's a lot of people, a lot of young people getting out of school to listen to the show and they think, okay, I don't know what I want to do right now. Like I'm, I have, I'm an entrepreneur and I want to do something, but I don't know what it is. And so they just wait and wait and wait. And they were trying to think, and what I always try to point out on this show is, you know, what we're doing here, obviously with Dear Media, this was not a linear path. It wasn't like I was a kid and I thought, Hey, one day Lauren and I are going to

do this show and then it's going to lead to this network and we're going to do all these other things. Like it was, it was just, that wasn't the path. It was like trying a bunch of different shit, seeing what I liked and what I didn't like. And then it led to this. And it sounds like with you, like you didn't, when you were a kid, you probably didn't imagine, hey, I'm going to start this immensely successful beer line and go and exit it. Like that probably wasn't part of the blueprint. I mean, you talk about that a little bit. No, I mean, I I've only really wanted to do three things in my life, which is kind of interesting. I wanted to be a sportscaster and, and then I wanted to be

a filmmaker and then I wanted to own my own businesses. So I haven't had like these wide range of all these crazy ideas. And like, I didn't want to do a t-shirt business when I was 11. I just know the things I really like to do and just have followed that. It was never like chasing money. Never. Still not. You're also really good at bringing people together and you're very personable. Well, thank you. Do you think that that's sort of helped propel your career forward?

Yeah, I think it's 95% of it. Yeah. Can you speak on that? Because some people think you have to go to college. No. Well, because listen, here's the thing. We met briefly. And in that one interaction, I was like, okay, this guy, one, he gets it.

Two, he understands. And I think this is so important. Like you understand visually like what a brand is, which we could talk about. Yep. And I think it's so important. Like young people, like they're so, they're trying to figure out the technical side so much. Like, what do I need to study? What do I need to do? And I'm like, study the people side first. That's it. Yeah. I mean, I think I've spoken to a couple of college courses and at some of the universities

here in Southern California. And really, having not gone to college, I was an awful student. I mean, I hated school. I liked the social aspect of school. And I liked that I found my wife my freshman year of high school. But other than that, high school, really, I love playing sports, playing water polo. But for me, it's like when I'm talking to the kids at school, when you come out and you want to do your own businesses, 99% of it is when you're sitting in front of folks and asking them for money to basically create your vision,

they're believing in you. No one knows anything about beer. You guys don't know anything about hard seltzer, right? So you don't know. You're saying, do I think Josh is the guy who can actually do this? Because you don't know. You're just believing in me. 100%. Don't they always say to bet on the jockey? Exactly. You're the jockey.

It's real though. When I did St. Archer, my wife and I, both of us are from Ventura. My daughter was three. My oldest son was six months old. I was making films. I was directing music videos for Warner Brothers. I was doing it. We were doing it. And I came home. I had the idea for St. Archer a month earlier, came home and said, I'm quitting everything. And we're moving to San Diego and I'm going to build

a craft brewery. What was the spark that made you say, this is the idea? Yeah, I was on a surf trip in Puerto Rico and a tequila brand approached Taylor Knox about him investing in the business. And I said, I don't know, tequila, I'm not really sure, but you know, and if you don't want to do the energy drinks or soda, like I understand that too, you don't drink them. But if you wanted to do beer, everybody drinks beer. And if you wanted to do a craft beer, even better because we actually drink it. And then I thought craft beer, like why has no one ever done a craft beer from our culture? Our culture, meaning like surf, skate culture.

Yeah. Like why, you know, like Pacifico, Bud, Coors, Paps, all these brands have tried to influence our culture through forever. Which that culture doesn't get enough credit for branding, right? We were talking to Sean Neff about this. I mean, skateboarding is the single most influential. I don't care what anybody says. I agree with you as skateboarding is fashion, everything. It's the pinnacle. Yeah, I agree. And, and I think that's what, and it's the, it's the hardest thing to crack. It's impossible. Right. And so there's never been a brand like from us though. And because of all the films that I had done, I was able to get surfers and skaters and like, I kind of knew everybody. And I thought,

why has there never been a beer from us? You know, we've birthed every other kind of brand, clothing and shoes and shades and everything, right? But never alcohol. And that's the one thing everybody's drinking. And so the only problem was, is I wasn't a brewer and I didn't, that's a hurdle. Yeah. That's a small hurdle. And I didn't know anybody in the beer business, not one human. I didn't know anything about anything. Ventura, all my friends work construction and they're blue collar jobs and they drink Coors and Bud Light. You know, that's what, that's what I grew up around grew up around and so you know going home and telling my wife we're doing we're we're moving and she said i'll find us a place to live which is insane that's

when you know though i mean yeah that's when i mean you know like i think and i say this a lot and i it doesn't get enough credit but really a lot of entrepreneurs dreams die with their spouse. 1000%. No, it's true. Talk about that. Male or female. Let's dissect that for a second. Tell me about that.

Think about it. Janine could have said, you're nuts. I'm not doing that. I'm not going to support that. Our daughter's three years old. Our son is six months old. You want to move us from the town, the only town we've ever known, and you want to move to San Diego and you're going to do a brewery and you're not a brewer and you don't know anybody in the

beer business and you've never raised $1 of capital. You don't even know what a capital raise is. We're not going anywhere. She didn't say that. She said, I'll find us a place to live. Never once asked me, what if it doesn't work out? That's what's crazy is she's the one, like it just so happens. I found the one person in my life who's never questioned anything I've ever done. Movies, all these businesses. She's the one person who said, well, what if never's like yeah i could say that's a lot of people ask how have you why have you been so successful and a lot of it is because i found her well i think i mean i think both of us as men are fortunate we're both fortunate enough to say that and i and i always tell people like especially my friends when they start getting relationship men and women

if you don't have a support a partner that's supporting you like that like people was like oh i love how you support lauren like of course like that's my that's my not my business partner that's my partner in life for sure if you're not supporting your significant other like what what are you doing what are you doing yeah why even in the relationship but i think you're so right if you don't have that it's it's over it's gonna kill everything like if you have somebody every day you're working on your dream and you're going home and somebody's saying hey you shouldn't be doing this or i don't believe in this it's done not only does it kill your dream it probably kills your marriage and your momentum it kills everything then you're going home and somebody's saying, Hey, you shouldn't be doing this, or I don't believe in this. Not only does it kill your dream, it probably kills your marriage. And your momentum. It kills everything.

Because then you resent them. And it's a fine line though, where you shouldn't do it just because you don't want to, because then the other person will resent you. Janine and I just happened to be in that space where we were both ready to do it. And it's a scare. I didn't know what a capital raise was. I had no know what a capital raise was. I had no idea what any of it was. Of all things that I, I love everything about business, but if there's one thing I could say that I hate the most,

it's the capital raise. Me too. It's, and for some reason I've, you know, but I think that's what goes back to personality and really like, people were looking at me when I raised that first $3 million going, let me get this straight.

You're moving to San Diego. You have a wife and two little kids. You've left your careers. You have no money. I got 25 grand. This dude's entire life is on the line. You know, like when people present business plans to me and they go, well, it's like my side hustle.

You're like, fuck off. Yeah. So yeah, there is no such thing as a side hustle. No, there has never been a successful side hustle. Never. I mean, it's okay to do things. Wait, hold on. I'm actually going to disagree with you guys.

I feel like there is a side hustle if you're working a job, like if you're bartending or you're waiting tables. No, that's different. But you're saying there's not such thing as a side hustle if you're putting all your passion in one place and then you want to run another business in another place right what i'm saying is like getting a business started can't be the side hustle got it like the side hustle needs to be you bartending at night yeah the side hustle is what your day job is that's exactly yes i think

people get that confused for sure because they go okay well i'm going to be a bartender that's my main thing and my side thing is going to be this business like no you got to do the bartending thing as your side thing to support the main thing and i think a lot of and it's scary you know like a lot of people don't you know for some reason in business i've never had that fear mechanism and some people don't have it in their personal life like my friends who are big wave surfers or they don't have that fear mechanism it's just not there and like but i have it in my personal life, like my friends who are big wave surfers, or they don't have that fear mechanism. It's just not there. And like, but I have it in my personal life. There's plenty of things that can give me anxiety or there's plenty of things that right, but in business, for some reason, I don't have that. Hold up. You know what I love in quarantine coffee, specifically ground

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Well, I think probably you, me, and Lauren are all similar in that regard. And this is what I always tell people. I said, you know, being an entrepreneur is not necessarily for everybody and that's okay. Like, you know, there's people that work in organizations, big organizations, organizations you've sold to that have, you know, they're the number two or number three in those businesses. They make a shitload of money. You know, they're making millions of dollars and it's fine and they're happy and it's

good and they don't have to carry the weight and the pressure and like have the fear of a failed business. And I think if you, if you, if you're somebody that has that fear going in, maybe it's not the right thing. And that's okay. I'm totally okay. All of these ventures that I'm part of, you're part of, you need people that are going to work with them and they help you build the business. But if you have that thing where you're scared every time you need to make a decision, you shouldn't be in the driver's seat. Because the biggest reason is not because of yourself, but because you are responsible for other people's lives and wellbeing. Completely.

And if you're sitting there scared for yourself all the time and not, you're not going to worry about them. And it's going to put a lot of people in dangerous way. When I, when we talk about, you know, talking to kids or kids that are in college, really what I say to them is this is your time to figure out who you are.

This isn't your time to figure out, you know, need to learn how to do a capital raise or gain intellectual property through your return, whatever it is, you should be here figuring out, am I an entrepreneur? Am I a business owner? Big difference, right? What's the difference? Well, a business owner, like my best friend owned a salon for 30 years. That's a business owner. I've started six businesses in the last three years. That's an entrepreneur, right? Big, not better or worse, just way different life.

And then are you an employee? Also, nothing wrong with that. It's better to find out who you are. Like, are you really that person? Because 99% of the entrepreneur life sucks. Or are you providing a service, right? Yeah, it's like, it's not fun. It's like, it's nice to read the magazines, but the magazines don't don't tell you the emotional roller coasters that you go through every single day they also don't tell you that you can't like there's nobody to complain up to

right you're by yourself you're it's a lonely it's a it was a one of our biggest investors in saint archer told me you're signing up for a lonely life. And I never understood that until I was like a year in. And it is because you don't, I mean, you really don't have anybody who can like one for one relate with what you're thinking and doing on a regular basis. What are some of those roller coasters specifically? Like what are some struggles that you can pinpoint and look back on and be like, whoa, that was hard. I think you can, for me, you know, when businesses are up and there's just so many, there's so many dynamic personalities

that you're dealing with and you have to learn how to deal with people that are all completely different. But a lot of times for me, like it's, it's not all excitement, right? It's not, it's not all exciting. So there's that downtime where you're just waiting. And then it's in those moments for me where when I'm, when my go back to neutral, that's when like my brain doesn't want to stop, but that's when you can get into anxiety things. And it just depends on what kind of like how you operate. And for me, the worst place to be, it's getting better now, but the worst place to be is neutral. Hence the six businesses.

Yeah. You got to just constantly be going. Yeah. And if I stop, which isn't healthy, right? If I stop, then I start, there's always an obsessive thought no matter what it is. So when it's business, the business overtakes those obsessive thoughts, if that makes sense. I get obsessive thoughts too. I know what you're saying. Like you can't get off of it. You can't get off it. Yeah. And so like when the business is kind of going and doing it, that part of you never changes.

Then you're obsessed over this in your personal life or this or this or this. And it can make you anxiety and depressed and it's crazy. But it sounds like what you've done and what I try to do is take the obsessive thoughts and make it something positive. And productive. And productive. For sure. Great word.

That's what I think about, you know, like one way for young people to figure out if they're an entrepreneur or not is like you know what i always say people and this is dumbing it down i was like there's no clocking out like i don't clock it's not like i go home and i'm like i'm clocked out and there's nothing to think about anymore and so i think and i wouldn't want to clock out which is the fucked up thing it's a sick thing right i hear you it's like lauren like i go home and we sit there and she's like we gotta stop talking about business i'm like you like i'll be talking about it then i was like we're like I go home and we sit there and she's like, we gotta stop talking about business. I'm like, you like, I'll be talking about it. And then I was like,

we're like having sex and talking about business. Yeah. Which is, which is invigorating. Yeah. But the problem is like, you know, when I talk to young people and I'm like,

listen, if your idea is that you're going to clock in for eight hours, you're going to put in a good day's work and you go home and like, go hang with sounds nice. Yeah. But it's, if that's, that's like a,

your idea of a, of a perfect life, like you shouldn't go into entrepreneurship because there is not a moment of time where I get to be like, where I just get to clock out, right? I'm just like, it's constant problems and issues and stuff all the time.

And not if it's with the business or with someone within the business or a partner or a person, whatever it is, there's always something. Yeah, it's hard. I have a serious question. Yes. Do you know the benefits of pineapple?

I do not. Oh, you have a pineapple seltzer and you don't know that? Like real health benefits other than digestive. Taylor, do you know the benefits? I believe drinking pineapple juice makes your jizz taste delicious. So why did you choose tangerine? Well, I don't know. Yeah, he's all, I don't know.

Wrong choice, buddy. Wrong choice. The orange is like a very, it's like, I don't know why, but's all i don't know wrong choice buddy wrong choice orange is like a very it's like i don't know why but it's right orange like turns me on okay it's like so vibrant that it's like the color it's one of the only colors that i'm like drawn to that's good okay so so speaking of the can the branding is so good thank you and i am obsessed with branding so just for my own selfish self. Yes. Can you talk to us about how you conceptualize the brand?

Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, like with St. Archer, when, when there's, it's usually when the there's brands in a cat, you know, it's fun to enter a category when it seems like all of the brands are kind of asleep at the wheel. Sean Neff said that too, right? Yeah. Sean, there's a San diego boy for you yeah you know i think if you can look it's like when i did saint archer everybody was calling their beers devil's baby and i went devil's baby that doesn't make me want to drink one right like i don't that doesn't inspire me at all and that doesn't speak to me at all and the brand is what speaks to you and the flavor of whatever it is should be secondary,

right? Cause they're going to pick it up and look at it. And then what do you do from there? And so it's really like with, with all these other brands in the hard seltzer category, it just felt like there was nothing that was like clean and simple and stayed away from the black and white colors. And so, and really it was probably the most challenging brand that i've created because with the breweries the brands are very masculine harland and saint archer very masculine design for the demographic of that but this is them like designed for everybody that's hard like you want girls to think it's cute and guys not to feel lame drinking it. And that's not an easy place to be. So like, can you have a guy pick up a blue, a blackberry lemonade and go, this is rad. I want to throw it on their gram and have his chick do the same thing.

That's not easy to do. I never thought about that. You know, now that you're talking through, that makes a lot of sense because you're, you're so right. Like I, you know, we always talk like, don't do everything for everybody, but like in case you know this category you have to well and if you have the ability to like you know it's really with ashlyn it's an interesting it's so it's crazy because everyone i mean there's a lot of people who told me you got to put it in a slim can and my response was always if everyone else is doing one way i'll go the other way 100 and then if i'm wrong then it'll be all my fault and i guess i wasn't as smart as i thought i was but i want to hold this but see a guy like for me i don't want to hold a slim can right right i'm only i mean a lot of these brands

i'm thinking like what would janine and i do janine i can speak for her and say she doesn't give a shit about slim cans yeah do you care about slim cans no i i and i agree with you if everyone's going one way i'm going yeah you're going i mean and then it's just like that's kind of the you know that that's if that's your mentality and with everything then then it makes sense to do it with your brands and sometimes that doesn't work out but janine i knew she didn't care about holding a Slimcan and I would rather not. Like I would rather hold this at a barbecue and she didn't care. So then why would I put it in a Slimcan?

You wouldn't. I love to hear the train of thought behind how people build their brands because there's so much stuff that goes into it. There's so much. And then there's so much behind the scenes. I know I keep talking about her but she like all of my brands villager saint archer harlan scout ashlyn little villager she has her like fingerprints on all of the brands because she sees everything first and when she

goes and i'm like you know then i know i'm making changes and then I have to go through the whole fucking process. Sounds relatable. Yeah, and then I'm like, God, why can't you just say it looks great? And I'm just going to guess if you're like my husband, you try to fight it. Oh, of course. And then so I, this is what I do.

I go, okay, do what you want. Yeah, okay, fine. Why'd you even ask me that? And then he gets mad at me. And then 20 minutes later, he comes back with his tail between his legs and he's like, well, what would you do differently? Yeah, and then I'm like, okay, fine. wrong with it? 20 minutes later, he comes back with his tail between his legs and he's like, well, what would you do differently? Yeah,

and then I'm like, okay, fine. And then she sees him and she's all, so you did add that in there. There's only one beverage that I can think of

that is a slim can that I like and I'm curious to see what comes to everyone's mind about this. St. Archer Gold is the only answer for you there.

Well, I mean, it doesn't need to be in like a beer. Listen, I don't have time to guess on your for you there. Well, I mean, it doesn't need to be in a beer. Listen, I don't have time to guess any of your beer. Sorry, sorry. So tell me, if you want to share, just share. Red Bull.

We can't believe the guess. Oh, Red Bull. Red Bull's the only beverage I can think of that's slim can that I don't mind. Listen, there was no way I was going to spend that much time figuring out I would have never guessed that. No, either would have. Yeah, I would have never guessed that. Sometimes we have to shut segments down on this show.

You stumped us. never guess that no either would have that would have never guessed that sometimes you have to shut segments down on the show you just dumped us yeah i'm like we named 16 brands and then it's red bull what's the habit um that you do every single day that you think sets you up for success in the long run for instance some of mine are i meditate i write down seven things i need to do every day it could be something very little or it could just be like yo i wake up and there's 50 things going on and i'm just like chart like going or you could just do what taylor does and beat his meat every morning that's what taylor does also useful um i think i gotta get the poison out that's it he's like it relaxes me listen no offense learn like you're talking to like pretty much every guy so it's not just taylor you know okay every guy just singled out you gotta think straight

here you know taylor does it like five times in a row though with a flashlight so that's the flashlight is a nice touch i for me i don't i don't have anything i swim and surf a lot i swim more than i surf now so that is there's like a couple things with that. You are putting your feet in the ground every day into nature, which I think is huge. People don't do that. You think they do, but they don't. Like if you really think about it.

No, they get in their car and then they go, you know, for me, I think the best in the pool. So when I'm swimming and that's usually when I feel better. But I have a lot of comfort in the people that work for all these businesses and my business partners. So I think it's such a unique setup to where I am really good at like a couple things. And then everybody that I've put around me is the best. And I just know what I suck at which is most stuff and so when you put the best around

you you know there's not i'm not i don't do checklists i don't read like business books and all i don't do any of that stuff well that's a lot of a lot in common that's what a lot of operators like it's a good it's a it's a it's a nice like tidbit of and i'm not even that organized listen i think if like if i was dumbing myself down what i think i can do effectively is communicate and sell right and like for the position that i sit in that's that's effective that's what i need to do but i know damn well like i have a whole team that's doing the market i have a whole team that's doing the brain like i have to put people that are better than me in those ways because i'm you know like really like if i if i was working in an organization, which I wouldn't, but I would find my,

they put me in sales. Yeah. Put me where I can talk to someone. That's it. Other than that, like my job is basically finding people that are better than me and more effective to do the other stuff that I can't do. A lot of people can't do that.

And which is why I always say like, are you an entrepreneur or are you a solopreneur that's doing services? Cause if you're not willing to say, Hey, I'm going to put my ego aside and I'm going to put people that are way better than me and that I'm can't compete with around me. Yeah. Then you can't, there's no way to scale. No. And say, hey, I'm going to put my ego aside and I'm going to put people that are way better than me and that I can't compete with around me, then you can't, there's no way to scale. No, and there's no, I mean, if you can't put, all I care about is winning.

So, and winning for me is not money or ego driven. It's like the benchmarks I have for myself that are just personal goals. And that's all I care about. So whether someone gets a credit for this or someone does this or someone, I don't, I don't give a shit, man. Yeah. I just want to win. That's it.

And winning for me is disruption and you can feel it, right? You can feel your brand disrupting a category. And when you can feel it, then I feel like I did it. And then you figure it out from there but having you know Jeff Hansen was the vice president of St. Archer and now he's my business partner in Harlan Scout and Billiger he's been I mean he's he's been the reason why along with other things but he does all of those things for the most part that I'm just awful at and and it's a good partnership and you need to have that because if you don't find it like i would have been out of business

a long time ago yeah i mean that's that i mean like for young people that is the tip right there it's like if you you know maybe you're a really really great branding person and you have a really great marketing vision like you do that don't try to go in and start running the payroll and logistics and manufacturing retail like don't do all that. Like in the beginning, you have to be a little scrappy, but go find a partner, give us an equity. But then, but then, but then, then the question would be, do you have the personality to go convince those folks to fall in line with your ultimate vision? Because then you're dealing with their egos and you're going, no, no, no. These are my brands. This is my vision, But you're going to go do all this stuff.

You have to have something that I think both of you guys have. And I hope I have. Taylor? I don't think you have it. And that is called finesse. Yeah, I mean, what's that? You do have finesse. No, I said I hope I have it.

Yeah, you do. You totally have finesse. I think that when we first talked to you, like when we were in the room with you, you had good energy. You totally have finesse. I think that when we first talked to you, like when we were in the room with you, you had good energy, you have the finesse. Like you said, you have the right people around you. You really came in with the full package. Thank you.

Do you think that you've learned that just as you've gone? I think it's God-given. I really believe that. And that's not even an arrogant. It's just, it's your personality. It's like what you're, it's what you, I guess what you grew up around, like you're the circumstances as a kid, like what has shaped your personality. And some people have a personality that they can convince others to follow their vision and others can't. It's just, I don't know. My mom would tell you if she was sitting here that I started having like conversations with adults at two and a half. Like she was, she, it's funny

because both my parents are professionals. My mom graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She's an attorney. And my dad is, they're both retired now, dentist. Both professionals, both studious, both look at me and go entrepreneur and tattoos and beer. And like, what the hell did we do wrong? But they supported me, especially my mom. My mom was always, she would told me from an early age, you can do anything you want. And I believed her. I totally believed her. You know, when people say

like, you know, I never thought this would happen or this would happen. I never, I never say that because I did think it would happen. I want to stay on this for a minute because this is really important. And I was, when you were talking, I was like, the reason people believe in your vision, the people that you've shown yourself, it's because they believe so much that you believe it. Right. And like, that's, you know, when you're, when and like that's you know when you're when you're talking to people when you're raising money like that i think that's the biggest thing people look for is like does this person are they that crazy that they actually think they can disrupt whatever they're doing and actually believe it and it's like you know when we when we look at stuff with

this show or with dear media i always tell lauren and my team i was like the reason i you don't ever see me like overly excited about any of the, like what I would say, like people maybe classify as accomplishments is like, none of this is surprising to me. Like every time we hit a milestone. This is the plan. Yeah. The plan and like the plan's not even done with. So every time we get to a milestone, like, yeah, of course that was going to happen. Cause this is what we're doing. And I know that may sound arrogant, but I think you relate to it in the sense that like, it's so in my brain and same with the skinny confidential when she started, like, none of this is surprising. because i see the end result of what we're going to do and where we're

going as clear as i see you across the table and i believe it and then maybe that makes me fucking crazy and delusional maybe makes you crazy makes it more crazy but i think if you have to have that element and i think that's what people like the word i feel like is visionary yeah and i think i think there's a huge difference between confidence and arrogance. It's not like, I don't think we're better than anybody else. I just like mine more. Right. Like I just, I, that's all I'm building these brands for me and my wife and my friends. So like, I like ours more. It's not that I hate White Claw or Ballast Point or Coors. It's just, I'd rather'd rather have mine it's not i've never looked at it like that i don't like hate all these other brands and i don't i'm only focused on you know when you hear the chatter especially around when you sell a business and craft beer there's a lot of noise sure um i don't care what anybody says and like i literally was not influenced by one craft beer brand and i think that's another thing

i want you to speak on i mean i think another thing that some visionary people have is they're not like so many people like they go into space like let's look at all of these competitors what they're doing but it sounds like it sounds like you just had your blinders on like this is what i'm gonna do that's how i am for everything i don't think about other brands people what helps you're not influenced you don't like get off your path. And I just don't care what I just don't care. You know, like I, I really literally don't care. And I think most of the time people do care. And I did like when I sold St. Archer, I would do it a hundred times over again for all of the folks that invested in me. And people weren't there with me when I was giving people checks that changed their life.

They didn't see the tears and the kisses and the hug and they didn't see any of that. And like, you know, there's times I miss owning the brand and I've missed the brand. But then I think about all the lives that were changed because of it. And I would do it. Well, let's let's talk about the birds. So because we kind of we were jumping around. But so you started saying Archer as a category for to speak to the community that you were in. Right. Because you looked at the space and said, hey, there's nothing that speaks to us running like your community.

Yeah. And then like, how soon after that does this thing start taking off? And what do you think, what do you think was the cause? So we did a capital raise. We raised $3 million and we built a 17,000 square foot brewery just East of La Jolla. And then I hired three great brewers. Do you just bound, like, just go, what do you do? Craigslist? I need a brewer. Yeah, no, I was in. So fortunately for me, while I was raising capital, one of the folks that I met with was friends with Steve Wagner, who's the president and co-founder of Stone. And he said,

hey, you should talk to Steve. And I said, yeah, that would be great. That's like wanting to start a clothing company and talk to Bob Hurley. You know, like, I don't know if Bob's getting back to you. I just, you know, I emailed him and he hit me back cold and was like, why don't you come to the brewery for lunch? And we kind of struck up a relationship and I was in his office looking at a magazine, the best brewers under the age of 30 30 for 30 in one of the national beer magazines and i wound up hiring three of the top 30 smart which was good yeah and again again it's like convincing people that you're what your vision is and what you're trying to do and we were coming at it from a brand perspective i mean in a lot

of ways saint archer could have been a clothing brand we wanted to do. And we were coming at it from a brand perspective. I mean, in a lot of ways, St. Archer could have been a clothing brand. We wanted to do craft beer. And we launched the brand. And yeah, right away, pretty much right away, it was successful. I mean, we were the fastest growing brewery in the US through our first two years. This is where I think people sometimes fuck up too, is they look at like all these categories, like yours happened to be craft brews, but like clothing, whatever it is. And they think, they think oh well there's already someone doing that so i can't do it it's like if you build the right brand the right way targeting the right people you can go into any category that look tesla yeah you can do i mean you're gonna who would have thought you're gonna do a

new car brand and it's gonna be worth 100 billion 200 300 whatever it is now i think people look at it like oh somebody's already doing cars or someone's already doing beer or someone's already doing clothing or toothpaste right and they say, oh, can't do that because it's been done. But if you build the brand the right way, you can go to any category. If you think about it, I entered three of the most saturated categories, craft beer twice. There's 8,000 breweries in the US, right? And then I did coconut water and little kids juice. There's massive hundred year brands, right? And then back into the hard seltzer, it's, I mean, crowded, you know, people and there's more and more coming

every day. Out of all the brands you've done, do you have a favorite? Do you have like a favorite kid out of all of them? St. Archer. Just because it means, personally means the most. What Janine and I sacrificed to do it. No one ever, I mean, it was probably the hardest two years of our marriage. What do you mean? I mean, it was hard. It was like, we had everything on the line and we were in a new city and I was gone working. And Janine has two little kids at home and we had never had millions of dollars of people's money and it was a completely new life and it was really hard on us.

How do you manage having kids now and a wife with everything you're doing? Is there like a secret? Yeah, it's my top priority. It's not even like a priority. It's so far above a priority, Janine and the kids. Can you talk about that a little bit so Michael can take notes? Janine, when we had Jones, who's our youngest, she got sick. She got sick and I had to step in and this is in the middle of St. Archer and take care of the kids. Like I pretty much did a lot for the, you know, a couple months straight and Janine just couldn't wake up with him as a baby. And it just was out of the cards for her health. Right. And come to find out, stepping away from work, kind of telling Jeff and the guys like, hey, I'm doing this.

Like, I'm not coming in. I'm going to do this. This is my family. It was the best time of my life. It was the happiest I've ever been in my life. And I said, wow, this is where I want to be. Like, this is what I want to be doing. Because everything is so secondary to your, to your kids

and your wife. You seem like you have a really, really good marriage. What are three things that you think make it really successful? I mean, it's, that's hard, right? Like it's not, it takes a shitload of work and like convincing, but I think not only your wife, but yourself. Yeah. I'm like, dude, what the fuck yeah i think the biggest thing that janine and i have so much history which could be like a good and bad thing you know like it's it could be tough where you you've been through so much together and then you get in a fight about something and then you wind up talking about something from seven years ago but for us we're still bringing up things i did in eighth grade i'm like you know janine has

brought up a girlfriend i had when I was 14. Oh my God. So like, let's, I mean, that... She does the same thing. Of course. Right. But I think for us, it's like... Can we take a minute to just laugh about that?

She's brought up a girlfriend he's had when he was 14. That's inspiration. You do the same thing. I'm fucking pinning that to my Pinterest board. But I've only had one other girlfriend. It was a girlfriend and then janine the duration the other day he mentioned this girl in casual conversation with our friend who got a blowjob from when he was like literally like like probably 17 and the next morning i woke him up found her on facebook and put it in his face you know how does

this feel i was like well listen and i'm gonna get a lot of shipper there's a listen i was like you know we were 20 so like people change in 10 years or 33 now people can look a little different sure um yeah but also you didn't give a shit what anyone looked like at 20 let's be honest listen i was probably so blasted i couldn't even see what she looked like but you blasted you're blasted that's for sure i'm like why you're all details details why why are you bringing this up why am i waking up to this i'm like it's a thursday like i can't see straight like what is going on how did you find this person you know but i think like it i think you know what there i don't even know if there's three things there's really just one thing is our we both have the willingness to make changes and constantly work at making

our relationship better and instead of like just quitting, which is not an option for us, both of us will say, okay, we fucked that up or I did or she did whatever. And then you just kind of try and move on. And when you know that you're going to work through it, even if it's hard and you're super pissed off, we know that we'll pull it off because we're both willing to make changes personally to have things happen and be together. And that's, that's the hardest thing though, is like when you realize you, because when I told Lauren this a long time ago, when I, every decision, and I think we probably can relate on this, every decision now I make as a man

is with the idea of my wife and now my child in mind. Like I don't, I don't make individual decisions anymore. You're probably the same. Like there's things that I do individually for my wellbeing, for my business, but like there it's always with the underlying thought or, or like, you know, thought about my wife and my kid and how it affects them. Because I can't just, I can't just selfishly go like, Hey, I'm going to go do like, I got invited to a bachelor party in where, where the hell was that in Brazil or when, not Brazil. And where was it columbia sounds fun i got invited to this bachelor party in columbia yeah and i was like listen guys i got a newborn at home i got a wife i was like there's no you fucking animals going down to columbia there ain't nothing good no i was like for the well-being of my marriage and listen i'm

not like a schemish guy i gotta stay home because i'm like listen what's gonna happen here is i go down someone's gonna do something out of control maybe it it's not me, but we're all going to be in. One of these guys is going to break. One of their wives is going to break them, you know, and they're going to, it's going to turn into a thing. And I was like, and it's going to make either my wife look bad or like me, like it's going to jeopardize her. And so I was like, I'm just not going to do it. Like I can't, I can't be in that position. You know, if I was single, boom, right down there. But that's just like a minor example and an outlier of like, I can't do anything, whether it's a business decision or a relationship or a friend or i'm going out or i'm like what or

even a situation i'm putting myself like couldn't be i can't be at late night party like there's things that i just can't do anymore because i'm in a marriage that i that i cherish well and i think it's i think for me she has every time i start a new business, it takes away from our family, right? That's the reality. And so she knows that's my deal, right? But at the same time, there's nothing extracurricular that she's like, I'm not going out and getting wasted. I'm not going on trips with dudes. I'm not doing all this extra bullshit.

Like if I have to go on the road, I'm literally there for the meeting and I fly home. There's no extra time. I fly in, I fly out and I come home. There's no like, let's do tomorrow and do this and go there. And I don't do that. Yeah. And it's a lot of friends don't like it, but it, no, and I think I just, I mean, I never go out. I don't want to go out. I'd rather watch. This is us with the kids and her and stay home. And that's just, I build my brands and hang with my family and everything else literally means nothing. How does someone that's listening and that wants that kind of guy find that?

Because I have my own theory and I'll give it afterwards how a woman finds that in a man. Gosh, Janine should be here. Or how a woman finds it in a woman or a man finds it in a man whatever next time we do this janine will have to come yeah she she would be she'd be fantastic back here but i don't know you know i don't know i think it's i think it's a different time too guys are not just speaking for men i don't know guys are not the same like coming up the younger generation is not maybe i'm 40 the 22 year old kid now is not coming from the same things that we saw as kids right like it's just a lot of what i'm trying to get at is a lot of dudes are not men no

does that make sense what do you think so like let me play devil's advocate i mean i'm not saying i don't disagree with you because i kind of agree with you in some areas but like what do you think the reason is for that i think a lot of parents you know in the last 15 years or so 20 years there's a lot more coddling right like my parents are my parents i don't know you know they didn't know where i was most of the time yeah there was no like you get something happens to you at school my water polo coach is cursing me up and down for three hours she doesn't go to the superintendent and try and get him fired she walks onto the pool deck and says thanks for being so hard on him that those days are long gone and like you see it in kids now i

mean like we we have kids that are applying for jobs and tasting rooms and they all want breaks and they all want more money and they all i never i didn't make any money in my early 20s i didn't i didn't even ask about money there is this hair of entitlement it's insane but maybe maybe we were entitled in a different way there's a hair of entitlement but what i always say is like and we talked about this before in a podcast there is a hair of entitlement. But what I always say is like, and we talked about this before on a podcast, there is a hair of entitlement from some young people. I'm going to say all young people because some aren't. But we can say some young people are entitled.

But it's not the young people's fault. It's the parents' fault because they have to participate in college. 100%. Yeah. And they wouldn't be entitled if the parents weren't giving them everything and protecting them from everything. Right. Listen, if I was in school and I got kicked out or i got in trouble i got in a fight or something like i was more

scared of my dad kicking my ass than me like you know he wasn't going to the school and saying hey no he was like i was like oh shit don't send me home for that that is done now yeah yeah in in in most cases it feels like having young kids i see how the parents are and it's just a different time it's interesting a different time. It's interesting though, because we, you know, we both have, Lauren and I both have young sisters.

So I guess our sisters now, since we're married and like, you know, they're on the dating apps and they're dating these guys. And like, you know, we try to say, hey, crazy is dating apps. It's nuts. I missed that wave.

Like, you know, we never did it. But Janine and I saw all of our old notes from high school. So do we. In the garage. Notes. Remember that? Yep. But I was, you know, I was saying like, we all say like, you know, like play a little bit harder to get, saw all of our old notes from high school so do we in the garage notes remember that yep but i was you know i was saying like we all say like you know like play a little bit harder to get like

don't and but like a lot of the fear that we hear is oh well these guys have so many options now with all these dating apps are just going to go on to the next and i was like yeah but like eventually that's going to get tired and like you don't do you really want to be girl or guy one of those people that's just like constantly on the next on the next it gets old i i can't even having not been single since i was a fetus i can't even like i don't know i have a theory that i think that in business in friendships in relationships in dating that people feel when someone else is giving off a desperate energy and i think people can smell it. And I think when they smell the desperate energy in any of those relationships, it turns them off. So I think if you're out there and you're listening and you're single, I would really evaluate if any energies that you're giving off to a significant

other or someone you want to date is a desperate energy. And it's hard to explain it because it's invisible. But I think just pulling it all back to the beginning of our conversation with pitching, if you come into the room and you're giving off a desperate energy that you need these people and you need money, it's a turnoff. Completely. Well, let me say something else about pitching and being in relationships. And I think probably all of us would agree here if i meet somebody it's like some young hot shot guy or girl and they're asking me for money or they're asking to partner they're asking to work with whatever it is and i find out that they're fucking around on their wife or their significant other i'm like

listen if you'll do that to the person you lay in bed with every night what the fuck you're going to do to me 100 so i cannot be in business with you and it's not even it it's not even about like how smart you are how good you are i feel the same way if you will go and like if cheat on your wife if you met you'll cheat on me listen if you met me and i was like hey yeah i'm like fucking around on lauren doing this you're like i'm not doing business with you i've said that multiple times it's and it's something that i think young people don't think about any people think about no it's like if that's your reputation you're never going to lose that everyone's going to sit there and be like you cannot be in a partnership of any kind with that person.

Well, and it depends on what you want to. If you're all you're focused on is making money, then you don't really have any moral compass. Yeah. Whereas for me, that's everything. So if our audience has to start out with one, you got to pick one. Okay.

Flavor. Yeah. What are you going for? And then I'll tell you what I think that they should go for too and let's talk about this a little bit about like why you went into the seltzer category because obviously moving from beer and and you know that that demographic of people that are buying beer like why go into seltzer especially after all the success you had with that first you have to tell us the flavor though okay you got to give i think the tangerine okay taylor i think

it's delicious oh your mic's not on again so you don't have an opinion taylor what are you doing back there man i'm muted so you can't hear me if i move around taylor the tangerine what are you doing back there beating your meat he's how come you guys are right every time okay so so you would start with the tangerine and why is that or maybe i would start with the lime because it's the most neutral and then they get more exciting as you go on okay so start with the lime yeah okay okay michael sorry what was your question i just needed to know i wanted to know so i mean like listen and full disclosure here like you know lauren and i are now completely we're partnered with this company it's an amazing company it's the first time that we've ever partnered with it with a liquor

category and we've been waiting for a long time we've talked to a few different people in this space. And like, you know, I just think it's, it's like you said, it speaks to everyone. It's fun. Like we love drinking it. And so I just wanted to say that before, but what, what really piqued my interest is your story about how you got into the seltzer category. And I think it's important for you to share because listen, there's a lot of people right now drinking seltzer and they're out there and it's becoming a massive category, but this is different. It's completely different. And the brand is on point. It's like, why, what piqued your interest in this category? I think it, you know, we were drinking it. I, we go to the lake, Lake Nascimento every year, some of our best friends own a place out there and we go,

our families and everybody. Fun. It is fun. And we're, you know, last summer. Yeah. Yeah. Last summer, all that was in the cooler was Bud Light because my boy drinks Bud Light and White Claw and a little bit of Truly. And I was like, man, this is like dominating this. And this is all I'm drinking. And then I just started thinking about it. And I'm like, I really enjoy drinking. I feel better if I drink these. Let's talk about seltzer for a little bit. Like why? Cause I, cause I can't drink a lot of beer. I never have. I always have to like start beer and then get a liquor and liquor fucks me up, you know? So if you think about it, it's, I mean, as you get old, every

brand that I've done, it's what I'm drinking like right then. So St. Archer, I was really enjoying craft beer. It was fun. And like, it was really, it was like, it was a rocket ship. Everyone was, there was new breweries all the time. It was fun. It was like social. I enjoyed all that. And then I was like, for a non-alcoholic beverage, I stopped drinking soda and I was drinking coconut water and all my friends were drinking coconut water. And then I had kids. And so then I had an organic kids juice. And so everything is like where my life is at the time. And then getting back with Harland, I just missed owning a brewery.

I enjoy the community aspect of that. I love having a brewery in San Diego where we live, where my kids go and our friends go and I enjoy that. And then with this, I was just drinking it. And I was going, wow, this is fun. Like it's 5% alcohol. It's no sugar. It's 90 some odd calories.

It's gluten free. Yeah, and I'll drink six of them. It almost sounds too good to be true. Well, why I became interested in it is because when I talked to you, I was pregnant and I had gained a lot of weight. The doctor tells you to gain like 25 pounds. That was not happening for me. And I was like, okay, I obviously want a cocktail after I have the baby.

Right. Like shaking. I remember you saying that. So when I was introduced to this, I saw there's low sugar. Like how much sugar is in it? Zero. Zero. Okay.

Yep. No calories, barely. 99. I can deal with that. You can. And it's 5% alcohol. It is. And how many carbs? There's like no carbs. None. Yeah, there's no carbs. And then it's organic and we brew it with alkaline water. It's almost too good to be true. And it's from, so I think a lot of the other brands too is, you know, I was very specific that I drink a lot of seltzer water i love

la croix i love bubbly pepsi's brand and i wanted an alcoholic version of that yeah i didn't want aftertaste and you know a lot of the other hard seltzers that i was drinking had that and i enjoy those like i enjoy drinking white claw if it's at a party i'll still drink it i don't i'm i'm good i wanted something that was a la croix no no aftertaste. And we got that from, you know, creating the alcohol from fermenting the sugar. So basically once the, you know, when you ferment sugar and then it turns into alcohol, it eats the sugar and then there you are with your 5%. But there's nothing else in it. It's organic flavoring and carbonated water.

And that's it. Listen, these are dangerous. No, I feel feel i honestly feel i drank it all last week and i've lost eight pounds since last week and that's because i had birth weight guys so don't that sounds like a lot and i had three cucumbers in eight days no no i i've been intermittent fasting i've been drinking ashland if i want to have a drink that's right i've been walking and doing pilates there she is doing p-volve a little bit of body guide and i mean i think that it's really working yeah it's slow but it's happening and i think that if i didn't have an alcohol that would be like some like like high leaves such like high

sugar wine that you'd be yeah i could i would be drinking wine or champagne or a cocktail it wouldn't be doing my ass any favorites right favors and so i think with this like i can sort of have my cake and eat it too you know what i mean i do and i think that's why people have been so excited about everyone that i haven't had a brand yet well harlan the beer is phenomenal it really is and ryan and i want to i mean before we haven't been able to come into the brewery our brewers are two of the best going but this everyone that drinks it goes this is my favorite one i mean it's crazy like everyone does say that so like if you have a brand you know we're the same price as white clon truly so when we're on

the shelf you're going this looks great it's it's priced the exact same it's organic it has all these health benefits yeah i'll give it a try then we only need to get them to try it once so if lauren says i love this and someone who's listening like janine goes well if lauren likes it then i'm gonna try it and then they try and go whoa this actually does taste i mean listen our process on like what i would say like a diligence standpoint of like investing and doing it and doing a deal and partnering with is like was next to nothing and it's i'll tell you why normally it's like lauren and i are very selective of who we partner this platform with because just because like you know we're like you were selective we're careful

with who we partner with but there's like okay amazing category amazing founder the shit tastes really good we're gonna drink it like we drink it all the time like this is a no-brainer to go into something like this because this is something that we're confident sharing with everybody and i'm confident that people like it's it's there's not one person who i'd say like hey if you're an alcohol drinker and you like to you know do this and you like to have these types of beverages like there's not one person i think would say like oh i don't like that category who the fuck doesn't want to drink alcohol and not have to worry about their waistline and then like for me when i'm like shopping and i'm a consumer i'm thinking you know i see this you know on the shelf and i'm thinking okay i can get this and not only can i get this it's it's

kind of girly in its own way but then i can also have my husband drink it because it's also we got a kid now too so i can't be sitting there slamming a bottle of bourbon every night i gotta be able to change the bed with my eyes straight right i think that think that's the thing is, and I mean, we have, you know, getting you guys involved and getting everybody we have involved. When we had St. Archer, a lot of the guys who owned it with me were surfers and skateboarders. And then, and they're speaking to a small audience, right? And Paul Rodriguez's followers are probably following Sean Malto and Eric Koston and right. And we had all them involved,

but this time it was fun to get everybody, my friends that are skateboarders and, and surfers and you guys and Jared Goff and Cody Bellinger. And the list, it was like Chris Lane and you, Adam Devine and Blake, you get them all. Right.

So like, because like Lauren said, like now we're both drinking it. And now we're all doing it together though. It's not like I didn't want something where you just put money in and then like I never talked to you again. You guys get text messages from me constantly

what's going on and what's happening. What do you guys think about this? And look at these and look at- And I wanted the right people that were excited to do that. And shout out to Andrea and Wes of vandervoort in san diego because they introduced us they're the best and if you guys i feel like ashlyn needs to be stocked in the vandervoort fridge if it's not it is okay okay so if you're in san diego you can stop by and see them at the store ashlyn stock there and also i'll say 101 my dad and stepmom's

restaurant they're gonna be stocked on every dear media table whether the hosts want to drink them or not they're just gonna show up it's gonna be on the table you're all i said open it yeah like drink it on camera ladies like get in there no just kidding yeah but listen yeah we're out of water now all we have is ashland we don't have any still water so i want to leave the audience with how i would taste it. I am really very much about doing an Ashland lime. Get the lime flavor. Okay. That's your favorite. Right.

Right now I'm having a moment with it. Oh, and then I would do a Blanco tequila. Okay. A little bit of Cointreau, lemon and lime, like actual lemon and lime, maybe some pomegranate seeds shake and shake.

So shake everything besides the Ashland. Cause you don't want to shake the Ashland in a shaker. And then top it off like a huge top off and enjoy. You know what's cool though about this? Sounds good right now. I know, shit. This variety pack thing is that, say you're drinking a margarita,

then you switch to a beer and you switch to a wine, you're going to be sick. You're done, right? That's just how it's like. I do it every time because I'm an idiot. And I just, but I still do it too. I like this variety pack because essentially you're drinking right like that's just how it's like i can't i mean i do it every time because i'm an idiot and i just but i you know i still do it too yeah i like this variety pack because essentially you're drinking the same thing with just different flavors so it feels like you're changing it up throughout the night or the day yeah but you're not going to suffer the same consequences when

you switch from like beer and wine and champagne and all that you know what i mean does that make sense of course i mean you can and we have a new variety pack coming out so then you'll have four more flavors guys before we go we're gonna do a quick giveaway so what we're gonna do is we're gonna give away some ashlyn seltzer merch plus some tsc goodies so to win the giveaway we're gonna have you tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest instagram at the skinny confidential, and then follow at Ashlyn hard seltzer on Instagram. There is some good cocktail recipes up there too. Like, oh my God, I was drooling when I looked at it. Where can people find this right now? San Luis Obispo County to the Mexico border will be in the middle of May. But right now,

San Diego and Orange County, Target, BevMo, Costco, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Ralph's, and then everything independent. Lazy Acres and Gelson's and Mother's and Newport and yeah, pretty much everywhere. Where can everyone find you? At Ashland Hard Seltzer. Yes, guys, check it out. Josh, the next time you come on, should be with your wife. She'll be so much better than me. And we might make seltzer yes guys check it out josh the next time you come on should be with your wife she she'll be so much better than me and we might make seltzer margaritas too next time i mean i don't know what we were thinking this time taylor i hope you're not drunk back there from your tangerine

wait i have a quick question before you leave oh okay you mentioned that there's new flavors coming out yeah say what those flavors are i can yeah we're doing a watermelon a tropical cherry um a mango strawberry and raspberry lemonade oh damn those all sound good you see like this is what i like about this is i can feel good drinking a mango a raspberry lemonade a cherry and like i still feel very tough you know you do you know like that's what we're aiming that's why you couldn't do the skinny can is like i could be like what are you drinking i'm like this is my cherry mango strawberry it's like this yeah and the skinny ones i mean most koozies are 12 that was the other thing last thing right think about how long we've been holding these beers sodas seltzer water why would it not be good for this why was hard seltzer too good for the 12 ounce normal can not anymore right i love

a new category i'm glad when you see it like that yeah and taylor drink the pineapple please for your semen god drink a little more pineapple i heard it works yeah okay i thought it was bananas no it's pineapple josh thanks for coming on that was so much fun thank you thank you for coming on brother that was great guys wait don't go. Thank you for coming on, brother. That was great. Guys, wait. Don't go. Make sure you've rated and reviewed The Skinny Confidential, him and her show on iTunes, because every week we do a giveaway. This week we're giving away the cutest new TSC Pops bucket.

It's like three hearts all stuck together and says TSC. It's on my phone right now. You will love it. All you have to do to win is tell us your favorite part of this episode on my phone right now, you will love it. All you have to do to win is tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest Instagram at the skinny confidential and someone from the team will drop into a bunch of your inboxes and send you this new hot, cute pop socket. As always, thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next time. This episode was brought to you by Four Sigmatic. Guys, did you know mushrooms can prevent and treat many diseases and boost overall health? They are known to be super healing. You know I'm obsessed with their

mushroom hot cacao mix. I like to wind down with this at night. It's so good and it feels so satisfying and it's full of benefits, which we love. Perfect with pregnancy too. Anyways, Four Sigmatic is offering all TSC him and her listeners a 15% off. All you have to do is go to foursigmatic.com slash skinny and use code skinny at checkout.