Flavor, Function & Form: Cannabis Beverage Development - Branding Bud Live Episode 16
THE SUMMARY
The cannabis drinks sector is getting downright crowded, with beer giants Pabst Blue Ribbon, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors all testing cannabis beverages. Longtime cannabis-product developers say the secret to success in the cannabis beverage game starts at the very beginning when products are formulated.
THE CO-HOSTS
David Paleschuck, Adriana Hemans
THE SPECIAL GUEST
Austin Stevenson, Co-founder Vertosa / Managing Partner, Thomas Green Equities
THE TRANSCRIPT
David Paleschuck
Welcome to Branding Bud Live, the live stream that’s 100% THC and 0% WTF. Every week we speak with business people about the business of cannabis. I’m David Paleschuck, the Founder of Branding Bud Consulting Group, and author of the first & bestselling book on cannabis branding, “Branding Bud: The Commercialization of Cannabis”. I’m joined by my co-host Adriana Hemans, a Marketing executive with over 8 years in the cannabis space. Hi Adriana!
Adriana Hemans
Hi David. Thank you for that intro. I’m so excited to co-host the show with you. We’re bringing amazing guests from across the cannabis ecosystem to share their perspectives. What makes our show unique is that we focus on building a community - and we encourage audience participation. It’s not just about us talking, it’s about all of us building something together. So feel free to drop your questions and/or opinions in the chat, and we’ll share them too.
David Paleschuck
Thank you, Adriana. And thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We have a lot of hot topics to get into today. In an industry defined by fragmented state markets and increasing competition, today, we’ll be talking about "Form, Function & Flavor: Cannabis Beverage Development". Specifically, we’ll be discussing:
What are the unique challenges and opportunities in developing a cannabis-infused beverage?
Are there strategies and/or techniques from the non-cannabis beverage space that cannabis brands can learn from?
What non-cannabis beverage brands are likely to move into cannabis next?
Our guest today is Austin Stevenson, Managing Partner, Thomas Green Equities. Austin is the Co-Founder of Vertosa at Vertosa, a cannabis beverage research & development firm, and now functions in a different role but takes his experience in beverage development and leverages it into the work he does today.
We also have audience participation activities as well. We’ll throw a stat up on the screen, so you can test your industry knowledge. We’ll be sharing a few stats with you today, we think you’ll find interesting, so please stick around for the entire show. That said, let’s welcome Austin Stevenson.
Adriana Hemans
Hi Austin. Welcome.
Austin Stevenson
Hey, Adriana. Hey, David, thanks for having me.
Adriana Hemans
Kick it off. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us what you're passionate about.
Austin Stevenson
Yeah, well, you know, I'm passionate about the plant. I'm passionate about health and wellness. And my reason for being in this industry for nearly a decade is because I truly believe the plant can provide a lot of health and wellness benefits for everyday consumers. So I have spent the past Oh goodness, like I said nearly a decade. So properly, like little over eight years, investing, advising and operating within the cannabis industry, across the entire supply chain. So I have portfolio companies everywhere from cultivation, to extraction, ultimately, to analytical chemistry, manufacturing, and even a little bit of distribution and retail. So, you know, I am very well familiar with all the ups and downs and all arounds of the supply chain, and coast to coast from California and New Jersey and, and beyond. So, I love this plant. I love that, you know, it's finally becoming mainstream and recreational. And I really feel that we as professionals have a responsibility to lead by example, and create amazing products that people want to enjoy and share. And that's why I'm so excited about this conversation about beverages because I truly believe that cannabis beverages are one of the most approachable form factors for the everyday consumer. You know, it's going beyond just smoking flour or, or vaping a cartridge. Now we're putting an indifferent cannabis beverage in somebody's hands. And that's the most ubiquitous form factor of folks of consuming any type of CPG product. So I love what we're doing. And I love what we're talking about.
David Paleschuck
We love your passion, and it really comes through. You know, so we're here to talk about beverages today. Let’s level set. What are the issues surrounding cannabis beverages that are different from any other beverage?
Austin Stevenson
Definitely, you know, the biggest challenge or aspect that's different from building any other beverage is getting the cannabis plant and to a water base beverage. And so there's a lot of chemistry behind that. So you know what one of my portfolio companies for Vertosa does was a co-founder is specialized in the chemistry of taking a cannabis extract an oil. So as we all know, we start with a plant, and then we extract into an oil. And then that's where a lot a lot more chemistry happens. So you go from plant to chemical extract that turns it into an oil, whether it be a distillate or a live resin or an isolate, it's an extraction process. And so then once you have that oil, we all know oil and water doesn't mix. So there's a chemical process that can happen in that in between oil and water. And that's liver ptosis specialized in you know, utilizes nano-emulsions. So using a nanotechnology using mainly organic ingredients to create an emulsion, and then emotion is what turns an oil into a water based ingredient. And that water base ingredient goes into a beverage and that's where the meat of creating the cannabis beverages. Now, of course, from an analytical chemistry standpoint, there's all sorts of nuances that I could spend hours and hours and a full lecture on. But I'll save you it's very those details for now.
Adriana Hemans
I want to call it a comment from Bree Smith, who wrote cannabis beverages are absolutely the best middle ground for consumers looking to dabble. It's a familiar form and the low dosing makes it more accessible and less frightening to try. Thanks for your comment, Bree and since we're on the topic, what is a good how do you how do you determine an appropriate dosage for a beverage?
Austin Stevenson
Yeah, well, it's a great comment. And the question is very open ended. I like to really address the choice and folks who asked me Is this all the time? It's, you know, how do I choose dosage? What is the appropriate dosage, and I say it starts with your consumer? The beautiful thing about, you know, cannabis consumers is that they're just as diverse as the whole world's population. So you have some low doses, you suddenly have some heavy doses, you have people that give you a little, you know, scientific word titrate, where titration is the amount of cannabis that you consume and enjoy. And ultimately, some people titrate at different levels. For example, one of my business partners, he can only take in two milligrams of THC, and that gets him very buzzed. Whereas myself, I'm a little bit of a heavier weight, or I traded about five to seven milligrams, and then there's others that can take up to 100 milligrams a day or even more, and those are the heavy users. So I like to say that it's all dependent upon your consumer, like in many other industries KYC know your customer, what do they want? What is important to them? For example, what's in market today to the biggest and most ubiquitous and well-known brands is Ken and Uncle Arneis. Now Ken is a low dose beverage, you know, there have I think it's three milligrams of THC, two milligrams of CBD and some different ratios. Whereas OCUL Arneis, has 100 milligrams of THC and no CBD? Well, they are two very different consumers. You know, Ken is creating a platform of creating, you know, more mainstream use more social use social use, they're trying to bring in new consumers. So not the traditional cannabis consumer that was going to this dispensary out here in California for the last 10 years. But rather, the Canna curious folks that are looking for an alternative to alcohol are better for you type of beverage. And so they like to start with the low and slow. So that's why they have a two milligram three milligram type of beverage. Whereas the uncle Arnie's consumer, that's the heavy hitting heavy dosing every day. Consumer and they know that, so they lean into it, and they created beverages that are 100 milligrams. And that's the reason why because you have two completely different consumers that have, you know, kind of desires for different dosage levels. So that's the that's the way I address the question. It's really know your consumer and create a beverage based on your consumers wants and desires and needs. Now the only caveat to all that is that there are regulations, and every state has different regulations. And so also know your regs, because you know, example, in California, the individual serving size is 10 milligrams, whereas in Massachusetts, individual serving size for beverages, five milligrams, so know your regs understand your rights, but more importantly, just know your know your customer, because they'll tell you what they want. Low, medium, high, it's all up to them.
Adriana Hemans
Yeah, I think it's occasion driven to right. So like one consumer, they may have the low dose occasion, like if they're having Christmas dinner with their family, or they may have the high dose occasion when they're going out to a concert. So it's important to know what you're going to be using it for. Right?
David Paleschuck
Yes, exactly. It's important. You bring up a good point. Beverages are the most ubiquitous form factor; and linked to gender, hierarchy, age, and so many other aspects of society. There are so many things that are tied back to beverages, which are really interesting. To double down on what you just said earlier, in Washington State. I've noticed and this is over the last few years, there's been this move of, yes, there were high dose divergence, but then within those averages, also became shots, right. So it's really interesting for example, our knees were hoping Barney's is more I believe a shot so it's not only a higher THC, but it's also a shot versus lower template can which is literally at a lower dose so you're not only getting more liquid, but you can set the order time.
Austin Stevenson
The shot at the higher end is really about doing it like that five hour energy drink so it really is unique and distinct from each chatter in the approach to, in this case, the cannabis beverage is spot on, David, I think it's those use case and the consumer. So, you know, in my experience working directly with our news team, they found that their consumer, you know, wanted more cannabis less liquid. Because ultimately, you know, their consumer wanted a 400 milligrams, and the larger volume 12 ounce fluid ounce, you know, lemonade and tea that they had was great, but you know, their consumer could consume a whole 100 milligrams and they would drink the whole thing and then have to go to the restroom. So they wanted more of a shot format, so you get just as much cannabis, but less liquid. And then the great thing about the shot format that Arneis did is that they innovated beyond just THC. So here in California, it's actually my favorite product right now, there are 100 milligram shot is also has naturally occurring caffeine in it, and THCv. So this is truly the Canada's version of five hour energy because it's going to give you that uplifting buzz from not only the caffeine, but also the inclusion of the minor cannabinoid of THCv that's currently being researched for him. It's more uplifting, energetic effect. And also, there's some research out there that say it may be an appetite suppressant, and so truly forming and kind of comparing our pairing well with caffeine so you can do so much in beverage. There's so much diversity to your point, David, where you can get fancy, like champagne or Mimosa like our folks at soccer. They have a very elegant, beautiful bottle, it's meant to have a nice brunch, Sunday brunch with this product. Or you can take the energy product like I do before I go bike riding or pre workout. Or you can go to sleep on another product that uses other minor cannabinoids. So there's so much you can do in beverage that makes cannabis beverage so much fun.
Adriana Hemans
it looks like our audience is pretty warmed up. So let's go ahead and jump into a little round of participation, shall we? This is our first question of the day are cannabis infused beverages more popular in Canada than in the US? What do you think? More popular in Canada? True or false? And I will say that this is as a percentage of market share. So we know that Canada is a little bit of a smaller market than the US. So this is percentage of products sold. Are there more beverages represented in Canada or in the US take your best guess and throw it in the chat?
David Paleschuck
Interesting also because right where it's federally legal in Canada and in the US it's not. So you would think there's the opportunity to promote, to advertise nationally, all of the things all of the media opportunities at scale that everybody in our industry in this country is waiting for, happens to a certain degree more in Canada, although they're very restrictive.
Austin Stevenson
Oh, yeah, well, I'll show you the shot again. So the shadow was the Uncle Arnie's energy shot, which is 100 milligrams of THC, 150 milligrams of caffeine, and a little bit of THCv they also have a sleep shot too, which is which is awesome include CBN. Just a clarifying question. Now are we including hemp infused beverages in this dataset?
Adriana Hemans
Really good question and I don't think we are I think we're only talking about I'm going to skip ahead and look at the answer. We're only talking about THC.
David Paleschuck
I do as well and Have any this data point that we're going to call out comes from Headset, so I'm more likely to believe that it's THC focus than it is derived or other derived cannabinoids. Well, let's reveal the answer. Let's do it.
Adriana Hemans
Well, it's only difference in 1%. But that one 1% makes all the difference in the world, I guess. Yeah, it's 2.1% of sales in Canada. 1.1% in the US. Thank you, Headset for that data point.
David Paleschuck
And it's important to note too, you know, Adriana, we always joke, you know, we start off with the big headline that cannabis infused beverages are the fastest, you know, growing category in the segment. So everybody's all excited and says, Oh, I got to start a cannabis infused beverage. And then the second stat is, well, it's only really 1% of, you know, the market. And then you sort of pause and say, oh, okay, it's the fastest growing, but it's got a long way to go. So here, I guess we look at a 1% difference between Canada, it's significant in terms of the numbers.
David Paleschuck
I'm curious to, you know, what, what role partnerships and what role collaborations can take place in, in the cannabis beverage space? You know, I worked with Mountain Dew for a bit. And I worked as you know, at Microsoft, and Xbox as a Director of Brand Partnerships. And we were always about connecting those like-minded brands and companies, to our ecosystem. What role do collaborations and partnerships play in developing successful cannabis beverage products?
Austin Stevenson
There’s a tremendous amount that we can learn or adopt from traditional CPG and you know, traditional brand and marketing strategies that can be adapted and applied to cannabis. It's really the world's our oyster here. When I think about collaborations and partnerships, you know, the one brand and traditional in traditional CPG are really kind of brand and retail is Nike and the Michael Jordan collection, they have done so many collaborations where they've brought in very unique artists or other brands and help to take the platform Jordan platform of all of their Jordan shoes and create some really unique custom versions or limited drops that are collaborations. That's where I think there's an opportunity in in cannabis as a whole as well as cannabis beverage. And we've seen a few folks do it well, so you know, you use someone like I have on my shelf, our tech, um, I don't have a particular bottle. But you know, about a year ago, our tech did a collaboration with the farm, Astor Farms. And so it was really interesting because our Tech's whole mission was to own the bar card. And they did that by training, a cannabis aperitif, beautiful bottle sits on your bars with your bar card, you know, sits very well nicely next to your cognac or your tequila or whatever you may have. But they said hey, there's an opportunity to highlight the supply chain, highlight the cultivator and highlight a unique aspect that not many folks are talking about, you know, most beverages that talk about just the flavor of just THC are just CBD, whereas our tenant took the opportunity to say, hey, we're going to create a very sophisticated beverage using live resin. And we want to be able to trace the origin back to the to the farm, and ultimately highlight that on our packaging, and do a collaboration so that we can adopt some of the audience that Astor Farms has ecosystem, and vice versa, provide some of the Artet audience to the Astra farms ecosystem. And that's exactly what they did. So they utilize is a live resin that was from Astor Farms, went through the process of creating the beverage co-branded, you know, put it on their beautiful bottle right in the farm and then told a story about it. And that story in itself really helped, in my opinion, to really bringing awareness around all the different players in the value chain that have to work together to create this cannabis infused beverage. And so that's where I think some of the biggest opportunities are or you know, only because I am an old school cannabis, you know, person where I like to embrace the plant, like embrace the cultivator. So I think there's a lot of collaboration, and some of these more innovative products, whether it be you know, gummies animals, whether it be beverages to highlight the original source and collaborate with the original source and share those audiences to make the bigger ecosystem even bigger. We've also seen it done well with Kiva and loss farms, and with a highlight specific strains and where the origin sources and that's what you're seeing in mainstream CPG is, well, I mean, traceability is a big topic, you see it in the coffee industry a whole lot. You know, so we want to know, where the plant compounds are coming from? Where's the original source? You know, is it a clean, sustainable source, and you have the opportunity as a brand to tell that story. Because again, as I mentioned, the beginning of the call, to me, cannabis is a health and wellness type of product. And the consumer today, you know, the reason why they choose cannabis beverage is because they want to better for you alternative. So it'd be on all of our best interest to highlight the operators and the players who are using best practices to ensure that it is a clean, sustainable type of product. And we can do just that to those collaborations.
Adriana Hemans
I want to call out a comment from Benjamin Larsen, CEO of Vertosa, who said Canada also used to have a purchase limit of five units per visit. And that was just recently increased to 48. That will be a huge positive. Thank you for that extra context. Benjamin and Austin a question for you like looking at the landscape as a whole thinking about brands that may be coming into cannabis and wanted to launch a cannabis product line? Maybe for the first time? Do you think that alcohol brands are more suited to make that jump or non-alcoholic brands?
Austin Stevenson
I don't think it's binary. Rather, I think that, you know, they're today's cannabis consumer. And traditionally, the cannabis consumer, you know, has been going to the dispensary, you know, and is very familiar with the cultivars, their cannabis brands that are out there. I think the opportunity today is for new brands to emerge new brands to build and start to build brand equity. I do think that traditional beverage brands, and traditional alcohol brands have a lot of knowledge, pre-existing knowledge, it's going to help them navigate the complexities of building a cannabis beverage. So you know, when you talk about an upstart cannabis brand that may be first time cannabis beverage manufacturers, there's a learning curve that they have to navigate. Whereas an alcohol brand or another beverage brand, has already done that and done it many, many times before, so they can execute on it very quickly. An example of that as Marion Jones, where Jones soda, not an alcohol brand, but a traditional CPG innovative soda company came into the cannabis space and they knew how to execute quickly because they've done it many, many times before. And not to mention another brand that does collaborations really, really well. Where they took the opportunity in their non-cannabis line to do collaborations with social media influencers, you know, music artists and the wife Sarah and brought them into the Jones soda ecosystem. Well, I think it's really just your ability to execute. And cannabis beverage is very complex. So those that have done it before, or pre-existing knowledge that can help really accelerate their path to market.
David Paleschuck
Yeah, yeah. And you're right, Austin, you. One of the things about Jones soda back in the day was they were really the first to use user-generated content for their labels and then also to move into the customization labels for minimum runs. I think it's a no brainer for the cannabis space My only complaint would be it took them too long to enter the cannabis space to be honest. But yeah, there's the things you've mentioned are really interesting especially the farm to table concept, right? Although traceability sounds so, so scientific. necessary in today's world, the food to table story just sounds sorry, farm to table story sounds in line with what's on trend and the perfect strategy for building cannabis beverage brands.
Austin Stevenson
To that point, that's the biggest opportunity in the future opportunity for collaboration is setting that table, you know, for cannabis beverage, really to take off the way that we most of us believe it will. We have to create more safe spaces for people to enjoy and socialize with cannabis beverage. I think that's the most critical aspect. And so states that are adopting consumption, lounge licenses, and allowing for consumption on premise, are really going to help to proliferate and build awareness around cannabis beverages. So, you know, I think about there's a dispensary right here in Oakland where I live called Rosemary Jane. And they have a Canna bar at their, their lounge. And so you can go there and get a cannabis beverage and bring your friends and hang out during happy hour and enjoy the beverage right there on site, just like you'd go into any other bar. Or you look at what they're doing in Minnesota, where they're allowing cannabis beverages to be at retail locations at bars and other venues and restaurants so that people can pick between an alcoholic beverage or cannabis beverage and make that choice in the natural environment where people already consumed beverages. And so I think there's a future opportunity with beverages to collaborate with restaurants, with bars with retailers in states that have passed permissible regulation. And so, you know, this is really just a public service announcement to call your congressman and really advocate for consumption lounges and opening up access to cannabis beverages because that's, that's the thing that's holding us back more than anything else is access. So more representatives or more examples, like Minnesota would be helpful. And some of the work that, you know, other states are doing already for consumption lounges.
David Paleschuck
Safety and normalization are what’s most important. We did a great show with Maha Haq not too long ago on cannabis consumption lounges and brought up all these issues and concerns. So it's not only about people wanting to consume, it's, it's about where can they do it safely. It's about how can they do it with their friends in a way that you know, minimizes all the risks and maximizes all the benefits. I just want to call out briefly, you know, we put this slide up just to really show the, the variety forgive me I we didn't include a shot in here but, you know, Carolyn called out a wine earlier. And there's just such a wide variety, not only, you know, forms within it, whether it's carbonated or carbonated soda or juice or all of the other varying forms that are here. But even dare I say, you know, Klaus is a brand where, where there is a hint of a cannabis case during cannabis flavor. You know, which is something that people were trying to get away from, for so long. And dare I say back in the day before, you know, years ago before the technology made its way into the industry. I believe that's why most drinks were super sweet because they were hiding. They were hiding the cannabis games and now you know, we've come to a place where some people want it. What are your thoughts on that?
Austin Stevenson
Yeah, well, you know, I think in the past, right, you know, folks were trying to hide the taste of the cannabis plant in the largely that's because some of the inputs they were using, or may have been a kind of lower quality, lower grade input. However, as you mentioned, folks like Klaus, and a few others, like I mentioned before Aster that did the live resin skew, you know, they're using higher quality inputs. I'm so used in premium extracts that are really rich and terpene profiles. And then you take someone like, Warren, who's the CEO and Founder of Klaus who's a good friend of mine, who's an expert mixologist. And so, you know, it's really about the flavor systems in the expertise of being able to pair some of the flavors and aromas that cannabis have, whether it be terpenes or other flavonoids, and therefore pairing that well with other ingredients. And so Klaus, you know, it doesn't want to take a lot of the spicy notes that you're seeing from beta carry ethylene and some of the premium extracts that they're using. And pairing that with ginger, which is very, very spicy, and you're making a great beverage that's more sophisticated. So, you know, yes, in the past, people wanted to, you know, people had a sugary sweet type of beverage, you know, it was infused sodas absorbs, right, but I believe as the consumer, tries more as the consumer, palate evolves and gets more aware, you know, they're looking for more sophisticated type of beverages and really good formulators, like Warren, from Klaus, know that and understand that. And so when you think about folks that specialize in flavor, or I think it's most analogous to like, mixologist, they understand you know how to use different plant inputs, and pair them with spirits. So you think about like, folks that use elderflower, in gin cocktails, well, that's the opportunity that we have in cannabis is to create more sophisticated beverages. And I really do believe that it requires more specificity on the inputs, using more premium inputs, like live resins, and high terpene extracts, understanding the aroma and flavor components of those different terpenes and extracts, and then pairing it really well with other ingredients. And so, I think, you know, to the picture that was shown before, that's why there's such a diversity in our array of different products, you can have a very sophisticated beverage that really embraces the flavor of the plant. You can have your, your basic beverages that are just you know, infused sodas, or you can have sensors, and there's a little bit for everybody. And that's, again, why beverage is such an awesome form factor for folks that yeah.
Adriana Hemans
definitely is our chat being super active today. And I want to call out a couple comments that came in. The first one is from Damian Webster, who's the founder of bold iced tea. I can speak from experience that the 420 Bank Lounge in Palm Springs has been extremely good partner for both in terms of adoption people getting to understand try the beverage etc. And also want to call it a comment from Stacey Primack different drinks all over the map but also different pocket books really good point. The roads normally will have their Silver Oaks along with their Bud Lights of that. Thank you for your comments.
David Paleschuck
Right on. One thing we try to do here is, what we call the “cannabis crossover”, which is just really connecting our little cannabis bubble to the real world. So that said, our question is: Did 15,000 new non-cannabis beverages launch in the US in 2021? This is non-cannabis and non-hemp derived beverages. This is really about the mainstream, just to give us a sense of what's happening in mainstream beverages. Because again, we're always so heads down in what we do. It's really interesting just to get a sense of what the rest of the world is doing.
Adriana Hemans
Yeah, a little bit of a level set question. So what do you all think? Is their overall under you know, just right.
Austin Stevenson
I think probably more!
David Paleschuck
Dare I say these are the ones that actually launched. So could you imagine how many have tried and never made it to a commercial launch.
Austin Stevenson
When I go into my Bodega there are so many beverages cycling through there. It's amazing. Essentially, it's like a work of art. It's like ever changing ever evolving in so many different colors when you go in there!
David Paleschuck
Wow. And the answer is yes. So according to a report by Mintel approximately 15,000.
Adriana Hemans
And this is non-cannabis beverages. This number includes both non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages as well as different types of beverages such as water, juice, coffee, tea, energy, drinks, beer, wine, and spirits. So just to put that in perspective, if we go back to, I had said data point, and we look at how many, how many beverage brands were dropped in the US and Canada, we see it's a believe 183. So in contrast, 183 cannabis brands were brought to release. So and again, I would also submit that, you know, that there's probably many cannabis brands that sought to come to market but it so it's just a gap between, you know, the real world and our world. And we just wanted to point that out. And I think, I think it's worth with chatting about and connecting those data points in the real world, every so often to the world we live in, just to make sense of it, and see what the future might bring and what we can learn from the opportunities and the mistakes.
Adriana Hemans
We like to wrap it up by asking one last question of Austin, is there a book or movie or an experience that you feel like cannabis business people need to know about?
Austin Stevenson
There's two books that he always recommends that I would highly recommend one for any startup executive, the book “Good to Great”. I think that's an excellent book. And really, especially if you are an executive building a startup business, and as scaling and growing from good to great is an excellent resource, just to help balance yourself, balance your own psyche. navigate some of the challenges that startups have. And the other for beverage specific is “The History of the World in Six Glasses”. You know, if you're a history buff, and just kind of a nerd of things, you know, that was a core book, you know, of ours that for Vertosa, I really believe that it's a great book, kind of just showing you and telling you the story of how people socialize and how people evolve with beverage that goes all the way back, you know, to the political discourses that people were having at coffee shops during the Renaissance and how caffeine really, you know, drove a lot of that action activity to spirits and wine and Mead and all the way up to present day Coca-Cola. And you know, the drive throughs and the posts and the drive throughs and the diamonds and all that stuff where people are consuming Coke, so I think that's a great book. Not only if you're a cannabis beverage person, but if you're just a history person that likes to like to nerd out on all things history. History of the world in six classes is a great one. And we do believe that the seventh class can and will be cannabis.
David Paleschuck
Right on Bravo Austin. You are so amazing, we really appreciate not only the way you think, but literally what you do. You've been really behind so many of the great brands in the space. So thank you so much. Please keep doing what you do.
Austin Stevenson
Thank you. I know you guys are an even more amazing and, you know, I'm always amazing as the team and people that I get to work with. And it's such a privilege, being able to collaborate with you and being able to collaborate with all the amazing people that are in this industry. It's an industry full of passion, spirit and love. And, you know, I'm just grateful to be able to play my small role in it.
Adriana Hemans
Thanks. I feel a lot of love. Thanks so much, Austin.
Austin Stevenson
Thank you.
Adriana Hemans
That was fast.
David Paleschuck
That was! That’s our show for today. We’ll be back again next Thursday, March 2nd at 11a PST / 2p EST where we’ll be chatting with Barry Foy, one of the “Gentleman Smugglers” - one of a small group of friends from South Carolina who launched a global cannabis smuggling ring in the 1970’s before getting caught up in “Operation Jackpot”, the first Presidential sting in the War on Drugs. Barry was tagged with the federal kingpin statute and spent 11 years in prison. Fifty years later, Barry and his friends return older and wiser. They’ve never lost their rogue spirit, belief in the plant, or sense of humor. Join us next Thursday, March 2nd as we’ll be chatting about “Outlaw Brands: Backstories & Bad Guys”.
Adriana: If you miss us in the meantime, you can re-watch today’s episode, or any of our previous episodes, on our LinkedIn page, Branding Bud Live, or on our YouTube channel. There are links in the chat, so give us a follow and register for next week’s event.
David Paleschuck
Yep, we're super excited. Come back next week. Join us every Thursday. Branding Bud Live 100% THC 0% WTF. Thank you everybody for joining in and participating. Thank you, Adriana. Thank you, Austin, and the team that supports us. See you next week. Check out www.brandingbud.com cannabis’s best-kept secret. Thank you!
