Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
We want to talk about natural resources, maybe because the natural resources from the great state of Montana are being used to fill a soul called void in the vodka industry. May Leave Vodka. It promises to lift your spirits with locally sourced, high quality grains and natural spring water. And if that's not enough to sell one of its sustainable bottles of star Power behind, it might do that just as well. I'm happy to say that the co founders of Maylee Vodka join us right now here on the
Big Program, Blaine Halverson and the actor Jason Momoa. Thanks for both of you, gentlemen, for joining us here today here, and of course, Jason, I'm going to start with the very obvious question here. Just tell me what sets this vodka apart from all the others.
Why does this set apart from all the other vodkas? Yeah, the other vodkas don't taste good. I think we set out to make this vodka just because we wanted to treat it like a spirit sets out of an ingredient. So it's been as kind of our gold sickens quite a while time to do that. But we found out that it was actually because of it's the water we use, and you know, vodka sixty percent water, we use a live water for Montana.
Well, give us a sense here to blame when we talk about how you sort of market this and more importantly, I guess getting on shelves and what we know is a very crowded space. I mean, there are a lot of liquor brands, a lot of vodka brands specifically out there here. How do you get this in front of people in a way where they look to your to mainly vodka rather than all the others.
Yeah, I mean listen with Jay and I started this thing, like I said, but you know, we were not vodka guys. We were more in the whiskey and tequila things we saw avoid and vodka just to us, vodka was really looked upon as an ingredient. So we've just sort of charged in creating something that was that was different and giving vodka an actual flavor profile and something smooth, and treating it more, as Jason said, as an actual spirit rather than a than an ingredient.
So you know, it's been a big piece.
You know, obviously the vodka market is really kind of controlled in general, by kind of the big the Big four that have been around quite some time, and it just felt like it was a it was a you know, a piece of the liquor industry that that was ready for a change and needed something different.
Yeah, both of you have a history together, right, You started on this journey to create something eight years ago, and it sounds like you kind of stumbled upon vodka as your collaborative you know product here. But part of the origin story of Meinlee Vodka is that neither of you actually like vodka. I'm guessing that has changed now.
But I love we love, we love vodka now, right, So I mean, I mean.
That's the beautiful thing like this, this bottle, like what we set out to do.
Just the design quality of it.
It ticks off everything that we love, so the sustainability aspect of it. We wanted something that tastes good, it's got a great story behind it, and to be able to drink this and we take it to everybody.
We asked them to.
Drink it neat and drink it, you know, warm room temperature, and and it tastes beautiful. And we most of the we went up for all the competitions and we poured out. It's a blind taste test that we won everything. So it's been the most one of the most decorated spirits in the world. We've got seven platinum or seven goals,
three platinums, and two perfect perfect scores. So we've been out for a year and a half and it's just been wonderful actually to take it to people and show it to them, and at the price point where it's still you know, anywhere from twenty dollars to twenty four dollars for a bottle, and it's beautiful and it tastes good. It's like we wanted to make that some of the affordable luxury.
You know.
Right, we should point out that no two bottles are the same, because each bottle is different. The manufacturing the last bottle is really a point of pride for you, Blaine. I'm curious when you as you bring your Voka around
and you you know, have different people taste it. I'm wondering if you've gotten any kind of feedback from the big players in the industry, you know, the Constellation Reds, the Diadios, whether anyone's talk to you about the flavor profile that you have come up with for melee vodka.
I mean, listen, most people in America don't think actually even know what vodka tastes like. I mean, they're used to drinking it in a drink, and that that's that was sort of our point. I mean, the fact that we go around and and have people try it at room temperature in its natural form. I mean you can kind of tell a lot just by people's first sort of impression of when you're asking them to drink vodka warm.
You know, most of them sort of turn their nose because they're you know, the ones that have they sort of know that in general, vodkan tastes like rubbing alcohol. It's it's hot, it's got that it's got that burn. And it's why, you know, it became something covered up in drinks. We wanted to we wanted to create a beautiful spirit that he didn't have to cover up and then would give the bartenders and mixologists and the people in the industry actually be something to actually build off of.
Uh, you know, we single the still for that reason.
We wanted to leave all the beautiful you know, the beautiful grains that we use and most of all, you know, what we call the unicorn this this unbelievable water.
Yeah, we'll talk about that, Blaine, because that was the part I was interested in. I mean, most with these vodkas, they are distilled several times, primarily to make it a neutral spirit, which, as you've pointed out, because a lot of people use it as to mix in with something else. By only distilling this once, so you're leaving behind those grains,
or at least a flavor from those grains. Why do you think other vodka companies, I guess effectively are throwing that out for lack of a better word, Well.
I think it's been Listen, it's I think it's been mainly a marketing tool because I don't think people necessarily understand. You know, in general, the more you're distill it, the only thing surviving distillation is the alcohol. And to me it's why you know, we never liked it, because drinking alcohol and its natural form.
Isn't very good.
And listen, anybody who this whole myth of vodka of this you know no, you know, no no smell, no taste. If that was the case, I mean everyone has failed. I mean there's tried vadka naturally, like there's nothing about it that doesn't have you know, heat in itself tastes like something. So we wanted to create something that was actually, like I said, more smooth. We age our bok as well, you know, given at that time similar to like a whiskey,
also helped smooth it out. But that single desolation because we're leaving and again leaving this beautiful water, yeah in it as well.
It's it's going to be smoother.
Because you're not you're not cooking down, you're not getting rid of everything but the alcohol.
Right right, Jason, let me ask you the final question here. What has surprised you most about the spirit industry. I know that you've been in the entertainment industry for a long time, you have other business interests, but as you you know, move further into into the spirit industry, what surprises see the most?
Well, and nothing at this point really surprised me as much as how I mean, it was extremely challenging from the get go. So you know, it took us eight a little over eight years, nine years to actually build this to where it's at. This wasn't an overnight thing, and no one came to us and I'm like, hey, would you be a part of this and that it's just been Blaine and I. So there's no there's no partners, there's no the odd you know, there's nothing.
It was just us.
So that whole time to give us, you know, time to trial and air test this out. We really, you know, Blam really was the the genius behind. And obviously I know a few things about water, but it's like it was all about these pure water sources. And so we
traveled in that time with expedition studios. We brought back water from Antarctica, we brought back Everest, we brought back the Shackleton around from the Greenland, and like bringing back all these like the Northwest Passage, bringing back waters, mixing with our mash, finding out that people are like, no, you're just gonna distill it.
It's gonna go away. But it didn't.
And each flavor profile was different. So when we use ro water, which most spirits are made out of, it doesn't taste good.
If you have a.
Really beautiful, one of a kind water, which we do, it's our Unicorn in Montana, and like that water source is high, it's low in sodium, so it doesn't cover up the grains. And so I think the hardest part was the beginning, because it took a long time to get into it and like really perfect us a place where we didn't know much about. But now it's like we know how to sell. I mean, we know how to sell. We know how to be intimate and be able to go to places and meet with people, and
so now it's actually quite fun. I mean I'm going to go on stage and play music with my band right now, to share, you know, drinks with thousands of people and really just experience what it's like and having a good time. So I think the marketing aspect of that is already passed the hard part in the sense of we just now it's just getting it to people going like, hey, here's the thing. We love Scott's, we love mescal whiskey, all that stuff. You can have tons
of them, tons of different bourbons. You need one vodka, you really need one, and so take one of these bottles home, tested it with your friends, blind taste tests them, and just try it out.
It's twenty bucks. You'll have a.
Ball, all right. Jason Momo and Blaine Halverson spoken like true entrepreneurs. There the journey of you know, stumbles and starts before I kind of find your way co founders of Mainly Vodka. Thank you both so much
Thank you very much, begg you