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All About Palm Republic

Sep 02, 202434 min
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Episode description

Today Eric is joined by his business partner Brad Parkes as they share the origin story of Palm Republic. We also learn why this partnership works so well. Who is more calm, who is more neurotic, and who can text faster. Eric and Brad cover everything from what it takes to be an entrepreneur to what your new favourite rum cocktail will be. You wanted to know more about Palm Republic, so here you go!!!

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Transcript

Speaker 1

This is he said a Yavi ho with Eric Winter and Rosalind Fantev.

Speaker 2

Welcome back to another she said aado.

Speaker 3

This is the last, he said by himself for a little while. My beautiful wife will be back here very soon. She's flying back tonight from a successful trip doing her movie. We are so excited. We really are to have her back. It's been a long road.

Speaker 2

Being on my own.

Speaker 3

I mean, I have great help my mom and nanny, but being on my own, it's a lot at the house.

Speaker 1

You know.

Speaker 2

I'm happy to have her home.

Speaker 3

But until then, we are going to do another episode with an awesome guest, a great friend of mine, Brad Parks, who is also my business partner with Palm Republic. We thot'd be fun to do an episode talking about entrepreneurship, you know, just our brand, working together, how we met building up Palm Republic here in the infancy few months as we've launched now and sharing our knowledge and journey what we have with you listeners, just because it might

be fun. Who knows what everybody could gain from this. It's new to me. I can tell you starting something from the ground up, and I've learned a ton, so I'm excited to jump in just talk about this in general and Brad's experience and mine and share because the fan support has been incredible. So thank you everybody when it comes to Palm Republic for being by my side for this launch and lifting me up.

Speaker 2

It means the world. Everybody.

Speaker 3

Welcome Brad Parks, who's my business partner friend. As we've here, you know, gone on to build and launch Palm Republic, thought this would be a fun episode to share our journey a little bit for the listeners out there who might be looking to start something on their own, but also Brad has been down this path already before. Brad, why don't you go. I'll do a little bit of introduction. But you know, Brad comes from for people who don't know about spirits, beer wine, all of that. It's been

a totally new world for me. Diving into Brad's third generation. Now his family has a distribution arm, a relationship I should say, right isue? Is that a distribution style of your.

Speaker 1

Company with beer wine distribut that's right.

Speaker 2

Beer wine distribution.

Speaker 3

So he had some knowledge in that space, but he's gone on his own to branch out and started his own company called Masked Hard tease erba mate healthier version of in RTD or ready to drink if you're going to have something with some liquor in it. It's also got some health elements as well in it. And he he launched that and it's doing, it's doing very well. So he knows about entrepreneurship. But Brad Goodin, tell us

a little bit more about you your background. You know, it was your dream always to be an entrepreneur and et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 2

I'd love to hear that.

Speaker 1

Yeah, well, I'll give you the the extended version. I guess, so what you know, like you mentioned, and you did a nice job in covering it. But my family's been in the beer and wine business since back to my grandfather, my grandfather's second job. It has been my dad's only job. So grew up in the beer and wine industry. You know, it was the only thing that I knew, so always that entrepreneurial spirit was there. It was all of you know,

all around me, all all around our family. So at some you know point, I definitely knew I wanted to go into that. It wasn't always beer and wine, so I started my career actually an insurance and financial services on the agency side, which is a you know, you're ten ninety nine contractor. You own your own business, hire your own employees, do your own marketing. So that was kind of really my first dive into the entrepreneurial space, and I loved it. You know, met my wife through insurance.

Her and I started two agencies together and you know, grew them to a point where she eventually said, hey, this is my deal. It's time for you to, uh to find something else to do what That's not exactly how it happened, but but anyway, it was around that time when our distributorships were going through some acquisitions and some transitions, and it was a good time for me to come back to that piece it, to that side

of the business. And you know, being in this business every day you see all the new items that come out, you see all the market data, you see what does well, what doesn't do so well, the reason behind you know, brands launching new items. So you know, her and I, my wife and I got together and we thought, you know, hey, there was a niche in the market with all these seltzers and alternative beverages coming out, you know, to be

a health forward product. So we launched mask Fusions, which there's a harder of a mate and a hard coconut water. And our whole target market that we wanted to capture was that you know, Seltzer drinker, but we wanted to add organic, good for you ingredients to the product. So that's been out, you know, over three years. Now we're in fifteen sixteen states, about five thousand retailers. And then

from a spirits perspective, always been a rum fan. I was rum and coke in college and then obviously when you grow up a little bit, you're drinking. Habits and venues change, so you're at you know, events and dinners and not not necessarily dance clubs and bars are still last call, so you know, ordering rum and coke and a nice, nice dinner. Yeah, it wasn't receive is great. So, you know, went to Bourbon and Whiskey a little bit.

I love the character behind it, kind of the history behind it, all of the different taste notes, you know, and always in the back of my mind, I couldn't figure out why there wasn't more nice RUMs like bourbon and whiskey. So started down that journey and obviously that's how you know, you and I came together and that's why we're here.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Absolutely, And you know what I like buying for listeners to hear is you know, in general, being an entrepreneur is not something you have to be thinking your whole life like, that's the path I'm going to take. But what I do like is if you have a little bit of that spirit inside of you that you want to start something, you want to build something, which you did.

You know, you go to college, you come out, you started a business with your wife, and you guys built something up and then decided, Okay, now's we're gonna pivot and you can continue to build more things, which is what you see all the time on shows like Shark Tank and these things that I love so much, as people are always finding a way to evolve and build and grow as entrepreneurs, whether something works, doesn't work, or you just want to send something off on its way

because it's doing so well and I want to start something else now. And that's something my dad always sort of instilled in me as well, which is why I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit, even though I ended up going down this path of being an actor, which is very different because I.

Speaker 2

Have no control of my career.

Speaker 3

Like I could study and work hard every single day to be the best I can be, and it can translate to zero income, you know what I mean. There's so many other factors that go into having a successful career where I come, you know, from my standpoint, whereas you know, you're not always going to hit it as an entrepreneur, but if you you do know, if you work hard and you're grinding every day, you're destined to

be better off than you were the day before. And that's why I think is great about that path, which is always excited me. And you know, like you said, we came together because of Rum, but I had been down this road on my own a bit before we merge,

you know, just be in Palm Republic together. I was wanting to start something, wanted to be involved and build something on my own, and I had fell in love with rum, as we've talked about before, because my wife's Puerto Rican and that's when I was first introduced to it.

Speaker 2

I wasn't a.

Speaker 3

Rum drinker, became a rum drinker and appreciated, you know, what characteristics had had as a spirit and so it's something I wanted to go out and dive into more and try to start and Brad had been starting down this road with Palm Republic. We were introduced through another mutual sort of colleague, and we realized, you know, look, we both have the same mission. We want to make

rum modern, a fresh new take on rum. We want to make it hip and cool again, versus what people grew up drinking, the Captain and cokes and the sugary RUMs spiced.

Speaker 2

And all that we wanted.

Speaker 3

I mean, look at spirits aren't necessarily help forward, but if you're going to have a spirit, we wanted to clean. We wanted no sugar added, no added colors, no flavors,

just as it's intended to be sipped on. And I think because we had those same visions, it's not always easy when two people are going down separate paths to try to build something and then they try to come together and say, hey, can we actually work together, which you know, for people listening, we had a little bit of a feeling out process.

Speaker 2

You know, I did not know Brad at all before we I got involved in Paul Republic. He did not know me.

Speaker 3

There goes a lot of trust and building in that sort of relationship of how we're going to try to launch a company. And we've been in this now for over a year and it's been great. I think we've grown a lot together and understand things together. Brad's the calm one in the relationship. I'm the more neurotic, you know, freak out all the time person in the relationship. So we balance each other well, cance his beach background, Yeah, which I think is important when you're building a business

like to have. It's like a marriage, right, You got to have those characteristics that are going to balance each other out while you're trying to grow a company.

Speaker 1

Yeah. You know, that's been great because you and I from day one shared the same vision of where we wanted the brand to go, what we wanted to do. You mentioned the you know additives clean spirit, but also the you know, upscale premium image that we wanted to bring, so we just did. We didn't want to just create

a new liquid. We wanted to elevate the entire category and make it you know cool again, to order rum on the rocks at a bar acceptable again, and really take that mainstream to where you know, bourbon whiskey tequila is now those are all seen now as upscale spirits, and that's where we wanted to go. So that's been you know since day one, you and I have been on the same page there. And I think the other thing, you know, in any business relationship, obviously, communication is so important.

And you know you and I communicate a lot the same way. Yeah, you know, quick, quick, detect back, quick to call back. You know now in the days of zoom and email. I mean, it's nothing for somebody to either not email back, and you've seen this a ton, you know recently, not email back, or just to not call. And you and I always say, like, how do you just let that sit there? How's that email just sit in your inbox?

Speaker 2

I'd tell you right there, like in dating it would be a deal breaker, and in.

Speaker 3

Busines it's a deal breaker. You can't text me back. Yeah, I'm out, Like, thank god. Brad and I are very very similar. I mean neurotic to a degree like Brad and I. I mean we we respond to each other on everything almost instantly.

Speaker 2

And I think it is again it goes back to communication.

Speaker 3

It's so important to know that you can, you know, lean on your partner or reach your partner in an instant if you need to. I think it's it's important for the success of anything relationship wise to grow, especially business for sure.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and I think that's some of the you know, tough part for us as a small brand right now is yes, typically that would be a deal breaker, but there's these you know, relationships that we need so right, so we reach out to somebody, they don't email back. Typically we'd say, all right, we're done with you, but we may need them. We may need to email or this distributor. So it's it's kind of a you know, it'll uh test your patients, I.

Speaker 2

Guess one hundred percent.

Speaker 3

I think building a company definitely test your patients because you it's like raising You care so much about your kid, but nobody else cares about your kids as much as you care about your kid, and so like, Palm Republic is like our baby, right, we care so much about this brand that will do anything it takes to nourish it and help it grow, whereas everybody on the outside it's like, oh yay, I'll get to it.

Speaker 2

I'll get to it.

Speaker 3

It's it's not their priority by any means. So you

have to grind and hustle. Let's talk a little bit about how we, you know, brought Palm Republic together, because there's been a lot of questions that, you know, did we have a mixologist work with us, or we did have a master distiller work with us, for example, and coming up with the Age blend and the Silver blend, both of them, but coming up and finding those perfect notes and how much sampling you know, it took to get to that place of finding the RUMs from the

regions that we were gonna blend with.

Speaker 2

You want to talk a little bit about about that process.

Speaker 1

Yeah, So it's it's just that it's a process. And you know, luckily, like you said, both our master mixologists as well as a lot of other people in the industry have been you know, so helpful for us. And you're tasting and giving feedback in opinions, and you know, it takes a ton of sampling. And obviously our product is a blend, So our age is a blend of three RUMs from three different countries, and then our silver is a blend of two RUMs from two different countries.

So you know, number one, just you know, the vision, where do we want to go? What do we want to taste profile to be like, and then from there narrowing it down to how do we get there with these blends, you know, and just the tweaking. You know, let's turn up the brown sugar, let's turn down the you know, sweetness whatnot. So a ton of tasting, you know, the good thing there is you're tasting rum, so it can only.

Speaker 3

Be and when you say turn up the brown sugar, that we're not adding brown sugar, So it's turning up the notes that that particular rum brought in like those characters.

Speaker 1

That's right, yep, So nothing added, no flavors, no no sweetness, no colors. So just there's certain flavor notes based on the different blends, because.

Speaker 3

That's something that people may or may not even understand. For example, like our Panamanian rum comes column distilled right, and just like I always explain it, like with grapes, if you've grow in a different region, a grape is a grape, but it's going to take on the characteristics of the soils, the environment and everything that goes into it.

Speaker 2

So sugarcane, same thing.

Speaker 3

A sugar cane from Panama is going to produce a little bit different of a flavor than a sugar cane from Jamaica. Not to mention the distilling product process in Jamaica is a kettle still or a pot still versus the column still. So it's going to also add different characteristics.

So when we got all these blends and we bring them to the master distiller and we go through the tasting process, it's like, oh, punch up a little bit more of the note that came out of that rum into the blend and punching up, and it's a chemistry project, that's right.

Speaker 1

Yeah. And from the outside looking in, you know, you think you just taste RUMs until you get what you like. But there's such science behind it. And you know, some of these people, especially are our distiller that we've worked with, and these people in the industry are so adept at what they're looking for in these flavor notes. I can taste from and tell you maybe where it came from and if I like it or not. But and again, Eric, you've seen we've worked with these guys for the last year.

It's incredible what they can pull out from just the flavor notes.

Speaker 3

Oh yeah, oh yeah, you know, it's it's a true art, it really is.

Speaker 2

And their palettes are unique.

Speaker 3

It's just like a small a in wine, right, Like they study these things and they know the ins and outs of what they're sipping on well.

Speaker 1

And one of the I guess, going back to picking out our blends, one of the things that we did interestingly with our age is we up the proof on it. So typical spirits, you'll see them around eighty proof, which is forty percent alcohol. We went up to forty six percent or ninety two proof in the aged and that was a recommendation given to us. And when we did that, it really brought out all those really robust, rich flavors.

Obviously it's got a little bit more alcohol, a little bit more punch, but when we started circulating that around our circles, we got incredible feedback and you know, oh my god, this is so good. It doesn't taste like a ninety two proof, but these flavors are so rich and so intense, So just little tweaks like that, you know, make all the difference in the world.

Speaker 3

Yeah, and I'll add to that, Like what I started learning as I was going through the tasting process with friends and colleagues and just even strangers. I would say to people, how do you normally drink. Because if someone drinks peanut cladas every time they drink, or if someone drinks a cocktail every time they drink, drinking something neat, totally different experience will blow your mind in any any spirit, by the way, because it's you're getting.

Speaker 2

The purest form.

Speaker 3

It's going to be stronger, it's not watered down. It's not you know, there's no ida. You know those sugars because you're making a cocktail. And I think it's important that people know that. So when you go buy Palm Republic or any spirit for that matter, it's important to know what.

Speaker 2

You're getting into.

Speaker 3

So if we have a ninety two that we think is we know, we love it because when you're making a cocktail with it, you can actually taste a bit of what you're drinking. Versus some times you pay thirty dollars or twenty five dollars at a borrow restaurant, you're like, I don't even taste the alcohol.

Speaker 2

Did they put anything in this?

Speaker 3

And that drives me crazy because I just spent a ton of money on this drink. So at least with Palm Republic, you know you're gonna be able to taste your alcohol a bit. You're gonna enjoy it, and it does in fact bring up the flavor notes. But like you said, there's gonna be a little bit more of a kick because it has a higher alcohol percent to it. But I think that's the balance and also part of what I think makes us unique. And you can't you

can't proof something up down the road. But if somebody goes like, oh it might be a little strong for me, neat, okay, put it on a rock. Now you immediately have opened it up and you're gonna help it be a little bit more simpable for you. And if you need beyond that, you can add a splash of water to it. And that's something you can do to bring it down, which you can't bring, like I said, bring it back up.

So that's why we thought it made more sense to go out to the market a little different in that space.

Speaker 1

That's right, Yeah, and along you know kind of those lines as well. All of our cocktails that we high light on our website and a lot of the ones that we recommend to people, you know, I call them simple cocktails. There are two three ingredients. It's you know, for example, our dakery, we had so many people say, oh, this makes a great dakery, and early on we're like, why is this person making a dakri with it? Because common consumer thinks, you know, dakri that comes out of

the freeze machine, it's a strawberry dacrie. But a simple dacker is simple syrup, rum and uh and lime squeeze lime. So you can still really get a lot of the notes of the rum. And it's a great cocktail. It's you know, relative, I mean, there's sugar in it because of the simple syrup, but it's relatively clean. It doesn't have a ton of syrup, it's not thick. So we really try to highlight and feature those simple cocktails so you can appreciate the rum totally.

Speaker 3

Now, one thing I want to talk about that people may not know, and I had no idea, but why to me?

Speaker 2

I mean, you can explain it better.

Speaker 3

Why is the alcohol business so different than any other business ventures that could be started out there? Because I didn't realize it's a bit I don't want to say the wild West, but it still has its old sort of prohibition kind of.

Speaker 2

Like this interesting mark on it.

Speaker 3

You have to go follow certain patterns with distributors there's a path to everything. Some states are control states where you have to you know, be you know, stuck with a distributor for forever. Essentially, you know, it's paid to play a lot of times to get in places.

Speaker 2

It's not standard business. And why is that just the times have never changed with alcohol.

Speaker 1

Yeah, so totally different, right, totally different industry and especially now when the ease of doing business and a lot of industries is there. So you create a cool product, put it on Amazon and you you know bank however much a month alcohol is still, like you said, is very very old school and it was a lot of those things were put in place after prohibition the safeguard the consumers. So for example, we were considered a supplier.

We make our product, in order to get it to a consumer, it's got to go through a distributor in that state, then to a retailer, whether it's a store, bar, restaurant, and then to the end consumer. So it it layers. You know, it's called a three tier system. So there's three tiers of distribution. And obviously, you know there's some pros and cons with that. Cons is it costs more to the end consumer. Right. The pros are working with really good distributors, which we've got a handful that we're

working with now. You know, they can increase our reach and they can get us in these corner bars and restaurants that you and I on a you know, a week visit to Florida, you know, probably are not going to hit all of these. So it is a you know, it's some of it is changing a little bit for the good, but a lot of those safeguards again are in place for the for the consumer, which is a good thing too. But it is a very old school business.

It's very relationship driven. Still. It's a you know, I'm gonna say it's a big fraternity because somebody will leave a company, whether it be an Anhydro, Busch, Miller, Cores, and two months later they'll pop up in your email

and they're with another company. So they may leave the company, but not a lot of people leave the industry, so you really have to be careful about the relationships you develop and the relationships you you know, you don't want to burn any bridges in the industry because these people continue to surface and to pop up. So, you know, again it's a little bit old school, but there's a lot of good things about that.

Speaker 2

Also, like me, what I've even learned? It like it feels mobstery in a way.

Speaker 3

It's like, you know, you want to be on the menu at like the hottest nightclub in Miami. Okay, well the head of that nightclub might ask you for fifty grand in a rolex.

Speaker 1

That's just the way it is, which is a meeting we had a week ago. Right, Yeah, that's a good example.

Speaker 3

It's like, I want you want to be on my menu? Okay, give me some cash and I want a nice watch. I'll put you on my menu. It's not because we want to because I like you, because I want to hook you up. I mean maybe if you're really tight with that person, they can help you out. But even the biggest brands are spending thousands of dollars so that when you look at your cocktail menu, it says, oh, I.

Speaker 2

Want I want a rum. I want to I want to what'd you say, decree?

Speaker 3

But the rum that's going to be in that decree paid twenty thousand dollars to have its name be the rum that they're going to pour every single time you want to drink. So you have to be aware if you want to try something different, you want to try something specially you. He asked to see their rum list, see what else they have, or look at their back bar, see what they're carrying, because you're going to get what they're going to give you based on who's paying them.

Speaker 2

And I had no idea. It was like that. I mean even your favorite margarita. I was like looking at a.

Speaker 3

Place and they said, oh no, this big company pays us fifty grand to have them be the name on the menu. So it's a big cash business to make dents, to make ways through it all.

Speaker 2

And I think.

Speaker 3

Relationships, like you said, are key in anything, but in this business even more so in some ways.

Speaker 1

Indeed, you know, the different legalities and intricacies from state to state is wild as well. So it's totally some state's totally black and white. You know, some states obviously that we do business in that we're on calls every day with it is like the wild West. You can do whatever you want. You can pay it for shelf placement, you can pay for this. Other states you can't do that. So it is it's a very interesting business, to say the least.

Speaker 3

Let's talk a little bit about you know, we get so many comp and I have to say, I mean, the support has been incredible out the gate, but on our bottle, on the look, let's talk a little bit about that process. I mean, how many first of all, the idea of the bottle, how many passes?

Speaker 2

How many things do you think we saw?

Speaker 3

Even with logos, working with a great company obviously in everybody's eye, and you know, trying to come up with the right decision to make, which is very scary because once you commit, you're like, well, we think this is it and you put it out there.

Speaker 2

Talk about that process a bit too.

Speaker 1

Yeah, So we worked with a great design company out of Chicago, and you know, now everything from the bottle to the name, to the label to the liquid, everything has to fit in and go hand in hand.

Speaker 2

It's all.

Speaker 1

It all has to make sense. So you know, it's not just I like this label in this bottle. Let's put them together, right, Everything's got to fit and it's got to be you know, the brand's got to speak together essentially. So again, work with a great company out of Chicago, looked at, you know, hundreds and hundreds of bottles and pictures and hey, we like this one kind

of like this one. We like the neck on this, but not the body on this, and really are our you know, entire goal with the packaging processes, we wanted to deviate from the current Rum category. So if you go to the liquor store you look at a rumshelf, ninety nine percent of it is they're dark bottles, you know, their old pictures. It's got maps, compasses, pirates, and we

really wanted to go away from that. We wanted to keep the spirit of Rum, which is fun, it's lively, it's outdoors, but we didn't want to go down that heritage route. So you know, when somebody sees our bottle, it's a custom bottle. It's got our palm tree logo emblazed in the side of it. The corks, I think are probably the best feature of it. It's a large corp that cor cork that has the palm tree in it. And then we have bright, lively colors, but it's still elegant.

You know, it's not over the top neon colors where you know it's in your face. It's an elegant, sexy bottle, but it's upscale.

Speaker 2

Even our font go with our deco.

Speaker 3

Like a lot of people like I were surprised that we went with that font, but in a good way. They're like, wow, this really stands out. I would have thought of that, and it speaks very old Miami. It brings back, you know what I love about it. It ties in the notion of rum and that old nature with the old Art Deco sort of vibe. But then it's really modern. So exactly it's blending the two.

Speaker 1

It has elements of both, which is and again, you know, you think of Miami in the eighties or whatnot, you do think of rum and dake ease and things like that. So I think it's kind of a throwback to that easier, simpler time maybe, but again, like you said, still modern, still really upscale.

Speaker 3

And I also have some questions about people saying, you know, was the rum arguing in barrels from somewhere when we, you know, started we started this process or did we

start from scratch? And yes, the rum was in barrels because a lot of these distilleries that were approaching and going to and tasting, they've been aging their their rum for years, right, and they can be I think what people may or may not understand is these distilleries all over the world for different products, whether it's tequila, which is only in Mexico, theo's.

Speaker 2

Agave, and the distillers are all there.

Speaker 3

They will make all of the tequilas you're tasting are coming from five different distilleries roughly or something in Mexico for tequila, and with rum, all these different RUMs you're tasting, they're all coming relatively from the same distilleries in those regions. So if it's a Panamanian rum, most likely there's a couple of different Panamanian distillers out there that have that those different RUMs.

Speaker 2

It's how they.

Speaker 3

Formulate it to make it special coming out of that distillery each right.

Speaker 2

So same with Tequiee.

Speaker 3

So if you had two big brands, they could both be coming from that same distillery. Each one's just getting their own attention to detail to make it a little bit more unique.

Speaker 2

And the same thing with our rum.

Speaker 3

That's why we liked the blend idea because we felt like we were taking the best from these different regions and putting it together to make it something new.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and you know there's a lot of blends out there. There's wine blends, there's spirit blends, and a lot of blends are done to help costs. They blend them down. So here's a really nice liquid is you know, fifteen years old. We love it, but it's very expensive, so let's blend it with something cheaper so we can keep

our costs under control. And that's you know, I think one of the great unique things about Palm Republic is it's all really quality rum that complements each other, and it's brought together in a way that you know, the flavor notes work together, and it's not just, hey, here's a great rum that we like some of the features of let's blend it down so we can we can make it cheaper. It's not that. So yeah, the you know, the rum has been in our age, has been in

Beryl's sherry casts for eight years. So, like you said, there's and wins the same way. You know, there's a handful of distilleries that produce rum and sell it to consumers. When you see bourbon and whiskeys come out and they're fifteen years most likely that company didn't start fifteen years ago with liquid and a barrel, right, they purchased that from somewhere and it's been aging for fifteen years.

Speaker 3

Absolutely, Now what do you think so far? This is one thing I like about where spirits is going is that they're nothing is staying in its lane, meaning, you know, it's not just Okay, I'm gonna have a margarita, so it's got to be a tequila. I'm gonna have a rum, so it's it has to be a pinicolada, I'm gonna have a I'm gonna have a whatever, gins or that has to be gen and tonic, you know whatever. This

this sake is everybody's mixing and matching. And what I like about that is we're able to try all these different cocktails, exploring with different spirits. So for example, my favorite cocktail that Palm Republic does with.

Speaker 2

The Age, and I've said it time and time again, is an old fashion.

Speaker 3

It is the most killer old fashion and everybody I've told about it, I'm like, it's gonna change the way you think about about rum because everybody, you know, bourbon whiskey, they're like old fashion, amazing drink. People love it all the time. And and I still love it with bourbon and whiskey as well. Don't don't get me wrong, I still love it that way. But what I like is that palm. Republic truly brings a different sort of hint of a note that's just a different flavor because it's

a rum. But also our notes are so have a consistency with like a bourbon or whiskey too in a lot of ways.

Speaker 1

You know. And it's so you know, Paul Republic's so versatile, right, It's great on the rocks, it's great neat. You know, if you're a bourbon whiskey person and you drink eat, our age is great neat. But it's so versatile in cocktails, and like you said, that allows us to bring a lot of people to the rum category that may not drink from right now. So you know, I've had new or dozens and dozens of people when we started they say, you know, I don't I don't really drink rum. What

do you drink? I drink bourbon in old fashioned perfect Try it with our age and they're like, oh wow, this is rum. And I think I told you the story my dad, who's been in the you know, beer and wine business forever, when I first gave him our first round of samples, and he said, this isn't rum, this is this is bourbon. You know, this is bourbon whiskey, and I said, no, this is age drum. And he said, now rum's got that, you know, cinnamon, it's a little

bit more spiced. I said, no, that's not good rum. I said, this is this is quality rum. So you know, it is so versatile, and you can make a rum martini. Now you can make a rum old fashion, you know. And then again it just allows us to bring people who normally wouldn't drink rum over into the category and kind of open their eyes because again, the common consumer when they think rum, they don't think of palm, republic

age room. They think of something that's overly sweet, has a cinnamon bite to it, and they probably got sick off of it at one point one hundred percent.

Speaker 3

Even like a friend of ours, who are just a friend of mine, I said, it just posted something on palm. They were all cognac drinkers. And remember cognac comes from like a pot still in the way that they make it, so often that element of what the Jamaican rum brings can have a bit of a cognac sort of you know, feel.

Speaker 2

Profile to it.

Speaker 3

So these guys all sipped on palm for a big fantasy football draft and they're like, oh my god, this is the best rum we've ever had.

Speaker 2

This is unbelievable. It really does sit more.

Speaker 3

Like a Cognac Bourbon in that range for the age, and I think so to me, that's my favorite cocktail, the old fashion.

Speaker 2

You got to try it if you if you by the age.

Speaker 3

And also with the silver, So many my tequila friends who are drinking, you know, the silver tequilas, and that's their focus, not going to the najos and all that I said say in Yeho, I pronounced that very poorly.

Speaker 2

My wife would be pit it's good the silver.

Speaker 3

A lot of my tequila friends are like, wow, I could totally sip on this silver rum with a lime instead of a vodka or on the rocks, just like I would my my tequila.

Speaker 2

And it's got.

Speaker 3

Sure, it has a different flavor profile, but it SIPs so smooth and it tastes so good that it's a great alternative or something you just want to mix a match with.

Speaker 1

Well, and we say it all the time, you know, we kind of see the rum categories where tequila was ten or twelve years ago, where obviously people were familiar with tequila, you know, but it was it was cheaper liquid. It was not as good. People have bad experiences.

Speaker 3

People forget about that because of the craze of tequila. Now, like when I started drinking tequila, I got so sick off of tequila that I to this day, I'm not a tequila drinker.

Speaker 2

I'll have a margarita. I do like those, but I don't like tequila neat on the rocks. I can't do it. It gives me horrible memories.

Speaker 1

And that's where it was ten or twelve years ago. Yeah, and Run's kind of the same way. And we see where tequila went. I mean, now tequila is seen as premium, upscale. Go into any liquor store and there's one hundred hundred and fifty two hundred dollars bottles of tequila, you know. And again, I think that the nice thing about Rum, and the unique piece about Rum is it's so approachable. Right, It's a little bit sweeter at the end, so it's

it's you know, approachable. It's it doesn't have an acquired taste like tequila, it doesn't have burn like berber and whiskey, but it still has a lot of those characteristics.

Speaker 3

Yeah, and look as we go on to launch. I just want to say to the listeners I've said it before, the support has been incredible. It means a lot to us because we take this very serious and I've said it before, it's not this was never my intention as a celebrity play on a brand. I've been very passionate about this category, very passionate about building something on my own.

Speaker 2

I have a great partner, we have great investors and a.

Speaker 3

Great team, and to see that support and the people show up has meant the world to us. You know, we were a few months in now launching our babies, sending them off, you know, and then the walking steps right the stages of their lives. And we really see this as a brand that would become a staple in the Rum market, and that will build and people when they think of Rum will start thinking Palm Republic. That's

our goal. So we invite you to spread the word, share it, try it if you haven't tried it, just as we say, join the Republic, be part of our mission to change the narrative on Rum and lift it up and just enjoy enjoy new experiences with the Rum family. So that's where we're at, that's where we're headed. Brad,

thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I thought it'd be fun to share our story a bit, talk a little bit of business, talk about our relationship, and I think the listeners will get a kick out of this.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Great, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Speaker 2

Awesome, take care of men.

Speaker 3

Thanks to all right, Well, everybody, thank you for listening as always, and I hope this was insightful just to learn a bit about where my mind is at with the company and the business and how much it means to me and my partner. You got to see it face to face now, so again I appreciate you. I hope you have a chance to enjoy Palm republic. Give us a follow at Palm republic rum on Instagram, Palm republic Rum on TikTok, Twitter or x I should say Facebook, that's that's everywhere.

Speaker 2

And also go to our website. Check it out.

Speaker 3

It's the same thing, palmrepublic rum dot com. Get the latest news, check out the merch and buy yourself a bottle. Try it all right, everybody, thank you for listening. If you have something you want to talk to us about, send it to our DMS at he said Ado or email us at Ericanroz at iHeartRadio dot com and Roz will be back for the next one.

Speaker 2

Take care, bye, thanks for listening. Don't forget to write us a review and tell us what you think.

Speaker 4

If you want to follow us on Instagram, check us out at the said a ens at email, Eric and Ross at iHeartRadio dot com. He said. AB is part of iHeartRadio's Mike Wilutap podcast network.

Speaker 2

See you next time. Bye,

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