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This week 📢I talk🎙️with Kate Jerkens at Uncle Nearest and Caitlyn LuBell at BoozeBiz and we discuss the beverage industry in 2025 and 2026. 👏🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏 🥂 😁

👀📹 Watch here: 👉👉 [PASTE HERE]🚀✨🍹

2025 was a reset year for beverage 🍷🍺🍹 RTDs surged, NA grew, costs spiked & hiring shifted. We break down data, trends, distributor chaos & what’s coming in 2026. 👀 👉 @ThirstyThursdaysat3PMEST

2025 shook the beverage industry to its core 🍸📉. From RTD dominance and NA growth, to California distributor chaos, premium pricing pressure, and talent market stress, this episode breaks it all down—no fluff, just real talk.

Key Takeaways 🔑

• 📉 Growth slowed—but didn’t stop
• 🍹 RTDs are winning on convenience & price
• 🚫 NA still struggles with sugar + shelf life
• 🏬 Distribution strategy > national expansion
• 🧠 Storytelling + velocity matter more than ever
• 💼 Hiring is tighter, salaries pressured
• 🔄 2025 = reset | 2026 = change + growth

🎯 Why this matters:
If you’re building, selling, hiring, or distributing in beverage—this episode helps you see the chessboard, not just the pieces.

Describe 2025 and 2026 in One Word

Jessie Ott
2025:

2026:

Caitlyn LuBell
2025:

2026:

Kate Jerkens
2025:

2026:

⏱️ Chapter Descriptions

• 0:00 Welcome + Why 2025 Was a Reset
• 1:02 Meet the Guests (BoozeBiz & Uncle Nearest)
• 2:30 Who Really Holds the Money? Generational Wealth
• 5:22 Economic Signals: Growth, Inflation & LEIs
• 7:18 Premiumization & Consumer Behavior
• 9:40 Inventory Digestion & Distributor Reality
• 11:30 California Distribution Chaos Explained
• 15:42 Smaller Distributors vs Big Houses
• 18:00 Pricing Wars & National Market Impact
• 21:44 Military, Multi-Outlet & Channel Performance
• 22:26 RTDs, NA Mixers & Brand Winners
• 25:30 The Real Cost of $30 Cocktails
• 29:00 Why RTDs Win on Convenience & Cost
• 33:55 Hiring Challenges & Salary Compression
• 41:10 Tastings, Education & Velocity
• 45:15 Why 2025 Was a Reset Year
• 50:07 Unemployment & Workforce Mismatch
• 56:

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This week 📢I talk🎙️with Lawrence Bremer Founder of St. Buena Vida Non-Alc Wine! Happy Dry January! 👏🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏 🥂 😁

What if Dry January actually felt like a celebration? 🍾
In this episode, Lawrence Bremer, founder of St. Buena Vida, shares how tech, taste, and logistics come together in one of the most innovative NA wines on the market.

🔥 Top Takeaways:
• 🤰 The origin story: a pregnancy, a bottle, and a surprise sip
• 🔬 Aroma capture tech that makes NA wine taste real
• 🚛 Global supply chain: Spain ➝ Germany ➝ U.S.
• 🥂 Crisp, clean bubbles with finish & balance
• 📈 Real sales data — not hype
• 🧠 Analytics mindset meets wine innovation
• 🧘 30 calories per glass = wellness crowd win

🎯 Whether you’re skipping booze or sipping smarter, this is a must-watch.
👇 Tap play and learn how NA wine is finally worth the pour.

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What are the 7 cocktails every drink is based on? 🍹 Dive into tiki, bitters, fire tricks & cocktail history w/ bartender legend Dr. Cush! 🎙️@ThirstyThursdaysat3PMEST

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/azJZrXe5R2Q

💡 What happens when a comedian turns into LA’s best bartender? You get Dr. Cush’s Exotic Drinks — a one-man show mixing cocktail science, bar wisdom & some hilarious fire tricks 🔥🍊

✨ Highlights from the episode:

• 🍹 The 7 cocktails that rule all other cocktails
• 🔥 His signature drink: Dr. Cush’s Exotic Old Fashioned
• 📚 Why bartending is more books than booze
• 🍍 How pineapples became the symbol of hospitality
• 🧊 The lost art of ice (yes, really!)
• 🎭 From improv heel to hospitality hero
• 💻 Building an online bar community during COVID
• 💥 Flaming citrus, tiki wars, and cold pizza cocktails

🎯 CTA: Subscribe for weekly food & bev innovation talks 🎙️ — and try making the Hemingway Daiquiri or your own signature drink!

0:00 Intro to Dr. Cush 🍸
1:00 From comedy to cocktails
5:00 The 7 cocktails theory explained
12:00 Punch vs daiquiri: tiki breakdown
17:00 Cocktail vs experience: why it matters
25:00 Building an online bar community
31:00 Hemingway Daiquiri tutorial 🍹
41:00 The Dr. Cush Exotic Old Fashioned (🔥)
50:00 Shelf-stable lime juice recipe
1:03:00 State of the booze industry
1:10:00 Signature drink + fire tricks
1:20:00 Cocktail nerd history tour
1:30:00 Outro & cocktail class invite

Mentors in Drinks and Tiki

Steve the Bartender

Created Drinks Website: Kindred Cocktails Discovered: Pseudo Juice Calculator

Dave Arnold - Technique Liquid Intelligence

Jeffrey Beachbum Berry Owns Latitude 29 in New Orleans

Martin & Rebecca Cate own Smuggler's Cove in San Francisco

Wrote James Beard Award-winning “Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki

David Wondrich Drinks Historian and author, Link to his Books and awards

Sammy Ross Best Bar Dudes of All Time

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This week 📢I talk🎙️with Maria Littlefield, Co-founder of Owl's Brew made with only premium clean ingredients! 👏🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏 🥂 😁

Explore how Owl’s Brew is reinventing RTD drinks with real tea & botanicals 🍋🌿 and transparent labels that consumers love. 🍹💥 Clean cocktails explained + brand story! ⁨@ThirstyThursdaysat3PMEST⁩

In this episode of Thirsty Thursdays, Maria Littlefield, Co‑Founder of Owl’s Brew, shares how they built a clean‑ingredient RTD brand long before it became a trend. 🍹 From brewing tea in buckets at events to scaling canned cocktails in 22+ states, Owl’s Brew stands out in a crowded market by choosing real tea, botanicals, and juice instead of artificial flavors and lab compounds.

🔥 Key Takeaways:
• 🧪 Clean Ingredients First: Real tea and botanicals create authentic flavor.
• 📜 Transparent Labels: They fought to list sugar & nutrition — most spirits don’t.
• 📊 Consumer Shift: People now read labels and demand real food quality in drinks.
• 🛒 Retail Noise: RTD shelves are crowded — deep consumer pull is bigger than shelf presence.
• 🤝 Brand DNA: Authentic stories and community build loyal drinkers.

Buy them today! https://www.theowlsbrew.com/

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This week 📢I talk🎙️with Ruby Honerkamp Founder and Co-CEO of Talkhouse Encore created in honor of the iconic Hamptons venue, Stephen Talkhouse! 👏🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏 🥂 😁

Ruby Honerkamp talks TalkHouse Encore 🍊🍸 RTDs, real tequila, vodka, & legacy bar roots in the Hamptons 🎤🎶 A brand built on taste, data, & community ❤️‍🔥

Ruby grew up in the music venue and shares a story of wearing her best dress for Sting as a kid. Her parents founded and manage the venue. Created out of a way to pivot from COVID "Talkhouse Encore" was born. It honors the top drinks requested at the bar and is made with fresh ingredients.

🎤 From the stage to the shelf! Ruby Honerkamp, Founder of TalkHouse Encore, brings the soul of an iconic East Hampton live music venue into every can. These tequila & vodka RTDs are no boardroom – they’re grassroots, authentic, and crushable. Ruby shares the startup journey, operational smarts (hello KPIs), flavor formulation secrets, and the hustle of scaling without selling out.

💡 Top Takeaways:

• Built on heritage, not hype
• Tequila & vodka-based RTDs with real fruit juice
• Flavor-first, calorie-smart
• Strong local focus > chasing every market
• CRM-driven growth & velocity KPIs
• Distribution done right: beer-style mindset
• Authentic storytelling builds sub-communities
• Howard Stern & Metallica fans approved 🎸🎧

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Discover the 7‑hat framework for entrepreneurs from Yuval Selik on mindset 🧠, health 💪, relationships ❤️, business 💼, investing 📈, giving back 🌍 & purpose ✨. Transform your life + venture! ⁨@ThirstyThursdaysat3PMEST⁩

In this episode of Thirsty Thursdays, Yuval Selik breaks down the 7 Hats every founder must wear for real success:
• Hat 1: Self & Mindset 🧠 – Your internal world drives your impact
• Hat 2: Athlete/Health 💪 – Your body is your business asset
• Hat 3: Relationships ❤️ – People fuel your platform
• Hat 4: Entrepreneur 💼 – Build the thing & scale smart
• Hat 5: Investor 📈 – Protect your nest‑egg before growth
• Hat 6: Philanthropist 🌍 – Contributions complete your legacy
• Hat 7: Seeker/Spiritual ✨ – Connection to something bigger than profit
Key Take‑aways:

You can’t neglect your foundation and expect business to thrive

Cash flow + margin beat hype — especially in CPG/retail

Data & analytics matter: don’t fly blind in shelf‑business

Fulfilment comes from balance, not burnout
Call to Action:
👉 Hit Like, Subscribe, and drop a comment: Which hat are you ignoring?
👉 Share this episode with another founder who needs balance!

Mentors

Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Your Clients

CPG Pioneers

GT Dave Created GT's Living Foods Kombucha Pioneer

Seth Goldman Just Ice Tea

John Paul DeGioria Patron

Books

E-Myth Revisited

Ramping Up Your Brand by James Richardson

Jobs to be Done

When Coffee and Kale Compete by Alan Klement

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This week 📢I talk🎙️with Jeni Jonte Veteran. Entrepreneur. Mindset Mentor. #Veterans #NAVY #Mindset 👏🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏 🥂 😁

In this powerful episode, Jeni Jonte shares her journey from serving as a Navy physical therapist to launching her own mindset coaching business, Eliminate Impossible. We explore the tools that helped her shift from burnout to breakthrough—and how she now empowers entrepreneurs to rewire their beliefs and unlock their next level of success.

🔥 Key Takeaways:

• 🎖 Lessons from military service & deployment
• 💡 How Bob Proctor’s teachings changed everything
• 🧠 Why mindset is 95% of success
• 💼 Building a coaching business from scratch
• 📚 Recommended books & resources
• 🧒 Parenting with mindset techniques
• 💰 Breaking income ceilings through subconscious rewiring
• 🌊 The importance of paddle boarding, laughter & nature

🙌 CTA:
👉 Like, Comment, and Subscribe if you’re on a journey of growth!
👉 Connect with Jeni at bringonpossible.com

St Augustine, FL Museum: https://lightnermuseum.org/

Get in Touch!

jeni@eliminate-impossible.com

www.eliminate-impossible.com

www.bringonpossible.com

Books

Psycho Cybernetics

Neville Goddard any book

Mentors & Resources

https://kathleencameronofficial.com/

https://karenbrook.com/

https://www.uniquespeakerbureauint.com/speakers/kim-calvert

👉 New episodes weekly — catch us every Thursday!

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🔥 What happens when a Special Forces veteran applies battlefield strategy to hedge fund investing?

You get David Walker — ex-Green Beret, West Point grad, MBA from Kellogg, hedge fund founder, and author of Don't Be Stupid: A Green Beret's Guide to Investing. This episode is packed with leadership gems, military-to-Wall Street grit, market insights, and actionable lessons for anyone chasing success with resilience and precision.

🎙 In this Veteran Special, Jessie Ott interviews David about:

• Transitioning from Special Forces to finance
• How military leadership translates to elite investing
• Building Jedburg Advisors and what “staying nimble” means on Wall Street
• The power of mentorship, education, and managing risk like a Green Beret
• The real inflation story, disruptive innovation, and the future of robotics in warfare and industry

👊 This is for entrepreneurs, veterans, investors, and anyone who wants to build a bulletproof mindset.

📚 Get his book: Don’t Be Stupid — all proceeds go to the Green Beret Foundation.

🔗 Connect with David Walker:
📘 Book: Don’t Be Stupid (All proceeds to the Green Beret Foundation)
💼 LinkedIn: David J Walker

📧 Email: DaveJWalker11@gmail.com

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