Speaker 1: Do you want to be an American idiot?
Speaker 2: All right, here we go on this very interesting Thursday morning.
Speaker 2: We got lots of go on, a lot of moving
Speaker 2: parts today. First and foremost, of course, what's happening in
Speaker 2: Minnesota as we speak right now with a protest going on.
Speaker 2: Of course, the ice agent shooting a thirty seven year
Speaker 2: old individual during a stop, and we still don't know
Speaker 2: all the working pieces and what actually happened and what
Speaker 2: really transpired. Of course we want know that for some time.
Speaker 2: But the rush to judgment on this whole thing by
Speaker 2: both the left and the right has been incredible. Getting
Speaker 2: too this more after nine thirty five here on the
Speaker 2: Scotsland Show on seven hundred WLW, I wanted to circle
Speaker 2: back though, kind of handle some old business here, something
Speaker 2: that happened over the holidays. And typically that's the way
Speaker 2: things are set up. When you want to do something
Speaker 2: that's controversial or will upset the appal karta, so to speak,
Speaker 2: you tend to do it like on a Friday, a weekend.
Speaker 2: You do it when many people aren't paying attention. I
Speaker 2: would say doing it a Friday when it's the holidays
Speaker 2: is not going to as much attention as it should.
Speaker 2: I'm talking, of course, about what happened to the CBD
Speaker 2: infused beverage ban that Mike de Wine single Bagley took
Speaker 2: his line out of Veto powers and killed an entire industry.
Speaker 2: And this, of course are beverages that are sold were
Speaker 2: sold anywhein Ohio that contained THC small amounts of it too,
Speaker 2: derived of course from CBD, and a lot of people said, hey,
Speaker 2: this is pretty good. We're taking this product. And technically
Speaker 2: it was, yes, a loophole, but a whole industry started
Speaker 2: in what used to be the craft brew industry, and
Speaker 2: a lot of puer veyors were switching over and saying, hey,
Speaker 2: there's a market for this product here. People clearly like it.
Speaker 2: They want more of it, they demanded. And yet the governor,
Speaker 2: in some sort of I don't know what, self righteousness
Speaker 2: or knowing better and being in the Naty State killed
Speaker 2: this whole thing. Joining the show this morning on seven
Speaker 2: hundred WLW is the CEO of Ryan Geisberg right here
Speaker 2: in Cincinnati, Adam Bankovic, Adam, good morning.
Speaker 1: Welcome, good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've talked about a lot this with Steve Hoffman.
Speaker 2: Of course, you know Steve as well and talk to
Speaker 2: other industry leaders like yourself, Adam, and as far as
Speaker 2: you're concern from Ryan Guis's perspective here, because you guys
Speaker 2: are first and foremost the biggest pure veyors of micro
Speaker 2: brief you want to call the micro brew at this point,
Speaker 2: it's probably not the missing seeming how you've grown over
Speaker 2: the last few years that that's entirely accurate. But how
Speaker 2: much of this is impacting your business or will this
Speaker 2: impact your business?
Speaker 1: Sure, absolutely happy to talk about that. I would very
Speaker 1: much still classify as the craft brew or the Brew's
Speaker 1: Association definition put this squarely in there. In the craft
Speaker 1: beer industry, while it's grown rapidly over the past few years,
Speaker 1: to your point, has started to slow and cool off dramatically.
Speaker 1: Specifically within the state of Ohio. For the past year,
Speaker 1: craft beer as a category has been down around eight
Speaker 1: to nine percent. And it's not the first year we've
Speaker 1: seen the climb in the craft beer industry. So, as
Speaker 1: you pointed out, this is an emerging segment that we've
Speaker 1: seen grow rapidly across the country and becoming a real
Speaker 1: part of the marketplace here in Ohio. More recently so,
Speaker 1: Ryan Geist, among many other crap breweries in the state
Speaker 1: of Ohio have looked to it as we know that
Speaker 1: we've got lots of consumers in the marketplace that are
Speaker 1: asking for these beverages and wanting these beverages, and very clearly,
Speaker 1: not only do those consumers want those, but crap breweries
Speaker 1: are very well set up and established to be able
Speaker 1: to produce them safely, responsibly, and effectively, which is something
Speaker 1: that we're huge advocates for that there is smart, responsible
Speaker 1: regulation of this industry, of this marketplace, of these beverages
Speaker 1: to make sure that we're clearly communicating to customers what
Speaker 1: they are, they are only being served to adults twenty
Speaker 1: one and up, and that there's clear regulation in place
Speaker 1: promoting all of that, which is what the Ohio General
Speaker 1: Assembly and Steve Huffman worked so tirelessly on, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: a very great job with SP fifty six creating clear
Speaker 1: responsible regulation, and that's what changed when Governor DeWine chose
Speaker 1: to line at in veto specifically the intoxicating Beverage section
Speaker 1: of sb fify.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know there are some other craft brewers
Speaker 2: that are leaning into this more heavily than others have
Speaker 2: as well. And you know it makes me sad because
Speaker 2: you know, you talk to people are like, wow, I
Speaker 2: really like this stuff. You mentioned how the craft beer
Speaker 2: segment itself and craft beer is declining, and we're seeing
Speaker 2: a rapid as you know, gen zers coming along and
Speaker 2: they're just not drinking at the rates. Older millennials and
Speaker 2: certainly Gen xers like myself and baby boomers who are older,
Speaker 2: are consuming alcohol to the point where we've had a
Speaker 2: I was just talking about this yesterday, Gallop, a ninety
Speaker 2: year low. As far as alcohol consumption goes, it's incredible.
Speaker 2: And yet I think that's also true because there are
Speaker 2: so many options in order to well self medicate if
Speaker 2: you or make yourself feel better. I know a lot
Speaker 2: of people that enjoy the THHC slash CBD and fused
Speaker 2: beverages and go. You know what I don't feel is
Speaker 2: maybe as bloated, I don't feel as I feel different
Speaker 2: the next day. I feel actually feel better than I
Speaker 2: do after drinking alcohol, and people are moving towards that.
Speaker 2: Why not satisfy that sector, because that's just true. Do
Speaker 2: you have someone to tell us so heavily invested in
Speaker 2: in graft Room?
Speaker 1: Yeah, the thing I'd like to point out there that
Speaker 1: you mentioned is the beverage category as a whole has
Speaker 1: faced or has realized a lot of diversity, and that
Speaker 1: can be nontoxicating beverages to you name it. And really
Speaker 1: it's the prevalence of choice that the younger generation, to
Speaker 1: your point, has grown up with and now that they're
Speaker 1: of legal drinking age, they're continuing to experience thingsplore that.
Speaker 1: But I'd also point out that everything that we're seeing
Speaker 1: and learning, it's not only the younger generation that are
Speaker 1: interested in the intoxicating HEMP beverages. It's really expanning all
Speaker 1: demographics as everyone's just enjoying the benefits of these low
Speaker 1: test beverages. It'd be really clear when I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the benefits, we are not advertising or marketing these as
Speaker 1: healthy alternatives to alcohol. We're speaking about anecdotes we receive
Speaker 1: from doing consumer studies and panels and talking to those
Speaker 1: that are participating this beverage category. And I think that's
Speaker 1: a really important point that this entire industry is aware
Speaker 1: and acknowledging of, and SB fifty six is also doing
Speaker 1: a good job making sure that there's no unproven health
Speaker 1: claims on packaging as an example, because it's important. Just
Speaker 1: like alcohol is regulated, and I'm not trying to draw
Speaker 1: a direct parallel or make these categories analogous, but there's
Speaker 1: queer governing rules for alcohol and what you can and
Speaker 1: can't do and say about benefits or lack there or
Speaker 1: lack there of of known benefits and alcohol, and that
Speaker 1: makes sense, and it is logical, and a lot of
Speaker 1: regulation and guidelines can and should exist in the intoxicating
Speaker 1: beverage category as well to make sure that we're communicating
Speaker 1: responsibly and effectively to consumers. So when I'm talking about
Speaker 1: those who are choosing to drink less alcohol or abstain
Speaker 1: from alcohol entirely, and maybe they are finding great use
Speaker 1: in the intoxicating a beverage category, we're talking about anecdotes
Speaker 1: and real consumer feedback on learning what they're looking for
Speaker 1: and why they're looking for it, and that's really really different.
Speaker 1: I want to make it really clear that I have
Speaker 1: not seen any actors in the state of Ohio. Certainly
Speaker 1: our intent to falsely advertiser represents these products, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, we do know why the consumers are
Speaker 1: turning to them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, And it makes a lot of sense and
Speaker 2: you know, I'm a big believer, propared owner of giving
Speaker 2: the people what they want. And not only that, you know,
Speaker 2: it's seemingly grossly unfair to yourself and other peer veyors, Adam,
Speaker 2: that you invested a lot in that technology and infrastructure
Speaker 2: to ramp this up, only to have that karpo pulled
Speaker 2: off from und you has the Dwine administration Mike Dwine
Speaker 2: himself addressed this to your satisfaction and yeah, I've talked
Speaker 2: to lawmakers like Steve Hoffman and others, and there's seemingly
Speaker 2: no answer for the line. I'm as to why he
Speaker 2: struck this down. Are you getting satisfactory responses from him?
Speaker 2: Is what the reasoning was?
Speaker 1: You know, we're still looking for it. And to be clear,
Speaker 1: we do respect the governor's role and what we're advocating
Speaker 1: for here is clarity and consistency going forward. And we
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time working with the High General
Speaker 1: Assembly and feel like they took all you know, proponents
Speaker 1: and opponents of this issue in the consideration in crafting
Speaker 1: SP fifty six. So yes, it was very disruptive and
Speaker 1: shocking when the line Audam Vita specific just toe in
Speaker 1: toxicating hemp beverages was introduced and signed all at once,
Speaker 1: and so we're still to your point when we open
Speaker 1: the segments that was right around the holidays, and we're
Speaker 1: all as an industry collectively, and I'm talking about manufacturers
Speaker 1: to distributors to retailers, all of us, which are the
Speaker 1: three tiers of the system here to get this out
Speaker 1: to market. We're still kind of gathering and understanding exactly
Speaker 1: what happened and what can be done about it so
Speaker 1: that all the investments that have been made can be
Speaker 1: sustained going forward, and honestly, more importantly, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: this is also about supporting Ohio business and making Ohio
Speaker 1: business competitive with other state manufacturers or even national companies
Speaker 1: who are finding great success with these beverages and states
Speaker 1: that have created very smart, very responsible regulation. And I
Speaker 1: think the General Assembly was doing a great job looking
Speaker 1: at what other states have done, who were ahead of
Speaker 1: the curve in this category than we were, and trying
Speaker 1: to get to Ohio up the speed because there's other
Speaker 1: commentary happening where federally. In November of twenty twenty six,
Speaker 1: not only will intoxicating HEMP no longer be allowed, which
Speaker 1: was passed as part of the reopening of the federal
Speaker 1: governm in the Appropriations bill related to Partment of Agriculture,
Speaker 1: but also CBD beverages and CBD products are also going
Speaker 1: to be limited in November of twenty twenty six, and
Speaker 1: that's an even larger category than the intoxicating hemp, CBD
Speaker 1: being a cannabinoid from the same plant that is non
Speaker 1: intoxicating and lots of people turn to for health benefits.
Speaker 1: So really, what Ohio, in my opinion, should be doing
Speaker 1: is using the smart responsible regulation from Sub sixty six
Speaker 1: to allow Ohio business to continue to prosper. And then
Speaker 1: in SB fifty six there was also a consideration acknowledging
Speaker 1: that when the federal government provides more clarity prior to
Speaker 1: November twenty twenty six, Ohio will look at that and
Speaker 1: then adapt as necessary. Whereas right now we're in a
Speaker 1: situation that the industry will have to shut down in
Speaker 1: March if nothing changes, and that will leave Ohio businesses
Speaker 1: behind other states who continue to regulate and support this marketplace.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we want no one suggesting that companies
Speaker 2: like yourself say there's no regulation. Of course, there should
Speaker 2: be regulation. Health health departments oversee you there's you know,
Speaker 2: all sorts of regulation has involved in that industry as well,
Speaker 2: should be if you're infusing something with cannabinoids. Okay, I
Speaker 2: get that, But to simply strike it and say we're
Speaker 2: not doing this anymore is rather insane because you know,
Speaker 2: one may say, well are you getting you know it
Speaker 2: is the wine getting lobby money from big alcohol?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: Probably, I don't know, because it's you know, if people
Speaker 2: aren't consuming the product like they once did, and there's
Speaker 2: all their alternatives out there. You mentioned non alcoholics Adam
Speaker 2: Bankovich from ryan Geist that you know, that's another big
Speaker 2: sector right there. Mocktails are huge right now. Nan alcohol
Speaker 2: beers are fantastics. I've tried many of them, and it's
Speaker 2: certainly not like the when oduels rolled out back in
Speaker 2: the day, it was it didn't taste very good. Now
Speaker 2: they taste really really good, and so there's a lot
Speaker 2: of diversity in those products that you offer as well.
Speaker 2: But simply banning entire sector here doesn't seem to be
Speaker 2: a good idea because people are going to people demand it,
Speaker 2: but they're going to find a different alternative to this,
Speaker 2: which might be even more dangerous, which is is the
Speaker 2: scary part. Is there a hope that legislatively speaking, this
Speaker 2: is not dead.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, We've been working almost every day, honestly, including over
Speaker 1: the holiday break. We again being kind of this collective industry,
Speaker 1: and not just craft brewers in Ohio specifically, but again
Speaker 1: the distributors and retailers also. So there's already a referendum
Speaker 1: that's been submitted, and so that effort is ongoing. It's
Speaker 1: been turned in in my understanding, already to Franklin Rose,
Speaker 1: the Secretary of State and Devostate Attorney General, and so
Speaker 1: that timeline is that they need to review the referendum
Speaker 1: magic was submitted by January thirteenth, to approve the signatures
Speaker 1: and verify it. And if and when that happens on
Speaker 1: the thirteenth, then the deadline becomes a date in March
Speaker 1: to be named where two hundred and forty eight thousand,
Speaker 1: ninety two signatures would be needed across the eight counties
Speaker 1: of Ohio, and there's a certain number needed within forty
Speaker 1: four of the eighty eight counties. And if that referendum
Speaker 1: were to pass and be approved, then this issue would
Speaker 1: actually end up on the November ballot and voters would
Speaker 1: decide what they want to happen. Separately from that, we're
Speaker 1: also having conversations with the General Assembly as we did
Speaker 1: as they were crafting se fifty six. Lots of members
Speaker 1: on all sides, both political parties, House and Senate have
Speaker 1: been listening, which is really really encouraging, and I've been
Speaker 1: very appreciative of all those efforts. So we're still talking
Speaker 1: to them to see if there's any interest within the
Speaker 1: General Assembly on a legislative override, but that would require
Speaker 1: a two thirds vote approval in both the House and
Speaker 1: the Senates, and those conversations aroundgoing, I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: there's enough interest there or not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, as upset as I am, and even you more
Speaker 2: so about this whole thing, I think there's hope and
Speaker 2: a since you've got a lame duck governor, you've got
Speaker 2: to do administration coming in, and I think they're going
Speaker 2: to set the record straight because clearly they're a mindset
Speaker 2: in Ohio that hey, we've been using these products responsibly.
Speaker 2: People clearly enjoy them, the market, the sectors growing. Why
Speaker 2: would you try to take that away, especially if you're
Speaker 2: someone who allegedly is pro small business in business growth,
Speaker 2: why would you limit that It doesn't make much sense.
Speaker 2: Adam Bankovic is the CEO of Guys, joining the show
Speaker 2: this morning with Sloani here on seven hundred WLW. Kind
Speaker 2: of revisiting we'll get in the Minnesota stuff on this
Speaker 2: a little bit different topic entirely obviously, but this is
Speaker 2: something that happened over the holidays, and generally when stuff
Speaker 2: happens over the holidays or a weekend, it's something that
Speaker 2: you know, the establishment really doesn't want you to know about.
Speaker 2: They kind of downplay it. It's a huge issue because
Speaker 2: so many people enjoyed it and going, wait, what they're
Speaker 2: taking this stuff away?
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 2: It's really good? And I'm a big proponent and you know,
Speaker 2: if you're an adult, you should be able to choose
Speaker 2: what it is that you put in your body for sure,
Speaker 2: and as long as there's regulation involved there and some
Speaker 2: oversight to make sure you're not getting sick. I say,
Speaker 2: have added, have ad all you want, because tastes indeed change.
Speaker 2: Hopefully in the next year we have some solution to
Speaker 2: this whole thing, Adam, because you know, to think of
Speaker 2: how much money you yourself invested in. Other individuals I
Speaker 2: talked to involved in the craft brew industry in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2: You know, you don't want to see those investments simply
Speaker 2: just evaporate as they have so far in the interim.
Speaker 2: How you holding up? You're painting a picture saying, Wow,
Speaker 2: you're the craft brew thinks kind of fading. We're kind
Speaker 2: of leaning into this, and you know, maybe not for
Speaker 2: you guys, because the scale in which you guys operated
Speaker 2: much bigger than a lot of locals. But the craft
Speaker 2: brew industry and know locally internationally, tends to be a
Speaker 2: close knit group of people who are, yeah, competitors, but
Speaker 2: at the same time you kind of pull for each other.
Speaker 2: How are some of these smaller operations doing do you know?
Speaker 1: Yeah, fuk with lots of them that think it impacts
Speaker 1: all of them differently. You're one hundred percent right. It's
Speaker 1: a very cordial community within craft beer where we have
Speaker 1: the Ohiocraft Brewers Association meeting in a couple of days
Speaker 1: of conferences coming up here not too long from now,
Speaker 1: and this was a large topic last year. The Ohio
Speaker 1: Preppers Association did a great job bringing in national experts
Speaker 1: to talk with the ohiocraft brewers about it. And I
Speaker 1: know there's some that are reeling from this more than others,
Speaker 1: I think the answer for all of us is that
Speaker 1: we need to find whatever can possibly work to just
Speaker 1: make sure that we're staying competitive within the marketplace. And
Speaker 1: it's really hard to do. When we spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time here today talking about the diversity beverage. I
Speaker 1: agree with you, non alcoholic beers have come a long way,
Speaker 1: but the rallies they're very expensive to make. So if
Speaker 1: we're looking at the areas where craft brews can invest
Speaker 1: and make some things safely and effectively and responsibly and
Speaker 1: support our businesses that we've established, of craft beers declining.
Speaker 1: Since we are not able to control the general trends
Speaker 1: of the craft beer marketplace, there's very few things that
Speaker 1: we concerned to and look to do. And this is
Speaker 1: one of those emerging segments like the early days of
Speaker 1: the craft beer boom, where a lot of Ohio craft
Speaker 1: brewers are looking at this saying, hey, we can make that,
Speaker 1: we can make it taste great, we can have it tested,
Speaker 1: we can follow all the responsible labeling requirements. So if
Speaker 1: it's not this, we're going to have to learn what
Speaker 1: else we can do. And you're right, we ryn Gus
Speaker 1: is a larger craft brewers in the state of Ohio.
Speaker 1: But you're also right that we've spent a long time
Speaker 1: developing this product and for the marketplace to go away
Speaker 1: in Ohio is very disappointing, and we're really hoping that
Speaker 1: something will change to allow it to exist as we
Speaker 1: wait for the federal guidance.
Speaker 2: How much you on your list as a CEO, your
Speaker 2: plate is always overflowing, right, How high up on the
Speaker 2: list is this for you? Of concerns?
Speaker 1: Very high, very hid. It took us. We spent two
Speaker 1: years learning about this marketplace and developing Fuzzy Bones, which
Speaker 1: is our brand of in tox getting hemp beverages, and
Speaker 1: we're really proud of the brand, and we think we
Speaker 1: did a great job with the liquids and all the
Speaker 1: characteristics of that product. And so to spend two years
Speaker 1: on something and then for the marketplace to go away
Speaker 1: overnight when we worked so hard to make sure that
Speaker 1: the iiO generally assembly was informed about the category and
Speaker 1: writing regulations to allow and promote business to exist in
Speaker 1: Ohio was disappointing. So you're right, there's lots of things
Speaker 1: on my priority list, but this has been up top
Speaker 1: the priority list for a long time and it's going
Speaker 1: to remain there.
Speaker 2: Well, this is something I strongly advocate for, Adam, and
Speaker 2: keep me in the loop on it and how things
Speaker 2: are going. Lawmakers on all the time, people like yourself.
Speaker 2: It's senseless to think that just on the whims of
Speaker 2: an individual, that this stuff all goes away and then
Speaker 2: there's no accountability for the action whatsoever, no reason as
Speaker 2: to why you would eliminate an entire growing sector that
Speaker 2: clearly adult. OHI ones want. I wish all the best, Adam,
Speaker 2: thanks for joining the show this morning. Take care, Thank
Speaker 2: you to all the best. Ana Binkovic, CEO at RANG
Speaker 2: guys here in Cincinnati. You know want you want people
Speaker 2: not to pay attention to do it during the holidays.
Speaker 2: You know, I'll be equally as hard on conservatives as
Speaker 2: I will liberals in the sense that you know, look
Speaker 2: at holding the feet of the fire the pure Vaul administration,
Speaker 2: for example, when it comes to transparency and accountability. I
Speaker 2: will turn that towards Governor DeWine here too. There's no answer.
Speaker 2: I've talked to lawmakers and people like Adam that there's
Speaker 2: no reason as to why Mike Dewaine decided who's gonna
Speaker 2: kill this entire sector doesn't after to answer to anybody
Speaker 2: in that regard to and we still don't know why
Speaker 2: that should trouble all of us listening. Quick time out,
Speaker 2: we'll pivot, we'll get to the very latest. What's going
Speaker 2: on in Minnesota, me and you talking this one out
Speaker 2: as to what you saw in your reaction coming up
Speaker 2: next year. And something that I think was missed in
Speaker 2: this whole thing in our fight over who's right and
Speaker 2: who's wrong in America, I think we're missing the big
Speaker 2: picture on something. I'll touch on that right after news
Speaker 2: update here on seven hundred ww