WEBVTT - Rum & Marriage 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:04.200 This is he said a yadiho with Eric Winter and 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:05.240 Rosalind Fantas. 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:09.000 Hello. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:12.079 Hello, another episode that he said a yad ho. 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:18.760 What do you say? 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:20.520 He said room. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.280 Run in Spanish. 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.400 No, no, no, yeah, yeah, I know, I thought, I 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.199 hear at the end, I'm learning Spanish and you're going 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.360 to learn some rum talk today. Listen. I'm very excited. 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:39.680 We're going to be in Miami in a couple of 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:45.280 weeks at this giant rum Congress. And uh, one of 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:49.040 my now friends and now colleagues in the business, Trader 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.800 j is what he called he goes by but Jay 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:57.240 is the founder of the Florida Rum Society. Their motto 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.920 is rum friends are best friends, and we are fully 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:06.320 on board with that. Jay is all things rum and uh, 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:08.800 you know, like he has a profession as well on 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.160 the side, but he is passionate. He's done so much 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:13.920 to elevate the space. We have his wife, Nina on 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.280 joining as well, so we can really dive into what 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.960 it's like being married to rum obsessed men. I'm sure 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:21.920 you have somebody to at least have a sounding board with, 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.840 because I know it drives you crazy my obsession with rum. 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:27.520 Don't you're very, very supportive. It doesn't drive you crazy. 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:28.920 Doing this because I encourage you. 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:31.400 True, that's true. It was your idea. It was your idea. 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.040 So let's bring him in. I'm excited to chat with Jay. 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:36.520 Hello, nice to meet you. 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:37.600 Nice to meet you. 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:38.720 Nice meeting you. 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.120 Thank you for coming on the podcast. This is great. 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:42.520 We're going to meet you all in person in a 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:43.080 couple of weeks. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:47.760 Now I will be there. I have done all of them, 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:49.120 so yes, it's a good time. 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.840 Really Okay, I'm gonna jump right in really quick, Jay, 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.720 before we talk about your passion for rum. But Nina, 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.840 have you been always passionate about rum as well? Or 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.240 you've been sucked into the vortex by Jay and now 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.280 it's you know, part of your marriage. 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:07.560 It's yes, it's now part of our marriage. 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.720 I am a very when in Rome type of girl, 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:14.440 so I enjoy all cocktails, champagne, wine. 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:15.120 You know, all of it. 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:20.480 So I have always had a very diverse talent, and 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:26.000 Jay has definitely brought more rum into our lives than 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.160 we had and I had before. 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.040 But it's been fun, it's been great. We've met a 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.600 lot of wonderful people. We've had a lot of great 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.600 trips that have come out of this wonderful RUMs that 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:40.959 we get to share with people and have here at home. 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.560 So it's been good, But yeah, it was It was 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.720 not my first spirit. 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.200 And now you know pretty much is. 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.480 Rum friends are the best friends. That's the Florida Society motto. 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:57.960 Well done, Jay, And I've been filling my wife in 0:02:58.040 --> 0:02:59.840 you know, a bit as well, and she'll she'll jump in. 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:02.919 But Jay, now I know you have a day job. 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.120 We've talked about this, right, you work in marketing, remember, correct? 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:12.280 What what caused you to take on a very big 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.160 side job. By the way, the Florid Rum Society is 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.679 not a small task. I mean it's the biggest rum 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.760 society I believe in the country. What what motivated you 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.120 to go that route on the side, because it's not 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:23.919 just a little thing. 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:28.000 Yeah, I mean, it's for sure one of those things 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.760 that sort of was by accident and then sort of snowballed. 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.640 I like you know, said, always had a rum. Was 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:40.440 always my first go to and even back in college 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.160 when it was Captain and Cooke. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:42.440 Right. 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.440 Obviously my palette has changed immensely since then, but it 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:52.360 was always like the default and the I'll try to 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.960 make the story not recredibly long. But the story is 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.920 when we that Nino always said when when we bought 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.400 our next house, if I bought enough rooms, then I 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:04.080 could have one. 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.200 And I guess I got enough. 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.840 Rooms because as as you guys can see that that 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.400 that have the camera on, I'm in what is now 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.320 our tiki bar, our rum bar. And so I went 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:19.800 down that sort of that that tiki bar path of 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:21.920 all right, I want to build a tiki bar in 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:26.200 our house, and how do I go about doing that? 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:27.600 Well, there was a there's a book. 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.400 It's uh, it's by Martin Kate, Martin and Rebecca Kate 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.240 called Smuggler's Cove, which is also their bar in San Francisco, 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.840 and it really outlines like how to build your own 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:42.280 tiki bar. So great, but also there's ninety nine cocktail 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:47.000 recipes in there, obviously very most of them very rum focused. 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:52.240 And as I started to try to replicate these cocktails 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.240 in the book, I found that I was lacking on 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.520 the RUMs I needed for these cocktails, even being here 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:04.280 in Florida. And so I started down this path of well, 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.520 I need to find these RUMs. Where can I find them? 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:07.160 Uh? 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:08.280 It turns out. 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:10.880 I went to a when Nina and I went with 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.920 another couple to Chicago, went to a fabulous tiki bar 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:18.080 there called Three Dots and a Dash, had a fantastic experience, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:21.760 got to like learn more about RUMs, learn more about 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:26.080 the cocktails, and visited some stores there. Picked up my 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.359 first worthy park, my first hand in, my first of 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.039 a lot of these bottles that I've been looking for, 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:32.839 and it was driving me a little crazy that we 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.520 could find them in Chicago but not in Florida. And 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.440 so myself and a few buddies were drinking these RUMs 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:43.200 back in Florida. And of course all ideas are great 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.320 ideas after you've sipped seventy eight RUMs. 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:48.400 And were society. 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.680 We are the Florida Rus. We are the Florida Rum Society. 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:57.640 The three of us and uh and so for the 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:01.240 first few months, right it we it was just three 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:06.480 of us. But and this was late twenty nineteen and 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:12.080 something interesting happened. So a few brands right back to 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.160 the marketing. I work in marketing, So I started a 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:19.960 social media account, right and few brands that have been 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.159 supporting us now for over five years noticed what I 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:25.200 was trying to do and was like, hey, I will 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.200 host a tasting for your society. 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:27.880 Great. 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:30.560 So if you think about what you were doing in 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:35.240 February of twenty twenty, right, yeah, right, we were like, 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:39.200 we were weeks away and we had our first Fluorida 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:44.080 Rum Society tasting. There were about forty of us and 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.400 really just through friends of mine or through social. 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:49.680 Media, they got word of it. 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:51.840 We got together, we had a great time, and we 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:54.080 were like, we're going to do this every month for 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.760 the rest of time. And a month later we were 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.200 all stuck at home, not able to get together for 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.880 a taste. But yeah, but an interesting thing happened. Everyone 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.320 had time on their hands. Yeah, these virtual meetings like 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.040 we're doing right now started popping up, and rum brands 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:13.600 had marketing budgets that they didn't have a way to 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.720 get in front of their consumers. So we hosted weekly 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.320 virtual happy hours of the Florida Rum Society. Brands would 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.240 send us samples, we'd try them, they'd walk us through it. 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:24.480 We have a lot of it was a lot of 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.160 rum education, which was great, Like that's what we want. 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.760 And here we are, over five years later, we still 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.880 do the virtual thing and how many members now twenty 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:35.400 over twenty six hundred. 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:40.280 Wow, from forty, well from three, from forty to twenty 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.280 six hundred. And we can thank your wife for all 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.440 of it because she gave you a man cave because 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.000 you bought it. Also enough rooms and you built a 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.600 rum man cave and then that started. So it all 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:52.040 comes back to the wives, which is funny enough. I 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.320 have a non drinking wife who does is never drank 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.280 her a whole life. But she's the one that pushed 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.400 me to go into rum, which is so you know, ironic, 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:01.000 and it. 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:02.640 Is weird now that I think about it. And why 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:03.200 did I do that? 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.080 She says, because NK, you should do something. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:12.040 Every supportive because but I grew up with my dad. 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.760 I'm from Puerto Rico. So this is the memory that 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.080 I have of my dad, which is at the terras 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:21.200 listening to his trios. 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:25.360 Trios is like three. What is a trio is a 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:26.640 is a It's. 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:30.160 Three men with guitars with guitars and they say in 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.280 the music likes we call the trios, right, and they 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.040 sing ballads and stuff, and he's he'll be listening to 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:36.760 his music with his rum. 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:38.640 And then I have three brothers. 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.040 I'm the young the youngest one, and the only girl, 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.320 and all my brothers are rum drinkers. So even though 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.600 I never drank and my mom didn't touch alcohol either, 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.160 it was very normal. 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:50.200 You know. 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.000 And I have these like very vivid memories of my 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.360 my brothers, all the men in my life, my dad 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.000 and my three brothers, they just love rome. And then 0:08:58.040 --> 0:08:59.800 I met Eric and we're thinking about, you know what, 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:01.640 just try to come up with something, and then I 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:03.040 said it has to be rum. 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:04.840 And even going back to like and Jay, you know 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:06.960 the story, but you know, like, you know, I got 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:08.880 into rum because when I met you know, her dad 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:10.760 for the first time, he was like, all right, let's 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:12.679 let's talk, let's get to know each other, and look, 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:14.400 we're gonna have some rum. And I was like, oh god, 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.800 I'm not a rum drinker. This is gonna go south 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:18.840 really quick. I got to act like I like rum, 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:20.760 and he just poured it on the rocks. 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:22.760 Like which one was. 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:28.360 Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. I did what, you know, I 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.600 was like, I'll try it, and I ended up really 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:32.120 liking it. And that's what sort of when you know, 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.120 took me down the path of trying RUMs in different 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:43.280 places as we travel, et cetera, et cetera. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.760 Let me ask you how many how many brands of 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:49.040 rum do they exist? 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.760 Jay? 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.800 I mean right that is, rum is made on every 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:57.680 continent except Antarctica. 0:09:57.920 --> 0:09:59.920 So and I bet. 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:02.960 I'm hundreds hundreds of brands and and a lot that 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:04.520 never make it to the United States. 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.760 It's interesting right there. There are there are I. 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.440 Think I think over a dozen distilleries in Australia and 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:17.120 we only get one one really that that we see 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:18.920 a lot, and that's through independent bottlers. 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.960 So so there's rum and countries. 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.600 That India Isn't India a massive room market? 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:25.240 Yeah? 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.120 Yeah, India Philippines is a huge rum market and we 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:29.000 don't see a lot of. 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.040 We been gifted from Nepal. 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:36.200 Wow yeah, yeah crazy. 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:38.760 What's been the favorite your your favorite place that you've 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:41.439 ventured off to because of rum? 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:47.240 I mean, I'm my my default love is Jamaican rum. 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.640 So I've had the opportunity to both to go to 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.120 Jamaica just the two of us and UH and visit 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.120 some distilleries there. And then we actually took a group 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.160 of fifty members of the Florida Rum Society to Jamaica 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:02.920 as well and and toward distilleries there. So that's that 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:04.800 that was an immense experience. 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:07.880 So that's that's always what I go back to. 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.880 Why do you think the Jamaican the Jamaican rum is 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:14.840 is so exquisite? Is it something to do with their 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.960 specific cane sugar, like the soil over there? 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:19.240 Like what is what is the difference? 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:20.920 Probably right, the kettle still. 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:23.280 Yeah, I mean a lot a lot of it. 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.320 A lot of it is related to the pot still 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.679 and the way that that Jamaicans make make that been 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:33.559 making rum since well forever, but at least seventeen sixteen hundreds. 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.560 It's it's a post stile. And what they do each 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.040 distillery is six distilleries in Jamaica, and each one does 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.800 things a little bit different, and they use column stills too, 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.840 at least the bigger ones that you know, like Appleton, 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:51.400 they have column stills as well. But but they're using 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:56.600 things like dunder pits and which is reusing some of 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.000 the wash left over from the rum and letting it 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.040 sit in the pit and just then take that and 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:06.000 add it back to the rump. Is aness that's what's 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:06.920 giving you that. 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.040 It's the only way to define it, right, And I. 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.920 Love that that's the term that's the rum term Jamaican 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:17.040 r as a funk as a funkiness, a good funk. Yeah. 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.000 I mean if you like Jamaican rumba, but. 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:25.360 That's yeah, like it comes out fruity. Yeah, I mean 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.400 it definitely, and it makes the difference. I think for 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.840 Jamaican rum. 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:36.440 It's like overripe banana and like pineapple skin are like 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.360 a lot of the permanent flavor, and then the other 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:41.360 flavors are in there that you usually get from rum, 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:43.160 but that that sort of overtakes it. 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:44.959 It's funny you say that, because even when it comes 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:48.319 to like Palm Republic, that's one of the big features 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.800 that people go, oh wow, the Jamaican aspect of what 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.800 you put into this blend really separates it. And you know, 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.880 it was it was a great decision. I'm glad we 0:12:57.920 --> 0:12:59.719 went we went down that path. But it's true, it's 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.680 like that funking. Is that subtle difference of why Jamaican 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.680 rum is so distinct really helps out, you know, the blend. 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.560 I think yeah, and it can overpower for sure. Yeah, 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:10.520 there's no doubt about it. 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.079 I think that Palm Republic did a great job of 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.400 finding the balance to be approachable because it's not a 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:20.480 beginning like Jamaican pots still on aged Jamaican potstil rum 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.840 is not a beginner's realm by any stretch of the imagination. 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.320 But but in small doses it adds. It packs a 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:28.000 load of flavor, just a little bit. 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:32.760 What happens if because you get sent so many different brands, 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:34.600 you know, for you guys to talk about it on showcase? 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.439 So what happens if you get something from whatever and 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:38.719 you drink it and you're like. 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.160 Oh my god, this is just absolutely awful. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.600 Like what do you tell those people that send it 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:45.960 over and they're waiting for feedback? 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:47.080 Yeah? 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:51.400 I think, Well, I think two things. One I always try, 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.160 Like in the in the photo Rum Society, one of 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.400 our goal is to be very trans like we want 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.600 RUMs to be transparent, and so I think it's important 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.959 that we're also transparent around what we enjoy or don't enjoy. 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.720 Or provide that feedback. So I try best as I 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.679 can to do that. However, what I will say is 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:12.880 something that I that. 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.760 I started, that we started sort of as a group, 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.320 is people were sending me RUMs, and of course they 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:20.000 want me to try and they want the society to 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:25.360 try them, but it's it's hard to keep up quite frankly, right, 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.800 And so we have a program called our First Taste program, 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.480 which is specifically for like new RUMs or RUMs that 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.080 are merging into the Florida market. And we get together 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:38.880 right here, like like we're doing now, in a virtual setting, 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.440 and everyone, at least a slice of people forty ish 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.960 will have samples in front of them, and then we 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.960 ask the brand to tell their brand story. Everyone tries it, 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:52.720 provides feedback, and then we also do a like a 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:56.120 survey and anonymous survey afterwards, so that they don't just 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.920 have mine and Nina's opinions, right, they have opinions of 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.320 forty of our members who are really engaged. 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:04.960 Which I did with them. We did that. We did 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.360 one of those virtual lives, oh you did. We sent 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:09.520 samples to the members, We sat on there and we 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:10.200 chatted about it. 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:11.360 What was the feedback? 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:13.880 Oh, I mean, you. 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:15.720 Tell you, Eric, I think it was very positive. 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:17.440 Yeah, I mean I don't know what was said behind 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:22.320 my back, but I mean on camera, No, it seemed 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.880 like everybody was very very complimentary and loved the overproof 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.600 of the aged and also loved the Jamaican funk. In 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.720 the silver and what that did do it and everybody 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.600 came up with great drink recipe ideas. Yeah, it was 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:35.800 a very productive you know. 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:37.200 What, this is really funny. 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.160 This is off topic, but it's funny because you know 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:43.520 beth Any Franco, right, so not she has her Vodkan 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.320 and her brand humongous, but she was a chef, you know. Again, 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.040 a lot of brands send her stuff for her to try, 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.120 but she does the tasting of whatever. It could be 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.720 a sauce, it could be a room, whatever, but she 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.160 does it live. So the reaction is very true organic. 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:02.840 Oh my god. And what is the name of Lisa 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:03.880 Reno the. 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:11.680 Husband something Mark, No, No, Hamilton, Hamlin, Hamline. 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:18.640 Yes, so I'm almost positive. I'm almost positive that it 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.040 was him. He has a brand of some kind of 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.640 sauce like not chilula or a little bit like one. 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:25.320 Not like something that got hot sauce. 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.600 So she is it's her with her maid or her 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.520 somebody that works for her, right, like a very normal 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:35.280 like opinion of somebody that knows has no idea about flavor, 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.480 totally neutral. And she puts to the lady puts two sauces, 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:42.280 a generic one and his sauce. 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.600 So she's trying the first one and the second one and. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:50.360 She's like, my god, like reacts heavily say there's no way. 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:53.840 This is his brand and it was his and it 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:58.560 was live. So then she felt horrible. So then she 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.040 had to do another whole thing saying, listen, I so 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.720 much apologize, you know, but you know, I'm very transparent, 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.200 and I had no idea that that was going to 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.760 be my reaction. I'm and I am I am, So 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:10.600 if you guys are going to send me anything, just 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:12.560 know that I'm going to react how I'm going to. 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:14.560 And I was like, oh my god, I feel so bad. 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:15.920 That's the thing with the consumer goods, right, it is 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:18.320 everybody's opinion. You never know, you can't win everybody over. 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.000 Well, absolutely, and that's hard when it's a one on 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:23.920 one person. But with the first taste, what's really great 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.879 is that it's a larger group of people. And then 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:30.040 they do this anonymous survey, you know, and it's different 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.919 than the regular happy hours. Everybody goes into this knowing 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.840 that they're trying it in order to give feedback to 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:39.199 help these companies, you know, with the information that what 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:40.160 do consumers want? 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:40.400 Right. 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:43.280 So I think that it's a very transparent and very 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:47.800 easy process to go through, and the companies are able 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.480 to get that real time feedback from people and kind 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.200 of have it written down for posterity and what can 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.240 they do. Is there anything that they would like to 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.960 change or not change to make it more approachable? So 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:00.760 I think that it's a lot of gat information that 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.359 comes from a wider swath of people, So it's not 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:05.040 just one persons. 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:11.000 You know, yeah, were always so subjective because maybe she 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.879 didn't like it, But there's be maybe there's another palette 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:15.919 that they actually respond really well to it. 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.919 You know, so you absolutely. 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.520 So as you built this Jay, well, Nina, I'm assuming 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.440 you guys built this sort of together. When Jay said 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:25.479 I want to start the society, you were like, are 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:29.200 you crazy? Or were you going, Okay, let's see how 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:30.240 we can do this. 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:32.119 It's like, all right, let's see how it goes. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.240 I mean, everything seems great in a friends setting when 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:39.080 you're sitting in your bar and you're enjoying your spoils 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.160 that you brought home from your latest trip. 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:43.639 So it seemed like a fun idea. 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:45.920 I mean, little did we know that it would turn 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:51.840 into another job. Absolutely, it is a second really full 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.520 time job for him. But we've got great people that 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.639 you know, help out and provide you know, support and 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.920 things like that. But yeah, I don't know, we did 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:06.480 not expect it. We're very happy with it. I think 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:09.280 that it's a great group of people, like I've said before, 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:13.160 and it's just growing, right. I mean, we just want 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:18.119 to help people have the best cocktails, the best time, 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.720 meet great people, learn right. I mean, there is a 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.080 huge educational component to the Florida Rum Society, and I 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:27.760 think the more you know, the more you can appreciate things. 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.320 And so, you know, we'll see where it goes from here. 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:32.200 But so far, so. 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:35.000 Good, and I think I think it's important to call 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.439 out that obviously, I like, I don't do this in 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:37.919 a silo. 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:39.160 You know, is a huge help. 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:43.280 And I have a great group of Florida Rum Society Ambassadors. 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:47.120 There's fifty of family that that also helps. So it's 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:51.639 it's right. It really is a true society and the 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:55.639