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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: We want to talk about natural resources, maybe because the

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Speaker 2: natural resources from the great state of Montana are being

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Speaker 2: used to fill a soul called void in the vodka industry.

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Speaker 2: May Leave Vodka. It promises to lift your spirits with

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Speaker 2: locally sourced, high quality grains and natural spring water. And

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Speaker 2: if that's not enough to sell one of its sustainable

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Speaker 2: bottles of star Power behind, it might do that just

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Speaker 2: as well. I'm happy to say that the co founders

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Speaker 2: of Maylee Vodka join us right now here on the

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Speaker 2: Big Program, Blaine Halverson and the actor Jason Momoa. Thanks

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Speaker 2: for both of you, gentlemen, for joining us here today here,

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Speaker 2: and of course, Jason, I'm going to start with the

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Speaker 2: very obvious question here. Just tell me what sets this

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Speaker 2: vodka apart from all the others.

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Speaker 3: Why does this set apart from all the other vodkas? Yeah,

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Speaker 3: the other vodkas don't taste good. I think we set

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Speaker 3: out to make this vodka just because we wanted to

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Speaker 3: treat it like a spirit sets out of an ingredient.

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Speaker 3: So it's been as kind of our gold sickens quite

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Speaker 3: a while time to do that. But we found out

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Speaker 3: that it was actually because of it's the water we use,

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Speaker 3: and you know, vodka sixty percent water, we use a

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Speaker 3: live water for Montana.

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Speaker 2: Well, give us a sense here to blame when we

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Speaker 2: talk about how you sort of market this and more importantly,

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Speaker 2: I guess getting on shelves and what we know is

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Speaker 2: a very crowded space. I mean, there are a lot

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Speaker 2: of liquor brands, a lot of vodka brands specifically out

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Speaker 2: there here. How do you get this in front of

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Speaker 2: people in a way where they look to your to

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Speaker 2: mainly vodka rather than all the others.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean listen with Jay and I started this thing,

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Speaker 3: like I said, but you know, we were not vodka guys.

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Speaker 3: We were more in the whiskey and tequila things we

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Speaker 3: saw avoid and vodka just to us, vodka was really

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Speaker 3: looked upon as an ingredient. So we've just sort of

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Speaker 3: charged in creating something that was that was different and

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Speaker 3: giving vodka an actual flavor profile and something smooth, and

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Speaker 3: treating it more, as Jason said, as an actual spirit

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Speaker 3: rather than a than an ingredient.

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Speaker 4: So you know, it's been a big piece.

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Speaker 3: You know, obviously the vodka market is really kind of

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Speaker 3: controlled in general, by kind of the big the Big

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Speaker 3: four that have been around quite some time, and it

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Speaker 3: just felt like it was a it was a you know,

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Speaker 3: a piece of the liquor industry that that was ready

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Speaker 3: for a change and needed something different.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, both of you have a history together, right, You

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Speaker 1: started on this journey to create something eight years ago,

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Speaker 1: and it sounds like you kind of stumbled upon vodka

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Speaker 1: as your collaborative you know product here. But part of

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Speaker 1: the origin story of Meinlee Vodka is that neither of

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Speaker 1: you actually like vodka. I'm guessing that has changed now.

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Speaker 4: But I love we love, we love vodka now, right,

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Speaker 4: So I mean, I mean.

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Speaker 3: That's the beautiful thing like this, this bottle, like what

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Speaker 3: we set out to do.

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Speaker 4: Just the design quality of it.

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Speaker 3: It ticks off everything that we love, so the sustainability

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Speaker 3: aspect of it. We wanted something that tastes good, it's

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Speaker 3: got a great story behind it, and to be able

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Speaker 3: to drink this and we take it to everybody.

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Speaker 4: We asked them to.

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Speaker 3: Drink it neat and drink it, you know, warm room temperature,

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Speaker 3: and and it tastes beautiful. And we most of the

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Speaker 3: we went up for all the competitions and we poured out.

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Speaker 3: It's a blind taste test that we won everything. So

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Speaker 3: it's been the most one of the most decorated spirits

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Speaker 3: in the world. We've got seven platinum or seven goals,

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Speaker 3: three platinums, and two perfect perfect scores. So we've been

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Speaker 3: out for a year and a half and it's just

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Speaker 3: been wonderful actually to take it to people and show

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Speaker 3: it to them, and at the price point where it's

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Speaker 3: still you know, anywhere from twenty dollars to twenty four

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Speaker 3: dollars for a bottle, and it's beautiful and it tastes good.

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Speaker 3: It's like we wanted to make that some of the

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Speaker 3: affordable luxury.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 1: Right, we should point out that no two bottles are

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Speaker 1: the same, because each bottle is different. The manufacturing the

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Speaker 1: last bottle is really a point of pride for you, Blaine.

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Speaker 1: I'm curious when you as you bring your Voka around

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Speaker 1: and you you know, have different people taste it. I'm

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Speaker 1: wondering if you've gotten any kind of feedback from the

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Speaker 1: big players in the industry, you know, the Constellation Reds,

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Speaker 1: the Diadios, whether anyone's talk to you about the flavor

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Speaker 1: profile that you have come up with for melee vodka.

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Speaker 3: I mean, listen, most people in America don't think actually

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Speaker 3: even know what vodka tastes like. I mean, they're used

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Speaker 3: to drinking it in a drink, and that that's that

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Speaker 3: was sort of our point. I mean, the fact that

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Speaker 3: we go around and and have people try it at

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Speaker 3: room temperature in its natural form. I mean you can

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Speaker 3: kind of tell a lot just by people's first sort

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Speaker 3: of impression of when you're asking them to drink vodka warm.

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Speaker 3: You know, most of them sort of turn their nose

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Speaker 3: because they're you know, the ones that have they sort

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Speaker 3: of know that in general, vodkan tastes like rubbing alcohol.

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Speaker 3: It's it's hot, it's got that it's got that burn.

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Speaker 3: And it's why, you know, it became something covered up

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Speaker 3: in drinks. We wanted to we wanted to create a

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Speaker 3: beautiful spirit that he didn't have to cover up and

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Speaker 3: then would give the bartenders and mixologists and the people

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Speaker 3: in the industry actually be something to actually build off of.

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Speaker 4: Uh, you know, we single the still for that reason.

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Speaker 3: We wanted to leave all the beautiful you know, the

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Speaker 3: beautiful grains that we use and most of all, you know,

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Speaker 3: what we call the unicorn this this unbelievable water.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll talk about that, Blaine, because that was the

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Speaker 2: part I was interested in. I mean, most with these vodkas,

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Speaker 2: they are distilled several times, primarily to make it a

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Speaker 2: neutral spirit, which, as you've pointed out, because a lot

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Speaker 2: of people use it as to mix in with something else.

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Speaker 2: By only distilling this once, so you're leaving behind those grains,

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Speaker 2: or at least a flavor from those grains. Why do

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Speaker 2: you think other vodka companies, I guess effectively are throwing

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Speaker 2: that out for lack of a better word, Well.

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Speaker 3: I think it's been Listen, it's I think it's been

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Speaker 3: mainly a marketing tool because I don't think people necessarily understand.

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Speaker 3: You know, in general, the more you're distill it, the

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Speaker 3: only thing surviving distillation is the alcohol. And to me

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Speaker 3: it's why you know, we never liked it, because drinking

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Speaker 3: alcohol and its natural form.

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Speaker 4: Isn't very good.

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Speaker 3: And listen, anybody who this whole myth of vodka of

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Speaker 3: this you know no, you know, no no smell, no taste.

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Speaker 3: If that was the case, I mean everyone has failed.

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Speaker 3: I mean there's tried vadka naturally, like there's nothing about

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Speaker 3: it that doesn't have you know, heat in itself tastes

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Speaker 3: like something. So we wanted to create something that was actually,

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Speaker 3: like I said, more smooth. We age our bok as well,

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Speaker 3: you know, given at that time similar to like a whiskey,

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Speaker 3: also helped smooth it out. But that single desolation because

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Speaker 3: we're leaving and again leaving this beautiful water, yeah in

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Speaker 3: it as well.

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Speaker 4: It's it's going to be smoother.

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Speaker 3: Because you're not you're not cooking down, you're not getting

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Speaker 3: rid of everything but the alcohol.

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Speaker 1: Right right, Jason, let me ask you the final question here.

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Speaker 1: What has surprised you most about the spirit industry. I

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Speaker 1: know that you've been in the entertainment industry for a

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Speaker 1: long time, you have other business interests, but as you

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Speaker 1: you know, move further into into the spirit industry, what

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Speaker 1: surprises see the most?

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Speaker 3: Well, and nothing at this point really surprised me as

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Speaker 3: much as how I mean, it was extremely challenging from

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Speaker 3: the get go. So you know, it took us eight

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Speaker 3: a little over eight years, nine years to actually build

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Speaker 3: this to where it's at. This wasn't an overnight thing,

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Speaker 3: and no one came to us and I'm like, hey,

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Speaker 3: would you be a part of this and that it's

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Speaker 3: just been Blaine and I. So there's no there's no partners,

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Speaker 3: there's no the odd you know, there's nothing.

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Speaker 4: It was just us.

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Speaker 3: So that whole time to give us, you know, time

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Speaker 3: to trial and air test this out. We really, you know,

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Speaker 3: Blam really was the the genius behind. And obviously I

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Speaker 3: know a few things about water, but it's like it

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Speaker 3: was all about these pure water sources. And so we

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Speaker 3: traveled in that time with expedition studios. We brought back

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Speaker 3: water from Antarctica, we brought back Everest, we brought back

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Speaker 3: the Shackleton around from the Greenland, and like bringing back

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Speaker 3: all these like the Northwest Passage, bringing back waters, mixing

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Speaker 3: with our mash, finding out that people are like, no,

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Speaker 3: you're just gonna distill it.

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Speaker 4: It's gonna go away. But it didn't.

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Speaker 3: And each flavor profile was different. So when we use

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Speaker 3: ro water, which most spirits are made out of, it

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Speaker 3: doesn't taste good.

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Speaker 4: If you have a.

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Speaker 3: Really beautiful, one of a kind water, which we do,

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Speaker 3: it's our Unicorn in Montana, and like that water source

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Speaker 3: is high, it's low in sodium, so it doesn't cover

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Speaker 3: up the grains. And so I think the hardest part

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Speaker 3: was the beginning, because it took a long time to

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Speaker 3: get into it and like really perfect us a place

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Speaker 3: where we didn't know much about. But now it's like

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Speaker 3: we know how to sell. I mean, we know how

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Speaker 3: to sell. We know how to be intimate and be

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Speaker 3: able to go to places and meet with people, and

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Speaker 3: so now it's actually quite fun. I mean I'm going

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Speaker 3: to go on stage and play music with my band

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Speaker 3: right now, to share, you know, drinks with thousands of

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Speaker 3: people and really just experience what it's like and having

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Speaker 3: a good time. So I think the marketing aspect of

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Speaker 3: that is already passed the hard part in the sense

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Speaker 3: of we just now it's just getting it to people

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Speaker 3: going like, hey, here's the thing. We love Scott's, we

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Speaker 3: love mescal whiskey, all that stuff. You can have tons

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Speaker 3: of them, tons of different bourbons. You need one vodka,

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Speaker 3: you really need one, and so take one of these

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Speaker 3: bottles home, tested it with your friends, blind taste tests them,

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Speaker 3: and just try it out.

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Speaker 4: It's twenty bucks. You'll have a.

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Speaker 1: Ball, all right. Jason Momo and Blaine Halverson spoken like

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Speaker 1: true entrepreneurs. There the journey of you know, stumbles and

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Speaker 1: starts before I kind of find your way co founders

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Speaker 1: of Mainly Vodka. Thank you both so much

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Speaker 4: Thank you very much, begg you