Horror Hit “Soul Trader” heads to Washington DC at DC Shorts International Film Fest September 6, with Director/Producer Susan Dynner, Executive Producer / Actress Shauna Grace in person
Award-winning short film The Soul Trader will be to be screened in Washington DC as part of DC Shorts International Film Fest in ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA DC (630 Rhode Island Ave NE) on Friday September 6 at 12pm.
The Soul Trader is a 12 minute short proof of concept for a feature or series directed by Susan Dynner (Brick, Punk’s Not Dead, Code Blue: A Love Story) and starring Shane West (A Walk to Remember, ER, The Dirty South), Donna Mills (Knots Landing, Nope, Origin), and newcomer Shauna Grace.
The story follows Coral Chase (Shauna Grace), an occult hitwoman who has the power to steal life-extending souls, which she then sells to vain, wealthy elites like Erica Claessen (Donna Mills), who clings to the crumbs of youth. She’s flanked by stoic bodyguard Damien (Shane West), who ultimately emerges from the shadows as her rival when she’s about to carry out a money-spinning hit at a target’s home and realizes she’s not the only one with murder in mind.
“We’re excited to share this story and show a strong female lead that audiences are falling in love with”
Director / Producer Susan Dynner
The short film launched at the Cannes Film Festival’s American Pavilion in May and has been gaining momentum ever since.
It won its first award just weeks later at the Manhattan Film Festival in NYC. Now it’s set to screen at many more festivals on the West Coast, East Coast and across the globe.
“This project is definitely a good luck charm. Playing the role of Coral, working with our cast and crew has been incredible. But the biggest thanks is the reaction from the audience. Getting to meet people who are excited and inspired by the story and characters.”
Actress / Executive Producer Shauna Grace
Meanwhile the filmmaking duo Susan Dynner and Shauna Grace are busy taking meetings toward their next step.
What is their next step?
“This was always meant as a proof of concept short film to become a feature film or TV series. With the sold-out screenings and awards, it just confirms our feeling that this story is so much bigger than a short.”
Susan Dynner
Actress Shauna Grace has been receiving strong reviews, comparing her on screen presence to other heroines including Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johansson.
Dynner’s experience as a studio development executive for visionaries such as Richard Donner and Wolfgang Peterson shines through. Also, her producing work on Sundance hit “Brick” and festival darling “Punks Not Dead” shows her ability to bring production value on a range of budgets.
Both Dynner and Grace will attend their DC Shorts screening on Friday September 6 at 12pm and be available afterwards to discussion.
The Soul Trader is directed and produced by Dynner, written by newcomer Mike Underwood, photographed by Matthias Schubert (The Door Man, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, Shelter in Solitude), produced by Lauren Bancroft (The Making of Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles, Wild Bitch, Bite Size Halloween), edited by David Hopper (God Bless America, In Between Songs, Rust Creek), and executive produced by Shauna Grace, with music composed by Jeff Russo (Fargo, Ripley, Star Trek: Discovery).
Today’s conversation with Sommelier / Businesswoman Kristin Olszewski from Nomadica Wines has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger: We’re here today with Kristin Olszewski from Nomadica Wines.
What’s the most important message you want to share today with our audience?
Kristin Olszewski:
I think the biggest message that I want to get across is that everyone should be drinking more wine. That’s my mission in life to just bring consumers back to the wine category.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
Outstanding. And how how are you trying to get that done?
Kristin Olszewski:
I’ll give a little context on my own history and how I came here.
My undergrad degree is in sustainable agriculture and I ended up dropping out of Harvard Medical School to become a sommelier – typical journey.
I just really fell in love with wine. I worked in restaurants to pay for school and wine was always the thing that captivated my interest.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
I feel like it’s the intersection of history, agriculture and gastronomy. And then also there’s something so fun and communal and – you’re getting a little tipsy. It’s everything.
But I spent a decade-plus in Michelin restaurants all over the country, everywhere from three Michelin stars, Saison in San Francisco, Husk in Nashville, Osteria Mozza here in LA.
When Nancy Silverton was on a Netflix show called Chef’s Table, I started noticing a different customer coming into the restaurant. Usually as a sommelier, you’re talking to a very specific demographic of people. I would say 45 plus male white wine collector. That’s my demo. And when Nancy was on Chef’s Table, young people started coming into the restaurants, a lot of women, and I noticed they didn’t want to drink wine.
They would drink tequila, beer, cocktails, like anything but wine.
That always felt like such a missed opportunity because wine, it’s the most ancient beverage. Our people have drank wine for millennia. It’s also in an age where we care about what’s natural, what’s minimally processed, what’s better for you.
Great wine is literally just grapes, yeast, water, and time, so I started digging into why aren’t you drinking wine? And I found out a few things.
One, people felt like wine wasn’t a good value. If you weren’t going to spend a lot of money on wine, you couldn’t get a great wine, which is untrue.
The other one is people feel like they needed a PhD or some level of education or knowledge in order to access wine, which, again, is not true.
I want to be people’s guide, hold their hand and walk them into the world of wine. So I started Nomadica to do that on a larger level.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
That’s beautiful.
You mentioned two things. We’re going to go into both. Your background in Michelin restaurants. I’ve heard heavenly amazing stories. I’ve heard horror stories.
Can you share an experience and what you learned from?
Kristin Olszewski:
Everyone always asks me if I watch The Bear or not. And I’m like, no, I can’t.
Some positive stories, Michelin restaurants have changed a lot from when I started working in them. I think work has changed a lot for the positive. I remember one of my first serious jobs in a scary restaurant. You have your hair pulled back because you don’t want it to get in the food.
I had one small piece of hair hanging down above my face and the chef takes a match from the stove, lights a piece of my hair and says don’t ever have a hair hanging down in your face again.
Some of the wonderful stories are having the opportunity, especially at Mozza, you taste each bottle you open there.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
When I was at Mozza, it was a $5 million dollar all-Italian cellar with 90 pages of the best Barolo, Brunello, Etna Rosso’s, just things that like collector’s dream about tasting.
And I feel so lucky to have tasted things like Conterno Monfortino, which is the type of wine that you want to smell for three hours before you drink it.
When you have a wine like that, it makes you realize why collectors obsessively chase bottles, there’s something so romantic and intangible, and having a wine like that, you realize you’ll never have A wine that tastes the same at any moment in time ever again.
It’s just such a lucky experience.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
I’m curious about how that experience inspired you to open Nomadica.
Kristin Olszewski:
My entry point into wine was always through farming. I majored in sustainable agriculture.
I was an avid farmer. I ran our community garden in college and was focused on permaculture. I lived in India and farmed for a while there.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
And I always say great wine is made by great farmers, great wines made in the vineyard, not the cellar.
So when I was looking at starting Nomadica, that sustainability ethos, it was always my starting point, but I was really shocked when I found out how bad glass bottles are for the environment.
30% of glass is recycled in the US. The rest just goes into a landfill. It’s highly energy intensive to make, to ship, because it’s so heavy.
The fact is, most wine does not need to be in a glass bottle.
Yes, that Barolo I mentioned absolutely needs to be in a glass bottle. That needs to be aged for years before it even comes into its own.
But for a $20 – 30 bottle of wine that you’re going to pop open and drink it on a weeknight or on a not special weekend does not need to be in glass.
So that’s how we started.
Cans at 70 % reduction in carbon footprint. Our newly launched bag and box wine is almost a 90% reduction in carbon footprint.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
I sampled your sparkling white, your white, your red and your rose, they were dangerously drinkable.
Can we talk about where the fruit is sourced from?
Kristin Olszewski:
Absolutely.
The name Nomadica is really a fun double entendre because you can take it wherever you want to go. Of course, cans and boxes can be found in places that bottles can’t.
We source our fruit from all over.
We’re truly a nomadic winery.
Our head winemaker spent time at some of the best wineries in California, like Eric Kent Cellars, which makes award winning Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and also Kosta Brown.
Before that he spent 10 years doing vineyard management in California. So through Corey, we’ve really got a handle on some of the best fruit. A lot of our wine comes from Mendocino. A lot of our grapes come from Mendocino or Lodi. I’m such a Sonoma girly. Our winery is located in Sonoma, and so I always find myself drawn back to that region.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
Are there any vineyards you’d recommend us touring when we come to Northern California?
Kristin Olszewski:
I think the Sonoma Coast is the best wine region in California. They’ve fought very hard to become designated as their own AVA, which is very important in terms of quality.
The oceanic influence, what we call a diurnal shift, the extreme temperature change between night and day, like Hirsch and Littorai.
I think if anyone ever wants to see proof in the pudding of what great farming can do, you need to go see Littorai.
Ted Lemon was one of the first Americans to ever be a winemaker in Burgundy and he brought all of his practices back, was one of the first people to practice biodynamic agriculture in California and really brought that style of farming onto a larger scale.
When you go visit his vineyards, it’s like teeming with life. You look next door at a conventionally farmed plot, which is just like dead and sad looking. And then you taste the wines and you’re just knocked on your butt because they’re so good.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
Nomadica Wines has several varieties. White, Sparkling white, Rose, Red, Orange.
Can you walk us through the taste profiles of any of your favorites – what’s the aromas, what are the profiles?
Kristin Olszewski:
Something really cool about our wines is everything’s practicing organic. No pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, all of our wines are fermented dry. Naturally zero grams of sugar per serving. They have nice fruit notes, but none of the wines are sweet.
Crushable bright flavor.
Across the gamut, our entire portfolio has a brightness and a freshness to it. All of our wines are like slightly aromatic because I love an aromatic variety, but part of the thought that we put behind the brand is that I wanted to take that sommelier curation and put it in the restaurant, on the retail shelf so that when you’re serving Nomadica at your home, at parties and the beach, 99% percent of people will love it.
I’m doing the work on the back end on blending, sourcing, creating these flavor profiles that’s really taking that wine experience, that decade plus of developing my own palette and giving it back to the consumer.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
Are there any favorite wine and food pairings for you with your wines?
Kristin Olszewski:
I love an aperitif. Our sparkling rosé is definitely my favorite wine in our gamut. In a can you always have the perfect pour because sometimes you don’t want to open up an entire bottle of wine.
When we do that in my house, it usually gets drank. It doesn’t go back in the fridge.
Sometimes you just want a glass of sparkling. And I love that.
I love that with a charcuterie board and cheese. I also love Rose with green salads.
I think one of the best things about living where we live [Los Angeles] is we have the best produce on the planet.
I still run some wine programs in Los Angeles and I’m actually opening up a restaurant in Silver Lake next year, an Italian restaurant. Orange Wine is like the hottest trend.
I was doing the wine list at a restaurant in Hollywood called Gigi’s and I noticed I was selling more orange wine by the glass than all other colors combined, which was just mind blowing to me.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
We made what I think is the best orange wine coming out of California.
There’s a lot of talk about natural wine, orange wine. They’re not all created equal. My winemaker and I tasted through my favorite Italian skin contact wines and decided on a really concrete flavor profile source.
My mother in law in Orange County is drinking her orange wine with her friends. So I really feel like I’ve achieved something. That with sushi is a mind blowing pairing.
Then our red. We found Teroldego growing in Northern California, which is a grape that’s indigenous to Northern Italy from the Alto Adige.
It’s really Alpine, like dark fruit, like a Zinfandel, but really refreshing and bright acidity and a little bit more tannin than a Zin [Zinfandel] has.
There’s a perception that we had to overcome about can and boxed wine. People think that it’s low quality.
Whenever I pour our red for somebody, the response is always, “Wow, oh my god, that’s so good.”
No matter your level of wine knowledge, you can see what I’m trying to do when you taste our red wines.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
What’s next for you and Nomadica?
Kristin Olszewski:
Right now we’re in hardcore expansion mode. We were the first people to do fine wine and can, and I grew really slowly at my own pace.
I wanted to build the brand.
A lot of people just run to retail shelves and they want to be in every grocery store on the planet. I didn’t want that. I wanted to be, at the Four Seasons, at the Ritz Carlton, at music venues.
I wanted to be in places where people don’t typically expect to see wine in cans and boxes.
We are one of the highest velocity items at Whole Foods in our category.
We just launched all of our box wines at Total Wine in California, Texas, Florida, Colorado, and New York and got some really big plans for next year.
So keep your eyes peeled. People are about to see me everywhere.
That’s my goal.
Source: instagram.com/nomadica
Joe Winger:
Having a canned wine at some of these nicer hotels is a challenge.
What lesson did you learn by accomplishing that rather large challenge?
Kristin Olszewski:
That’s the best thing about how we’re positioned. Not only am I a sommelier, my VP of sales is a sommelier. My winemaker has an incredible reputation. Every person on my team comes from the wine industry and we have the best product.
When we’re sitting down and tasting with these buyers, these people that are in our industry. They recognize it. I always say taste out of a wine glass. Everything tastes better out of a wine glass. The second that they taste it, these are people who taste wine all the time and they taste a lot of bad wine.
So that has been amazing.
We’ve always had the industry behind us. It’s a huge differentiator for us. So I think it was slow build. Everything takes a lot more time than you think it will, which is I think the biggest lesson that I’ve taken away from this business over the last seven years.
But you got to build your brand first.
Joe Winger:
You seem like a deep-souled individual. Whether it’s wine or otherwise, is there an overall message that you want to share to inspire the audience?
Kristin Olszewski:
We are in a time where sustainability is more important than it ever has been. You can’t base your entire brand about it, but I think it’s an absolutely necessary component to any consumer product that’s coming out today.
One of my missions in life is to have that conversation about sustainability and have it with other brands because it needs to be convenient.
Otherwise, consumers will not buy it, care or participate or choose a sustainable option. That’s my big thing.
Joe Winger:
What are the best ways to follow your journey and to learn more about you?
Kristin Olszewski:
You can buy Nomadica online and our new rosé yuzu spritz, which is delicious at ExploreNomadica.com. And then our socials are at Nomadica on Instagram.
DC Heads to NYC for Prosecco! Taste and Discover with Wine Expert Alan Tardi Wed June 26th at New York Wine Studio
Prosecco has gone from a little known mountain fizz to a vinous superhero, overtaking Champagne (and every other sparkling wine out there) and enjoyed by wine drinkers throughout the world, as the base of a cocktail or an everyday quaff.
But despite its huge popularity, most people don’t know much about it.
And there is much more to Prosecco than many people are aware.
”My objective is to
clarify the critical differences
between the original ancient Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco and
the DOC Prosecco that was enacted in 2010.”
Alan Tardi
New York Wine Studio
Prosecco is produced only in Italy, in the Northern regions of Veneto and Friuli, and there are three official Prosecco appellations.
Prosecco DOC
One of them, Prosecco DOC, was created in 2010. It occupies a huge, mostly flat area encompassing almost two entire regions and accounts for most of the 700+ million bottles of Prosecco produced each year.
Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG
Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG is a tiny area in the foothills of the Dolomites consisting of 15 small municipalities in the province of Treviso. This is the ancient winegrowing area where Prosecco was born and made a miraculous comeback in the aftermath of World War II.
New York Wine Studio’s Alan Tardi
Besides its pedigree, there are numerous factors of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene enclave that distinguish it from any other winegrowing area in the world: complex and diverse topography, variety of soils, native grape varieties, distinct sub-areas, ancient history, and varied typology—bubbly, fizzy, and still; secondary fermentation in tank or in bottle, leaving sediment in the bottle (known as Ancestral Method) or removing it (Traditional Method).
In this class—which takes place right in the middle of National Prosecco DOC week—we will discuss the origin and evolution of Prosecco in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene area. We will also examine the two additional Prosecco appellations created in 2010.
But most of the time will be devoted to exploring and tasting Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco through a lineup of 8 exceptional terroir-driven wines, in a variety of styles, that demonstrate the unique characteristics, complexity, and diversity of the original Prosecco.
Participants will also learn how to say “CONEGLIANO VALDOBBIADENE” like an Italian!
Alan Tardi has arranged a fantastic lineup of unusual and exceptional wines (half of them are coming directly from Italy) which demonstrate the various factors that characterize the complexity and uniqueness of Conegliano Valdobbiadene: Different production methods (“Tranquillo” i.e. still, Martinotti, Classico/Traditional, Ancestral); frizzante, spumante; single vineyards, Rive, native grape varieties; diverse, soils, terroirs and topographies.
Bob Dylan’s Bourbon Feud: Heaven’s Door Kentucky vs Tennessee
Heaven’s Door Spirits, Bob Dylan’s highly awarded collection of super-premium American whiskeys, is turning up the heat on the age-old debate of which state, Tennessee or Kentucky, makes the best bourbon.
For as long as corn’s been cracked and stills have bubbled, Kentucky and Tennessee have been turning pristine limestone water and grains into a coveted amber elixir.
Heaven’s Door’s Great State Bourbon Debate rekindles the friendly feud
Heaven’s Door’s Great State Bourbon Debate rekindles the friendly feud between these two bourbon powerhouses, inviting whiskey lovers everywhere to put their palates to the test and voice their opinion.
Heaven’s Door sets itself apart as the first brand to offer both a Kentucky and Tennesseebourbon, giving fans a unique chance to compare.
The brand’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Ascension, and Tennessee Straight Bourbon, Revival, are made from high rye mash bills with grains largely sourced local to the distillery, and barreled at the same proof, yet yield vastly different taste profiles. Heaven’s Door invites you to level set, savor and decide which bourbon pleases your palate and wins your heart.
A Tale of Two Bourbons
Many folks mistakenly believe that bourbon can only be made in Kentucky, but the truth is, bourbon can be crafted anywhere in the U.S.
What makes an American whiskey a true bourbon is a special set of rules: it has to be made with at least 51% corn, distilled at a certain proof, and aged in new oak barrels.
Kentucky and Tennessee both have storied histories of producing excellent bourbon, with differences in water and climate producing distinct flavors.
Kentucky’s limestone water and Tennessee’s pure spring water are both famous for helping yeast thrive during fermentation.v
Differences in flavor profile come from the type and provenance of the grains used, the type of yeast used, water quality, the proof at distillation and the particular wood used to make oak barrel.
Even the location of the barrel warehouse, the circulation of air between the barrels being stored and where the barrels are within the warehouse (high up or near the bottom) all conspire to give impart flavor differences.
Heaven’s Door Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Ascension
Heaven’s Door Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Ascension, is a unique blend of two premium Kentucky straight bourbons aged for over five years and non-chill filtered, boasts warm and slightly sweeter notes of vanilla and baking spices. The limestone-filtered water of Kentucky, renowned for its purity, plays a key role in developing these rich flavors.
Heaven’s Door Tennessee Straight Bourbon, Revival
Heaven’s Door Tennessee Straight Bourbon, Revival, also aged for over five years and non-chill filtered, offers a drier profile with complex and sharp flavors. Unlike many Tennessee bourbons, Revival skips the “Lincoln County Process” – a charcoal filtering step – allowing the natural flavors of the local non-GMO grains to shine through, resulting in a lingering finish with hints of caramel, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
“We wanted to fan the flames of this old debate
between Kentucky and Tennessee bourbon
and showcase
our outstanding expressions of both styles.
We’re excited to hear what consumers think and how they experience these two classic bourbons.”
Alex Moore
Master Blender and COO
Heaven’s Door Spirit
Heaven’s Door marries art and craft in every bottle, drawing inspiration from Bob Dylan’s restless spirit to continually innovate. By sourcing non-GMO grains and honoring each state’s natural elements, the distinct character of each bourbon is evident in every sip.
Yo DC! Following your Heart and Need Media Attention? Reach to Publicity For Good, CEO Heather Holmes explains
Publicity for Good is a millennial run communications firm that provides high-level disruptive, publicity and social media services for wide array of purpose driven clients in the food, beverage and beauty industry.
In 2016 by Heather Holmes former miss Ohio international celebrated publicist and Forbes 30 under 30 nominee publicity for good has built a reputation as the countries number one PR agency for CPG brands that have social causes built into their DNA.
Publicity For Food CEO Heather Holmes
Today’s conversation with Heather Homes from PublicityForGood.com has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
Heather Holmes from PublicityForGood.com. I’m a big fan because you’ve helped us facilitate a lot of previous conversations about food and drink and nutrition and all the things we like talking about.
What’s the most important thing that you want to share with the audience today?
Heather Holmes:
I really want to take away the unknown or worry about getting in the media. I want to make it more accessible to amazing brands and people.
So I definitely want to share tactical advice that if someone is reading this, they have a good story in business, they have the confidence that their story is good enough and they could absolutely make an impact and grow their business by getting in the media.
Joe Winger:
Starting with the basics, let’s pretend I have a company, I think I want public attention. I want to reach out to someone like you.
So what should I be thinking about? What do I present to you as a step one?
Heather Holmes:
Step one is really the intentionality of why you want to get in the media. What’s your goal? Are you wanting to reach more people? Are you wanting to get your story out there?
Are you wanting more sales and more people to buy your product?
You really need to know. Where you’re going first, and if you don’t know where you’re going, or you don’t have a vision, then it’s really hard to help you.
But if you have clarity there, then we can really pull back and help you identify your story, how you’re different, your why, and why your product and or company, would be really great to be in the media.
The PublicityForGood Team
FlavRReport.com on YouTube
Joe Winger:
Now, looking at the grand scheme of the campaign, what kind of a campaign should we be looking for: expectations, results?
Heather Holmes:
After we know our outcome that we’re wanting to get more sales, more backlinks, or name in the media, then what I like to do first is work with every entrepreneur, and even if you have a product, to really reflect in “why your story matters”
Why does your product matter?
If you’ve never been in the media before, I take people for an exercise where I have them draw on a piece of paper, them as a baby, to where they are now.
I have them write the key pivotal moments that have happened in their life that have made them start that company, because those little components are absolutely a part of your story.
I’ve been in the media 700 plus times: Inside Edition, Fox News, The New York Coast, incredible media, but it hasn’t always been about being a publicist, right?
Yes. I’m the founder of Publicity For Good, but a lot of that has been my story or building a seven figure company from an airstream.
Now I have almost two under two with a third on the way.
So you need to have your key pivotal moments because those are things you can talk about in the media.
Then we need to look at what’s going on in the news and how we bridge the gap between your product. Relevancy.
Joe Winger:
People may not know you are a former Miss Ohio International. Can you tell us a lesson you learned from being a former Miss Ohio International that you’re using in today’s work?
Heather Holmes:
It’s really all about your platform and reaching new audiences.
When I was building my company I decided I wanted to get into pageants. I wanted to meet a community of like minded people that wanted to make a difference in the world.
It was a way for me to have a platform because at the time I was talking about why you absolutely can build a profitable business.But also make a difference in your community and make a difference amongst your team. And really just build an incredible legacy.
So that was why I did the pageants.
I did a bunch of publicity and again, it made me relevant and timely because that was what got me in the media because I was Miss Ohio and I was only Miss Ohio International for a period of time.
So it gave me that relevancy. So you have to be relevant.
You have to bridge the gap between what’s happening in the news, or we often use Awareness Days, National Nutrition Month, National Social Media Day, and you have to position your product or yourself as the solution.
[For example], we were talking about an incredible juice brand, but most pitches I see are very promotional, right? It needs to be how you or your product simplifies people’s lives. How are you adding value? Or you don’t have a product you need to inspire people.
Joe Winger:
You’re growing a 7- figure business. What’s it like growing a huge business while you’re taking care of your kids and for a while you were living out of your Airstream
Heather Holmes:
We lived out of a 23 foot airstream for 3 1/2 years. I went from dating to engaged, to married to [my first child] Rose, who’s almost two, who lived in our airstream with us.
The year the pandemic [hit] was our first million dollar year.
I think a lot of the reason why it was that year is because when March hit, everyone was so scared that we lost about 40% of our business, number one.
Number two, we had to hustle and grit to make it. There was no choice of failing. All the distractions were gone.
When you’re in an Airstream, all you have is your laptop, but we had no external distractions, and then everything else was closed.
So the only focus we could do was our business and we had to scale out of necessity because we didn’t want to lose what we had put so much time in.
Fast forward, we now have 22 acres where we live and we have two under two, we have one on the way, we’re a full time team of 40, and it’s not easy.
I say transparently, it’s a hot mess. There are so many miracles that happen every day, but life is one, right? I can’t turn off my founder hat and publicist hat and then “Oh, I’m a mom”. It’s all one.
So yes, I might have Rose [my daughter] on a call with me from time to time, but I’ve learned that the more you step in and embrace your life, who you are and the realness, sometimes people opt out and that’s okay.
And this is my legacy.
I like these missions that we’re doing good work to us is way more than a business. We want to grow your brand and mission and we take it so seriously.
So it’s not perfect. It’s not perfectly scheduled. I’m a full time mom, all the time on the weekends when the kids are sleeping, we’re working.
We know where we want to go, and these clients and ambitions that we’re aligned with and supporting are helping people with their health.
Joe Winger:
What an incredible story to share.
Heather Holmes: I have so much to share. Like I was adopted when I was a week old to having two under two and another one on the way and building a business and building a homestead.
It’s so crazy. Austin, who’s my husband, the first week we were dating, we’re all about intentionality. I have the journal and we mapped everything out.
This year, we were going to get engaged then married. Austin and I,l we will have been together almost five years.
We’ve had a kid every year. Rose will be two in June.
We want to build a business. We want to impact our clients, brands, and scale their business. We want our team to get better and flourish in their personal lives too.
This is our mission and I’ve seen so many miracles happen from getting in the media on a personal level.
I was talking to [a business owner client] and her business grew by 40% from getting in the media.
One of my favorite cookie brands, a mom had an incredible heart story. She went on our local news and she brought in $12,000 worth of sales, just the local people wanting to support her.
On the flip side, when people Google my name, it’s like my social currency, there’s all these articles. So I have so much peace in that. Our kids will see the good work we’re doing.
Joe Winger:
You’re talking to an audience of foodies. What is your favorite meal?
Heather Holmes:
We just had Indian food last night that my husband made and it was so good.
We used to live in San Diego and I think San Diego has the best food. It’s all fresh. We’ve traveled a lot. We’ve been to Bali, their food is pretty incredible too. Where we live [now] we’re right outside of Asheville and Charlotte. So they have some good restaurants, but like I’m not in the phase right now where I’m the foodie like I used to be.
[At our house] we have chickens and we have fresh eggs. So I’m obsessed with fresh eggs every morning. You’re living a good life when you can go get your eggs and have them at home with some goat cheese.
And honestly, I love Livermuth. Crazy. So I’d say some Livermuth fried in a cast iron with some eggs and goat cheese. It’s the simple things that I really do love.
Joe Winger:
Heather Holmes with Publicity for Good. As we wrap up, whether it’s a potential client, a potential vendor, someone wanting your help with publicity, what are the best ways to find, follow you, websites, social media, etc?
DC is in the “FORVR Mood” with Jackie Aina for Limited-Edition Crown Royal Blackberry Flavored Whisky
Crown Royal and FORVR Mood Co-Founder, Jackie Aina, Partner to Release Limited-Edition Candle Inspired by Popular New Flavor Crown Royal Blackberry Flavored Whisky
Jackie Aina, from FORVR Mood, Partners with Crown Royal Blackberry Flavored Whisky
With bottles flying off the shelves nationwide, Crown Royal Blackberry Flavored Whisky has proven to be one of the brand’s most popular flavor offerings.
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This is an innovative whisky blend deserving of a partner just as creative to kick off the summer. Jackie Aina, a well-respected creator and entrepreneur, whose brand, FORVR Mood, garnered a wait list of over 45,000 customers prior to its launch in 2020, was a natural choice for the brand.
Aina’s love for the new flavor inspired her curation of the limited-edition Crown Royal Blackberry x FORVR Mood candle.
Appropriately titled, Berry On Top, this delicious scent is crafted with notes of blackberry, complemented with whisky accord and vanilla.
Limited quantities of the candle will be available online at Forvrmood.com *while supplies last
This exclusive new scent will be unveiled at the Crown Royal Blackberry Stand!
The Crown Royal Blackberry Stand is an adult twist on your traditional lemonade stand , where creativity meets cocktails and spotlights business owners, via the collaboration with Jackie Aina and FORVR Mood.
With the entrepreneurial spirit of a traditional lemonade stand at its core, the Crown Royal Blackberry Stand will provide a platform for rising founders via the brand’s partnership with 501(c)(3) organization, Black Girl Ventures Foundation.
Attendees that visit the stand are invited to sip signature cocktails and shop the exclusive Berry on Top candle as they learn more about Crown Royal charity partner Black Girl Ventures Foundation.
Black Girl Ventures Foundation is an IRS § 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing underrepresented founders with access to community, capital, and capacity building to meet business milestones that lead to economic advancement through entrepreneurship.
Crown Royal’s partnership with FORVR Mood and Jackie Aina is rooted in the support of Black Girl Ventures Foundation.
To further their efforts, Crown Royal will be donating $50,000 to Black Girl Ventures Foundation from the Crown Royal Generosity Fund*, where half of the donation will support the BGV Pitch Program.
More information on the organization’s mission, programming, and ways to support the Black Girl Ventures community will be found at The Crown Royal Blackberry Stand.
“Our new Blackberry Flavored Whisky is one of our most flavorful yet!”
Hadley Schafer
VP of Crown Royal
“…It was important that we found the perfect partner to not only celebrate this exciting new release but also one whose passion for creativity and entrepreneurship aligned with our vision for The Crown Royal Blackberry Stand,” said Hadley Schafer, VP of Crown Royal. “This collaboration with Jackie Aina and FORVR Mood not only highlights this flavor profile in such a fun and unexpected way but also makes a meaningful impact by supporting the next generation of 21+ business owners.”
For more information about The Crown Royal Blackberry Stand featuring Crown Blackberry x FORVR Mood By Jackie Aina in Los Angeles on June 14th and 15th, and more juicy Crown Royal news visit @crownroyal on Instagram to sign up for the Crown Royal newsletter.
“Finding new ways to flex my creativity to craft something that I know my supporters will love is exciting for me,”
Jackie Aina
“So, when I was approached by Crown Royal for this partnership it was a no-brainer for me, especially after seeing all the hype for their new Blackberry Flavored Whisky and learning they’re supporting a cause close to my heart with Black Girl Ventures. I’m excited to partner with a brand that shares my values!”
Crown Royal Blackberry Whisky has an ABV of 35% and is available nationwide for a limited time at a suggested retail price of $26.99 for a 750mL bottle.
*Crown Royal Generosity Fund is a donor-advised fund, administered by Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, a nonprofit entity organized under IRC §501c3.
Love Tasting Bourbons? This Fredericksburg Virginia Bed & Breakfast Ironclad inn Might Be Your Dream Visit, Owen King from Ironclad Distillery shares Delicious Details
Ironclad Inn is the first B & B & B – Bed & Breakfast & Bourbon Tasting Room.
Ironclad Inn is the first B & B & B – Bed & Breakfast & Bourbon Tasting Room
Today’s conversation with Distiller Owen King from Ironclad Distillery has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.
Owen King, Ironclad Distillery
Joe Winger:
A lot of really cool things are happening right now. I want to jump into your tasting room, the distillery, we’ll get into bourbon tastings in a few minutes.
But first and foremost, what’s the most important thing with Ironclad right now for you?
Owen King:
The most important thing about Ironclad for me right now is the same thing it’s always been, trying to make the best bourbon we can.
The other thing is spreading the word about our bed and breakfast; and bourbon. It’s a bed and breakfast in Fredericksburg that when you’re there, you can drink bourbon.
Ironclad’s famous Old Fashioned cocktail
We make a lot of old fashions there and we always have all these leftover oranges. Now the perfect thing is in the morning you have fresh squeezed orange juice from our [leftover] old fashions.
It’s really working double duty now.
Besides that I just love the fact that we can now expand our distillery up to Fredericksburg. So we can have more people try our bourbon and enjoy our bourbon, which is the goal.
Joe Winger:
Getting to know you before you jump into Ironclad, I want to use the word “were”, you were a football player and cooking changed your life.
Tell us more about your cooking. Was there a special dish that enhanced your life?
Owen King:
I’m Italian. So obviously with the Italian genes, we share our love through food. Growing up I cooked a lot.
When I went to college [I cooked]for my teammates. I’d make dinner for everyone. So when we decided to open the bourbon distillery, I figured, I know how to cook. I think I could probably figure out how to make bourbon.
I know flavors. I know how things go well together. I think I have a pretty decent palette.
So putting all those things together to make a great bourbon was the goal.
Food is one of those things where you never stop improving. I feel the same about bourbon.
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Joe Winger:
Is there a favorite dish?
Owen King:
Breaded chicken cutlets and spaghetti.
That is how it started. Then I was like “I really like cheese.” Maybe I could put cheese in with the breadcrumbs and then do that. Then I started expanding. Chicken Parm. Making my own sauce. Thinking I could add something here to make that better.
It’s the same way I look at bourbon.
Thinking, “I like what this person’s doing. Let me see what they’re doing. I can build off that to make it work on my own.”
Creating my own recipes, going from there, just continually tweaking little things here and there.
We’ll make a 5% difference, maybe a 10% difference.
For most people when we think of bourbon, we don’t always think of Virginia as the first choice. What would surprise us most about coming down to Virginia for a bourbon tasting and staying the night?
Ironclad Distillery
Owen King:
If you’re coming down to Virginia, you have to remember Virginia is the birthplace of American spirits. The first place spirits were made in the new colonies, in the new world, was here in Virginia.
The first corn liquor which would eventually become bourbon, was made in Virginia.
You can also talk about Elijah Craig, who was from Fairfax County, Virginia, before he moved out to Kentucky.
On top of that, Kentucky wasn’t a state until 1793. Evan Williams was doing distillation in 1783, and at that point Kentucky was still Virginia.
The birthplace of bourbon is right here in Virginia.
I’ve been to Kentucky a lot. They talk about the birthplace of bourbon being there in Kentucky.
Maybe the territory it’s in was Kentucky, but it was still Virginia at the time.
Whenever someone comes by, I can tell them the history of actual bourbon, where you’re gonna get the whole story, not just the fantasized story that you get in Kentucky.
Joe Winger:
I’m incredibly glad you just shared that.
Let’s talk about The Ironclad Bed and Breakfast now. The bourbon tasting room, the event space.
Owen King:
We wanted to spread our bourbon out around the state. We’ve always really liked Fredericksburg. It’s a beautiful town. It’s got a ton of history to it.
Nothing goes better with bourbon than a good story.
So we can always tell our history while drinking. So with our bed and breakfast, we looked at what the bigger guys were doing. A lot of them were starting to have these places where you could stay [the night] and get an experience to go along with it.
We really wanted to spread our Ironclad experience.
We have a tasting room. It’s beautifully decorated by my sister. We’ve got a bottle shop where you can pick up pretty much every one of our bourbons that are available. We’ve got a bar so you can try it from our seasonal cocktail menus where we change it five times a year.
We have a winter, a fall, a spring, summer [menu].Then a holiday menu as well.
No matter what time of year you’re there, you’re trying something that’s going to go well seasonally.
Everyone likes seasonal drinks. You don’t want to drink in the fall, what you’d drink in the summer.
We always have an old fashioned and it’s a damn good old fashioned.
Then we also have an event space. We have weddings. We’ve had 50th birthday parties.
Ironclad Inn wedding and special events
We’ve had any event that you want to tie into with our bourbon or just if you want a beautiful event space in a building that was built in 1793 we have that as a great option.
It’s a really cool spot that you can go and see and experience.
It’s something we want to share, our love for bourbon with everyone.
Whether you’re here in Newport News or in Fredericksburg, you’ll get a King family member there to tell you our story and tell you all about our bourbon and show you around.
Ironclad Bottled-in-Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Joe Winger:
Outstanding. Let’s get to the tasty part now. You have several amazing bottles. When someone comes to your tasting room this weekend, what should they be looking forward to?
Owen King:
We do a few bottle releases that are once a year for us. One of my favorites.
A five year, three barrel blend of three 30 gallon barrels. Bottle of Bond.
The history alone is one of my favorite things to talk about. In 1897 the federal government stepped in because there was people dying from drinking bad whiskey.
They stepped in to “certify” everything in there.
“If you bottle it at four years old and at 100 proof, we will claim that this is a bottle and bond bourbon certified” by the federal government that it is safe to drink.
That story alone is one of my favorites of bourbon lore.
We just want to make sure that we do that every year that we can.
It’s absolutely one of my favorite bourbons. It’s our four grain mash bill. 70% corn 10% wheat, 10% rye, 10% malted barley.
So with the corn and the wheat, it adds a nice sweetness to it. But then the rye is there to kind of balance that whole thing out. Before it gets [to be] a very sweet bourbon, it balances out, a little baking spice, maybe even some clove, maybe a little black pepper.
Absolutely delicious. But this is a cast finish, not a flavored bourbon. So we’re not adding maple syrup to it. People who drink it might think it’s going to be super sweet and not going to like it. Because they don’t like maple syrup.
This is my version of drinking maple syrup responsibly and not getting diabetes.
After we empty our barrels, we give them to a maple syrup producer in upstate New York. He’ll age his maple syrup using our bourbon barrels.
By doing that through transference, there’s about a gallon of bourbon stuck in the staves of the wood. So when he puts a new liquid in there, that maple syrup is going to absorb into the wood and that bourbon is going to come back out.
Now his maple syrup is picking up that beautiful bourbon flavor and we are picking up all that maple syrup flavor into the wood.
When he brings those barrels back down to us, we put our aged bourbon back in there and we let him finish in there for about three to six months.
After we take the bourbon out, it’s now got this beautiful, mild sweetness, but it’s got that hint of maple syrup at the end.
I always say, I don’t want it to be maple syrup with a hint of bourbon. I want it to be bourbon with a hint of maple syrup, which I think it absolutely is.
Ironclad Missouri Toasted Oak Cask
Joe Winger:
The maple syrup is so subtle, almost a tertiary flavor to it.
This is a double oak bourbon. With double oaking, what you’re going to do is exactly how it sounds.
You’re going to go from one new charred oak barrel. But instead of a second new charred oak barrel, we’re going to go to a lightly toasted barrel.
So my analogy for this is you’re sitting at a campfire and you’ve got a marshmallow. You’re roasting your marshmallow over the flame and it gets burnt. It catches on fire. So now you’ve got that roasted marshmallow where you’re still gonna eat it because it’s a roasted marshmallow.
So you eat it and it’s still sweet. But it’s got that sort of maybe a bitter acrid note just cause you burnt those sugars. You haven’t toasted them.
Now you take another marshmallow. You’re a little more patient this time. You’re going to stick it down in the coals and you’ll slowly rotate it until you’ve got that perfectly golden brown marshmallow.
When you taste it, it’s now twice as sweet because you just caramelize those sugars as opposed to burning them.
It’s the same with a charred oak barrel to a toasted oak barrel. With that charring of those oaks, you’re gonna you’re still gonna have that sweetness. We’re amplifying that sweetness with the toasting of the oak.
With this one you get those softer vanilla flavors like toasted marshmallow. You get a cookie dough flavor, maybe it’s raw cookie dough without the chocolate chips.
Joe Winger:
That’s amazing. mmIs there an extra bottle when I come down there, I’m in the tasting room, another good bottle we should ask for?
Owen King:
Another one that we have right now that is a very limited run. Very small release is our blueberry mead cask finish.
We give our barrels to a meadery in Williamsburg, Virginia and they make this blueberry honey mead. So now they have this bourbon barrel aged blueberry mead. And when they’re done with them, they give them back to us.
You’re not necessarily overwhelmed with [a] heavy blueberry flavor but it opens up to this really nice fruitiness and then like a fermented honey flavor on the front end.
It’s so unique, but it’s great neat on the rocks.
Joe Winger:
If we come down for the weekend, we visit the distillery in Newport News. What’s a tour like?
Owen King:
If people aren’t the biggest bourbon drinker, I want you to walk away saying, “Okay, I found something that is made with bourbon that I like.”
We are a distillery that only makes bourbon.
I want to make sure that everyone who comes here has something they can enjoy. This isn’t an uppity bourbon bar.
I want someone to come and be able to say, I’m not the biggest bourbon fan. What kind of cocktails do you have?” We always have a cocktail on every single menu that’s open for everyone.
Everyone’s going to love it and whether you’re a big bourbon fan or not. We just really want to be accommodating. We want to be a fun place for everyone to hang out.
We want to tell our story, the history of the Ironclad ships. Go through our distillery tour, we’ll show you that. If you want to know the history of Fredericksburg, or the history of What the bed and breakfast is we’ll tell you that.
Nothing pairs better with bourbon than a good story. And we really care about spreading that word.
Joe Winger:
Whether it’s a romantic getaway, a weekend getaway, why choose your bed and breakfast instead of a hotel?
Owen King:
While we’ve only had it a short time. But we’ve been adding things here and there. You’re going to get a fresh orange juice in the morning, made with the oranges that we used for our old fashions [last night].
We have our barrel aged maple syrup for your pancakes. So you’re going to have that maple syrup with a hint of bourbon.
Ironclad Inn
We really drive home that it’s a bed breakfast and bourbon experience. Get immersed in the bourbon culture. That’s our goal.
Joe Winger:
Any favorite bourbon and food pairings?
Owen King:
Bourbon’s wonderful for food pairings.
We’ve gone from pasta pairings to pizza pairings. Anything that’s fatty is a perfect pairing. Pork belly with a cherry reduction over top of it with one of our bourbons straight
We have this bourbon cream, Buzz’s Bourbon Cream, where it’s made with our small batch bourbon that’s infused with coffee beans, cacao nibs, and vanilla beans. That one over vanilla ice cream is perfection.
You’re adding a little booze, some coffee, a little bit of chocolate.
You take a bite and all of a sudden you had three scoops and it’s gone 30 seconds later.
Joe Winger:
What’s the best way to learn more about Ironclad Distillery and Ironclad Inn?
What Does Paris Order in DC! She Brings Back The Cosmo with new Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection
Absolut is officially announcing its brand partnership with artist and businesswoman Paris Hiltonand her next-gen media company, 11:11 Media, as two icons bring back the Cosmo in culture through a new drinkware line, music and events.
Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection
As the Official Vodka of Coachella, Absolut and Paris gave fans an easter egg of the collaboration at the ultimate mixing grounds with her surprise appearance at the Absolut.LAND activation, and now, the Sliving Cosmo festival serve is getting a new drinkware glow up to enhance everyday happy hours.
Introducing the Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection– an all-new blush pink Cosmo-inspired drinkware line available exclusively on Amazon starting today.
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Building on Paris’ best-selling cookware line, the collection marks Paris’ first foray into drinkware that includes three styles of short-stemmed, hand-blown martini glasses available in a set of two ($29), as well as an insulated pink cocktail shaker with gold accents and a gold jigger ($25).
“From teaming up with Absolut
for my first live show last summer
through personal celebrations and professional events
this year, I’m so excited to announce my new drinkware line
designed to be enjoyed with an Absolut Cosmo,”
Paris Hilton
CEO of 11:11 Media
“Let’s live our best life this summer by bringing the Cosmo back – whether entertaining at home or at one of my upcoming shows.”
Crafted using Absolut Citron with its fresh, real citrus flavor, the Absolut Cosmo is a light and refreshing cocktail that can be sipped casually at home, yet sophisticated enough to be at the center of any event.
Absolut Citron is part of the history and culture of the Cosmo going back to the ’80s, and now decades later, this cocktail continues to be an icon. While you can make the Cosmo with different flavors of Absolut like Wild Berri or Watermelon as a versatile cocktail, the classic is made with Absolut Citron.
“The Absolut Cosmo is an iconic cocktail for a reason, and with its latest resurgence, we’re thrilled to be partnered with Paris Hilton to bring the timeless allure of the cocktail to life through this new drinkware collection,” said Matt Foley, VP of Marketing, Absolut. “As a brand born to mix, Absolut looks forward to bringing people together this summer over Cosmo-inspired celebrations.”
To purchase the Absolut x Paris Hilton Cosmo Collection and learn more about Cosmo recipes, please visit www.absolut.com/en-us/Cosmo and follow @AbsolutUS.
ABSOLUT SLIVING COSMO 1 1/2 Parts Absolut Citron 3/4 Part Triple Sec 3/4 Part Cranberry Juice 3/4 Part Lime Garnish with orange twist Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist.
ABOUT PERNOD RICARD USA Pernod Ricard USA is the premium spirits and wine company in the U.S., and the largest subsidiary of Paris, France-based Pernod Ricard SA., the world’s second largest spirits and wine company.
Pernod Ricard employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI) and is part of the CAC 40 index.
The company’s leading spirits include such prestigious brands as Absolut Vodka, Avión Tequila, Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky, The Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Kahlúa Liqueur, Malibu, Martell Cognac, Olmeca Altos Tequila, Beefeater Gin, Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal, Código Tequila, Monkey 47 Gin, Seagram’s Extra Dry Gin, Malfy Gin, Hiram Walker Liqueurs, Midleton Irish Whiskey, Redbreast Irish Whiskey, Aberlour Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Lillet, Jefferson’s Bourbon, TX Whiskey, Smooth Ambler Whiskey, Rabbit Hole Whiskey, Pernod and Ricard; such superior wines as Jacob’s Creek, Kenwood Vineyards, Campo Viejo and Brancott Estate; and such exquisite champagnes and sparkling wines as Perrier-Jouët Champagne, G.H. Mumm Champagne and Mumm Napa sparkling wines.
Pernod Ricard USA is headquartered in New York, New York, and has more than 1,000 employees across the country.
As “creators of conviviality,” we are committed to sustainable and responsible business practices in service of our customers, consumers, employees and the planet. Pernod Ricard USA urges all adults to consume its products responsibly and has an active program to promote responsible drinking.
ABOUT 11:11 MEDIA 11:11 Media is a global, next-gen entertainment company at the center of pop culture – connecting content, community, and commerce – founded by Paris Hilton and entertainment industry veteran Bruce Gersh in 2021.
The company spans a broad array of businesses including film, TV, audio, music, books, consumer products, digital and web3, with passion points around lifestyle, fashion, beauty, wellness, art, travel and more. Elevating brands, building communities, and driving social impact through the power of storytelling, experiences, and products is the core mission of 11:11 Media.
DC Discovers Aphrodise Sparkling Wine, Taste it Before Your next Party, Frank Schilling Reveals
Whether it’s a wedding, party, or just drinks with dinner. We want taste. Maybe we want a few drinks. We also want to protect ourselves from tomorrow’s hangover.
It’s hard to find a drink that can take day to night quite like a Greek rosé and Aphrodise wants to prove it to you.
Frank Schilling, Co-Founder of Aphrodise
Today’s conversation with Frank Schilling from Aphrodise has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
Our audience is foodies. We’re wine lovers. What’s the most important message today you want to share with an audience of foodies and wine lovers?
Frank Schilling:
I’m an Epicurean myself. I don’t have a lot of pretense around my love of food and wine, I just love great food and wine and I’ve tasted so many great things.
I’m a character who hasn’t had a meal at home in 22 years. As an internet entrepreneur, I used to work, literally seven days a week for many years and eating out was my escape from my work because it’s the one place my laptop and phone couldn’t rule the day, or the moment.
For me, eating out was that escape and that vacation of the moment.
I created a life around dining out probably like many of your listeners or viewers. And I have a deep well of respect for great food and wine and also for the people who admire it and chase it, it’s a, it’s one of the great things in life.
I’m always stunned by people who don’t truly love food. I feel like they’re missing something and leaving part of life on the table.
Discovering Aphrodise sparkling wine
Joe Winger:
You have this new discovery. Let’s talk a little bit about Aphrodise. Tell me about how you discovered the grape varietal?
Frank Schilling:
I’m a wine lover. I tasted my way through Bordeaux and Burgundy.
All the way through, I could never really tell a Merlot from a Cab. I’d be lying to you if I said I knew what a Nebbiolo or a Valpolicella was and how all those grapes differed from each other.
I do enjoy great brands of wine. I do understand the difference between years and what impacts a year.
But when I was building [my restaurant] it was COVID. I was doing some fingertip math and I realized we’re gonna have to start bringing over a lot of sparkling [wine] for mimosas and for brunch. It was 300 seat restaurant, two seatings, 600 seats on a brunch [shift].
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You start to do the math and you realize, “Wow, 52 weekends a year, bottomless mimosas. I’m going to need about 3,000 bottles of wine per quarter of champagne. So let’s go out and get some. We live on an island and supply chain management wasn’t really an option.
So we started to taste through different varieties of champagne.
I came to discover what Tom Cruise did in [the movie] “Cocktail”, which is, champagne is like perfume going down, but like sewage on the way back.
It comes from a well meant place, not mean spirited towards the great region of Champagne.
Joining the Aphrodise sparkling wine party
It’s just the nature of Champenois produced wine and that Chardonnay grape that makes a beautiful champagne is such that you just can’t consume a lot of it in the heat or humidity in the sun.
Traditional Champagne vs Aphrodise Sparkling Wine
It just isn’t the type of forgiving libation that lets you function afterwards and you don’t feel good.
The yeast isn’t good for a lot of people. Not everybody’s impacted the same way but, a large portion of the population doesn’t do well with champagne and heat in sunlight as a day drink.
The recovery profile isn’t something that people look forward to.
Aphrodise from the grape varietal called Xenomavro
I discovered that I’d had that problem myself for years. The yeast wasn’t working for me.
So when I discovered Aphrodise, it was a grape varietal called Xenomavro.
A high altitude grape, Greece’s most noble grape.
It’s a very forgiving drink. In a sparkling format, it’s something you can drink in the heat, it’s something you can drink in larger quantities, I can tell you that the recovery profile, for me and for many others, is exceptionally good.
Meaning you can drink a lot of it and bounce back and go again.
As a wine producer, that’s music to your ears. But it’s also nice knowing I’m making people feel better. I’m not putting something in the market that’s going to make you feel sick after overconsumption.
At a party enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine
Joe Winger:
Just to give a little backstory. Frank, I hope you’ll talk to us a little bit about one of your first adventures. You mentioned you’re an internet entrepreneur, you had some success with website domains.
Can you explain a little bit about that and maybe a lesson you learned from that journey?
Frank Schilling:
It’s a lesson that some of your listeners and viewers probably have some experience with.
I registered a domain name back in the dot com era. Then I registered 2 [dot com names], then 10 and I got some generic names like wine.com , cars.com. Names like those.
I started to realize, wow, these names have value.
I wound up registering a lot of generic names and then I had difficulty managing them because in those early days of the Internet, it was all very unwieldy. The infrastructure for managing those names.
So I created a lot of that management infrastructure. Then in the process, grew that business over a 20 year horizon and wound up selling the 3 companies that comprised that enterprise to a company called GoDaddy, which we’ve probably all heard of.
So some of their infrastructure was my infrastructure and is now their infrastructure.
To the extent you like the new GoDaddy offering for managing domain names, you’re welcome, for the small part I played in helping that become a reality.
In the old days, I was traveling a lot. I had an office in Manchester in the United Kingdom, one in Newport beach in California and my main office here in the Cayman Islands. I would travel between the offices, New York, Miami and many other cities, just for work all around the world.
Enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine
At the beginning of COVID that all came to a grinding halt. I sold those businesses and decided that with my love of food, if I was going to stay in the Cayman Islands, I realized I’m gonna have to eat at home more and I realized, the offerings of restaurants wasn’t the depth was hoping for.
So I built the restaurant, as a result of that that then led to Aphrodise.
Joe Winger:
I love the full circle of it.
Since we’ve mentioned the restaurant once or twice. Can we hear more about your restaurant Mykonos Cayman?
Frank Schilling:
Sure. During COVID lockdowns, there was a new plaza going in on the beach and I had mentally designed a restaurant years ago, but sold the real estate for it.
So when I saw the plaza going up, I was crestfallen. These guys built my dream on their land. My fantasy of what a place would look like. But then I was happy to learn that the plaza was a strata titled affair. It wasn’t owned by one conglomerate.
So I bought into that plaza so I could control the real estate. Then once I had the real estate I did a sort of “money no object” fit out that left a very residential-looking restaurant really quite beautiful.
I love the culture of Greece and I love the idea of the long lunch and the lack of pretense in the party and [being] all welcoming, with children, grownups will dance on the table and get really carried away.
The kids are running around. It’s all very loving and family oriented.
Whereas, Ibiza is a little more drug fueled and party, ragey and a little more intense.
I loved the soulful day party of Greece. We’re on an island and the Greeks are on islands. So I thought how nice it would be to bring some of that to my reserved island here in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman is more of a place you quietly go to escape and enjoy the beach and family.
It’s not really a St. Bart’s where you go to seek out a great party. I always hoped that there’d be room for at least one place like they have in St. Bart’s here.
So I built a really big place, 320 seats, super residential, relaxed, welcoming, But completely devoid of pretense. You can come in, flip flops and shorts, or you can come in a beautiful gown as we’d hope in the evening.
But we don’t have a lot of structure and posture around it. We want you to feel free when you come. So that, I built that venue here, and you can see it online.
It’s called Mykonos Cayman. We have an Instagram where people can learn about the restaurant.
When you come, please come for a glass of Aphrodise on me. Mention Frank said I could have a glass of Aphrodise
Joe Winger:
You introduced Aphrodise at the Las Vegas Wedding Show. How did it go? Why do you think Aphrodise is the best drink to have at a wedding?
Frank Schilling:
It’s the color of love. It’s a beautiful color of red.
We took it to the wedding show because I thought that wedding planners would share the same pain point that I discovered as a restaurateur. Which is, if you want to buy a bottle of great champagne, easy, you go to the liquor store.
But when you start getting up there and you need 100 cases for an event or a series of events, getting that quantity consistently and getting a good product is actually quite difficult. And expensive.
So we thought we’d introduce Aphrodise.
Knowing that we could go directly to the wedding planners and help their fulfillment and execution and deliver a better product.
Something that people could really lavish in the heat or at an after party where you’re really enjoying the bubbly and then feel better in the morning. That was really the goal.
My first champagne experience was at a wedding and I drank a little too much. For the next day or two, I was laid up.
So we try to bring something to market that is good for people or at least makes them feel good in the moment and helps them recover.
We had a line all day. I poured a 5,000 servings of Aphrodise that day. People loved it.
Let me tell you, that’s a lot of work, opening bottles. It looks very glamorous. But when you’re really going at velocity, my hands hurt at the end of the day.
We got a lot of upstart business out of that. People were like, “Wow, this stuff is actually quite good.’
Joe Winger:
Let’s talk about flavor profile.
Pouring out 5,000 samples, what’s the most common feedback we get about the flavor, aroma, the mouthfeel, what are we experiencing?
Frank Schilling:
So when you sip a drink and you talk about mouthfeel or we have a glass of wine or champagne and you have a sip and there’s a little bit of a yeasty, gamey after taste.
For some people in red wine, it can be somewhat desirable.
In champagne, unfortunately it stays with it as well.
When you’re having champagne, which is more of a celebratory libation, that’s not a desirable quality. You want to have something that finishes clean in your mouth.
If you have lots of sips, you’re going to get a good buzz. You want to be able to recover quickly and elegantly without that headache that comes from the yeast and all those elements that bring its flavor.
So the taste of Aphrodise is a very clean mouthfeel and it finishes with a light crisp apple or cherry. Some people taste strawberry.
It’s a small bubble. Very light charmat, produced in small vats, a naturally produced bubbly effect. It lives in tanks for 3 months and it gains its bubbly in a natural way.
A little more expensive to produce that way. Prosecco, for example, will carbonate. They’ll add carbonation just like you would to a can of soda.
We don’t carbonate. We allow the bubbly to form naturally through the fermentation process, which is how it should be.
Co-Founders of Aphrodise Sparkling Wine
Joe Winger:
When it comes to food and wine pairing. What would be your favorite dish to pair with a glass of Aphrodise?
Frank Schilling:
Aphrodise is literally the only thing that I drink, and I’m crestfallen when I can’t find it.
It’s a dark rosé so it goes nicely with meat – a burger or a steak. Chicken or fish. It’s also a great dessert drink.
I like Aphrodise as a warmup libation and as an after dinner, like celebratory drink if you’re having a party, there’s an after party.
Joe Winger:
You’ve done a lot in your life. You’ve had a lot of adventures, a lot of successes.
Any inspiration or lessons you can share with the audience?
Frank Schilling:
The answer is love for people and love for living your best life, love for conviviality. I have a lot of love for the people that I encountered that have helped me in my journey. Those who’ve just been a part of my life, there for a season or there for a reason, as the saying goes, I try to embrace everybody.
See the good in everybody. There are people you click with more than other people. I say yes to everything unless it hurts me. I have a real lust for life and a good energy level.
Joe Winger:
If you’re loving Frank’s energy and his positivity, you wrote an amazing book. Would you mind giving us a summary of the book and what it was like writing it?
Frank Schilling:
It’s called Omnia Vincent: the universe wants you to win.
I wrote the book as I’d sold my businesses. It was during COVID lockdowns and everybody was [going through a] “The end of the world” mood type thing at that time.
You write a book like this for your grandchildren. If one day they want to know more about grandpa and did our success come from or where did our financial wealth come from?
It’s nice for them to know a little about the person who tried hard and maybe you can see something in yourself. So I really wrote it for my future ancestors.
I want to be the guy who left something for the grandkids and great grandkids to understand a little about my brain. And it’s really just written in short micro chapters.
Joe Winger:
Because you’re an epicurean, if you’re going to have any plate for dinner tonight, what would it be and why?
Frank Schilling:
Tonight I’m actually feeling a Pittsburgh style steak, seared on the outside. I haven’t had good red meat in about a week, and we just got some A5 Wagyu at the restaurant Our chef is a butcher and he’s also a certified Angus ambassador. So he gets great cuts.
We do a beautiful short rib burger, which is really lean short rib again on the outside with a bit of a char finish. We have a charcoal grill inside the restaurant, which is beautiful.
Joe Winger:
Thank you so much for your time. If someone wants to learn more, what are the best ways to find and follow websites, social media for Aphrodise?
Frank Schilling:
DrinkAphrodise on Instagram and the website DrinkAphrodise.com
Ordering Chinese food in DC? Hungry Panda want to Help
Leveraging their industry-leading delivery services, the Hungry Panda app seamlessly connects food, people and culture.
Hungry Panda goes further with Chinese Food in Vegas
The ‘Golden Panda Award’ is a symbol of excellence in the global overseas Chinese food industry, setting the highest standard for culinary achievement.
It stands as the world’s exclusive international honor specifically dedicated to recognizing restaurant businesses in the food delivery sector. This prestigious award embodies commitment to promoting and celebrating outstanding achievements in the realm of international Chinese cuisine.
Kitty Liu from Hungry Panda
Joe Winger:
We are here today with Kitty Liu from HungryPanda.
Help me get to know HungryPanda.com
Kitty Liu:
Hungry Panda serves a niche market for Asian communities. We were established in 2017, founded in the UK when our CEO and the founding team were studying in Nottingham University.
The platform was born from a very simple, but compelling need experienced first hand, by the founders as international students, struggling to find authentic Chinese food in the UK.
From that outset, Hungry Panda started to really focus sharply on that particular niche market, tailoring our user experience with Chinese interfaces to overcome culture and language barriers.
That’s how our app got started. We are very lucky enough to be growing really fast within the past six years.
Now we expanded into 10 different countries, including: US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and Singapore.
Joe Winger:
Different cultures, maybe different ways people use their phones, different apps.
What challenges has Hungry Panda faced as you enter the very competitive North America market?
Kitty Liu:
Local regulatory requirements that we need to meet. Every country, every region has different regulations, and especially with food delivery.
The U.S. is actually coming out with all the new regulations lately, therefore that’s one of the challenges as well.
Also intense competition from established local and global brands.
When we entered the North American market, Door Dash, Uber, the giants, had already occupied the mass market. In the Asian food delivery market, we also have competitors like, Chow Bus and others.
Obviously we were the new brand going to the market.
Therefore, that’s the main challenge that we faced. But, we were actually quite confident and, lucky enough because we have a very good team structure. All of our team members have experience opening markets in different countries.
So unlike Uber or DoorDash, when they are opening a new market, for example, North American market and Australian market is very different. People have different consumer behavior. But for us the good thing is, although we are in different countries, we are serving the same type of people, which is the overseas Asian customers, therefore the consumer behavior is rather similar.
Although we have the challenge, it’s easier for us to actually dive in and then adapt in a rapid rhythm.
HungryPanda
Joe Winger:
Is North America the toughest audience when it comes to regulations?
Kitty Liu:
With regulations, we’re talking more towards the drivers, how do we protect them?
Obviously there are minimum standards. Because what we call the “gig economy” is still considered a new industry, no matter what part of the world.
North America, Australia, the UK, all the countries are coming out with new regulations to actually protect this particular industry.
We are all at the same stage, growing from a new industry to a more mature industry.
Joe Winger:
Your company released a food trends report from 2023. What’s the biggest takeaway?
When you talk about Chinese food in North America or the UK, the first thing you think of is actually Cantonese food because [it] arrived first.
Now we can see all the hot Sichuan hot pots and malatang, all these are more modern and, trendy or more northern cuisine start to really get in the picture. popularity.
This is something that’s blowing our mind as well.
It’s a strong signal to the food industry to really focus on the authenticity, offering high quality ingredients. This is something I think is actually quite interesting.
Joe Winger:
Talking about trends, anything was surprising?
Kitty Liu:
The most popular category is definitely Boba tea. Now, as.
As we can see the hot pot, stuff actually, coming on top of, all this fried chicken, bubble tea and stuff. That suggests our local consumers start to really adapt into a more authentic flavor Chinese food instead of people always ordering honey chicken, spring side pork.
They learn to really understand, oh, that’s you know, Chinese people eat in China, they really start to learn and understand and admire about the spice actually in the food.
This is something actually I find quite interesting.
Joe Winger:
That’s really a big change.
Based on your 2023 report, any predictions for 2024?
Kitty Liu:
The rise in the family demands, so AOV ( average order value) keeps growing. Food delivery is not growing accommodating only for one person, two person, but it’s starting to expand, for more towards a family’s demands.
We can anticipate the age group that actually accepting or keep using the food delivery services actually start to grow and expand as well.
Also predicting new services for delivery companies. We can actually see the trend that many people start to order.
Pick up orders from the app and you can go straight to the restaurant to pick it up without waiting. It’s helps you jump the queue.
When you order a pickup it’s actually cheaper than ordering at the shop itself.
Therefore, this is actually one of the trends that we can see. It’s actually start to grow.
Joe Winger:
How do your users want the experience to go for them?
Kitty Liu:
During the pandemic, everything had to be contactless. Therefore the pickup feature was actually created during that period and blossomed afterwards.
Joe Winger:
Now you just mentioned the pandemic. Your company learned a lot from that experience, like how much packaging matters.
Can you talk a little bit more about what you learned about packaging?
Kitty Liu:
First thing we need to discuss is the difference between Asian food and Western food.
When it comes to Chinese food, generally it’s very heavy on sauces. Therefore, restaurants have to elevate the packaging standards to ensure the food quality can remain consistent.
When you order Chinese food, you expect it to still be hot, to have the best of flavor. Iit often [comes] with soup and if the packaging is not good, it actually leaks.
That has always been a challenge that Asian food delivery faces.
China created a new trendwith laminate packaging to make sure all the packaging is sealed and kept warm. That helped the whole industry globally to maintain higher standards.
Joe Winger:
There’s nothing worse than when you get the package to your house and it’s broken, ripped, it’s spilled.
The superior packaging isn’t about looking pretty necessarily. It’s about keeping your food secure.
Kitty Liu:
That’s right. Another thing we have to consider is [being] environmental friendly.
The Chinese food industry has been blamed for using too much plastic to begin with. Therefore, the new packaging uses aluminum.
Sorry, this part, you probably need to edit, The metal
Joe Winger:
So your Hungry Panda app itself has a lot of features. Can you let’s talk through some of the most popular features?
Kitty Liu:
Comparing with other apps, one thing we find quite convenient is that on the front page we have a very full restaurant list with tabs: by distance, by popularity, by discounts, by reviews, by delivery times. So it’s very easy for you to access.
Other apps have the categories but limited restaurants.
Joe Winger:
What’s the best way for an Asian restaurant to make the most of this opportunity of this new food trend?
Kitty Liu:
I think In the age of technology leveraging online platforms for visibility, working with a food delivery platform is definitely one of the ways to help them really engage with consumers.
When we talk about foodies, they are young, they’re always on social media. They’re always online. Therefore, promoting yourself in front of them is very important.
We use our channels to really promote different restaurants to help them to expand their reach within their comfort zone.
Joe Winger:
What’s your favorite food? What would you order on your app?
Kitty Liu:
My favorite food is [the same as] the trend report. Sichuan malatang.
So that shows the report’s authenticity. The audience like the food like a real Chinese person.
The reason why I like the malatang is because not only is it delicious, but it’s actually quite healthy as well.
It’s a hot spicy soup, but you put in fresh vegetables, fresh meat, it’s like you’re cooking your own hot pot
And it’s a very balanced and nutritious meal. Flavorful when you put all these different ingredients into one pot of soup. Brings you more flavors and it’s very fast [to make].
Joe Winger:
What is Hungry Panda’s user coverage look like?
Kitty Liu:
We have about 30 cities covered in the U. S. Obviously, New York, L.A., all major cities itself. I would be more than happy to provide you with the full on city list. We’re in Canada as well and just over 80 cities all around the globe.
Joe Winger:
For the audience who’s watching and listening right now, what’s the best next step? How can they enjoy this app?
Kitty Liu:
If they haven’t downloaded it yet,give it a try.
For new users, we actually have new user vouchers available for them to have a few free deliveries.
You can order to deliver, you can order to pick up it’s very convenient to use, very simple. Obviously we have a much wider supply for Asian food.
Therefore, if you are a Asian food lover, you should have Hungry Panda on your phone.
