Were you a brainy kid in high school? If so, science may be able to predict how much alcohol you will drink later in life. That’s a finding from Professor Sherwood Brown, a distinguished teaching Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. In this wide-ranging interview, he discusses the relationship between IQ and alcohol consumption in later life, the factors that contribute to alcohol use disorder, and what’s currently known about the best way to treat alcohol use disorder. And also the surprising relationship between alcohol consumption and asthma.

But there’s also a lot we don’t know, and Dr Brown outlines the gaps, plus spills the tea on what doctors drink when they get together. It’s a great episode that answers a lot of questions about alcohol, addiction and the brain.

One of the hardest problems to solve in the non-alc category is the substitute wine. Charlie Friedmann, the president and co-founder of Proxies, was not only one of the earliest brands in the non-alcoholic drink space, but also one of the first to solve the taste problem — and do it in an artisanal way. In this episode of Drinks Insider, Charlie talks about his journey from corporate lawyer to food and wine writer to entrepreneur. He shares the story of Proxies, from its humble beginnings in a small production facility to its current status as a leading brand in the non-alcoholic beverage market. He also shares his insights on the non-alcoholic beverage market, and where he sees the opportunities for growth in the future.

What does it take to be successful in the beverage business? According to industry veteran Adam Kost, nerves of steel help. Kost, who co-founded the successful Dirty Shirley RTD, discusses his career trajectory, starting from running nightclubs in Las Vegas to marketing global brands like Heineken and Jameson. He talks about what he learned from working with major companies and how he applied those insights into creating his own start-up. He also talks about money, mission and avoiding the sunk cost fallacy trap.

Amy Troutmiller, the CEO of Really Good Boxed Wine, has reinvented boxed wine in the US market — and achieved a whopping 417% growth by focusing on quality, value, and consumer demand for moderation. 

Amy explains how she and co-founder Jake Whitman created a premium boxed wine brand and tapped into consumer desires for convenience and value, especially among older demographics.

Contrary to expectations, the core consumer base for Really Good Boxed Wine is over 55, demonstrating the demand for premium options in this demographic.

Listeners in the USA! If you want to try Really Good Boxed Wine for yourself, use the code DRINKSINSIDER and get 15% off.
https://reallygoodboxedwine.com

How do you launch a category-busting brand from New Zealand and storm into the US market? Lisa King can tell you, because she’s done it. A serial entrepreneur from New Zealand, King's first venture, Eat My Lunch, tackled the issue of child poverty in New Zealand with a buy-one-give-one model that provided thousands of free lunches to Kiwi kids. Her current venture, AF Drinks, is a non-alcoholic beverage company that is rapidly gaining traction in the US and Australia.

In this episode she talks about how she formulated a non-alc cocktail that experienced tasters identified as alcoholic, from how she assembled the right team and how she unlocked funding, to how she landed on retail shelves throughout the USA.

The episode covers:

And even how meeting Barack Obama is like meeting Santa.

Professor Tim Stockwell is the most influential figure in the world of alcohol right now. His research claiming there are no health benefits to moderate drinking has attracted wide media attention and directly led to people either moderating their alcohol intake or quitting altogether.

In fact, The New York Times has called him “one of the people most responsible for our cultural course correction on alcohol.”

The J-Curve hypothesis claims that people who drink light to moderate amounts of alcohol have lower all-cause mortality rates than those who drink heavily or not at all. Professor Stockwell challenges this hypothesis, arguing that many studies that support the J-Curve fail to account for the "sick quitter" phenomenon. This is what happens when people who have given up alcohol due to bad health are grouped with lifetime abstainers, which makes the health outcomes for moderate drinkers appear more favourable.

But his work has been harshly criticised, by both libertarians and by other scientists. He’s been accused of bias, cherry picking and sloppy referencing.

In this in-depth episode, Professor Stockwell explains his research, pushes back against his critics and explains his ties with Movendi.

This interview covers:

Relevant articles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/magazine/alcohol-health-risks.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/04/health/alcohol-health-effects.html
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/27/why-scientific-support-for-alcohols-health-benefits-is-fading

Drinks Insider has also interviewed Chris Snowdon, one of Tim Stockwell's harshest critics. You'll find that here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2k1XtETvfywIi14MYqJYtY
And here is a summary of Snowdon's criticisms: https://snowdon.substack.com/p/cherry-picking-the-evidence-on-alcohol

Who truly understands what people are drinking? In this episode of Drinks Insider, host Felicity Carter chats with Gary Ross, Chief Growth Officer at Union, a point-of-sale and guest ordering platform that gives new meaning to the phrase “data mining”.

There’s not much he doesn’t know about drink trends and consumer behaviour, because Union sees what’s happening in real time. From the meteoric rise of tequila to the enduring power of celebrity brands, Gary dissects the forces shaping what we drink and how we drink it.

More importantly, he explains the inner workings of the Mexican Candy Shot. You'll never look at your drinks menu the same way again.

Here are just 7 of the insights:

Why are there so many anti-alcohol stories appearing in the media? One of the harshest critics of the anti-alcohol movement is Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the free market think tank Institute of Economic Affairs in the UK. In this wide-ranging discussion, we delve into the anti-alcohol movement, exploring its implications on personal freedoms and public health.

Topics covered include:

Relevant documents:

While many entrepreneurs are backing away slowly from both the wine industry and China, Don St Pierre Jr is rushing back in — because he sees plenty of opportunity.

In 1996, two Don St Pierres — senior and junior — changed the world of wine forever when they founded ASC Fine Wines in Shanghai.

Don St. Pierre Snr saw an opportunity in wine: as he later wrote about China’s 1.2 billion population, “all of these folks had to drink and eat something.”

Before long, the St Pierres were distributing Beringer and Bollinger, among other fine wines. They pretty much singlehandedly established China’s fine wine market.

Don St Pierre Jr. retired from the business in 2015, and shortly after became CEO and co-owner of California’s Vinfolio. Don St Pierre Sr died in 2023.

Recently Don St Pierre Jr founded AdaptEdge, an investment and advisory company. One of its first investments was in Vino Joy News, the media company founded by Natalie Wang.

And on St Pierre emains bullish on China, even though wine consumption there peaked in 2017. In this podcast, he explains why he believes so strongly in the country, and why he remains so optimistic about the wine industry in general.

In this wide-ranging conversation he reveals:

As always, the takeaways will be in the newsletter, which you can sign up for at drinksinsider.com

Entrepreneur and co-founder Marian Leitner-Waldman has single handedly overcome all the problems facing the wine industry. Archer Roose has a thriving audience of young consumers, who can’t get enough of high-quality wine in cans and bagnums, which appear in more than 6,000 outlets.

The reason that sales are up 35% year-on-year? The brand is built on a combination of high-quality wine, total transparency, and plenty of data.

In this fascinating episode, Marian talks about:

Not only is Marian a fount of useful knowledge and advice, she’s also a great speaker. Tune in to learn more — and all the takeaways can be found in the Drinks Insider newsletter. Sign up for it here.