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Wesley Noyd built BEV edu, a training platform for small to mid-size distributors and emerging brands - BEVedu.co

He built it because most companies talk about career paths and mentorship, but few actually deliver it and when they do, it doesn't last long.  Wesley wanted to be the coach that sticks around for the people who've tried the free content, tried to figure it out alone and still aren't getting anywhere.

This industry runs on people who started in a warehouse or on a route and worked their way up, but not everyone gets a mentor along the way. Wesley is trying to fix that.

Full episode drops tomorrow | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

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Henry Mashburn, CSO and Co-Founder of AHG Pay, explains how payments data reveals 14 to 15 signals about a beverage business and why trust, not transaction volume, is what actually scales a payments company. He shares how AHG Pay connects beverage founders with the right growth partners and even helps with lobbying in DC.

This is the Ready To Drink Podcast. New episodes drop weekdays covering the alcohol, hemp derived and functional non-alc categories from the operator's seat, not the press release.

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Aaron Gervais is the CEO and co-founder of Otherwise Brewing, one of the only true gluten free breweries in the country. On this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast we get into what it actually takes to build a gluten free beer brand that competes on taste first, not just dietary need.

Aaron walks through the two years of test brewing it took to land on a gluten free lager that could stand next to any craft beer on the market. He breaks down why "gluten reduced" brands lost consumer trust and why true gluten free production won out. We also cover the Breakthru Beverage distribution deal that grew Otherwise Brewing's sales nearly 3x, the planogram strategy for deciding when to lean into the gluten free label versus letting the beer speak for itself and why wholesale velocity now matters more than shelf placement alone.

If you're building a beverage brand, launching into wholesale, or just trying to figure out how a challenger brand earns retail trust, this conversation has real answers.

What we cover:

• Why "delicious first, gluten free second" was the founding principle at Otherwise Brewing
• The two year R&D process behind their gluten free brewing method
• Why gluten reduced beer brands failed and true gluten free won
• Scaling through Breakthrough Beverage across 16 states plus Canada
• Planogram strategy: when to market as gluten free and when not to
• The real cost of beer sales: why it's still a shoes on the street business
• Aaron's advice for anyone starting a brewery or beverage brand in 2026

Connect with Otherwise Brewing:
Website: otherwisebrewing.com
Instagram/TikTok: @otherwisebrewing

This is the Ready To Drink Podcast. New episodes drop weekdays covering the alcohol, hemp derived and functional non-alc categories from the operator's seat, not the press release.

Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

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Most dispensaries have no idea what their own store feels like to a first time customer.

Tammy Puyear runs TPP Services, a secret shopping company for cannabis dispensaries and brands in Missouri. She built a business around a blind spot the entire industry ignores: nobody inside the four walls of a dispensary experiences it the way a real customer does.

In this episode we get into why cannabis retail keeps replicating the same sterile, transaction-first experience that killed craft beer's soul for a decade, why loyalty programs built on discounts miss the entire point of loyalty and why an $8 price hike from a dispensary group protecting its own house brand can kill a new brand's momentum overnight.

We also go deep on the stuff nobody wants to say out loud: vertical integration and 70% margin demands squeezing producers in Missouri, the entrapment feel of federal rescheduling paperwork and why hemp beverages are quietly becoming the on-ramp into the cannabis consumer journey whether the industry admits it or not.

I share my own story too. Four years sober from alcohol and opiates and still working in the beverage industry every day and why I think hemp beverages and dispensaries need each other more than either side wants to admit.

What we cover:

• Why secret shopping cannabis dispensaries surfaces problems leadership never sees
• The retail vs. brand side of dispensary secret shopping in Missouri
• Why merchandising in dispensaries still lags a decade behind craft beer and CPG
• The underutilization of loyalty data and what real retention looks like
• How a dispensary group jacked an $8 price and killed a competing brand's sales
• Vertical integration, 70% margins and the cartel lawsuit reshaping Missouri cannabis
• Rescheduling vs. descheduling and why the paperwork feels like entrapment
• Why hemp beverages are the beginning of the cannabis consumer journey
• Pennsylvania HB 2309 and building a bill that lets everyone compete
• GLP-1s, sobriety and what a shrinking drinking population means for this industry

Connect with Tammy Puyear and TPP Services:
Website: Tammy-P.com
YouTube: The Real Run THC

This is the Ready To Drink Podcast. New episodes drop weekdays covering the alcohol, hemp derived and functional non-alc categories from the operator's seat, not the press release.

Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

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Alex Kllanxhja spent 14 years in beverage sales, cutting his teeth as one of the first reps at Oskar Blues before moving into chain accounts and national sales at Breakthru Beverage. Then his employer doubled his workload with zero extra pay, handed him a small trophy for it and that was the moment he decided to bet on himself.

Now Alex runs Pipeline Autopsy, a fractional VP and CRM consultancy working across craft beer, wine, spirits, and hemp-derived THC beverages. In this conversation we get into what actually breaks inside a beverage sales pipeline, why landing a chain account is far harder than people think, the hidden costs nobody warns new brand founders about, and why he'll turn down a good product if the brand's values don't line up.

We also talk about running lean as a solopreneur, why limiting your own expectations makes you better at sales and why cold outreach volume still beats cleverness every time.

Topics covered:

• Building a CRM culture inside a growing craft beer supplier
• What chain accounts actually demand versus what founders think they demand
• The hidden costs behind every new point of distribution
• Walking away from a corporate sales role after burnout
• Running a fractional VP practice as a solopreneur
• Why cold outreach volume still wins

Connect with Alex Kllanxhja:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alex-kllanxhja
Website: pipelineautopsy.com
Email: [email protected]

The Ready To Drink Podcast covers the people, brands and policy shaping the beverage alcohol, hemp derived and functional non-alc categories.

Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

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Gary Morrison, co-founder of Battle River Brewing in Toms River, New Jersey, joins the Ready To Drink Podcast to tell the story of how three business partners with zero homebrewing experience built a 25-tap craft brewery in the heart of a revitalizing downtown.

Gary breaks down why Battle River went wide instead of picking a defined beer style, how a late night text about a beer that would never be brewed again turned into a business plan, and what it actually takes to navigate New Jersey's fragmented brewery license laws. We get into the state's restrictions on food service and events, the lobbying fight behind those rules, and why New Jersey brewers have to build differently than brewers in states like Pennsylvania.

We also dig into Battle River's self-distribution model, the mistakes they made scaling too fast across every county before pulling back to their core market, and why Gary believes every craft brand should understand franchise law and treat itself as an asset before signing with a distributor.

Topics covered:

• Battle River Brewing's 25-tap, wide-portfolio approach and the "seat for every ass" philosophy
• How three non-homebrewers and gym buddies built a brewery from scratch
• New Jersey brewery license restrictions and the on premise liquor lobby
• Choosing downtown Toms River to help revitalize a historic Revolutionary War era town
• Self-distribution strategy, early scaling mistakes, and pulling back to the core market
• Franchise law and why a brand is an asset the moment it signs with a distributor

Battle River Brewing | BattleRiverBrewing.com

The Ready To Drink Podcast covers the people, brands and policy shaping the beverage alcohol, hemp derived and functional non-alc categories.

Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

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Henry Mashburn is Co-Founder of Alternative Horizons Group (AHG), a payment processing firm built for high risk industries like hemp and CBD. He co-founded AHG two years ago after cutting his teeth in the CBD and hemp payments world for the past seven years.

On this episode we break down what payment processing actually does behind the scenes and why it matters so much to hemp beverage and CBD brands trying to scale online and in retail. Henry explains card not present transactions, the corporate ladder of agent groups, processors and sponsor banks, and why your merchant category code can make or break an audit. He shares the questions every brand owner should ask before signing with a payment processor and why so many established hemp businesses have no idea who their agent is or what their fees actually look like.

We also get into age verification technology like Blue Check Verified, why D2C sales matter for brands that cannot compete in retail yet, and how the industry is showing up in DC and state capitols across the country to fight for hemp beverage regulation. Henry shares his own story growing up in Peru, Honduras and Suriname, playing goalie for Honduras in back to back World Cups, and walking on at Michigan before landing in payment processing by accident.

This conversation is proof that the people building the infrastructure behind hemp and CBD brands are just as important as the brands themselves. Real relationships, real risk and real human connection.

Connect with Henry Mashburn on Linkedin
AHG Pay: AHGPay.com

The Ready To Drink Podcast covers the people, brands and policy shaping the beverage alcohol, hemp derived and functional non-alc categories.

Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

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Renee Adams, founder of Renee Adams Consulting and marketing lead for The Little Sober Bar in Woodstock, Georgia, joins the Ready To Drink Podcast to talk non-alcoholic beverage marketing from the ground up.

This conversation covers why non-alc products keep getting buried on the bottom shelf, why brands need distinct packaging and colors so retailers and bartenders can tell NA apart from full-strength product at a glance, and why on-premise staff need real training instead of guesswork. Renee and Nate trade stories from craft beer distribution and the non-alc consulting world to show how the same retail psychology that built the beer aisle now applies to functional and non-alcoholic beverages.

Topics discussed include retail shelf placement and eye-level psychology, building distinct branding for non-alc SKUs, training bartenders and servers to sell functional beverages with confidence, low-cost bootstrapped marketing tools like table tents and menus, and why building your own on-premise menu can grow a placement from one SKU to eight or ten.

Renee also shares how founders and reps can build lasting retail relationships through follow-up, education and simple free tools like Canva and email instead of big marketing budgets.

LinkedIn: Renee Adams Non-Alc

Instagram: @heyreneeadams 

The Little Sober Bar: Woodstock, Georgia

The Ready To Drink Podcast covers the people, brands and policy shaping the beverage alcohol, hemp derived and functional non-alc categories.

Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

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Lucas Dyer runs sales and brand development for Torch Drinks in North Carolina. Torch started ten years ago in California in the vape and gummy space. They launched hemp beverages at the end of 2024 and now sell in 16 states.

In this episode Lucas breaks down how Torch built its go to market the right way. Real distributor partnerships. Boots on the ground reps in every state. Education first sales instead of spray and pray shipping out of a 3PL.

We get into the bartender versus budtender problem, why on premise dosing is finally clicking with consumers, and why COAs and nutrition facts matter more every month as the market gets crowded. Lucas also shares the story behind Torch's VFW partnership and a new Major League Pickleball sponsorship.

This one covers hemp beverage distribution, hemp infusion education, and what functional drinks trends actually look like on the ground in North Carolina.

This episode is part of the Regulate Don't Ruin NC series. North Carolina is deciding right now whether hemp beverages get a real regulated framework or get pushed back to the gray market. That choice affects retailers, manufacturers, and consumers across the state.

Learn more and share your own story at RegulateDontRuinNC.com

This series is proudly sponsored by Tryon Distributing Co, Crescent 9, and Torch Drinks.

Subscribe to The Ready To Drink Podcast for more conversations with the operators building the hemp beverage industry.

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Brian Hyatt is Vice President of Sales at Herbal Oasis, a hemp beverage and functional beverage brand under the cbdMD umbrella. Before hemp, he served in the infantry with the United States Marine Corps from 2009 to 2015, then spent years building wine portfolios for Republic National Distributing Company, including running an HEB team through the pandemic. This episode is a completely organic conversation, no script, no questions on a screen, just two adult beverage veterans getting to know each other in real time.

Brian breaks down how Oasis built a product line for every type of consumer, from 5 and 10 milligram entry level cans to a 30 milligram option built specifically for Tennessee's incoming cap, up to a 50 milligram option for experienced users, plus a mushroom only nootropic blend for consumers who cannot use THC at all. He also gets into two new 750 milliliter spirit format bottles, one unflavored for anyone who wants zero taste of hemp.

This conversation goes deep into what actually works in hemp beverage sales. Brian shares the exact playbook he learned coming up through wine distribution, why patience beats a rushed pitch with a buyer, how to run a tasting event that converts, and why suppliers, not distributors, are ultimately responsible for building their own brand.

It also goes personal. Brian and Nate both talk about walking away from alcohol and finding hemp beverages as part of that path, and about the veteran community specifically, the population using hemp beverages to move off prescription pain medication and manage anxiety without becoming another number in an addiction statistic.

If you sell hemp beverage, work in adult beverage distribution, or you are trying to understand why this category has resonated so fast with veterans and everyday consumers, this episode delivers real operator insight with zero fluff.

Learn more about Oasis at herbaloasis.com or follow @tryoasis

Connect with Brian Hyatt on Linkedin

The Ready To Drink Podcast covers the people, brands and policy shaping the beverage alcohol, hemp derived and functional non-alc categories.

Ready To Drink Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

Support the show

Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com