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Why cannabis beverage founders are BEGGING to be regulated

Are hemp and cannabis beverage companies just a bunch of 'Wild West' bad actors? Gordon Whelpley, co-founder of Float House CAN-NA-BREWS, sits down with Nate Fochtman on the Ready To Drink Podcast to clear the air.

The truth? The barrier to entry for physical beverages is astronomically high, which naturally weeds out the folks looking for a quick cash grab. The legitimate industry is actively begging for regulation, taxation and clear GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) guidelines.

Check out FloatHouse.co

Watch the full unscripted conversation for a deep dive into the realities of running a Cann-A-Brew business at ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Wherever You Podcast

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

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Are you looking for a better way to unwind at 5 PM without the hangover?

Join us as Anna shares her journey from climbing the corporate ladder to taking a leap into the rapidly growing hemp beverage space.  We dive deep into the philosophy behind Hightail: a premium, low-dose (1.5mg THC / 3mg CBG) adult beverage designed for the "sandwich generation" who want to remain present and engaged, rather than checking out.

Check out siphightail.com

Full Story at ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com, Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Wherever You Podcast

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

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Are you looking for a better way to unwind at 5 PM without the hangover?

In this unscripted episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, host Nate Fochtman sits down with Anna Baskin, the CEO and Founder of hightail. After experiencing severe corporate burnout working 69-hour weeks in private equity and retail consulting, Anna realized that traditional alcohol was no longer serving her - especially as a busy mom looking for a clean, relaxing reset.

Join us as Anna shares her journey from climbing the corporate ladder to taking a leap into the rapidly growing hemp beverage space. We dive deep into the philosophy behind Hightail: a premium, low-dose (1.5mg THC / 3mg CBG) adult beverage designed for the "sandwich generation" who want to remain present and engaged, rather than checking out.

Episode Highlights:

• The Pivot from Corporate: How leaving high-pressure roles at Deloitte, Walgreens, and Blackstone fueled Anna's desire to create a wellness-focused brand.
• Redefining the Recipe: Breaking down hightail’s complex, wine-like flavor profiles (like the unique Cocoa Pomegranate Yuzu) and why they intentionally chose low carbonation and premium, all-natural ingredients.
• Packaging Psychology: Why Hightail went with a minimalist, 1920s Art Deco can design to stand out from the bright, chaotic aesthetics of traditional cannabis packaging.
• New Innovations: The launch of hightail Halo, a non-cannabinoid functional beverage packed with L-theanine and B12 for daytime focus and energy.
• The Future of the Industry: A candid discussion on the need for thoughtful FDA regulation, breaking the stigma around hemp-derived THC beverages and why this beverage boom mirrors the early days of craft beer.

Tune in for an organic, genuine conversation about navigating entrepreneurship, building thick skin and redefining how we socialize and relax!

Check out siphightail.com

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The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

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Jared Langston, Founder of Good Liar NA Beer, explains why moving fast and breaking things is always better than waiting for perfection. If you wait six months to figure out how to perfectly open a door, you are already behind. In the early stages of building a brand, no one knows who you are, which makes it the absolute best time to fail quick, iterate your product, and find your voice. The worst thing you can do in business is sit still and not make a decision.

Check out GoodLiar.com

Full Story at ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com, YouTube, Spotify, Apple & Wherever You Podcast.

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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Steve Groff, founder of Cedar Meadow Farm and pioneer of regenerative agriculture, discusses the inevitable shift in global farming practices. In this clip from the Ready To Drink Podcast, Groff compares the transition away from synthetic chemicals in soil to the worlds transition away from fossil fuels. He argues that while change takes time, farmers who refuse to adapt to regenerative methods risk becoming obsolete in the next 20 years.

Watch the full interview for deep insights into soil health, cover crops, and the future of the American food system.

Check out SteveGroff.com

More stories at ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

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What does it look like to build a real cannabis beverage company while the rules keep changing?

In this episode, Nate Fochtman sits down with the Appalachian Girls Cannabis co-founders (Joey Ellwood, Amy Garland & Josh Crosier) for a founder-to-founder conversation about what it takes to scale a THC drink brand in Ohio from the ground up.

We talk about the early days selling smokable hemp flower, the pivot into beverages, and how they went from zero drink accounts to 300+ retail doors in a year - largely through self-distribution, hustle, and learning in real time.

This isn’t a hype conversation. It’s the operator reality: compliance pressure, distribution friction, DTC pivots, dose strategy (5mg, 10mg, 25mg, 50mg), and why “Appalachian Girls” is more intentional than people assume.

If you’re building in hemp, cannabis, or adult beverage - this is a masterclass in staying steady when the market refuses to be.

Episode Highlights:

• Why they built a true portfolio (not just flavor extensions)
• How the team formed and what each founder brings to the table
• The pivot from flower to beverages and what changed everything
• Scaling through self-distribution and building retail relationships
• How regulatory uncertainty impacts banks, insurance, and growth plans
• Why dosage variety matters for bars, restaurants, and everyday consumers
• The DTC shift and what it takes to execute fast under pressure
• Why they’re focused on the Appalachian region as a “blue ocean” strategy

Find Appalachian Girls Cannabis: AppGirlsCannabis.com
Social: @AppGirlsCannabis

Subscribe for more founder stories from the front lines of adult beverage, hemp, and emerging categories.

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

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What if the future of health starts in the soil?

In this episode of Ready To Drink, Nate Fochtman sits down with Steve Groff, CEO of Cedar Meadow Farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a third-generation farmer who started no-till in 1982 and never looked back. Steve breaks down regenerative agriculture in plain language, why “mimic nature” is more than a buzzword and how practices like no-till, cover crops and biodiversity change water infiltration, resilience and nutrient density.

Then we go deeper into hemp: why hemp fiber is a “hand in a glove” fit for regenerative systems, how broken contracts and regulatory uncertainty have put the industry in a holding pattern, and why building the processing + equipment ecosystem is the real bottleneck (not farmer interest). Steve also shares a Penn State / Hershey Medical Center research story on cannabinoid profiles and how growing conditions may influence outcomes.

If you care about food, farming, hemp, health, and what it takes to build long-term in a short-term world, this is the episode.

Topics covered:

 - The 1982 shift: why Steve stopped tilling and what changed over time
 - Soil biology, the “micro herd,” and what it means for food quality
 - Water infiltration, extreme weather, and resilience vs efficiency
 - Hemp fiber economics: processing gaps, equipment reality, and scale
 - Why the industry is stuck in “pause mode” and what unlocks investment
 - Regenerative certification vs greenwashing
 - Thinking generationally in a quarterly culture

Steve Groff: SteveGroff.com
Nate Fochtman: FMGStrategy.com

Ready To Drink Podcast is produced and distributed by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

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In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with Shannon Urban-Denise, Founder & CEO of ROAM THC Beverages, for a raw, unfiltered conversation about sobriety, anxiety, entrepreneurship, and the future of hemp-derived beverages.

Shannon shares her journey from corporate healthcare and “mom wine” culture to rehab, five years of sobriety and eventually discovering hemp-derived THC beverages as a different path forward. What started as personal survival turned into ROAM - a craft-brewed, small-batch THC beverage brand focused on real ingredients, social responsibility, and reasonable regulation.

This episode goes beyond product talk. It dives into:

• Alcohol culture and recovery
• Anxiety and presence vs. escape
• Building a THC beverage brand from scratch
• Distribution challenges in Pennsylvania & New Jersey
• The fight for hemp beverage legislation
• Why social responsibility matters in emerging categories

No scripts. No talking points. Just two Drexel grads who accidentally discovered they overlapped in college - now building in a category reshaping the adult beverage industry.

If you’re a founder, operator, distributor, policymaker, or someone questioning your relationship with alcohol - this conversation is for you.

Learn more about Roam: ROAMDrink.com

Subscribe for more founder-level conversations in alcohol, functional, and hemp beverages.

The episode is brought to you by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

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In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with Brandon and Dylan, co-founders of Goodmellow, to break down what it actually takes to build a hemp-derived THC beverage company in today’s fragmented regulatory and distribution environment.

This is not a conversation about chasing trends. It is a grounded discussion on operational reality, disciplined growth, retailer relationships, and why the next phase of the hemp beverage category will be decided by execution, not excitement.

Brandon and Dylan share how they approached formulation, positioning, and route-to-market with a long-term lens, why brand credibility is earned at the store level, and how founders must think differently when building in a federally undefined but rapidly commercializing space.

We discuss:

- Why THC beverages must behave like a real beverage business, not a novelty product
- The importance of retailer trust and repeat purchase behavior
- Building a brand without relying on inflated category narratives
- Distribution sequencing and market-by-market discipline
- Regulatory uncertainty and what operators should be doing right now to prepare
- How Goodmellow is navigating growth while protecting brand integrity

The hemp beverage sector is entering a phase where fundamentals matter more than headlines. The founders who understand supply chain, velocity, and accountability will shape what this category becomes.

If you are a beverage operator, distributor, retailer, or investor trying to understand where this space is going, this is a conversation worth paying attention to.

Subscribe for more founder-level conversations with the people actually building the modern beverage landscape across alcohol, functional, and hemp-derived categories.

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

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In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with Chris Fontes, Founder & CEO of High Spirits, for an unfiltered conversation about what it really takes to build a hemp-derived THC beverage company in today’s uncertain regulatory landscape.

Chris shares how High Spirits bootstrapped its way to profitability, why staying lean beats chasing venture capital in this category, and what operators must do right now to protect the future of the industry.

This is not a marketing conversation. It is a founder-level discussion about grit, advocacy, distribution realities, and the short window the hemp beverage sector has to legitimize itself through responsible regulation and industry alignment.

Topics Covered:

- Why THC beverages are reshaping adult beverage consumption
- Bootstrapping vs. raising capital in emerging categories
- Retail-first strategy and scaling without heavy overhead
- The fight for clear legislation and why operators must engage now
- Trade associations, certification, and self-regulation as survival tools
- Lessons from alcohol industry evolution applied to hemp beverages
- Parenting, stigma, and normalization of cannabis in modern culture
- What separates brands that will survive from those that will disappear

Chris also discusses his leadership roles across major hemp and cannabis trade organizations and explains why certification, compliance, and collaboration are essential to the industry's credibility.

If you are a beverage founder, distributor, regulator, or investor watching the convergence of alcohol alternatives and cannabis normalization, this episode delivers real-world insight from operators doing the work on the ground.

Learn more about Chris & High Spirits: DrinkHighSpirits.com
Learn more about U.S. Hemp Authority: https://www.ushempauthority.org
Learn more Nate & The FreeMind Group: FMGStrategy.com

Subscribe for more conversations with founders building the future of adult beverages.

The FreeMind Group
Owner-operator market development and PR, built on the street for the last 18 years.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com