The MHW Mark Podcast
Welcome to the MHW podcast, bringing you conversations with experts and leaders in the alcoholic beverage industry. Covering topics ranging from selling alcohol online, creating a new brand from scratch, and what you need to know when you start doing business internationally. Hosted by Jimmy Moreland and a rotating cast of cohosts from the folks at MHW.
The MHW Mark Podcast
Purity Distillery Case Study - with Tate Troelstrup
Join us for a deep dive into Purity Distillery, and how their strategic, almost scientific approach to marketing and growth has rewarded the brand with sustained success. President and CEO Tate Troelstrup shares valuable insights and advice for brands as well as individuals in the industry with host Jimmy Moreland and MHW's Brigid McCabe.
More about Purity Distillery: Website
More info about MHW at https://www.mhwltd.com/
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Welcome to the MHW Mark podcast, where we take deep dives into various aspects of the alcohol industry. My name is Jimmy Moreland. Mhw is a US and EU beverage alcohol importer, distributor and service provider. Co-hosting with me today, once again, is MHW's Bridget McCabe. Welcome back, bridget, how you been.
Speaker 2:Thank you, jimmy Been. Very well, I'm excited to talk about purity today.
Speaker 1:We just finished recording and it was a really fun conversation. You know, sometimes people might have the thought of like, oh, there's going to be a CEO guest, they're going to be all stuffy and super. You know, straight laced and boring. He was a professional, don't get me wrong, but it's a really fun, dynamic, engaging conversation that I think folks are going to like. But can you give us like a little bit more background about Purity and maybe your history and just set the stage for us a little bit?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Mhw has imported Purity Distillery out of Malmö, sweden, and served as its US back office compliance and logistics partner since it launched in 2009. Today we're really lucky to speak with Purity's president and CEO, tate Trollstrup, who is an industry powerhouse. He's built some of the largest call brands, like Fernet, branca, templeton, rye, deep, eddy Vodka, whistlepig and, of course, now Purity. So I think this touches well on what you mentioned about being a very energetic and fun CEO. I think when you work in marketing and finance and the executive team for some of these amazing call brands, you have to really be an innovative personality, a very connective person. So I definitely noticed that as well and I think we're lucky to have him.
Speaker 2:This happens to be a personal episode for me and very fun, because I started my beverage alcohol career at Purity over a decade ago. At the time, there were only four of us at US headquarters, our only SKU was Purity 34X the vodka, and we were really in scrappy startup mode. So I was in charge of the brand's website, digital channel, store locator, planning and executing on and off-premise events, cocktail kits across markets, setting up distributor presentations, going on ride-alongs and generally any other need that came up. I remember visiting Purity Accounts with my Nikon camera for web and social content. We were very scrappy with budgets, taking the subway to a storage unit out in Bushwick, brooklyn, to pick up point of sale and the neckers at the time which were award neckers, coordinating branding and samples, delivery with events and broadcast segments for media and really a lot of time out in the market.
Speaker 2:So training at distributors, setting USBG meetings up and shout out to Dwayne Fernandez Jr who was my partner in crime, the brand ambassador at the time. So purity was always somewhere, talking to someone even at our size at that time, because we understood that feet on the ground in the market was the lifeblood and the way to growth and I learned the power of relationships in this industry because of that brand and I really appreciate it. The brand has come a really long way and it's grown incredibly under Tate's stewardship I think you're going to hear full circle, career-wise and conversation-wise and so let's go ahead and fill in part of that circle here by jumping right into today's guest.
Speaker 1:Our guest today is the president and CEO of Purity Distillery and we're very excited to have him here. Welcome, tate Troelstrup.
Speaker 3:Fantastic, oh no applause needed. No applause needed, it's just me. Fantastic, oh no applause needed.
Speaker 1:No applause needed, it's just me. I'll add that in in post. You bet, tate, it's so good to have you here. Can you share with us a little bit more about your background and sort of how you came to be the president and CEO of Purity Vodka, and just tell us a little bit more about you?
Speaker 3:Absolutely Listen. It's a pretty long and sordid tale but I think the short version is I worked in bars as a kid, sort of doing a little bit of everything barbacking and eventually making cocktails. Not very well, so I stuck to pouring beers and then managing. But I've always been sort of drawn to brand building and so my first job in the industry was with Infiniium Spirits and got to be kind of a part of a lot of really fascinating brands spirits and got to be kind of a part of a lot of really fascinating brands. We sort of relaunched Fernet Branca for the US in the early 2000s, developed Templeton Rye from really concept to execution and then on the volume side got to kind of take Seagram's Vodka from about 600,000 cases to a million too, and so this build was really attractive to me. And so kind of following my career arc when I moved to Deep Eddy and then to Whistlepig and then to Purity, I've always really been drawn to high quality liquid, really cool brand stories and then sort of drawing this connection with products and consumers right.
Speaker 3:How do you sort of find that, that lightning in a bottle where you bring something to market that's? You know the number of brands that come out that are super delicious and have kick-ass packaging that just never work. Why does that happen? And then, when it does happen, you know, what can we learn from it? For some reason I'm just very much drawn to that, and so that's for me.
Speaker 3:Coming from Whistlepig to Purity was sort of this natural transition of well, I've always talked a lot of trash about what I would do if I was the chief executive, so now I get to sort of test my theories and see if I'm worth my salt. But also it really hit for me all of the things that are interesting really engaged ownership who are not looking to exit, really fascinating liquid with a cool distillation story, interesting and cool bottle that's visually captivating. And I also, to be very honest, like the challenge too, because the idea that vodka is only going to be dominated by, you know, a handful of volumetric players is kind of boring and stodgy to me. So if I can take this really cool, interesting brand that's had a pretty good history so far, what a great jumping off point. That sort of fits my theory. So I guess, to sum it all up, I'm a glutton for punishment.
Speaker 2:That's great experience and Tate. I'll never forget the team I worked with at Purity a decade ago that started my Bevel career off, but I would have really really enjoyed working with you and seeing what you've done with the company has been really exceptional. So you touched on it a little bit. But can you share a little bit more about what drew you to Purity? Obviously there's a great value proposition the liquid, the team, so much growth potential there, very family anchored brand and ownership.
Speaker 3:So what are some of the things that you saw, short term, financial look of a lot of companies that are out there, which which I get and make sense. But it wasn't super compelling to me it was really the fact that the family took a long term play. So they had had a fantastic year in COVID, kind of like everybody else, and then we're going through sort of the natural decline and trying to understand what does this mean for our long-term? And so when they came, when they came to me, it wasn't a hey, can you fix us right away? Or hey, can you do this thing in three or six months, that's, you know, purely revenue based, and it was more of hey, over the next five years we would like to really practically grow the brand and reconnect with consumers in a broader way. And how do we do that?
Speaker 3:And that, to me, was really compelling because it took the longer-term view and the longer-term investment, which to me was just maybe selfishly, I knew it gave me a little bit of space to kind of come in and figure things out, knowing that vodka was going to be a challenge as much as I wanted that. So I think that was the number one component, the baseline was that? To me it was just obvious Okay, well, the liquid's amazing, the whole distillation story is fascinating. So that part was maybe baseline and already there. And then the real kicker was okay, there's a long-term view on this thing, so that we can find out right, because we don't know what we don't know until we get out in the market. So I think if I pulled up my original pitch deck for the board, you know, for my interview process, 75% of it's gone now and I would almost cringe because the assumptions were so bad. So that space and freedom to learn was really key for me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I echo that because even with my time there only about three years, but Alf would be in the market constantly, would come to the US. You know, magnus, really working at the distillery and kind of overseeing everything that's happening there. So I think you know it's really great when you can work with a brand that has those kind of anchors and is, you know, it's not a pet project, it's really like a passion and a long-term business that they want to see succeed for the long term. So I think that's really great. And that dovetails very nicely into my next question. So what have been the top three strategic levers that you've activated over the past years?
Speaker 2:You mentioned that some of the brand strategy that you initially created has changed a little bit. And if I could just kind of walk us back through the history of MHW, with Purity, I think we started working together. What was it? Back in 2008, 2009. In the first five years, purity went from hundreds of cases sold to tens of thousands and nearly 1.5 million in sales. Now fast forward to this past year of performance 2024, and you've led Purity to become a top national broad spirits portfolio. You know, I even have to catch myself in not saying Purity Vodka, it's Purity Distillery, because there's a wide range and skew extensions that you have that are very successful and 2024 was the best performance year to date. So, multi-million revenue, no sign of stopping. Would love to kind of hear how has the strategy shifted and what are those top three levers that you're really pulling on to pull you into the years ahead?
Speaker 3:The first was really kind of simplifying the business. So I think it's. You know, when I came in, we had an external selling team. There was probably maybe too many markets to really reasonably figure out what to do. So the first thing was almost a rationalization not only of SKUs but also of where are we going to put our focus and can we go really deeper, not wider. And that was just a very simple kind of process of what are the things that are going to take us into the future right Item-wise, and what are the things that are maybe fantastic concepts but either their time is not now or they need to kind of just go away entirely because they don't fit what we are. And so that was that first piece was kind of the rationalization. The next was kind of process orientation. So it was how can we, do we utilize an external sales team? Do we, can we justify having our standalone sales team? And what can set them up for success? That either hasn't delivered in the past or isn't delivering in these market conditions, and so we built this.
Speaker 3:It's a tight, loose process. So we use this at Whistlepig too, where building infrastructure is key. So a sales team needs to be as loose as possible in the trade, right. They need to be able to build relationships, you know, kind of secure deals quickly. And in order for a sales team to be loose, the process in the backend has to be super tight. So operations, finance team kind of reporting data has to be kind of at their fingertips right. So that's sort of the second component. And both these things, by the way, are ongoing because we're two years in, so results will be kind of you know where to see.
Speaker 3:And then really it's been how to engage with the consumer and our retail partners when we talk about future growth. So going back to the first point of kind of rationalizing SKUs or items, we don't really know Right, I've never been really good at predicting what the market's going to want. I'm really good at going out to the market saying, hey, what do you want? And that's sort of been the crack the code here. So, like we, last year we launched a Citron vodka which was, you know, been super successful so far, and then the 375 size of our number one item, our 51 reserve vodka, and that really just came from quite a little bit, sitting down with our distributor partners and our largest retail partners and just asking them what are you missing that you can sell more of if Purity brought it to market? And those are the two answers 375 size and we would love an organic citron vodka made in the style of purity.
Speaker 3:And so in about 10 months we turned around the concept to product on the shelf. So it was a really cool test for our operations team overseas, the liquid team at the distillery, and it also kind of led to our new bottle style of labels that are much more environmentally efficient and also just more consumer friendly. Right, we get to keep the cool purity bottle that's a little bit lighter, it's easier to see on the shelf in the back bar. So that's that. Third lever has really been the developing the consumer conversation. And when I say consumer, I really also mean our distributor partners and retail partners, because they are representative of that same group who are kind of voting with their checkbooks, if you will.
Speaker 2:I think that you are a really great case study in how to leverage importer-distributor-retailer relationships for maximum impact.
Speaker 2:You know that that is your link to the market, to the consumer. I just want to share something that Scott Saul, who is MHW's executive vice president, sent to me to make sure it was mentioned in this podcast. So he calls Purity an exemplary professional and very pleasant client team with a keen focus on compliance, operations, logistics and really all of the partnership that's critical for behind the scenes brand building efforts. So that was something I wanted to share with you and ask you so how has MHW and all of your distributor partners helped with your brand building, and what advice would you give to other brands that might be a little bit early in their journeys on how to best start those partnerships? How to, you know, keep the momentum going? I think that's a big question. That we get from craft brands is okay. We started off really strong. How do we, you know, a few years in, really keep that going and make sure that people are energized and excited around our efforts?
Speaker 3:First and foremost, I think this is a great demonstration of how easy it is to bribe Scott Saul to say nice things about people, so always have a crisp 50 ready to transfer from Venmo. No, I think that probably for brands that are starting out or just starting to engage with a really wide-ranging outfit like MHW is kind of I'm trying to think of the Navy SEAL slogan, where it's the slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Take the time to really understand what the capabilities are, because I think what we've had success with, at least in my time and this is ongoing is sort of understanding all the services that MHW has and then how can I leverage those for growth? And oftentimes it's also how can I leave these things to the experts. So state setups, a lot of the compliance components that need some automation. It can be hard to understand and probably the best thing to do is just to reach out to a resource team like MHW and just say I think I emailed probably with Kim more than she's comfortable with, but it's really all right. Where do I start with this? Who do I talk to? And it's going to be a lot of phone calls and a lot of emails to kind of get to that place, but put in that work first.
Speaker 3:Because for me it's again part of this tight, loose strategy of I got it, I have to have operations tight, I have to have all these components in place so I don't have a salesperson in the market calling me and say, hey, we got this great new item that everybody wants to order, but it's not registered with this state and so I can't sell it for 60 days and all of a sudden everything kind of spirals out of control. So it's probably first and foremost, just take it step-by-step and understand what all the opportunities and services provided by an MHW are. And then for me it's again it's not any kind of secret strategy, because I didn't go to business school and I don't know if I'm all that smart Just focus initially, right. You just need to go into a handful of markets. I don't think that one market works, but you need three very different markets to learn in, you know, and test your brand there, right. Find those those players who really understand the brand and want to build with you, which just takes time. I mean, that's just.
Speaker 3:I think I saw, when you know it's Bridget kind of talking about some of our team posting about being in the market and that's the whole thing is relationships. It's just get out there, build that trust. And I would rather have a test market with five really amazing retail partners who get it, who are going to give us no-nonsense feedback, than 50 points of distribution where I don't really know what's happening. Maybe the product's sitting on the shelf, maybe it's moving, maybe it's not. That feedback loop doesn't help me understand if I have a viable brand concept and doesn't help me understand if I can go out and raise more money or not from investors or for owners. So it's again just it's focused right, deeper, not wider. You know, get really strong in a couple of places and then expand slowly and mindfully. So that would be my starting point advice.
Speaker 2:That's a great answer and I do have to say you mentioned speaking with Kim. One thing that we can highlight to brands that are listening as well, that might be starting off a relationship with MHW, an importer, any distributor or service provider. Tate, you had initially scheduled a call with us when you first came on board and shared some of your strategy with our director of operations, with Kim, who's your client account manager. That's something that not too many brands do and I think it definitely helps. It kind of shows your client account manager where you're looking for the brand to go. They can anchor themselves around some of the questions that you're asking. So I think you know Kim really appreciates that.
Speaker 2:And another brand that did that that our team still talks about to this day is El Presidente. I remember their team came into the office and did a presentation as to like okay, here's what we're looking to do for the year ahead, and so anytime then that there was like an operations or a logistics request. The team kind of understood the strategy behind that. So that was also something that the team mentioned to me that they really appreciated that. You, you know, keep us in the loop as a strategic vendor and partner. So just wanted to mention that before we move on here.
Speaker 3:It's good news, and El Presidente is a fantastic product as well.
Speaker 1:Now, when talking about markets, that seems to be a big focus here and I like that. You've come back multiple times to this concept of deeper, not wider, and I want to talk about, I guess, evaluating your respective markets. Is that just geography that you consider deeper, not wider? Or are you talking about you know, individual demographics? Are you talking about you know product lines and sort of how you communicate? Is that approach of deeper, not wider? Does that sort of flow through everything that you do? Is it all about focus? And how do you decide where, physically or theoretically, where to allocate resources? It seems to me, is it almost like scientific method? It seems like you're all about experimenting and seeing what works and what doesn't.
Speaker 3:So a couple of questions in there and then a couple of hopefully good answers. It definitely we're trying to make it flow through. So I think it's like any strategy where, as long as I repeat it enough, then I'll actually adhere to it, which is great. But it's a simple idea but it can vary a lot by market. So we talk a lot about the US as kind of being homogenous, but then for us having international ownership and distribution, I try to introduce the idea that the US is 50 different individual markets that have different nuance and compliance and profitability matrix, which is really important, right? Because you might say, hey, I want to be huge in a very high tax market like Illinois, but then that really high tax might absolutely erode your P&L and destroy your profitability and once you arrive, you don't have any money for I don't know even hotels to do a market visit. So probably the first driver is what's the opportunity in a specific market and what do we think we can get done? So we may have an amazing account in a state and say I don't want to pick on any states, but you might say, hey, I think my brand could really kick ass in Nashville because we have one hotel that really does well with the brand. But then you sort of arrive there and plan all this resourcing and discover that there's some component that doesn't translate. So for us it's not a specific set of metrics, it's really to kind of look at let's test in each of these markets what works and then let's resource the things that do work. So very much scientific method and either jettison things that don't work or put them on the lesson board for the future. Right To say, okay, well, here's a lesson that we learned, which is usually code for something that we got wrong, but then we can still learn from it for the future. Right, maybe it's something that we come back to or that we still look at as an important totem for the future.
Speaker 3:And then for us it's very different. So our top five markets couldn't be more different. Right, it's New York, new Jersey, tennessee, georgia, florida, and those five markets are obviously very high desire, markets for spirits, brands, but they all operate. Never the twain shall meet. Even the teams that operate those markets talk all the time and we're always all in constant communication. But the language and the acronyms and the things you can do in Florida versus New York, you might as well be speaking a totally different language. So what we've done is really kind of adapted to that to allow for it.
Speaker 3:So instead of coming in and saying, hey, there's one blanket strategy and let's try to sort of layer it over each market, no matter what, we've kind of gone in a lot more like it's almost amorphous, but just come in and said, okay, well, how can we adapt? How we engage in Florida? Can we learn anything with what we do in Georgia? A little bit, but not really, because Georgia's a lot of independent retailers, there's no chains, and Florida has a very vibrant independent market and a huge chain market. So it's totally different creature-wise.
Speaker 3:So I think, to kind of get back to the core question, yes, we have metrics, but they're different for each market and they're really driven on what's the potential, right? Because if I want my brand to be a huge vodka brand in a market like Tennessee, but Tennessee is sort of a five-share market, meaning if you're a million-case brand, a five-share would be that you do this 5% of your business in this market. Maybe the math doesn't play out. So part of it is what do I believe and what is the customer base telling me? And then, from a management strategy. How much can I really do in the market and that'll help me decide how much we're going to invest in that space.
Speaker 1:I think as an outsider to this industry myself, one of the more surprising things as I've learned more and more just doing this podcast for over a year now, is how much no matter how big your brand gets, that boots on the ground engagement with consumers and you know that ground level retailers still seems to matter. Can you talk about sort of how that strategy sort of continues to flow through in what Purity does and I guess how important having the right team in place to make sure that those ground level executions are in place? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Yeah, that's something I've done a lot over the course of my career, in particular building teams and booths on the ground teams. The sort of fundamental reality for adult beverage and a lot of you know kind of mid-tempo and fast moving consumer goods is relationship is absolutely key. Whether you're selling spirits or wine or beer or hot wheels, you have to have a relationship with your end consumer, which is happening through marketing a lot, and you have to have a great relationship with the person who's actually bringing your product in and putting it on the shelf, on the back bar in the warehouse. So the first piece is just that relationship building and that ties with exactly what you said. It's the right people. So it's got.
Speaker 3:Don't want to take away from anybody that can move across state lines, but the general idea is like it really helps to be enmeshed and understand your market, your consumer that's there, and have that ability to engage.
Speaker 3:You know very much daily but that can get expensive.
Speaker 3:So you know the downfall of a lot of great brands is you sort of raise a bunch of money and go hire a bunch of people so you can show some action, but then the people don't have the time to really build the relationships they need in the market, and we've been victim of that too.
Speaker 3:It's that kind of thought process. So what we've really worked on is let's have the right people who are really empowered in their markets. They can control their budgets, they can be very nimble and quick because, again, our process in the back end is tight so that they can really move and wheel a deal and then resource them as they ask for it. So let them be out in the market, come around, and then they can come back and say, hey, in this market, we would like to have more people. So we need people walking around cracking bottles, doing tastings Okay, great, another market. They might say, hey, in this market, I would really like to have, I don't know, cab toppers or bus advertisements, right, and so that's what we've done is kind of focused on yes, you have to have the people in the market, but it's the right people and people who are empowered to make decisions or make recommendations that are well considered within that market to engage.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I have to just give a shout out to there's one of your market managers I always see on LinkedIn doing tastings for her accounts. Making sure pull through is, you know, a big priority and I just think that's such a great testimonial to someone that isn't going to outsource everything. I mean, sometimes you need to know when to do that right, when to pull in, like your sampling agency and things like that. But I always find that the best success when it comes to a retailer is when they see that the actual person selling to them, the market manager, is willing to kind of like pull up their bootstraps and do the work. So I just had to give a shout out to that market manager. I think you know who I'm speaking about. So Absolutely.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you what everyone who has been or is now or will be a period in the future has been very, very good about that component.
Speaker 3:That's something I think historically has really lived well with the brand. And then so much of the team kind of follows that inspect what you expect ethos of hey, if I build an awesome display at Bridget's Liquors in Newark, well, I want to go back in there and make sure the display looks good a week later and hey, maybe I can pop up my stand and be here for an hour or two hours or three hours, talk with consumers during highlight time, because that owner is going to appreciate that time and it's an investment not only in the bottles that you potentially sell but in that relationship. Again, so much of it's a trust component and there's a lot and I'm sure a lot of folks come on to the podcast to talk about how we're leveraging technology and sort of automating tasks as much as possible, which to me is fantastic. Again, it's that tight operational backend but ultimately it's just relationships. That's what's driving the whole thing. Whether you're a 10, 11 million case brand or a 30,000 case brand, it's still going to be relationship-driven as much as we automate.
Speaker 2:Good insight, good insight. Okay, so I have to say Purity 34 times is still my favorite spirit. I've tried a lot of spirits from a lot of different countries. I think MHW at this point has over 100 different countries that we import from but Purity 34 is my anchor and I go back to it and I've actually opened a few accounts for you here in Bayside, queens.
Speaker 2:I think if you look around on your CRD report and you can see that I make sure that the liquor store owners nearby take it in Awesome, so kind of piggyback off of that. Can you tell us how the business has approached SKU extensions and where it's built on those traditional routes for 34X? How do you evaluate success for a new SKU line extension and how much time do you tell before you understand if something is a seasonal fit, permanent fit, and I know that there are some innovations that you're considering for the future. So what does that process look like to you and you don't need to give any teasers here, but would just love to hear how you approach that as a CEO.
Speaker 3:It can be a little bit of organized chaos to a great degree. So certainly there's with the new line extension, like I've kind of talked about before with Citron and 375, we've tried to go more to a let's listen to the market and kind of ask those. Let's go to Bayside's Queens and talk to the retailers, and what do you need right now? Or going to distributor partners and saying, hey, what's a gap in your portfolio where you're hunting for a brand right now that we can maybe innovate and develop for you? That's sort of that process, the idea of kind of solving for then what consumer wants is that next layer. So there's things of course that we're looking at where the rise of RTDs or the rise of non-alk or opportunities to kind of bring those together right. Should we have a canned non-alk of some sort? Should we have a bottled espresso martini solution Really kind of starts with. Can we do it really well? That's always the first question. So even if someone comes back and says, hey, a purity, you guys should have an absolutely outstanding Shiraz as much as I'd love to, I don't think we could do it well. The grape growing in Sweden just really isn't fantastic. So that's that marriage of A, does somebody want this product? And then B, can we make it really well? And can we make it so well that it fits sort of the purity mold right? Because for us sustainability is key. So you know, we can't really go out and do a lot of different things that maybe are popular right now because our own internal standards of distillation of organic ingredients and meeting kind of EU sustainability standards, so that's kind of the baseline for it.
Speaker 3:It's interesting to sort of figure out where does a brand become part of a core portfolio versus a seasonal or a limited time offering, and that I don't think we've cracked the code quite yet. To my mind, the new introductions that we have our Citron and our 375, are enduring. They're part of our long-term, which you might think of as like a 100-year strategy, so they're foundational. It makes sense. But then, being very transparent, we have some amazing gins, but with the gin portfolio category where it is, some of those might be a lot more interesting as limited time offerings because we could play with aging, were made on the grounds of a 13th century castle, so why not lean into that?
Speaker 3:So that's some of the things that we kind of play with and say, well, why don't we just put a bunch of gin into some rye whiskey barrels in the old armory of the castle for a month or two and see what happens? Maybe it tastes awesome, maybe it's horrible, and then we can kind of go from there. But measuring the success is, I think, a little bit more arts than science, because you can apply a lot of data and metrics to it, but ultimately that's going to be different for every brand. So for us, if our Citron is is in 23 States but it's mostly selling in five, some brands might look at that as not worthy of investment and for us we'd say, okay, well, great, then let's, let's resource and continue to build in those five States and just know that that's, that's where we're going to really develop and kind of build those things further.
Speaker 1:We've talked about things that we've got going on. What about what's in the future? What's going on in the future for purity? Any uh can you give us, can you break any news here on the podcast?
Speaker 3:We're excited right now that the new bottle is actually just starting to hit the market. So our Halo brand, our number one mover, is our Connoisseur 51 Reserve Vodka, and so that's the fastest mover and thus is moving to this new bottle the fastest, which is really exciting. So it's again a little bit lighter. The label itself is a little more premium and really easy to read. So that was one of our big components is that for the future, as we expand, we want to be able to not only be visible in a well-lit retail environment but also in a back bar where we can really pop off the shelf. So in addition, of course, again it really fits our sustainability promises and focus. So we're now you know the bottle is made with all recyclable materials much lighter, which is a lot more friendly as far as you know, when you're talking about shipping lanes and overall carbon footprint, and so that's the biggest component is really moving this year into that new bottle style across our core items is very, very exciting. And then really kind of moving into the future, a lot of what we are expanding into our relationships with hotel chains, a lot more of a retail or sorry, national accounts on-premise, which is a space the brand hasn't really delved into in the past. We're fortunate to have a really strong retail base because we've got this great consumer core. Now we're kind of moving almost backwards. A lot of brands will build on-premise. First we're really strong retail and now we're re-engaging with on-premise and really working on what are the cocktails that we want to be a part of. Espresso Martini Boom is obviously really really exciting and perfect for a brand like Purity right, a premium import, it's all organic, it's amazing. So we love being in that space and then sort of our own cocktails. So working through how to be a part of Negroni right, because we've got three different gen expressions so you can do sort of Negroni three ways, which is a lot of fun. So I think for us that's the big kind of horizon that's in front and that really dovetails with our brand awareness right.
Speaker 3:So a lot of where we've put focus in the first two years here were applying lessons that I learned in particular at Whistlepig on how do we build our digital content and our social media and our CRM right, our email list, to kind of maximize the touch with our core consumers so that we have this kind of ongoing relationship that can be very direct, and that's a place where I'm excited.
Speaker 3:We've got an incredible social media team, actually based in Gothenburg in Sweden. They've done a really nice job developing the influencers that we work with our cocktail content and kind of making that social digital space a place that consumers can land, whether they're on Instagram or Pinterest or YouTube, and they can find a touch point and a place to sort of start a relationship with the brand and then find cocktails and where to buy it. So I think those two components are for us us a really big focus for not only 2025, but over the next three years is just building that social and digital presence so that we can be very easy to find and that more consumers every day walk into stores already know Impurity versus discovering us on the shelf. They've already discovered us, they have a sense of who the brand is. It's a little harder to measure, but that's, for us, really going to be part of that next wave of growth.
Speaker 1:Can I ask a question? That's a total gear shift, a little bit out of left field here, for the certain subset of listeners to this podcast who are perhaps outside of the industry or maybe very new to the industry or considering getting into it because of your background starting out as a bar back and tending bar and all that, and now today you're the CEO of an international distilling brand. For those listeners, I just wanted to see if you had any I don't know advice or just big picture words of wisdom for folks who are interested in or just starting out in this industry and want to someday be in your shoes, if you will.
Speaker 3:It's funny.
Speaker 3:I was just having a conversation yesterday with a friend who worked on my team at a previous brand and is going through a kind of inflection point in the career. I think a lot of the advice that I would give for anybody coming in this industry, or anything in sort of really the sales or consumer packaging realm, is always be thinking ahead three to five years for yourself. I think that the people who are most successful on my team right now I think about their interview process versus, you know, others was clarity in hey, this is where I would like to be in three years or five years, which can be hard for a lot of people, but it's also helps you kind of measure as you go along is what I'm doing now, what I want to be doing in that timeframe? And then when you get to that place, kind of looking around and saying, okay, well, I've changed over time. What for me has always been really interesting is that I've had some really cool chances to jump, but they've been a little bit risky at the time. Right In retrospect they look like you know these very smooth transitions and growth over the course of time, and the reality is a lot of them were very chaotic. You know timeframes and jumping to some of these brands was relatively high risk, right. It was kind of like a bet on myself.
Speaker 3:But, being honest with yourself, if that's right for you, because at the same time you can read a million Harvard business review articles that say, hey, bet on yourself and go crazy but for some people it's much more comfortable to do something for 10 or 15 years in a stretch and if you know that and kind of set that out as you get into the industry, it can be, I think, maybe more helpful and practical and you feel more in control when there's all these ups and downs in sort of the space right. So I realize that's maybe a little bit vague, but that's one of the baselines that I put out of. You know again, my friend that called yesterday and I said, well, three years ago, where did you want to be? And he's already well surpassed that. I said, okay, well, three years from now, where do you want to be? And the decision kind of made itself. Right.
Speaker 3:It wasn't, it wasn't me advocating for one or the other, but he already kind of knew, you know what he wanted to do. He's like, okay, well, can't decide for you. But you know, if you've set this goal for yourself, that can be really, really instrumental in making decisions and not being sort of a passenger in your own career journey. You're the driver. So you know, be clear and honest with yourself as you get into things and that way, as opportunities arise, you can decide. You know which way you're going, based on a plan.
Speaker 2:That's such a great point because so many people asked me I had gone from Purity actually to an advertising agency and then I ran several healthcare practices, high-end cosmetic dermatology practices out of Union Square, central Park and the Hamptons and people were like, how did you go from ultra premium vodka and technology to you know, the healthcare space and dermatology? And I'm like, well, while it might not have been, you know, such a smooth topic transition, there's actually a lot of connectivity and connective tissue there that you can kind of draw parallels to. And if I hadn't had the opportunity to kind of do a lot of the P&L work that I did at the practice and hiring and recruitment and managing people and you know that's something I feel like was extremely instrumental for when I eventually moved back into beverage alcohol, I knew I wanted to kind of come back. I love the space.
Speaker 2:So, coming back into MHW, I was able to kind of pull on that and bring it over to be able to, you know, create budgets and to be able to hire different teams and create revenue lines. So I think you know people look at, they might look at your resume, for example, tate, and see, like all these amazing brands like Deep Eddy and you know selling to Heaven Hill and but when you go there at the time like it wasn't where it was when you sold it right, you had to make it into that. So I think it's really cool, kind of retroactively looking back and seeing like how one thing flows into the other, and to be able to set that three to five year goal, even if it's something that's maybe a little bit riskier or something that doesn't line up with expectations of what someone might expect within the beverage alcohol space.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, my first supplier job. My boss was fantastic and a true mentor to me. But my plan was I'll do this for about a year, year and a half, and then I'm going to go back to the bar world, right? What's it going to be like to have a steady paycheck and work for a real job kind of deal? And he just laughed. He's like, okay, well, if I have you for a year, then I'll teach you what you can when we get there.
Speaker 2:We'll make the most out of it, yeah.
Speaker 3:Right. And eight years later he said are you still going to go back to the bar world? I thought I wish I had written that down just for content. So you know it does evolve over time. But again, I think clarifying at least kind of where you see yourself can also help when there's opportunities to engage with different teams. You know, I started after from Deep Eddy Forward.
Speaker 3:I always kind of said to everybody, every CEO that I worked for, I would love to sit in your seat one day, and that opened up the conversation to say, okay, well, what are the? What are my weaknesses? I need more exposure to finance, to marketing. And then you can find out do I actually want to do what I said I did? Or do I arrive and say, okay, nevermind, I never want to deal with finance again, perfect, well then that kind of helps.
Speaker 3:It helps kind of inform the journey over time and remove some of that what if? Mystery like, well, what if I had done this? It's okay, I spent time with the finance team at a big company and now I never want to do it again. Great, now you know, or you're like me or you arrive and you know, engage with finance and marketing. The whole thing's fascinating. It just feels like a big giant kind of game of Tetris which is thrilling, and I love that sort of adventure every day of just trying to kind of crack the code and solve the puzzle and then trying again the next day. It's never boring, which I really enjoy.
Speaker 1:And you always have a retirement plan. 30 years from now, I want to see Tate back behind the bar slinging drinks.
Speaker 3:That's what it is. Every year, I'm just putting away a couple of bucks for the dream bar. Sadly, as I said, my bartending career was not illustrious. Maybe beer tender, right, beer and shots that nobody makes a better beer and a shot than me, so that's where I win.
Speaker 1:Finally, a most critical question what is your favorite we'll say adult beverage? What are you drinking these days?
Speaker 3:Tell you what, for me it's been a Negroni. I used to be a big Manhattan guy and I think over the last year and a half, since I had my first Negroni with the Purity Navy Strength Gin, never looked back. So it's not even lately, that's just been. The nice through line is a fantastic equal parts. You know one, one and one Negroni, unstoppable, except for when I get to the second one and then I stop. But that's my beverage right now and seems to be for the future. So I have not switched over to the espresso martini train, but maybe that'll be next.
Speaker 1:Negronis in moderation. That's the drink for Tate, exactly.
Speaker 2:And speaking of espresso martinis, I just want to let everyone know, if this episode does come out prior to WSWA, which I believe it does, we will be at WSWA, access Live 2025 in Denver, colorado, from February 2nd to the 4th. Please stop by our booth. Taste Purity Vodka, purity Citrone and Purity Gin. Purity is also taking over one of the opening reception bars the first evening and then on the second evening there will be a taste of industry tables. You can get some samples of some of the wonderful selection that Purity Distillery has. So thanks, so much, tate. Thank you for your partnership and everything you have done for MHW, and we look forward to many fruitful years together.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Thanks, bridget, appreciate it, jimmy. Appreciate all the time Fun conversation.
Speaker 1:All right. Thanks again to Tate Trollstrup and thank you listeners for joining us on the MHW Mark podcast and thanks again to Bridget McCabe for joining me in hosting.
Speaker 2:Thanks, jimmy, see you next time.
Speaker 1:This podcast is produced by me, Jimmy Moreland, with booking and planning support by Cassidy Poe and Bridget McCabe. It's presented by MHW. Find out more at mhwltdcom or connect with MHW on LinkedIn. Lend us a hand by subscribing, rating and reviewing. We'll see you then, Cheers.