Ep. 16: Travis Duncan | The Danger Den Podcast w/ Danger Foley @SXSW

In this SXSW edition of The Danger Den Podcast, host Danger Foley sits down with Travis Duncan, co-founder and product visionary of BRĒZ — a groundbreaking brand making waves in the functional beverage industry.

Travis shares the authentic story behind BRĒZ, a line of cannabis and mushroom-infused beverages designed to deliver a balanced social buzz without alcohol’s downsides. From navigating regulatory hurdles to creating mindful drinking experiences, this conversation dives deep into the challenges and triumphs of building a wellness-focused brand.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• The mission and origin story of BRĒZ
• How hemp-derived Delta-9 THC and functional mushrooms like lion’s mane create a new kind of beverage
• The challenges of innovating in a tightly regulated industry
• Insights into wellness, social connection, and mindful drinking
• Trends shaping the future of functional beverages

 Follow BRĒZ: drinkbrez.com
 Instagram: @drinkbrez

Connect with The Danger Den:
Website: https://www.thedangerden.com
Instagram: @dangerdenco
YouTube: @TheDangerDenCO

Transcript

0:04

Hi. I am Danger Foley. This is the Danger Den podcast. We are here at South by Southwest, and we have Travis Duncan, the chief chiefer of BREZ. Yep. He is the chief product officer and the kitchen wizard behind the unbelievable drinks that I have been bringing everywhere with me. I've become obsessed with you. So thank you so much for everything that you're doing and for being here. Yeah. Well and like, speaking of obsession. Like we're obsessed with you, in the sense of, like, before we even met you, in love like, hey, we want to make it drink that. Like, we're obsessed with the people we haven't met yet who we want to make a drink for, and we want to make an offering to. the the mission in general, and that even in itself, I, I, it feels it feels bigger than, I don't know, there's some serious magic happening right now in Austin and here at the Danger Den. We are making, some really great things happen, and I want to give you the opportunity to just talk about, first of all, this beauty right here. Cool. Congratulations! Thank you! This is really exciting for everybody in the community that wants to be more intentional, not drink. So tell me everything that went into this. Yeah. So, Well, kind of macro. What, what goes into this is, you know, us, like our squad. Our team at BREZ have our own personal journeys that we've been on, in relationship to compounds that expand consciousness or shift consciousness, change consciousness. And I grew up in Texas. I grew up in kind of, you know, put whiskey on the baby to help them go to sleep culture. Yeah. You know, like, kind of like, inject barbecue sauce in your veins. Like, you know. Use, use the earth. Yes, yes. It’s barbecue sauce. Yes. As they say. It's like whiskey. Whiskey cure, cures all type of thing. Totally. Cowboy stuff. Yes, yes. And so, you know, I hit my quota pretty early for alcohol in life. I hit my quota around the age of 25, and, I had a kind of a lightning bolt strike moment that really, like, clearly helped me see, I need to stop drinking. And it was just, like, a powerful voice, powerful feeling. That actually hit me in a distinct, like, single day moment. And I wasn't an alcoholic, but I, I was essentially. For Sure. Through my, my, my misuse and abuse and so. The reasons behind it and the intentions behind it, which is numbing and just wanting to shut your inner voice up. I feel like doing that repeatedly is what I would define, just probably alcoholism, which I totally was one too. Yeah. Yeah. And the inner voice component of that is interesting because, after, seizing alcohol, I started to hear my inner voice. Totally. Clearly. Yep. And unravel layers of, you know, who I thought I was versus, like, aspirationally what creation aspires for me to become. Totally is what your soul literally wants to accomplish in this lifetime. Yeah. And when you actually pay attention to it and you realize, at least in my experience and by the way, I'm no shame, I enjoy wine, like especially good wine. I just, I can't handle the hangovers anymore, man. Like that's my whole reason. I just can't sacrifice the days. Yeah. But when I stopped drinking and started paying attention to that voice, too, like, what really got me to that place was after a ceremony in Mexico, bufo, the voice that came to me that was my highest self was basically like, you say, you want this life. You say you want to do these amazing, epic things, show up or shut up. You're going to be in bed eating Chick-Fil-A on a like a Saturday morning, which is great every once in a while. But like, then you're going to feel like shit the entire day, and then you're going to feel like shit on Sunday. Like it just has this chain reaction where you can't think clearly and you can't do the things that you say you want to do, and so show up or shut up. So it just escalated from there. And like, this just makes perfect sense to me. And I'm so grateful to have something at a venue. Yeah. Like, that isn't. So, so that's the key, right. And by the way, I'm like thirsty. So yeah. Yeah. Can we please do something. Wet the beak. Wet the beak. So a. Tip up. So this is Flow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is my favorite. This is our, you know, we have a cannabis brand, as our sort of core compound that we focus on. But Flow is a non cannabis beverage. It's with cacao extract. Rich in flavonoids, polyphenols. Yeah. And then, lion's mane mushroom, black cumin seed oil. Which, yeah, we're going to go into like what? Why why why. You know what I mean. Yes, yes. Like, ooh, sounds super fancy. I also have no clue what it means. And you could just be so full of shit. You know what I mean? Like. Well the beautiful thing is. It's got the paprika, paprika beans. Right, right. Like, what? What’s cool is that, like, we we don't claim to invent anything that God made all this stuff, like there's nothing new under the sun. And what we're doing is we're, sharing what we've experienced. And so it's like everything is based on a personal experience component of it. So like, I'm like, I've been you called me, the kitchen wizard, I think. Yeah. And I really like it. I think that that's going to be a thing. Yeah. Well, I mean that's, that's and that's kind of where I came to like after drinking and to your point earlier, it's, it's like there's no shame. There shouldn't be shame involved. Everyone owns their body. So like, to each their own. Totally! Everybody has their own speed and their own balance. And and so what we aspire to do is to create different beverages that, offer different mood states and then can be available in these venues and be available in society. And so it's like fuzing the culture with more options that have efficacious compounds that experiencing is knowing that, like, you can actually drink and consume and truly feel something. And I think that was kind of like some of the malaise I experience as a customer is like, I'd be like, ooh, that seems like a cool drink. Like, I want to experience that compound. But then when you drink it, and you don't really feel any discernible, noticeable result and I'm like, okay, well, there's got to be something in there, right? There's got to be a compound. It's not just like innocuous or like there's got to be some sort of a discernible effect that you're getting from these compounds. And then as I started to hang out with amazing extractors and alchemists and, you know, purification. Other Wizards. Other Wizards, yes. Yeah. Yes. I actually have like several friends saved in my phone as like dot dot dot wizard. Like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, for sure. It's pretty cool. Yeah. So it's like I'm, I'm really grateful for the people who grow these plants and these. Yeah. Herbs and everything. And are they all doing it sustainably? Like, is this something that's, you know, how does that work? Yeah. So, you know, I mean, that's a that's a big unpacked deep question but. For sure. I know. Our suppliers. Bombshell. Yeah. It's it's very important to us. Yeah. Like in the mushroom supply chain specifically, a lot of that question can be like of international sources, like heavy metal toxicity and, like, trust. Our mushrooms that we source are grown in Santa Cruz, California. You know, so I like the accountability dynamic of like, hey, there's like, cultural familiarity. Like, I can go there, I can drive there and show up and like, see their facility. And then a lot of the extraction, we, we don't, have completely in-house, but we're like literally one step removed from it, so I can go, like, shake the hand of the people who are doing our extraction, like, talk to them and understand and. So it's a real relationship where. It’s a real relationship, yeah. Well, as someone who is building something much smaller than what you guys are doing, like, you guys are shooting. Fractal nodes. To Pluto. Fractal Nodes. Oh, for sure, but and, like, it's so fun to be doing stuff with you again. But seeing how many different pieces of this business need to be running so smoothly and there need to be these checks and balances, like with the relationships with the growers, with your team to making sure that they're not burnt out. With. Yeah. For real. With, you know all of these venues and making sure that you know the, the people that are on the street team are doing it ethically and they're not like chucking braises at people and like you know like giving BREZ a bad name, you know, like your marketing team and like the TikTok shop stuff, which I want to chat with you guys about, like all of these different pieces of the business. How are you guys doing that? Like, how did that come up and how is it going as a rapidly growing business? Well, it's trust, it's, recognition of the, sameness of the level of, of of human to human, you know, like nobody, I don't I don't believe anybody works for BREZ. We work with individuals and, and also like, there's some roles that are maybe more important. But every role is important. And so understanding like what is what is the most important thing and the priority thing to be done in somebody's role. Where is the art and the magic and the passion in that task, even if it's like a spreadsheet, right? It's like, we aspire to align each like role on our team as like, the person who's doing that role is like, lit up by that thing. So, like, folks who who have to work in, in the spreadsheet realm, like, we ask like, whether they want to join the team. It's like. Do you like this? Do you love spreadsheets, like? Yeah. You, you a spreadsheet freak. Yes. Yeah, yeah. And they're like, I am! For real. They're people that love that stuff. And yeah, it's so great when the puzzle piece fits and you have the person, it's like a spy team, you know what I mean? Yeah. Where everybody's got their it's like, choose your fighter. And it's all of these people that bring a unique skill set to the team. Yeah. It's great. Well, and so Aaron, Aaron is our founder. Yeah. Yeah, I've been hearing about him. I'm still not sure he exists. I feel like we have. We've been crossing paths for so many times around. Like, I got to meet him in person. Yes. You gotta you know, I keep hearing about him. Well, and it's like that it. And it's it's kind of it's to be in his role is, It's a heavy thing. For sure. Cause everybody wants to command the attention. Absolutely. But you know he has. Absolutely. A lion heart like he's a lion hearted energy. And he knows how to hold people accountable with love, with trust, with like, hey, there's a challenge here. But that's the opportunity. Like how. Absolutely. Can we break through. We verse the problem. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. So I just think like culturally he sets up a really good tone for our team. And. That's huge. You know. And when did you come in to the picture? What's your origin story with these guys? I like to say the spiritual birth date of BREZ is January 16th, 2023. Wow. You guys are babies. Yes. So Aaron was on a plane flying over Costa Rica. And the wind was like, you know, hitting and like, I think he was leaving some gathering in Costa Rica and, the wind was kinda blowing in his face from the plane. And this vision came to him of breathe and breathe easy, and breeze and kind of the air sign, you know, like the the, the air is, is very representative of BREZ. And it's like the air is the ether. It's like where information flows through. And so, so that's the spiritual birth date. And then I met Aaron about two weeks later, at Cannadelic Conference in Miami. And we just connected and I, it was a very pure interaction because, like, for some reason, he had said something on the mic about what he does, and, and I just had this moment of like, oh respect, like, I, I like the conviction which that guy speaks and then I just saw him in passing later and I was like, yo, dude, like, what's up? Like, like like nice conviction in your voice. Like good, you know, good vibes that you’re putting out there. And he's like, cool, cool, man. We just start talking and then it was just immediate resonance of like, shared vision of, a purpose and the opportunities we see in humanity. And like, you know I think I was telling some of your, like team and squad earlier like, the compound is not the cure. Like we don't claim that BREZ is the cure for people. But the compounds in BREZ, you’re interfacing with nature intelligence from nature that it. And like adaptogens are like, it's like a generation of family that comes from a certain set of principles. And they show up to your body and they observe and they see what's going on in your body at that time. But they have those principles, those toolkits of their compounds, and they go where they're needed. And then, you know, the next generation of plants from that same lineage can come up and show up. Totally. And so that's kind of the, the nuance and variability throughout different phases and different sessions of, of interacting with the compounds. Right. But like. And where do these grow by the way, where do all these grow in the world. All over. All over. Black seed oil is, primarily in like Southeast Asia and in the Middle East. Actually there's a quote from the Prophet Muhammad, I believe, said that black seed oil is the cure for everything but death itself. Which is not medical advice ya’ll. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s not medical advice. But we throw it in there just in case. Yeah, yep, but, you know, it's just this is a humble opinion. Yeah. But, yeah, like black seed oil, it’s rich in omega fatty acids. It's very vitalizing that with the polyphenols and the cacao with, the, the, the fatty oily, beneficial tri terpene compounds from the mushrooms. This is like meant to be like a vitalizing euphoric, kindof stimulating while grounding social calling. I love it. And then this is our spirit, let's make a little. Yeah, please. Please, please, please. Flow mocktail. Yes. Let me drain this melted ice here. Yeah. So this is our spirit, and, cannabis and mushroom infused spirit, as you know, and. Lovely. The purple shade is you'll see that comes from. I'll do a, I'll do a straight shot with ya, and then we'll make a little mocktail. Oh, cool, cool. Yeah. It’s so pretty. And so the color comes from. Butterfly pea flower extract. Yeah. And it's beautiful. It's so cool. And this is a natural thing that just comes out of the flower that way. Yeah. There's anti-oxident compounds that really form the pigmentation, in, in flowers and plants and, they actually, they actually do have a beneficial properties to them as well. Amazing. So it's not just color. What are we toasting to? To freedom. To freedom. To freedom. Beautiful, I love that. It's really lovely. It tastes like, I want to say, the beautiful cousin of a sake almost, like, like a. That’s the third time I've heard that this week actually. Like a consistency of a nice sake. Okay, cool. Without the, it's not grainy at all. It's just very smooth. But, you know, it's thicker, like, slightly and in a good way. That's like a perfect base. And you can already, like. I don't know, it feels. I've never. I want to say this, I've never done absinthe, but I feel like this would be like the, experience of, you know, something that you would, like, put me in a forest or something, like where you're. Yeah. Is that what you were going for? Yeah, especially with the color. Like we wanted it to. To, like, if there's one color that sort of represents BREZ, it's like metallic, hazy, glowing lavender. It's like third eye purple. Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, we're manufacturing this in Minneapolis right now, which is like Purple City, kind of like Prince and. Beautiful. The vikings. It’s just kind of a cool. There's a lot of purple. Synchronicity. Up there. Yeah, yeah, a lot of purple up there. Underrated town by the way. I've never been. Minneapolis. I never like, I sort of never thought about Minnesota or Minneapolis like in life. And then and then and then they. Hasn’t really crossed my mind too much either. And it turns out that, like, talking to some of the locals there, like, they're like, yeah, we kind of like it that way. Like it’s kind of like. Oh for real sneaky off the grid. Yeah. If you know, you know. Yeah. Well secret's out. Amazing city. That's awesome. And actually, that's one of the the sort of tertiary benefits of, of, BREZ is like seeing the different towns throughout America like as we go. Absolutely. Very cool. And you have a family, by the way. Yes, yes. You have two kids under the age of four at home, and your wife is a total badass. She's amazing. Yes. Just being mom, given the kids the absolute nurturing attention that they deserve. And you are traveling a ton. I'm not traveling a ton. Not. It's not a ton. At this point. I travel, when necessary to advance the mission. Totally. And we we, our family understands that dynamic, and we have this balance there and and everybody understands the priority and is. Yeah. And I think when building the team that's going back full circle to that, it's like everybody understands that their life needs to happen and flow with this in order for it to work. Yeah. Like you can't be off balance or it throws everything off. And so like giving people the ability to feel good about having family. One hundred percent. And life. Yeah, actually. And I've, I've said it many times, like in our sort of culture workshop meetings on the team like BREZ, no matter what our metrics are, BREZ will be a failure if in decades we're all sick and our families didn't get time with us like so, we we need to be healthy. Totally. We need to stay grounded for the long term. Definitely. And first and foremost, we need to be good spouses, parents, and all that kind of stuff like. Because that's really the that is the foundation of how society. Healthy cores. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, and that is something that I'm finding too. There's, you know, you can't have a company that is built on being a wellness and burnout sanctuary. Right. For artists. Yeah. If you're a burnout, you know what I mean, like. Right yeah. If, if I'm not doing the things to take care of myself, then what's this all for? Exactly. And so, you know, I mean, working through my own vices, working through my own work and using this as the opportunity to be a case study with my music career as I'm touring and having these epic opportunities open for my favorite artist Vandelux. That's awesome by the way. This last weekend. Dude, I know. Very cool. Thank you so much. It was epic. And I'm going back to Crested Butte this next weekend for sleds and kegs, which is this big mountain party, like in like sleds in the streets through. It's going to be nuts. But BREZ is coming with me there. Cool. But yeah, having all of these opportunities to see firsthand how desperately you need pitstops. Like you need a safe house somewhere where you're like, my back is killing me. It's been killing me for two weeks. I don't have time to go see a chiropractor. I don't know anyone in this town. And like, what am I going to do? I guess I'll go drink about it, like, guess. And, like, you know what I mean? Or I haven't gotten my hair colored in a month and or like two, whatever, six months, whatever it is, I'm trying not to get mine done as much. Well, what is life? And honestly, for real, like, it would be so great to just have more resources. And a big thing for me has been giving people the opportunity to at least have the choice to not drink. Yeah, well, thank you for your hospitality today. Dude. Like, it is very cool. And thank you. Thank you so much for being here. We’re at South By, South By is intense, like I told our team beforehand, like, you know, sleep well beforehand. Like, have all your, like, nutritional stuff, like in line because it's, it's a kind of a marathon type of energy. And, it's been very cool to come into this sanctuary, this space. And it has like it has been that. Thank you. Successful rollout of the concept. Dude, and thank you so much for being here and for being, just a big part of my story and this evolution of no longer dealing with chronic neck pain. Thank you, human garage. But now seeing so clearly just how potent the mission is to have the opportunity to treat a dance floor as a way to actually be like a potent place of alchemy. That's medicine. Right? And so giving people the resources to enhance their experience without like, depletion the next day. So, yeah. Thank you so much for being here and for sharing. Just, you know, your story and everything that you're doing. I'm so impressed. And I love that I get to sit with the kitchen wizard. Cool, cool. Yeah. Yeah, it's very special. Well, thank you for having us here. Yeah. Yeah, man. Where can people interact? Well, actually, I think we're going to have a code, so we have a code. Oh okay. So if you actually use the code danger, we're going to give you a discount, a little homie discount. By the way, is there a limit to how many of these you can drink a day? We sort of base it on, like, six a day is kind of, safe. Okay. Sweet. And it's probably more than that. And I honestly, I have to say that I do feel, different, like I feel clearer, I feel more strategic. I think that that's why Danger Den is like rocket ship, is because I'm just being more strategic with what I'm doing in this. I don't know, it's not I wouldn't say I'm not going to give it like the limitless stamp of approval where I'm like, I'm the smartest I've ever been, you know, by any means. Got a lot of leaps and bounds to go in that department. But like, I think Reed's noticed it, too, that there's just been some really cool neuro pathways that have just kind of opened up for both of us. Well, there's some amazing research that's being done specifically, cacao and the flavonoids in cacao, potentially like stem cell regenerating, cardiovascular support. And, you know, all intelligence emanates from the heart, right? And like, so, so, you know, it's kind of a supplement beverage in a way. In that sense, it's very, there's a lot of densely packed superfood content in here. And it's and it's also nice in that social setting, I think it's like. Oh it's so nice. It actually doesn’t. I’m going to make a little mocktail. Try to steal the show, which is beautiful, which I love about Flow. It doesn't try to steal the show like and be this like this intense thing. It actually kind of gets out of the way and I, I, I observe people when they, when they're interacting before and after drinking Flow, and they're just kind of more engaged and more kind of talkative. They're a little more relaxed. Definitely. Yeah. It's a really exciting time for sure. Yes. So thank you for having me here. I do I do need to jet right now. I know you do. Thank you. I know that was another ten minutes we’re like and another thing, rabbit hole. Yes, I know. We could probably go hours. Thank you for being here. It means so much to be able to host you guys, even for a short period of time. Thank you! Give you a spot to just chill. So. Cool. Thank you for being, with the Danger Den we are at South by Southwest. This is Travis Duncan with BREZ. Cool. Yeah. Thank you. We're out.