Judd from Upright Non Alcoholic Craft Cocktails - New Sponsorship!!!!

An exciting new collaboration is happening between Upright Bartender-Crafted Non-Alcoholic Cocktails and the SaskatchewRun podcast! This episode features Judd and Jason sitting down for a discussion on what brought them together for this partnership and they  discuss other collaborations with some familiar faces in the running community. The next time you see Jason and Melissa at a race stop by and have a chat and try some complimentary Upright NA beverages. 

Check out podcast sponsor Upright Bartender Crafted Non Alcoholic Cocktails 

https://paperbackbevco.ca/

To get in touch with the podcast feel free to email Jason at jasontburns40@gmail.com

Instagram

@SaskatchewRun 

Thanks for listening and remember to like and subscribe! And please share with all of your friends! 

And only leave a five star review if you think I’ve earned a 5 star review. 

Artwork by Gavin de Lint 

http://gavin.delint.ca 

Thank you to the Burning Hell for the use of their song Holidaymakers. Check them out at 

www.theburninghell.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The last day of the storm of vacation stopped in after gas table off the long train track. Didn't think about going back.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

You are listening to the Saskatchewan podcast with your host Jason Burns, the podcast where we talk to Saskatchewan runners about the people and places that inspire them.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Drink water and coffee with green the kind of carbon plastic things. I was wearing the wrong shoes that we've got.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

How's it going, Judd? Excellent. Good to be here. Awesome. Thanks so much for uh sponsoring the podcast. It's a little exciting collaboration we've come up with.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Absolutely. And we're uh excited to be on board with Saskatchewan. And uh the podcast has been fantastic, lots of uh very interesting guests, and it's uh yeah, shown me a whole new perspective on activities in Saskatchewan.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Awesome, yeah. And you were actually out at the uh Prairie Sky running Reese 50 in May, and that kind of was your first big ultra-running event that you got to witness in person. You seemed pretty pretty taken with the whole situation.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Absolutely, yeah. Uh the guys at Prairie Sky do a fantastic job of organizing, and just everyone involved was just so happy to be there and super supportive of all local products. And when I showed our cyberpunk soda and the upright non-alcoholic cocktails, it was a massive reception.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Awesome, yeah. You did really well out there. And I guess full disclosure, we didn't just meet there, we've known each other since 1993, probably. That's it, yeah. We're we're age-old friends, so yeah, it's a good collaboration. So why don't you tell us a little bit about the uh origin of the the upright?

SPEAKER_02 1:57

So upright non-alcoholic cocktails is the newest addition to the product line. Um we started paperback beverage company in 2019 and came out with our first soda in 2020, which was the Cyberpunk vanilla cherry soda. We still make that, you can still get it. It's one of our best sellers still. And uh that was uh, you know, during uh the pandemic years. So uh it it would became um uh a product of necessity. We were, you know, supply chains were breaking down, and and so we were trying to make things that uh the grocery stores would sell, and they basically said, make it, we'll sell it. And we ended up making a whole slew of products, uh, not much of which stuck around after because it was, you know, not feasible and scalable. But the soda pop and also Judd's hot sauce. So we have a line of four hot sauces. We also have a barbecue sauce, uh gluten-free and vegan Worcester sauce, and a spice rub. So those seven sauces and the line of cyberpunks, which is now grown to about seven flavors. We have seasonals, we do special event uh white labels. We just did one for Saspatoon Pride. Nice uh it was my first time putting glitter, edible glitter in a beverage. And it worked out really good. Awesome. So anyone who's had one of those, uh let me know what you think.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Awesome. And then what uh how did you get into like curating craft soda and beverages?

SPEAKER_02 3:21

What was your well the craft soda came about recently because the the category has risen. Uh I mean, uh a lot of the folks I talked to out at even uh at the reserve, they were interested in and non-alcoholic beverages as as well as everyone is these days. The low alcohol, no alcohol movement has uh just grown so much there's even a uh non-alcoholic store in Saskatoon now that sells exclusively non-alcoholic beverages. And uh if anyone knows me, I my past life I was a bartender. So I've I've mixed all these drinks before, usually with alcohol, but I I uh I said, well, I I have a canner, I have tanks, why don't I just make some of these cool cocktails? So uh we I did some trials um late last year and into January this year, and found uh three flavors that I really liked. So uh with upright non-call cocktails, you could find the ginger mule, which is uh some spicy ginger beer. I wanted something for that one that really popped uh because like ginger ale doesn't have enough ginger for me. You know, and I wanted, yeah, you gotta taste it, especially if you're gonna use it as a mixer, which these are great for, or on its own, just as a a beverage that just doesn't taste like uh sort of pop that someone said it's a cocktail. It tastes like a cocktail. Yeah. And then we also have the citrus paloma, which is uh a light sort of uh lemon lime grapefruit mix. Um that one's very tasty, though. Yeah, that's my favorite. Yeah. And then we have the lime margarita, and like it's it's legit. It's a really nice balance. And so yeah, I'm really happy with uh how these came out, and I think the receptions have been really good so far. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

And where do uh where can people find the upright?

SPEAKER_02 4:56

That's yeah, that's actually one of the most asked questions. I'm I'm just uh so we launched this in March, and it's been slowly getting out into all of our uh retail partners. So we're um in a lot of SOBs and Safeways and co-op grocery stores. So a lot of them have been picked up so far. I I think Saskatoon will be uh kind of joining the ranks too. We have uh a bunch of safe ways up there, but we have we're still kind of seeding in that product to those stores. So I know it's uh it's at uh uh Lawson Heights Safeway in Saskatoon, if you're listening up there. In Regina, we have uh uh I think I think in Regina most of them have taken it, all the Sobeys and Safeways and Co-op groceries. And uh we I was checking to see if the Sobies Liquor would join in, and and it's been a little slower listing process, but uh you can get it at the Sobey's Liquor uh at Vic Square. Okay, cool. Yeah. So we're and then of course all of our uh local supporting retailers uh picking that up as well, like local and fresh.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Okay, yeah. Yeah, I always see all your stuff everywhere all the time, so that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

It's it it's fantastic. You know, being a uh a a small producer in Saskatchewan, we have noticed, and and this is uh true across all the people I meet in the in the you know com uh consumer package goods category is the support is unreal. If you when you go to markets, if you're doing farmers markets or pop-up trade shows, uh and and then you're telling people where to go get it. They do. They go to they go to the safe ways, they go to the wherever they shop and they they grab them. And it's been one of our uh just one of the coolest things is meeting all the other people and agreeing that you know, people in Saskatchewan, they want to support local, they want to try what you got. And there's so much good stuff out there, whether it's you know, spice rubs, um, sort of pop hot sauce, and all types of other, you know, uh categories. The local honey, there's uh yeah, you can find some lots of cool stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah, awesome. And if people want to uh follow along with you, or do you post your updates about your So I'm over 40.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Yeah. So the social media question is uh I know uh the right away I say Facebook, but I actually use Facebook as uh in tandem with Instagram because I find it's the best to uh to film and edit in. We were just having a discussion about creating content, and uh whatever's the most user-friendly works for a guy like me. Yep. So I always push people to our Instagram, which is at PaperbackBevco. And I I post everything from Upright and Judd Sauces and Cyberpunk Soda, and it's just kind of a mishmash. It's I try to push people there because I don't want to check messages on three different Instagrams for sure. Uh we also do on our website have a contact form, and you can check that out at www.paperbackbevco.ca, and there's some pictures and information on that as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

All right. And then like uh behind the scenes, we just see like the sexy can here, and you see it in stores and at pop-ups. But what's uh a day in the life of somebody who uh makes these beverages look like?

SPEAKER_02 7:58

I'm sure it's not all just uh social media and anyone who runs a small business will say that if you're if you're if you're not doing something, it feels like you're doing nothing and you're feels like you're spinning your wheels, but you're actually doing really good stuff when you're you know on your computer and you're uh you know just doing your basic accounting and inventory and stuff, and it feels like I need to get out and sell. I need to get out and sell, I need to be making something. Yeah. And so every day is uh uh one thing I do love about being a small business entrepreneur is how there's a flexibility, there's a creative element where every day you're creating your own job. And I really enjoy that. I can figure out well, I mean the uprights came above that, about that uh that way because I was like, I want to do this. So I got a bunch of samples and I played around for a month and a half or so and and um and I just got to do that. It's there's not a lot of jobs out there where you get to just like, you know what? I'm gonna just kind of push my other stuff to the side for a for a few weeks and concentrate on this new thing. I mean, it could have turned out terribly, and I just you know shelved it, but I'm really proud of what we've got there and it it it makes me excited to go to work every day. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

And you do all the canning and stuff yourself, right? Like you basically do.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Yeah. I love that. So yeah, we uh we share space with Good Spirit Kombucha in downtown Regina. Uh Good Spirit's another great local uh entrepreneurial company. Uh Taylor, who owns that, she does a ton of talks, and she's a uh a mentor as well for small business. And it's about getting other people involved in it. Um, as the saying goes, it's not about someone taking your piece of pie, it's about making the pie bigger. And and Taylor really embodies that. And I'm trying to like learn from her and do that as well. So it's there's a lot of good local companies combining efforts these days. And I it's just a strategy to survive.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Yeah, I love that. It's like the what is it, the rising tide raises all boats kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. In our cleaning business, we're also like that. Like we have like competition, but we're we like work together and we give each other work, and I I think it's great. Then you look after each other.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Yeah, because like it it does no good to uh, you know, talk negatively about anything like that. We're all trying to like create something that we believe in. And I think that's when you support small business, I mean you hit you're you're you're helping put my kid through school and feed her. Yeah. And uh and and also you're you know the one other comment I always get is that people really enjoy like the flavor and the products themselves, uh, especially in the cyberpunk, because I do like a that's like a full sugar soda, yeah. But full sugar also means like full flavor. Yeah. So if you remember, I mean we're we have we're of a certain vintage. You know, soda pop was different when you were kids. And I I that was one of the the goals creating cyberpunk was to like have some some classic flavor. And again, when you are a small business and you decide to do these things, you just can do them. I mean, hopefully you're successful doing them.

unknown 10:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

That's that's the uh the the metric is uh are people buying this? And you know what I found with like cyberpunk, and it's it's led me into more creative ideas with the uprights, uh, it is people will try them and they'll they'll they'll give you their honest opinion and they'll buy it again if they want.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yeah, for sure. You have uh I I saw at uh one of your one of the grocery stores like kind of like the more like energy drink style one.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Yeah, we did we did an energy drink uh two years ago called warp speed. Yeah, yeah. I really wanted to jump into that c category and see what we could do. Um we aren't doing it anymore. We're kind of cutting that one off. Yeah, it was uh it was one of the things. And again, you just as an entrepreneur, you get to make these decisions and people help you make those decisions by buying them or not buying them. Okay, cool. They decide with their wallet. Uh energy energy drinks, and if anyone out there is energy drink, you might know this because you're you're you're going for the marketing, really. The the the you know, the monsters of the world and all the uh the Red Bulls and all the different flavors. And they do such a good job marketing, and I just um I can't compete with that. Yeah. So I I would rather compete on flavor. For sure. And and I don't think that the energy market is flavor-based. I think it's more additive based, which is, you know, respect to that. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah, it's one of those things where you everybody drinks energy drinks, so you think I'll just hop into this, but it's tougher than it looks like.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

It was it was a lot, it was a different world. We were like on paper, this looks great. And then we you know, we ran it for a few years and and it did sell, but it just wasn't something that I think that we aligned with too as a brand. It was just different for us. And you you just have to make those decisions.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Yeah. Speaking of being from a certain vintage and and then the energy drink thing, I when I go to a gas station to buy like a drink sometime, I know there's like three coolers of energy drinks, and I'm just like, don't they sell chocolate milk anymore? What's the Vico and beep? That's right. But yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Yeah, it's been a um a lot of fun. Recently, if anyone's uh keeping up with our social media, the uprights, uh creating those labels, we accidentally leaned into sort of a mid-century modern look. Yeah, absolutely. It has like a like yeah, like a 50s slash 70s sort of thing. And uh uh I recently took some photos. You're gonna see some stuff pop up on our Instagram um with Return of the Century and uh Paper Umbrella, which are two companies who share space on 13th Avenue in Regina. Yep. And uh some really neat furniture and really cool vibey stuff. So I I took some pictures. So anytime you see something with like a vintage typewriter or some really nice oak or teak or something like that, that's from uh yeah, Return of the Century and uh Paper Umbrella. So thanks to those guys for letting me take over their space for a while.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

That's great. And for the runners listening out there, you'll be out at uh Beaver Flat, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Yeah, so uh I'll be sponsoring that. We're gonna I think we're coming up with a uh uh a custom label for uh one of the cyberpunk flavors. So that's gonna be a prairie sky running soda. So uh yeah, Jeff and Warren, they're they're hard at work working on that, and we'll we'll hopefully have something really cool out there for that. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Well, I think that'll about do it. Upright non-alcoholic beverages and Saskatchewan together at last. Absolutely. All right, well, thanks, Jud. That's awesome, and we'll uh talk to you later. Cheers, thanks for the key. You have been listening to the Siskatcher Run podcast. Please subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to pods, and remember to get in touch at Jason T Burns40 at gmail.com for suggestions of who you think may make a great estimate and for comments in general. And as always, thanks to this wonderful Canadian band, The Burning Hell, for the use of it's among holidaymakers. Check them out at theburninghell.com. And until next time, keep putting in the work.