This week's show is another two-part episode. The first and main part of the episode we are joined by Janae Angel from New Orleans, Louisiana. Janae has been bartending for over a decade now in the French Quarter, and Janae also creates educational social media content, which you can find on Instagram at janae.ongel, and that is spelled J-N-A-I-D-I-D-E-L-L-E. In 2021, Janae started her own company called Pretty Magic Cocktails to offer high-quality cocktail and spirits education classes to the public.
Make sure you check the show notes for the likes of both. For the second part of the episode, we are joined once again by the returning Elena Enter from Cocktail Vision. Elena talks about some of the recent trade shows she's attended and some of the new products she's bringing to market. You can find out more about Elena and her brand, Cocktail Vision, on Instagram at cocktail.vision.
Enjoy the show. Okay, welcome to another episode of the industry podcast. My name is Kip. This is Dan.
What's happening, buddy? That's just another exciting day. I work as always, which kind of cuts into my free time, but what can you do? Yeah, it's funny how that works.
Yeah, sure does. I have things going with you. How do you tell you something? I'm just gonna go on a mild rant about this.
What? No, I know. What's it this week? This week, my rant is dedicated to the HCO which is for anyone who doesn't know who you had to deal with the Gator liquor license in Ontario, where we are from Kitchener Ontario.
We're gonna do a new project right now and try to get a liquor license transfer completed. Fill out a fuck ton of forms on their website. Submit everything including a thousand bucks they want just to transfer a liquor license, which is for cash grab. And then they get back to me a week later.
Like, no, we're actually not right on that. And it's just requesting me all this additional information. So the three things they requested, one was reasonable, was something that was not submitted. Actually, only slightly reasonable.
We had submitted the form, but we didn't submit it in the fashion that they wanted us to. So that was a whole new thing. Then there was a whole new form that they asked for, which just was just like my signature and the date and the name of my company, which that information is included on every single form I've already submitted, but they needed a separate form just with that information. And then another one where they were like, the trend they wanted to prove a transfer of ownership, which is fine, but it leads me to believe why didn't they just asked for it in the first place?
Like, we were going through the process and they're recently, why did they have to come back? And now I have to re-submit this whole thing and wait another week or two for them to get back to me. Well, our illustrious preview, it says, cutting the red tape for corporations or businesses. I'm not sure.
Fuck me. Anyway, that's the end of my rant. The agency, Joe, is maybe one of the worst organizations around as is the LCBO, there's subsidiary, which sells all their shit. Fuck them both.
And we'll continue to have to work with them. Oh, let's start out with the bank. Yeah, that's great. But the rest of our show is going to be much more lighthearted.
We have a great guest as always joining us in just a little bit. Jen Angel will be here. You will remember her from our episode that tells us cocktail, but she is going to be joining us in just a second before we get to her. If you want to be a guest on the show, just DM us at the industry podcast or email us at theindustrypodcast.club.
That's also the places, those are the places to reach this for sponsorship as well. If you like what we're doing here, subscribe, rate, review, that helps tremendously. Zachana, Zachana.co. He is in demand and behind all our artwork on the Instagram page.
So check him out for all your graphic art needs. And thanks as always to Zach. And finally, if you're in the kitchen and Waterloo area, you're going to want to check out Sugar Run. It's a speakeasy downtown kitchener.
And Babylon Sisters, which is a wine and cocktail lounge up town, Waterloo. And stay tuned. If I ever get this fucking AVC, you should have dealt with it. There might be a new announcement for another spot to visit.
Yeah, well, this rate will be a buy at the 240. That's right. It's 146. So yeah, we should check out the archives as well.
Ron McEnlay was on last week. And he is the executive chef at Knu restaurant in Toronto. Before that we had, I don't even know. Oh, Stephanie Sousa.
I heard a person. A little from catering. Yeah, that's right. Now we had Raven Dale's Meredith Berry.
Danny Posey. Yeah. Blue of great episodes. Go back and check him out.
Yeah, Monteboro 2. That was great. Yeah. Okay.
And so check those out in our archives. And let's just get to our current guest, Janae Angel. How are you today? Good.
Thanks for joining the show. Yeah, of course. So last time we hung out, it was in New Orleans at Pey shows. Yes.
And you were immersed in Tales of the Cocktail, which is like obviously the biggest deal probably for you going on in your native city of New Orleans. So talk to us a little bit about how you got involved in Tales of the Cocktail. We'll start there and then we'll get into a little bit of your career. Yeah, I think so my first foray with Tales of the Cocktail was in 2021.
I actually hosted the Spirit of the Word that year. It was virtual. So me and the co-host, Ms. Frankie Marshall, we were on camera the whole time.
There was a really small audience in the courtyard of the Jewel of the South. I don't know if you visited that restaurant on why you were here, but it's beautiful and the cocktails are great. The food's good. But that's where the awards were in 2021 and then fast-forward 2022 and I'm working 10 events in five days.
That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how I did it and I don't remember going to sleep or waking up, but here I am.
It's still alive. I survived. Yeah, that's amazing. So how does that process happen?
How do you start? First of all, how did you get approached about doing the virtual version of it and then how does that develop into you, essentially doing that many events in a week? Yeah, honestly, it took me by surprise. I don't think I really knew many people at Tails with cocktail.
I believe the year before I was on the judging panel of the Spirit of the Awards for or at least the committee. I was on the central committee for the Spirit of the Awards. So I felt very fortunate to do that. And then the next year they called me and asked me to host and I was surprised.
But I guess somebody had been talking about my videos probably and my camera presence and I was like, well, she's local. She probably could be really good on camera. Right. Fair enough.
Okay. So how did you get started in the service industry? Actually, it was 23, 11 years ago. I've been, no, 13 years ago.
I've been bartending for 11 years, but I started out as a hostess. I needed a job in college. I had some friends to work at a restaurant and they got me a hosting job. I hated it.
So I went up to serving and I did that for a year and a half. I hated that. And then I started bartending and hated it. But kept doing it.
It was just interesting to say because there's levels to bartending. And I was bartending at the lowest of levels, not super complicated things. It was just very all-binar and rudimentary. And then when I finally got a job, I believed around 2017 in the cocktail bar.
It was like somebody opened a door. I finally learned about classic and craft cocktails. I started learning about individual spirits, education, all kinds of things that I didn't even know I could know about. And then once that came about, I just, I went with it.
Right. That's 2017. So what was the first cocktail bar that you started working on? It was a bar called Kingfish in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
I quit my job before that I was working at Archie Manning's restaurant, ironically. And in uptown New Orleans, I had the work environment and no shame to Archie. But the work environment was horrible. My boss was horrible.
I was just like, I'm leaving. Y'all stop. I quit my job next day. I just went out with my resume and started going to some French Quarter bars.
I ended up on Kingfish and the bartenders looked like they make money. So I was like, cool. I'll just apply here. And then everything else is history.
Right. So when you go from a bar like Archie Manning bar, but it's probably more like pulling pints. Yeah. Definitely a sports bar.
Yeah. So here's a beer and a shot. Chicken wings. Chicken wings.
Yeah. So when you go from there and all of a sudden you're working in a place where you're doing craft cocktailing, I talked to us a little bit about the learning curve there because you're kind of like getting thrown to the fire. It's like, oh, yeah, I know how to bartend. But then it's like a whole new world when you start doing cocktailing.
Yeah, absolutely. And honestly, to this day, I still don't know why they hired me. I have no clue. I do give a good interview though.
And that's always I've never, I've never not gotten a job. And I think it's because I show my tenacity in the interview. Oh, I gotcha. He took a chance on me.
And to say I was overwhelmed is to say the least because I honestly didn't know what I was doing. I thought I know, you know, you make old-fashioned, but then when you learn how to make it correctly, it's like, whoa, is like, doing, right? There was no manual. There was no, you know, there was a training manual which taught me, you know, about the food items and how to describe menu cocktails.
But there was no recipe to becoming an educated classic cocktail and cocktail bartender. So I just took it day by day. And I still do that sometimes. You know, I never lied to anyone.
If I didn't know something, I would say I don't know. And then the next day I would know because I'd go home and look it up. So that was kind of how I progressed at first. You know, I would mess up, I'm like, no, I mess up.
And I was like, I mess up, I mess up, I mess up, I mess up, I mess up the next day. I was making it correctly ever since then. And it was just about taking it day by day. And then after a while, once I finally got a hang of it, I started by cocktail books.
For example, I bought Enbive to learn a little bit about cocktail history. That was probably the first book that I bought. I also bought books like Jim Neahan's Bar manual. That was another one that helps me a lot.
And just, you know, some basic general bartending books to teach me. Basic book from real professionals. So that's really how I learned that. And is this, are you going to school at the same time with that?
Was you right? Yeah, yeah. I was supposed to be a dentist. That's what you have to school for?
Yeah. Well, you have a nice teeth. It sure is. Yeah, but you know, the science background helps out a lot.
For sure. Yeah. It really does. Yeah.
So you get the science degree and that certainly that would help with learning like about molecular ways to make cocktails, et cetera. Did you finish school? Yeah, yeah. I got a great thing.
Yeah. So when you were done and you're like, what point did you decide? Okay, maybe I'm just going to do this bartending thing instead of like becoming a dentist. What was the sort of, yeah?
Yeah. I think it was mostly part to maybe like a quarter life crisis. I think I was like 23, 25, like, man, I'm really going to go back to school because I was going up between studying for the DAT or trying to study for the DAT. And I was actually telling somebody this the other day how the service industry just isn't good for your mental or your physical health, right?
Because you think that it's not like a regular desk job, right? No. So when you bartend, you're physically worn out and you're also mentally worn out from having to use your brain and you have to have people in just remembering recipes and all those other things. So when I would try to study for the DAT, I was burned out.
You know, I should have picked something easier to do. I want to say around 24, 25, I'm 32 now. Around 24, 25, I decided, you know, I'm so burned out. There's no way that I could study in the timeframe that I want to study to go back to school.
So I'm going to try out this bartending thing for a while. It seems interesting, you know, people, it seems like there's opportunity here. So I'm going to try it out and see where it takes me. And in that year, I decided to travel that year, I think 2017, 2018, between those two years I went to Kentucky, I think I went to Kentucky twice to learn about whiskey.
I went to Guadalajara to learn about tequila. I have been to Wisconsin for a gin camp. I was just doing everything that I need to do, you know, to learn what I could learn and see the opportunities out there. And once I finally realized that this is something that I really, really enjoy and how much anxiety I had about going back and studying, I was like, I'm going to do this for a little longer.
And then I just never stopped. Right, right, right. So I get most of that, but Wisconsin and gin, I don't get the connection there. What's the, why is there a gin camp in Wisconsin?
Yeah. So there was a gin company that unfortunately has now discontinued called Best Store. They had a gin program where they would buy us out to Wisconsin and then we would pick Juniper berries. And it was real cool because I never been to Wisconsin.
And they even took us to the Green Bay Stadium is real cool. But yeah, they took us around their facilities. They taught us how to make gin and the process and we got to see everything. And picking the berries was like, it was, I have much appreciation for people who do it because I don't know if you've ever picked Juniper berries, but they grow in prickly bushes and I could not do that.
Yeah, it doesn't sound that fun. So at some point, like you, you decide you're going to dedicate your career, at least with the time being to doing this. At what point did you start moving into sort of doing the virtual bartending? Was that during the pandemic or before that?
Yeah, absolutely. When I first started it, I had no intention of actually doing it to make money. My original goal was to just kind of update my resume, right? I knew social media could be used as a platform for building your, usually your personal brand and your personal profile.
So in my mind, I was thinking, you know, I'm going to get a job at some point, right? So why, instead of just sitting here, totaling my thumb, I could be doing something to where I'm still working on my skills in terms of making cocktails, but also giving service by giving people education about cocktails, which is what as a graphic cocktail bartender, you do a lot of because people expect you to know these things. And like we trial an error, like I said before, I have people asking questions and I will say, I don't know, but come back to me tomorrow and I'll know. I built up that knowledge and I needed to keep repeating it out loud to remember it.
So that was the original reason that I started doing it. Interesting. And so what point does it start to take off for you? And like, I assume that you've now monetized it and how did that happen?
Yeah, so I think, it's been a couple of years now. I think I just, so I believe there was a big project that was going on. I can't remember the company, but there was a company that was hiring bartenders for a larger liquor company to do media, like create videos. And create recipes and things and write things for publications.
And it was really about just putting money into our hands. So at that time, they were paying a lot. I think I got paid $1,000 to make a real simple video. I never had never really made a video for like social media yet, or if I did, it was just like for fun.
So when I realized that that was an option, I was like, I don't think I want to do anything else but this. Yeah. And then it's interesting because, so my boyfriend actually got me a subscription to Masterclass this year. And I was listening to, I don't know if you guys know who Elaine Walter is, but she was, she was the youngest content mask editor in chief, she was editor in chief of Dean Boak, she's also a fellow black woman.
And she said that when you're looking for your purpose in life, you kind of just have to look at your past and your past will give you clues to why you do what you do now. And then I was thinking like, well, why do I like doing this so much? And I'm thinking about like what I used to do back in the day, like I was a theater kid in high school. You know, I start, I've been making YouTube videos since 2015.
So this is, this is something that I've been, I've shown myself throughout my entire lifetime that this is something that I'd like to do. And I think that maybe if I, you know, maybe if I had explored this earlier in life, maybe I would, you know, maybe I would be in film and TV. You never know. I would have wasted my life trying to become a doctor.
You're not raised to love it. What is my life trying to become a doctor? You're going to get that out of the t-shirt. Well, this is a good time to bring this up actually because obviously we follow your Instagram and the videos are awesome.
So tell our listeners where they can follow you. Yeah. So you can follow me on my personal page. I'm Jenae J.
N. A.I. . A-N-G-E-L-L-E.
That's my personal page. I post a lot of Coxland's experience education on there. Then you can also follow me on my business page. I also teach Coxland classes.
I'm also opening up my first public classes this month. I'm super excited about it. And that page is at Pretty Magic Cocktails. Nice.
And so the one thing I noticed about following you on your page as well is you do a lot, or at least first-rester, you were doing some stuff about Black History as well on, with regards to Coxland's explain a little bit about what was behind starting that sort of side project. Yeah. I mean, as the Black bartender, especially in New Orleans, it's a weird experience because when I first started out that first bar that hired me, I was one of the only Black people that worked out at that restaurant, maybe out of 20 front of house staff that would be three or four of us. And I was also the only African-American behind the bar as well.
So a lot of my experience in New Orleans as an active bartender, I've most of the time been the only Black person behind the bar, which is strange because not only is New Orleans 60% African-American, in reality, Black people started the service industry. We were the original service industry. And a lot of the popular cocktails today, like the Medjulep, for example, the Medjule was actually popularized by Black psychologists back in the day. And if it weren't for them, we wouldn't be sipping on Medjulep, Somethinkentucky.
And then I quickly became just fucking drank by slave owners at horse races. Yeah, yeah. So there's a lot of history. That's crazy.
For example, Uncle Nearest, the story of Uncle Nearest, the man who taught Jack Daniels had a McWhisky. Jack Daniels knew about that for years, but they didn't tell anybody. And it makes you think, how many stories like that are out there? Somebody has to tell them.
So I just try to do my part. It's funny that you just mentioned that because I didn't start thinking about talking about watching some of your videos. Wow. Like you know, when you're walking around New Orleans, and I mentioned before we started recording, it's definitely my favorite city in the world.
And like, there is, yeah, it's clearly a majority Black community. But when you go through the bars, especially the French Quarter, it's all white people working. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
And most of them aren't even from New Orleans. Right. We're a city of Transplant. Transplant.
And even a lot of the Black bartenders are not from New Orleans. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Actually, it's funny because when we, before we started talking, I was like, oh yeah, you were born and raised in New Orleans.
And like, it's kind of like Vegas where, or L.A. where you rarely meet someone who was born and raised there is still living there. Yeah, for sure. And I don't know if you've heard of programs like Turning Tables.
Have you guys heard of Turning Tables? Yeah. Turning Tables is actually a program that's been started by my French very folks. And it basically focuses on high quality, cost and experience education for Black and Brown people in the city.
So he does the yearly classes and he takes about 10 students who are interested in becoming craft bartenders and he teaches them all kinds of classes. I do classes with the program too. I do a bartending 101 class. And this class called Choose Your Own Path, where basically I take them through my career from back in the day till now and show them that they can basically chart their own path through the beverage industry.
They also get taught distilling by actual distillers. They get taught cocktail education from prominent BIPOC bartenders in the city, wine education, all these things that we have very little access to in New Orleans. That's amazing. Is this issue more just centralized in the French quarter where it's all fucking white people working or is it like, would you say it's like even when you're getting in like ninth quarter, whatever, like is it the same issue?
I would say I wouldn't say I think it's localized to the craft and classic bartending community. So the high end restaurants and bars, it's mostly seen there because there is a decent and significant black bar culture in New Orleans, but the cocktail, I want to say the cocktail quality is drastically different because they don't possess that knowledge. So I believe black cocktail culture in New Orleans is comfortable with what they know. But if you want to know more and see what else is out there, there's very little opportunity.
And a lot of the bars in New Orleans won't hire you if you don't have background education. Not many businesses are willing to educate you like the business that hired me was. So I was, I wasn't anomaly. Right.
Well, it's good that you're in the forefront of this, especially with your Instagram presence of like educating, obviously solely directed at African Americans, but like just anybody who's willing to take the knowledge in, right? But I think that there's probably something coming from like a strong black female voice that would probably draw more more black people to that sort of an online class. Yeah, I do feel like when I was an active bartender that people who look like me were a little more comfortable talking to me about things. And also the language that I had to use as a bartender was different from my white male car counterparts.
There were a few times where I was like five minutes trying to convince this person to get in a cocktail, but they were committed to like misunderstanding. You know, they didn't, they didn't really want to get that information from me. So I had to come over and you'd be like, get it. It's great.
And then two seconds they were like, okay, so I experienced a lot of that. So because of that, I learned a specific kind of service language to where I got respect from people, but they also appreciated the knowledge that I have. And I try to, you know, educate, I try to educate the public in that exact same way. I try to use easy to understand words and concepts.
And I think it translates really well. I feel like people are, it's easier for them to understand things. So in a lot of the, most of the cocktails that I make on my page, you can actually order at bars. And they ask for things.
They're able to use, you know, the proper language, or they know how to explain themselves when they want these things. Right. That's interesting. So as opposed to like you making your own specialty cocktail creations, you're kind of making cocktails that are universally known.
So when people like to go to bars, they can be like, Oh, give me this. I saw Janay making it on Instagram or whatever. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, interesting.
That's smart. Yeah. And so you're very well spoken to. So give me an example of like when you were saying you had to sort of shift your way of speaking about cocktails.
Like can you give us a more specific example? Yeah. I kind of have to come from a more, more of a sort of like a, kind of like I had to treat my customers more like my friend rather than my student, you know, so instead of coming with authority, I came with kind of like open arms. So it would be more of like instead of, Hey, here's a menu.
This is what you're going to like or this, you know, these are the things that I think are good for you. It was more of like a, Hey, how are you today? These are the things that we offer. Let me know if you have questions or if you have problems with what you want.
And I would open up and be like, I have the knowledge for you. If you were willing to take it instead of trying to force it down the groups, which are not just people work, some people that authoritative service language works, but for me, it was just a little too much. So I think people were expecting me a lot more when I came as a friend rather than an authority in the space or as a complete authority. I think that like, and I think you're right that a lot of people, there are some people that are looking for someone just to tell them what to do and what to drink and come across in a authoritative manner.
But I think more of our players can learn from that approach of like, because I think in general, people come into a bar, don't want to be talked down to. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like they kind of want you to be like, Oh, well, here's what I think is cool.
And like, I always try to tell the people who work with me is just like, ask them first what they usually like to drink and then go from there, right? And then you can recommend something like I never understood the thing. It's like, Oh, you're going to like this. And like, what just because I like it doesn't mean you're going to like it.
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I never understood either. And I think a lot of our customers are educated too.
So, you know, they don't they don't need the whole spiel. They just they they have specific questions and then they expect specific answers from you. You know, I want a Jane cocktail that's refreshing and has bubbles in it. What can you give me?
Right. Yeah. And so, okay. So you're doing the the Instagram thing is like sort of your main, would you say that's your main gig now?
I, so I would say my, my job is to park. I do the social media and then I also do the cocktail classes. So I'm currently building the cocktail class business. It's something I kind of just put to the side the past year because I was doing a lot of traveling.
I did 10 events. I'm doing that this year. So now, not that I do not. Look, I could, but I can't, I don't even think I slept 20 hours that week.
It was crazy. I don't think I may be average three hours a night. Oh, man. That was too much.
That was too much. Well, I remember when I met up with you for a drink that day and we did that quick interview, you were like, yeah, I'm going to go. I have to party to go to it like seven hours from now. I'm going to be asleep by then.
I'm like, oh, when can I, when can I just not go? But you're also currently working at what's the bar, Tony? Oh, yes, bar, Tony. Yeah, I transitioned out a little bit, but I'm still on the roster.
So you, if you do come to New Orleans and you want to see me there, I might be there. I probably might pick up some shifts there. I'm doing tons of hotels with Sony help, but no, I'm just doing social media and growing the cocktail business as a moment. That's amazing.
So talk to us a little bit. Like, I think a lot of the people listen to show would like to know how you go about building this sort of online presence to the point where you can just make a living off of it. Like what, what would be your tips? I think the biggest thing is consistency.
Being consistent is the most fastest way to grow on social media, specifically like the scrolling apps or like Instagram, TikTok. Being consistent on there will help to grow you in audience. Also being authentic. I don't try to, you know, copy people.
When I look for video inspiration, I usually look at videos created by people who aren't bartenders for inspiration. Also, identifying your audience and identifying, making a clear kind of idea of who you're creating content for and what kind of content you want to create. So for example, me personally, my content is easy to understand cocktail and spirit's education. And most, if not all the rest of these on my channel, you can actually order at a bar.
So they usually have the ingredients that I be trying to cocktails. And in terms of my ideal audience, it would be beginner bartenders as well as beginner coxillators and home tenders. Right. So the key is to target it sort of like, like have a very clear idea.
And this is the same as like, for my business opening bars, it's like you have to have a clear idea of what your target audience is and stick to that because if you try and do everything for all people, it just gets, it gets away from you. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
And when you're first starting out, it's super okay to just do everything and trying to like try and err it and see what pops off and it doesn't. And you know, try to find a medium between there because I think my videos are great, but some of them don't do too really, really too well because maybe, you know, Instagram video was meant more particular something I was not ticked off was meant for Instagram. So it's about, you know, just trying everything. Right.
And like, do you have sort of a formula on based on like, you post more on Instagram or more on TikTok or like, how do you sort that out? Oh gosh, I wish I was there. I wish I was there. I have friends who are that good at it, but you know, I just, I at this point, I do what I can.
Yeah. And I do want to make sure that you're working with actual companies, you kind of have to prioritize their content over the content that you want to make. And then there's also sometimes you want to make content that people actually don't want to watch. So it's like, do I make the content people want to watch or do I make what I want to make?
So it's, no, but I try to, I do try to be consistent. I try to post at least two to three times a week. Sometimes I don't sometimes I just need a little break, which is okay because social media is a lot, especially when you aren't on there for money. It's a lot.
And comparison is real. But I try to make seasonally inspired content. So I try to make videos that people were searching for. So like it's March.
So it's fun and history month. I'm going to feature some women's cocktails and think how you say it's going to be in a few days. So I'm going to make it some green cocktails too. Right.
Nice. Now with the two platforms Instagram and TikTok, you're going to need a lot of insight into demographics at all. Like who like are they very similar between the two? There's a radically different view.
Yeah. I think that they are individually two different beasts, but I think that they require different things too. I'm better at Instagram than I am from TikTok, but it's a lot easier to grow on TikTok. So I'm going to be diving into that a lot.
TikTok, I believe is more geared towards super personal content. So if you want to talk a lot about yourself and bartending from your perspective at home, or maybe you're at the bar and you're doing a live stream and you're doing stuff like that, that's perfect for TikTok. My videos are a little more preachy and kind of like, this is what we're talking about today. It works well on Instagram in very short form.
I can't go on there going on a monologue, but those kind of videos work on YouTube. So it's all about figuring out which platform is perfect for you. So I'll start. I'll be starting a YouTube channel this year.
That's crazy. But yeah, they definitely require different kinds of content. It's a lot to think about. That's very interesting.
I'm like, yeah, TikTok's very geared towards very short stuff, right? Like, I'm not on TikTok, I'm too old for that shit. But from what I understand, it's short videos. And Instagram's slightly longer, YouTube longer than that.
Yeah. And people are being on TikTok. I mean, one video about Burbit and everybody came for me. I'm like, yeah.
I've got so many mean comments on TikTok. Nobody said anything on Instagram. So be careful if you are. Whisking or...
Well, actually, if you're like kind of a geek for any sort of spirit or wine or whatever, like, they're just the same as being like really into a certain comic book. Like, you know what I mean? Like, they're a little too into it and like very eager to judge. Yeah, absolutely.
I survived, though. You're still kicking. You're still kicking. Well, this has been awesome today.
Thanks so much for coming on. We appreciate you. And yeah, best of luck in everything you're doing. Take it easy to see your tails.
Oh, I'm going to try. Yeah. Thank you all for having me. This was great.
I really appreciate you all. No, thanks again. And obviously, all of Janet's info will be available on the show notes. You can follow her and look out for all the new YouTube, them and the classes.
Thanks again. I'm going to hit you off to go where you're from. All right, looking forward to it. Okay, good to see you.
Okay, and we're back with our, I don't know, we used to call it monthly, but, you know, people got busy and I don't even know how often we're doing it right now, but we're back with a lovely and talented Yelena and her joining us for her semi regular. Regular regular regular regular regular regular. How are you? I'm doing great.
It's great to see you guys. Yeah, you too. It's been a while. Thanks very much.
So you've been on the road like crazy. Talk to us a little bit about your most recent travels and what you were up to. Yeah, I've been on the road a lot. I basically am traveling probably three weeks out of a month.
And especially for this year, 2023, we have so much on our agenda with marketing, marketing the product, cocktail vision and anything to do with mixology and bartending. So I just came back. Our latest trip was to New Mexico. There I was actually for a chocolate fantasy experience, raising money for the Natural History and Science Museum, but we showcase just delicious cocktail.
It was a chocolate martini. And one of our sponsors was Om Delicious Le Cor, a chocolate le Cor, which I think you've tried in New Orleans. So they sponsored the cocktail and we had a new product. I don't know if you're familiar with it or not, but Rimm Lix is one of our newest products.
Sounds like me, right? Yeah. So we had a beautiful presentation with Parmilite Coconibs, a vanilla Rimm Lix and another new product that's coming out probably in the next couple of weeks right before the restaurant, the foreign restaurant show in Las Vegas, they are chocolate cocktail charms and they're fully customizable. You can put any kind of message you want on them, logo or just something funny and they go just on the side of a cocktail glass.
So actually by the time this episode airs, we're probably going to have it ready to go. Oh, nice. So that's going to be your main thing at the bar and restaurant show. Rimm Lix and cocktail charm.
Okay, so I've been to the Vegas restaurant show once and it's like a crazy whirlwind. You just go into that giant warehouse like set sort of setting and I don't know, like the one day I just remember it being all booze. All people. Well, that's a bar and restaurant show after all, like a little bar, a little less restaurant, right?
Yeah. Oh, did you go before pandemic or after before pandemic? So last year was pretty quiet. It was, it was okay, but it was pretty quiet, but we are hoping that this year is going to be just absolutely through the roof.
So they separated a nightclub and bar for some reason. So it's just bar and restaurant, but we excited we in a main area with all the brands and, you know, we have a nice, nice booth. I wish you guys will come in now check us out and you at least get to be home for a change. So the funny thing is I, okay, I'm going next week.
I'm going to Montana, but then I'm home for one week with half the show, the March 27th, 28th and 29th. I'm home for one day on the 30th and then we fly out to Boston. Oh, wow. Yeah, for another week for a week in Boston.
What's that show? You know, I think it's the restaurant. I don't think it's I think it's restaurant, but you know anything restaurant always includes beverage, right? You're not going to have a restaurant without serving a cocktail or at least wine.
So it's going to be, it's still going to be good. Maybe not as exciting as Vegas, but it's going to be good. I don't think it's a Boston. I'm excited to go.
That's awesome. Okay. So talk to us a little bit more about the Vegas show. Like when I was there, I remember the first day it was very focused on like people with new spirit brands.
So, like I remember walking out to like two o'clock in the afternoon being absolutely hammered because of the, yeah. And then the next day it was more like product stuff. So you didn't, so it was like more trade show or is that still the way it works generally or? You know, you should ask me that question after the show.
Okay. So we should plan another date for a post show a little episode so I can tell you guys how it all went. But last year we did not, we did not have a booth. We just kind of walked in and looked around.
Yeah. There's a lot of tasting and like halfway through the show you write about two o'clock in the afternoon you are, oof, need some coffee or something. Yeah, yeah. Definitely.
But yeah, you can come back. But as far as I understand, a lot of interest in brands and supporting brands as well, not just spirits, but a lot of mixers, a lot of some garnish in probably will be there. I know fresh origins are going to be there with the flowers and like little, I don't know, like a little sprouts to put on your cocktails. A few people reached out to me, they plan on being there.
But I won't tell you more about it after the show. That's fair. I remember the year that I was there, it was very big on like cannabis infused liquor liquor and liqueurs. That was hugely year that I was there.
And then I never really, I ever heard of again. So I don't know why because you're not technically supposed to mix the liquor, the spirits and cannabis, right? So I think this year as far as I understand and what else Vegas is working on is so we have a bunch of dispensaries obviously here. I think this will be the first year where they will be opening up lounges where they can actually serve cannabis infused cuisine, including drinks.
But as far as I understand, none of it will be, will include any alcohol. So it would have to be like high tails. I don't know what they call them. Like they're not like high tails, right?
High tails. Right? Because the boys. So yeah, I guess maybe when you were here, they were still mixing it with alcohol.
And then, yeah, but I think most of them were from Colorado. But did you try? Did you try mixing it? Yeah, yeah.
We tried a bunch of those shots and they were like, it tasted like marijuana for sure. Oh, and a little shot of skunk. Yeah. So like that's why by 2 p.m.
you were done. Yeah, that's why. Don't leave it on alcohol. Right.
Never alcohol. Nothing's ever been alcohol. No. They also had like the nightclub thing when I was there.
And I remember there was one section where it was just like glitter guns and like, yeah, weird nightclubs, like strobe lights, like the. Yeah, we just got to make it fun. It's too bad that they sort of. They separated it.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's still, it can get drunk and high and fun, right? Yeah.
Well, have you back on again next month and we'll try and do this more regularly again. Well, everybody got busy, but so we can check in with you after all these shows before we let you go in this little mini interview Oscars are coming up. How are you feeling about Austin Butler and the Elvis movie? Oh, so funny.
I was just watching it today. I think I've seen it probably a hundred times. I don't know by now. I've seen it.
Okay. So yeah, I know you almost drank. I've seen it four times in the theaters. I'm a huge fan, seriously.
Yeah. And now I have it at work just kind of like playing in the background. It's fun. I kind of look over and here he is.
He's beautiful face. He's right behind your shoulder there on the wall as well. Oh, yeah. Can you see my other room?
Here's another one. Oh, wow. Okay. So if Austin Butler does not win the Oscar for playing Elvis, how big is your temper tantrum going to be?
I guess start drinking or something. Maybe some of those tinctures. I don't know. You're going to burn down the Vegas strip.
No, Vegas strip. No, I will have to do something to the University of the studio. I don't know. This is how ignorant I am.
I don't know where the movie was filmed. Yeah. You're going to watch it? I don't really watch the Oscars, but I will check in the next day.
And if he doesn't win, then I will send you a sympathy message. Okay. And some spirits to follow that. That's right.
Yeah. We'll mail you like a shot. Okay. How's that?
All right, Lain. So, I'm going to show you guys that we will check in with you hopefully next month. We'll get this related. Yeah.
Okay. Hey, are you going to interrupt? Are you going to New Orleans? What's the theme?
It's funny. We just finished an interview with Benet Antel on the same episode who is from New Orleans and is very involved with the tales of the cocktail. I'm not sure. I would like to, but I might be opening another new spot.
So that might be an issue. So we'll have to visit you one of those days. That's right. Yeah.
You guys should come up here. I feel like we keep talking about it. So one day, one day will happen. Just open the new place now.
Okay. Hurry up. All right, Lain. Bye.
Bye.