Thriving Alcohol-Free with Mocktail Mom

EP 128 | How A Pandemic Pivot Became A Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Powerhouse

• Deb, Mocktail Mom • Season 2 • Episode 128

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A coupe glass, a good shake, and a bold idea: we sit down with Rebecca Styn, founder and CEO of Blind Tiger Spirit-Free Cocktails, to trace how a small speakeasy in Erie, Pennsylvania, turned a lockdown challenge into a nationwide zero-proof favorite. 

Starting with a live Bee’s Knees mix-along, we dig into the flavor-first philosophy that makes these cans taste like a bar-crafted pour.

Rebecca opens up about the brand’s Prohibition DNA, where the hidden rooms of “blind tigers” stood for inclusivity and cultural mashups, and how that ethos guides everything from label design to how the drinks are served. We break down the lineup—French 75, Mojito, Sidecar Mimosa, Bee’s Knees—and spotlight the new low-calorie Grapefruit Fizz.

Behind the taste, there’s tenacity. Rebecca shares the winding road to Wegmans, the serendipity and prep behind a QVC debut, and the logistics of scaling without losing craft. We talk funding wins like the Ben Franklin Technology Partners grant, the value of a skilled beverage engineer to nail shelf stability, and the community momentum from the Tory Burch Foundation. Most of all, we explore how zero-proof cocktails can change social moments, giving you something elegant to hold, a ritual to enjoy, and a clear head the next morning.

If you’re sober-curious, cutting back, or love great flavor, this story will spark your next pour. 

Subscribe, share with a friend who loves a non-alcoholic cocktail ritual, and leave a review to help more people find their perfect spirit-free sip.

Visit Blind Tiger's website to learn more. 

Send me a message about the show!

Click HERE to snag a list of some of my favorite non-alcoholic drinks & brands.

You are loved. Big Time Cheers!

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome up friends and welcome to the Thriving Alcohol Free Podcast. I'm your host, Deb, otherwise known as Mocktail Mom, a retired wine drinker that finally got sick and tired of spinning on life's broken record called Detox to Retox. Let this podcast be an encouragement to you if alcohol is maybe a form of self-care for you, or you find yourself dragging through the day waiting to pour another glass. I am excited to share with you the fun of discovering new things to drink when you aren't drinking and the joy of waking up each day without a hangover. It is an honor to serve as your sober fun guide. So sit back and relax or keep doing whatever it is you're doing. This show is produced for you with love from the great state of Kentucky. Thanks so much for being here and big time cheers. Okay, hey friends. It's Deb. Welcome back to Thriving Alcohol Free with Mocktail Mom. How are you? I am so excited today. I have a very, very special guest for you guys. I have Rebecca Stein of Blind Tiger, Spirit Free Cocktails. Okay, we're both have our bee's knees. We're gonna make a bee's knees today for you guys. And you guys, I cannot wait to chat with Rebecca. I can't wait to chat with you. I cannot wait to hear your story. We've DMed, we're friends on Instagram. I am a big fan of your ready to drink cans. They're they're cans of deliciousness. Thank you. And I'm a big fan of you personally. So thank you. That's so sweet of you to say. Thank you. I really like I was so looking forward to this. And when I saw that you had been on QVC, so many good things are happening. You guys are on Royal Caribbean. Then we're gonna get into everything. You're on Royal Caribbean, you're everywhere, you're in Wegmans. You were on QVC, which is my dream job. So like I cannot wait to get into it with you. But I'm really, really excited just to introduce anybody who is a listener who is not already following you guys or hasn't already tried Blind Tiger. Please, you guys, you have to follow along. Their Instagram handle is Blind Tiger Cocktails on Instagram. Make sure you're following. And um, Rebecca, you are just uh a gem in this community. And I know you and I know a lot of the same, same people. So I feel like I feel like we're we're we're meeting as friends, even though we've never met screen to screen yet. Correct. Very, very fun. Absolutely. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. This is so fun. Okay, I'm gonna raise your bio, then we're gonna make our uh our do you call them mocktails? I know there's this big, you know, there's there's the big thing. And it's okay if you don't. I won't be offended, even though my Instagram is mocktail mom.

SPEAKER_01:

But you know, people some people are like opposed to that word. When we first launched, I was very intentional about not using that word, hence the spirit-free name. But over the last couple of years, it's just relaxed itself.

SPEAKER_00:

And yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't have any, I have no challenges with it. Like I think it's I call it that all the time now today, too. And it it's really more universally recognized for still a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's yeah, I think it makes it easy for people to understand. Like people who aren't in this space, you know, of like non-alcohol cocktails or spirit-free cocktails, it's just like, oh, that's a mocktail, you know? It's like a little more understood, like a veggie burger, you know. Yes. Exactly. Yes, yes. Okay, all right, here we go, guys. Um, this is always my biggest challenge, Rebecca, is reading someone's bio. So do you remember reading in class out loud? You're a very good student. Yeah, you have your PhD, right? Don't you? You're like really, really smart. I do. I barely got that. That doesn't make me smart. Just makes me smoke. Yes, I think it does, actually. I think it does.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

A lot of debt, a lot of school debt. Okay, I don't know that. That's one thing. Okay, Rebecca Stein is the founder and CEO of Blind Tiger Spirit-Free Cocktails, an award-winning, fast-growing non-alcohol cocktail brand inspired by the underground spirit and inclusive ethos of the Prohibition era speakeasies. Blind Tiger was born in Erie, Pennsylvania during the pandemic as a creative pivot to keep her downtown speakeasy afloat. Love it. Blind Tiger has since become a nationally distributed brand, available in over 1,300 locations across the United States and in tourism abroad, which Royal Caribbean, shout out to them. Rebecca currently serves as an adjunct professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Mercy Hearst University. In 2025, she was named Tori Birch Foundation Fellow. Congratulations, one of only 50 women nationwide. That's so huge. I just got chills. Congratulations. That's amazing. Rebecca's deeply rooted in her community and is proud to continue to uh grow bold, inclusive, and creatively rebellious brand from her hometown. Shout out to Pennsylvania. I grew up outside Philly. So wonderful to have you from the Keystone State. All right, where do I want to start? Do you want to make our drink together? We can drink while we talk. How does that sound?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yes. Well, you're going to make it, and I'm just going to showcase how you don't have to do anything if you don't want to. But perfect.

SPEAKER_00:

You go ahead. All right. I love what first of all, I love the flavor. They're all delicious. They're spot on. Like they taste like someone's crafted it for you behind a bar at a fancy restaurant. They're so good. Um, so, but you can add, you can drink it straight out of the can, you can pour it straight from the can into like a fancy coupe glass, whatever kind of glass you want, right? Red tumbler on a whatever. You can telegraphed with these, whatever you want to do. People drink it however you want. But if you want to, I don't want to say like elevate it, but if you want to add maybe another layer, some people would want to add something regular, but you're full-leaded. I'm gonna add a non-alcoholic gin. So we're gonna mix it into a shaker. Um, so I'm doing the, we're doing the bee's knees. I'm gonna use my little shaker cup, my mason jar shaker cup. I've got my bee's knees from Blind Tiger. We're pouring in here, and I'm gonna add some cut above. I'm using the cut above gin because there's wonderful juniper flavors in here. We're gonna add a little bit of our cut above gin into this just to bring up that that gin flavor, the juniper flavor a little bit, right? Would you say? Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And the bees is kind of perfect for this too, because it's not carbonated. So, you know, it really does make that true kind of cocktail without having to top it with an effervescent sort of nice, nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It makes it nice.

SPEAKER_01:

You can shake it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, exactly. You can shake it. Yes, you can definitely shake it. So we're gonna shake this up just a tiny bit real quick. Give a little shake. Good time. Sounds great, Kentucky. All right, we're gonna pour it into this beautiful coupe glass that I got at a consignment shop for like two dollars. Very nice. My favorite. Okay, I don't even have a garnish, but you could, I mean, definitely garnish with a little lime or sorry, a little lemon slice, or garnish or not. Yes. Big time. Cheers, Rebecca, to you. Cheers to you and blind tiger. So happy that you're here today. Yes. Likewise. So good. Okay, how did you come up with this? You were like sitting around with the pandemic, you were sitting around thinking about this, and I was drinking.

SPEAKER_01:

How did you no, I was I was drinking too.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, how did you come up with this?

SPEAKER_01:

How did we get it? So we had yeah, we had a speakeasy called room 33. I had a speakeasy called room 33 in in Erie. And during the pandemic, we were mandated to take out only. And at that time, 90% of our sales came from the bar, but we weren't legally allowed to sell alcohol to go early on. So like in PA, that came way later. Yep. And I didn't want to shut our doors. Like a lot of restaurants, you know, struggled and shuddered and everything. And I wanted to keep some sense of normalcy for my team. And so I was like, all right, we're gonna do other things. Like we're gonna ramp up the kitchen. We started, we got really creative. And one of the things was bottling non-alcoholic versions of our cocktails. And Deb, I, as I aged, uh had also kind of come to notice I didn't drink as well as I used to drink and um needed to cut back and was looking for options. And back during those days, Liars was really on my radar. And um, so it was just kind of the inspiration of both. And we had a really great response to this during the pandemic. And honestly, I just tell people in my insanity, I woke up one day and was like, I wonder if I can bring this to market. Wow. And I went to the team, and um, Blind Tiger is a moniker for speakeasies, so everything revolves around the ethos of the Prohibition era, which we can delve deeper in at any point. Sure. Sure, sure. Because I can go off on that stuff. Okay, okay, yes, love it. And they um so our team, our mixology team came up with the original recipes, and obviously you've seen some evolution of it over the last four years.

SPEAKER_00:

So fantastic. Okay, yes. Do you want to share a little bit about the the history of the prohibition era and how how you got here?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so what I love about the Prohibition era is it was such an inclusive time. So this kind of revolves around our entire mission and vision of drinking, right? Like to create an inclusive environment for people who want to drink or don't want to drink. And um, like during the Prohibition era, speakeasies obviously became wildly popular. They were called blind tigers or blind pigs in the States. And prior to that, I don't know, most people don't realize this, women were not allowed in bars prior to the Prohibition era. And so there was an entire like, you know, livelihood cultural phenomenon of bringing people together. Like the jazz age ensued during that time, women's right to vote happened during that time. So everything to me just screams inclusivity. And I loved the idea of kind of marrying these two things and kind of having that great little Gatsby culture that kind of ties with it too.

SPEAKER_00:

Love it. Yes. And all of your marketing, all of your graphics, everything just is such a beautiful throwback to yeah, to the to the era. Yeah, I love it. Okay, I didn't know the speakeasies were called blind tigers or blind pigs. That's what they were called.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So they and the so these are all purported histories, and all our cans like even have purported histories of the drinks. So we don't know what's real and what's not. But there were two stories that were tied around the blind tiger. So either um illicit establishments would display stuffed tigers in their windows, and the authorities were blind because they didn't know what was going on, right? Um, and then the other one was during prohibition, you weren't allowed, so you were actually allowed to drink alcohol, you were not allowed to purchase alcohol. So that's where it was prohibited. So what bars would do, supposedly, is they would have these circus animals like a blind tiger on display. You'd pay to see the animal, and then you'd get a drink when you would come in. So these were these are the stories. So I don't know which one is actually true. Nobody's ever validated either for me, but that's kind of what the lore is on the internet.

SPEAKER_00:

That is so cool. That's what Chat GPT says. Yes, yes. I love that. I never knew that. I never knew that. Yeah. Okay, very interesting. Fascinating. Do you have those little tigers to like, do you have any stuffed tigers? Do we need to get you some stuffed tigers with your logo on it? You know, it's funny.

SPEAKER_01:

Not with our logo on it. That would actually be really cute. But I was bringing that, like, I did order some, but then they ended up going to a bunch of children every time we were out. Can you believe that?

SPEAKER_00:

You're like, I need some promotional products that are not for children. Yes. Yeah, well, they have those things now. Everybody's in love with like these things hanging on their purses. I don't even know what they are. It looks like a little stuffed animal.

SPEAKER_01:

All these women are oh they have these like fancy, fancy bags.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. I shop at JCPenney's. What do I know?

SPEAKER_01:

So T Tj Maxx Home Goods. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Costco is where half my clothes are from. Yeah. So I have no idea. Um, okay. All right. Do you want to talk about the flavors? Sure. Sure. Do you want to share like what's available right now? Because I know you just came out with right, is it grapefruit fizz? Is that what you're just doing?

SPEAKER_01:

Grapefruit fizz. Yeah. Um, we'll start. We can start there. So the reason we did that is the the consumer demand for lower sugar, lower carb. You know, the one beautiful thing I I like about our cocktails, and they're not for everyone, is we do use, you know, we use sugar. They're all naturally sweetened, and it gives that depth and complexity that you're looking for when you're looking for a traditional cocktail, right? Yep. When you're when you don't have the alcohol replacement factor. So, but we were, you know, we listen to consumer and we know it's important. So we had actually tried several iterations of a lower sugar um version of some of our varietals, and they just didn't land well with me, right? Like I didn't want to bring a product out that wasn't going to taste as comparative as to what we've already done. And with this one, so we end up using, so it's only 30 calories per can, four grams of carbs. We don't use actual sugar in it. Um, we do use like a stevia. It's a re-m, though. It's a it's the sweeter part of the stevia leaf. So it has it doesn't have that bitter aftertaste you often get with stevia. And I think the marriage of the grapefruit and like the tequila flavor and the lime kind of really elevates it and gives it a nice little. I I mean, I obviously you have to try for yourself, and um and uh the consumer does too, but we'd love it. So I was very excited to bring that out and just came out actually like two weeks ago.

SPEAKER_00:

So I was gonna say, yeah, that's brand new. I haven't tried that one, but I mean, just yet the thought of like having a blind tiger Paloma-ish kind of drink sounds sounds incredible. So yeah, I'm excited to try that one. Okay, the bee's knees, the mojito you have still, right? Yep. We have the mojito. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01:

Go ahead no, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah. No, I was gonna say the mojito actually started as a south side. Um and you know, from from the consumer perspective, one of the things that is hard, I mean, it's hard enough to uh to kind of grit get the messaging out what blind tiger is, the prohibition era, like there's a whole bunch of educational elements. And the south side was purportedly Al Capone's favorite cocktail, and that one was mint lime and juniper. And so it started out as a still product, like the bees meads did. And what we found is consumers seem to resonate with more of the other names that were popular in cocktail culture, right? So the mojito, which uses almost virtually the same thing, we ended up making it sparkling. Um, and then now it is, you know, so we renamed it a Southside mojito, so it kind of has the common and kind of elevated it, but gave that little sparkling element to it. So now it's more of an RTD than it is, you know, a mixer and has worked really well for us. So perfect.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And all right, how about the French 75?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the French 75 is like everybody's favorite. Like and it's so pretty, too. It is so pretty.

SPEAKER_00:

It's pretty, it's delicious. Yeah. What are the, I'm trying to think, what are the calories? Okay, so like the mojito is like 100 calories. So that's why like the the grapefruit is what, 35, you said 30, 35? It's 30 calories. 30 calories. Okay. That's great. Yep. But you could even like add, you could, you can make this two drinks and add a little bit of sparkling water, maybe to, you know, to pull back a little bit on the flavoring and pull back a little bit maybe on on maybe it lasts a little bit longer, not have as many calories, maybe. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. Yeah. If that's something you're looking for, absolutely. Like we call this an indulgence, right? You're not going to down six of these a day. So the entire intent is just to kind of have that look and feel of a nice cocktail and enjoy one and not feel guilty about it, right? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Exactly. Right. And I like that. Yes, you're not downing, you're not drinking six of these.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

We're pounding them. Yes. Drinking games drinking games with blind tiger. That'll be our next episode. That'll be the next one. We could do that on we can do that with the grapefruit fizz. Perfect. Perfect. That's awesome. Okay. And then the sidecar mimosa. Well, sidecar mimosa, the mojito, the um bees knees, and the French 75 and the grapefruit fizz. So those are the five right now. Okay. So how did you go from let's let's start this during 2020 to like now you're in Wegmans, you're on Royal Caribbean, which is insane. That's amazing. Thank you. How how has all of this distribution how has it started? How did you start this? How did you do this?

SPEAKER_01:

So when we launched, most brands that launched during COVID went the direct-to-consumer e-commerce route for obvious reasons, right? Somehow serendipitously, and I say a lot, you know, most things in my world are serendipitous. Yeah. Um, we connected with a group called the Navigator Lighthouse Foundation. They're out on the West Coast. Um it was, it's a group run by Sabrina Pierce. And she the the California Grocers Association is like a huge part of it. And she's been in that arena forever, and she's got a small and mighty team that's tied to the foundation. Um, and they were what they do is they support women and minority CPG entrepreneurs. And they do a cohort every year. And we got into the first cohort, and then, you know, thankfully, I learned, I mean, there I've still made a million mistakes along the way. Of course, of course. But her group has helped me kind of negate or navigate that a little bit better, right? And skips skip over some of those. So that's where we launched and then made a lot of mistakes, came back to like the Midwest, East Coast side of things. And really, Deb, it's just been like a pursuit of just a tenacious pursuit and not giving up, right? Like Wegmans even took like two years before I could get our product in front of anybody. And I and I sent it several times without any response.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Really? Okay. So you just get an address, get a name, and you mail them the products. Is that how it works? Like trying to get into Wegmans?

SPEAKER_01:

That's what I did, but I did it, yeah. I mean, so a lot of time, but I did it without a response or without any initial outreach, right? Yeah. And the other benefit to Wegmans was we there, it's local here. I love Wegmans.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a beautiful grocery store. If anybody's never been to Wegmans, it's like, yeah, it's it's better than Whole Foods. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. We don't have a Whole Foods here, so I don't ever get the full experience of that. But yeah. No, I love Wegmans. And so we had five, we found some advocates here locally too that kind of started to talk to corporate for us. And they actually figured we would only start locally, but when they launched us, they took us in all their stores, which was amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

So okay. So are you available in the shop? Like I know in Pennsylvania, right? Because there's liquor, like you have liquor stores, right? You can't just go right into a store. So are you available? Yours available in the shop with other things? Yeah, in Wagmans. Other mixers, in Wagmans, yeah. So you're just available with other mixers. People don't have to go into like a liquor store to purchase cookies. Sometimes like the non-alcoholic spirits, they put them in the liquor store. They don't have those in the stores. I don't know. It can be a little confused about that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's a every state is so has its own weird rules and regulations and the way it does things. Yep. So no, with us, we're in the mixer section. And the other non-alks are there too.

SPEAKER_00:

So okay, perfect. Okay, so how you were just on QVC. Like, I feel like you're like, you probably haven't even unpacked your bag yet. It was, it hasn't been that long since you're in Westchester, Pennsylvania. How did that come about? And how was your experience being on QVC? I want to hear all the behind the scenes, the details.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So there is another um Pennsylvania group that it's called the Founders Market. They're a 3PL company. And I was connected with them, you know, just indirectly for different for different reason. And the founder of that uh had been on QVC and had done things for QVC. And he's like, I need to connect you with my contact. And you know, if it works out, great. You know, if it doesn't, fine. Yep, yep. And so he did. And um she used to be uh like directly part of QVC, but now she supports the buyers and everything, um, and finding you know, products and everything to bring on air. And it was uh, you know, just a lot of back and forth. And um the then we sent it to the buyer, the buyer loved it. And um, so she was like, yeah, let's give it a shot. And great. So I was on like two weeks ago. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And we got two segments. We had the midnight segment, which Deb is way past my bedtime. And then what was it like early, right? No, the next day was at like five o'clock, which was perfect. But oh, okay, okay, yeah, okay. But it was one right after the other. So it was yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, midnight. So you have to be like in makeup, ready to go, dressed. You're not like in your PJs at home, sitting on a couch talking about blind tiger. You were in studio.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yeah. And honestly, Deb, it was amazing. Like QVC's beautiful, it's very calming. You go in there, and midnight was a great time to do it. Do the first one too, because there wasn't a whole lot of chaos around there.

SPEAKER_00:

Great.

SPEAKER_01:

And everybody was very kind and helpful. And I just the entire experience was was incredible. Like I really enjoyed doing it.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that. Okay, what what was like what were you surprised about when you got there or what what happened during on air that you were really surprised about? Anything?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, no. So the only thing, the only thing I was surprised about on air was afterwards the the host that was with me, he went over and the iron chef was on right after us. And they took it to commercial with our product. So they were drinking our product, but I didn't get to keep that clip. It would have been amazing to have.

SPEAKER_00:

But oh my word. Oh, that's incredible. How fun. Yeah, you need to like, yeah, that's awesome. That's so awesome. Yeah. Were you super nervous to go to go live? I would be like, I'd be sweating bullets.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you know, so midnight the night before, I was like really, really nervous. But then once I got that one under my belt, I'm like, okay, it doesn't feel as overwhelming, right? Like you don't, once you get into it, you don't feel you feel more in the moment than yeah, you're just talking.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you're just sharing. Yeah, yeah. Oh my word. Okay, that's like a dream come true. All right. Now, have you been on the Royal Caribbean cruise? Have you been drinking Blind Tiger on the cruises yet?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I have not personally been on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Um, but I have tried to support others who have been on them, like try, you know, get our product and have people try it. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. Amazing. I love it. Um okay, what's been the the most exciting thing? What's been the the I guess the most exciting thing about launching the brand and and seeing it grow? Oh God.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, that's so I honestly think the very the the thing that I hold on to because this journey is so riddled with setbacks and things that don't work and you know, like so much. And so as I noted, like I use the term serendipitous a lot. When we first launched the brand, there was a pitch competition called by Ben Franklin Technology Partners here in the States, and they have a bunch of different satellites throughout Pennsylvania, and they do what's called a big idea competition. And they gave a$50,000 grant to somebody who it was like a business plan and a pitch. And I ended up winning the$50,000 before I even had product and market, right? And because I would have really bootstrapped it all because I put all my money in the restaurant, so I didn't have, you know, a ton of extra cash flow. And that really kind of set the stage for us to kind of move a little bit to a scale that I wasn't initially anticipating. And I go back to that all the time, right? Like I keep saying, Well, God, you wouldn't have put me here. Like every there's little milestones in this journey that I hold on to to keep me going, right? So that was probably one of the biggest ones.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that you said that because right, sometimes like we're in the moment or even like we're further along in our journey, right? Great things have happened, but we're also having setbacks and challenges and maybe cans that are exploding, or you know, whatever, different challenges, right? Of shipping product and things like that and getting to market and hitting goals. But to be able to look back and go, okay, this happened. And it gives you that momentum to keep going. And I think in the same way, like for somebody who's on a sober journey, you know, maybe going to that first family picnic and not drinking, you know, that gives you the momentum to keep going. And you look back and go, okay, if I did that, I can keep going. Like those things just start happening. It unfolds in front of us, right? We can't see it all.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Yeah. And I have so much like awe and respect for those in their journey, in their sober journey, because I know even during the times, and I, you know, I still love a cocktail or a glass of wine, right? But you when you're out there, I mean, this was part of the ethos of our brand. It was so you didn't feel like you were left out, right? Like you could go and not have a water or a soda or you know, and just feel like, hey, you're sometimes just holding that in your hand.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, it's almost, I don't want to say like a security blanket, but it makes you feel like first of all, it makes you feel included. You're part of the party. You're not like like lesser than you, you know, like you're you're not the little kitty table, your little juice or whatever. You so you feel included, but also then people aren't saying, like, oh, can I get you something to drink? What do you want to drink? Like, you have something. I have something. And I'm part of I'm part of what's going on. And not only do I have something, I have something that's delicious that's like so good and just a phenomenal replacement, not just, you know, the juicy mocktail. So do you come up with the recipes or who's who's the mixologist? Who's the who's the mixologist magic person behind behind all of this? The magician.

SPEAKER_01:

So we had so we had our team at room 33 uh come up with the original recipes. And since then, what I typically do is there's this beautiful mixologist, Lizzie, who's now part owner of room 33. And I will send her my ideas and she'll formulate them for me. And then I work with a beverage engineer who then makes them so I can't kill anybody, right? Like with ingredients that are shelf stable.

SPEAKER_00:

I was gonna say, yeah, yeah. We'll just put this in. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. A beverage engineer. So, like you can go and get a degree in beverage engineering.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I don't know that that's what I've done. Yeah, yes. Okay, she is that's she, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01:

She's been magnificent. Her name's Sydney, and she's with Parkside Beverage. So she's been wonderful to work with.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Okay, fantastic. Oh my gosh. Okay, what are you most looking forward to? You're in the Tory Birch program right now. So what are you looking forward to in the rest of 2025 and 2026? What are you excited about?

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I I part of me is just looking forward to keeping the company going, right? Or what are you terrified about? What are you terrified about?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, maybe that's a better question. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Terrified about running out of money, as we all are, right? At some level. Yep. You have to, yeah. Yeah. I mean, capital is the hardest part. I mean, for most brands, and it's why most brands end up failing, not because they don't have a good product, right? Like it's just once you get that level of scale, you have to be able to continue to support it in all the right ways.

SPEAKER_00:

So exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

But Tori and uh, you know, what's been really challenging for me personally is community and building a brand in Northwest PA is hard because, you know, I'm not New York, I'm not LA. Like there's not this huge ecosystem of startups and investment and everything like that. So it's creating opportunities to have that kind of community. And Tory Birch is that on so many levels. And most of that's been virtual, but they'll have a capstone event next year and I'll I'll continue to look for opportunities in like this dev, just having these more like community type moments with people who are understand the industry, who are in the industry, who you know, just to have a conversation with. So those are things that I'll continue to build on.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure. The opportunity, I mean, it's just gonna keep grow the the the space continues to grow. And we just need people to know more people to know about Blind Tiger. I mean, really, that's it's just once they try it, they love it. Like that's the thing they're they're coming back. Yeah, I would imagine like you have so many repeat customers on your website.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we've done and we've been very lucky with that too. But just the whole I like I always, you know, rising tide lifts all ships for me. So, Deb, everybody out there that's doing this work and creating the market, you know, just so people know it exists. I mean, four years ago when I launched this in Eerie PA, everybody's like, oh, there's no alcohol on that, right? Like and now today, right. And there's still a lot of communities like that, but that's true.

SPEAKER_00:

But there's a huge community, yeah, yeah. And it's great to have you as part of this community. Really, it really, really is. Yeah. I'm so happy that you started this. I mean Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Boy, to look back at 2020 and all the challenges and to be able to look at your cans and to see them across the globe. I mean, out on ships, in the grocery stores, out on the QVC airwaves. I mean, I hope you feel encouraged by all that you have accomplished as many challenges as you have, and as hard as it is. I mean, I cannot imagine. I'm a tiny little business, you know, I have a little Shopify site. But like, I mean, I cannot even imagine the challenges that you faced. And so thank you for everything that you do for our community, those of us who are looking for delicious things to drink that, you know, aren't just grape juice, you know, in a wine bottle. I'm honored to be part of it. Yes. Yeah, yes, yeah, it's wonderful. So, okay, from one Pennsylvania girl to another, big time. Cheers to you, Rebecca. Cheers, and to blind tiger. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This was so much fun. I'm really, really thankful to um to spent this time with you. So thank you for sharing yourself with with um with my audience, the audience. So, all right. Lots of love, you guys. Um, follow along. If you are not following blind tiger cocktails on Instagram, please make sure you're doing so. We'll put a link in the show notes, all the good stuff. Um, leave a rating and review. We love you lots. Talk to you guys later. Okay. Big time cheers to you for tuning in to the Thriving Alcohol Free Podcast. I hope you will take something from today's episode and make one small change that will help you to thrive and have fun in life without alcohol. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social, send up a flair, or leave a rating and a review. I am cheering for you as you discover the world of non alcoholic drinks and as you journey towards authentic freedom. See you in the next episode.