I'm Brandon. And I'm Jesse.
We're. Cannabis school having cannabis
infused conversations. With everyday.
People, Cannabis companies. Celebrities.
And your mom. Welcome to The Sash.
All right. Hey everybody, welcome back to
The Sash. We have an amazing guest with us
today, Matt Skinner from this lovely, lovely beverage company
High Rise. We're actually sipping on there.
Brandon, what are you sipping on right now?
So I've got their Blood Orange D9 seltzer.
Dude, this pineapple this. OK, the best way to describe
this pineapple flavor is if you took fresh pineapple, put it
into a blender, sift it through a strain and then poured it in
here and they put some lovely delta 9 in there.
Matt, thank you for being on. I love hearing that.
Yeah, it's so delicious, man. Yeah, it's super tasty.
So you said you said you didn't start in beverages.
What got you into high rise like into the cannabinoid space?
So about 5 1/2 years ago now, we launched another brand called
Charleston Hemp Collective. Me and my wife did.
My wife suffers from ulcerative colitis, so that's what our
whole movement behind getting the industry.
We've always had a passion for cannabis.
I spent a good portion of my life living up in Humboldt in
Chico, CA. No money in the pocket getting
in that old Ford Explorer you know the box ones with a credit
card and just had to make it the Humboldt and have that life
experience and you know 19 years old and but anyway it's she's
we've always had a passion for cannabis we've done with chest
since we were kids. I moved back to South Carolina
after that journey out West and we connected back again and she
really didn't realize she had ulcerated colitis till her
latter years. And that was a couple years
prior to her getting involved with CBD and prescription of
steroids was going to be the journey for the rest of her
life. And no one really wants to go
down that route and somebody just really got her interested
in CBD. Farm Bill had passed and we knew
that there was a movement going on.
We went up to Asheville, NC, saw them jumping in the CBD
dispensary space, so to speak, and they were just being very
progressive with it. And we want to bring that first
concept back to Charleston, SC. So we did that, open the first
door on King Street in Charleston and then we wanted to
expand. We had some neighbors who want
to open a store down in Savannah on River Street and we realized
at that point we need to start manufacturing our own goods.
So we partnered with a manufacturing facility up in
Boone, NC at that time started creating our own product line.
Those gentlemen up there cut their teeth from the hops
industry prior to being an extraction of cannabis and the
hempspace and they just win. The West Coast movement of the
brand can and some other brands out there started creating
microversions. They're like, man, you really
need to look into this. I was like, I just don't get it.
I don't think people are going to really buy into this.
And we did a little research, we we saw what was going on and it
just was a way to normalize cannabis for us all.
You know, that's something we always struggle.
We always want to find a way to get past our standard consumers
and people we've always known kind of in our little circle,
just really get it in other people's hands, find a way for
them to feel comfortable with it and get away from those
stereotypes. So anyway, High Rise was born
through that and Charleston Community started taking it on
some of the on premise bigger restaurants in the community and
before you know it, I mean here we are.
So it's been an awesome time. That's cool.
I read an an article or something.
They had said that your guys's product almost sells more than
like an alcoholic beverage in a certain location.
So there. Yeah, there's bottles, which is
our big bottle shop in Mount Pleasant.
They were kind of one of the first bottle shops in the state
of South Carolina to really get on board this whole microdose
THC movement of of hemp. Us being a Charleston brand, you
know one thing that's great about Charleston is the
community supports its brands especially when they're doing
well and it's innovative. And we just after we were there
for about a year, we caught wind on the liquor side because they
cut the liquor side off and then they've got the beer and wine
side, the liquor side, high noon Seltzers are their number one
seller. And on their beer and wine side,
which you know, I mean they're size of a total wine, just to
put it in perspective was high rise beverage out of all the
beer and wine in there. It's it's cool to see, but it's
just how much of A movement it is right now for this category.
It's it's absolutely crazy. I bet that's like one hell of an
accomplishment to be the number one seller on that side.
You know, it's every day. It's humbly.
It's really cool. So where have you seen the most
growth in as far as like 'cause you guys are doing online sales
of course, Where are you guys seeing like a lot of people
buying this one outside of your state?
You know, there's been a tremendous amount.
I'm in. Like I said, I'm in Florida
right now. There's a lot of movement going
on in distribution across the board.
You know, for the first year we were in this space, distributors
really didn't want to jump on board.
They were about losing their alcohol license, the regulatory
aspect of things and like anything in our space, it, it
evolves. You know, we're always
struggling for more and more regulation.
But over this last couple of months, distributors have kind
of started to come out the woodwork.
I think they know that the dance is here and the genie's out the
bottle and it's here to stay. And each state is kind of
tighten their own specific regulatory way of controlling
what they feel comfortable with state by state.
That makes it a little challenging because sometimes
our labels can be different state by state or some of our
packaging can be different. Georgia is now going to and
October come into effect and we're going to have to have
child lids on these kind of child proofing just like you see
on the regular THCK. So you're going to start seeing
more and more of that, which is really cool.
But there's an evolving aspect of it.
We are in the process right now of talking to a lot of a lot, a
lot of your butt houses, which is exciting, which I would have
never thought I'd be able to say that.
But that's why I'm down here in Florida.
We had a couple of meetings out here with a couple of big
distributors and we're expanding.
You know, Nashville was our second step past South Carolina
and we wanted to see how if we could duplicate it.
And sure enough we did. We partnered with Sony Music in
Nashville, which was a massive deal for us that that kind of
happened as a fluke. We went to the CM as last year
for an activation with them. They were looking for an NA
brand to activate with them and they had our products behind
stage with a lot of artists. We all know Old Dominion was
performing in that small arena L King and after the show about
four weeks passed by we got a call from Sony and they offered
an official partnership with us. Miller Coors is their alcohol
part sponsor and they offered a partnership with us for the
year. And so it's just again goes back
to that normalizing side of the industry.
So you know again and we've done it again in Nashville is where
I'm going with that. So now we're on on premise and
all your music venues there you can find a product in a couple
places on Broadway already. So it's just becoming part of
your daily drinks. And now we're expanding
California. We're talking to a group in San
Diego and LA right now statewide.
Texas, Florida is where I'm at, just had a big partnership in
Chicago and Boston. So it's it's growing pretty
rapidly as we speak. Holy shit, that's amazing.
Because, you know, in this space there's a lot of different
beverage creators and and we've tried several of them, some of
them not so bad. Other ones, yeah, it's all
right. Yeah, we're good.
But to hear that, you know, a lot of it goes back to because I
mean I'm, I'm a big marketing guy.
You know, when you have such a clean looking brand, the canned
looks slick. It it feels more like because I
see a lot of them. There are these like tall
slender cans and this just feels.
I don't know why, but I I just like the feel of the can.
Everything went into the design of your guys's products,
including the can, correct? Yeah, absolutely.
We, you know, we're very fortunate.
We got a lady on our team and she's been with me and my wife
from day one, started our first branding with Charleston Dump
Collective and her name is Stephanie Zupak.
And she had never crafted a beverage design before.
And we were going for a lifestyle brand we didn't want
to get, we didn't want to go too heavy because we felt like if we
did we could miss an audience we were trying to capture.
We want to put something in everybody's hands that could sit
against any, you know, nice beverage you would see in a
restaurant and high rise rose with that brand and a very
coastal themed with a rainbow. And and I'll tell you, that's
something we hear all the time. Everybody's like, man, the
Brandy on here is really, really point on.
It's just got a nice vibe to it. But that lifestyle vibe is kind
of what we've tried to craft from day one.
And that goes back to even the ingredients of the drink, like
you're talking about the flavor of it.
We created the flavor profiles before we thought about the THC
side of it. We wanted to create a very solid
drink that you would want to pick up at any time, and
drinking in the cannabinoids were the piece that went in
second. Yeah, I have.
I feel like. That's the best way to approach
it though. I feel too many people don't
approach that. And we notice that in a lot of
the products that we've tried, there have been some that are
not I have felt are not really consumable.
There was one they sent out and it was supposed to be like
almost like a whiskey replacement, but a THC infused
one. And I like my whiskey neat.
I will drink it neat. I'll drink it on the rocks, like
I don't mix my drinks with that. So I tried it.
I tried it on the rocks. It was horrible.
It was like drinking gasoline and some chemical.
And then I tried it as a mixed drink, like, oh, maybe I could
make like, you know, some kind of mule or something with it.
No, not at all. Still, like, nothing would
overcome those flavors. And to have something that truly
is like this is just a drink. Like you said, the cannabinoids
are just an extra benefit on top of it.
It's just like a nice, enjoyable experience.
Well, you know, the many people that I talked to, including in
the business, like, I I bring them gifts, especially things
like this. And what's funny is as soon as
they get something like they go, oh man, I got to get a case of
this. And like you need to get like 3
cases of this. They're like, yeah, absolutely,
because they love the idea because they've got either a
family member or themselves. You know, I I use cannabis, but
I I don't like to use it all the time and I'd like something to
just chill me out. I don't want to fully get into
the smoke. And there's those people that,
you know, our audience are. We have a lot of people that
listen to our our cannabis podcast that don't even use
cannabis anymore and they're looking for alternatives because
they're just like I can't smoke anymore.
So when you're looking at a product such as this, like the
feeling I get on this is really relaxed.
Like I'm super chill sometimes too chill.
Like I, I, I I was smoking a little bit and I I drank this
and I was like, oh man, it's like falling asleep.
Super chilling, but. Surprisingly, I actually feel it
like not heavily, but like no. It's nice.
I'm really high tolerance, so for me like to have any sort of
relaxation or any sort of sensation that I feel from this
low of a dose is not not very typical.
Yeah. Well, and and to go into that,
so heard Humboldt County. So take us back to the day.
So you've been in cannabis for a long time A?
Long time. So you know, that was, man, I'm
going to age myself right now. Cavemen were walking in Humboldt
when I was hanging out there. That's 28 years ago now, 29
years ago. So yeah, I'm 49, but yeah, right
at 20 had to move up to Humboldt, lived in Arcada, lived
in the square there, everybody. I lived in a house with other
people who lived in the house and everybody was literally
speaking a different language because I think everybody was
just so high all the time. But that's just kind of, I'll be
honest, I got paranoid there. I I paranoia hit me in Humboldt.
It's just like I couldn't relate.
I was like, I am not this granola.
I mean, I enjoy the space so much, but I was like, I have
social anxiety. Maybe the weed was just too damn
good up there, I don't know. But it just.
That could have been was Humboldt.
Yeah. No, it's it's super cool.
So you you're able to go through that.
I mean, and it was your wife, so she wasn't always into cannabis.
How long have you guys been together?
Well, she's always so she's always been in cannabis.
We've actually know this is a crazy part of our we've got
friends since they were. Little.
Yeah, we've got a picture. When I was 10 years old and she
was 8, kissing on my grandma's front porch step.
So hey, listen, we are from South Carolina.
Do you expect anything else other than that?
But we everybody stays together in that small state.
But anyway, we've known each other.
We split up. Of course.
We dated throughout high school. I moved out West just for the
journey. She stayed back in Charleston,
and then once I was in the restaurant business out there,
had a couple restaurants, sold them and came home.
And we just connected right away.
And we've been together ever since.
I didn't know anything about her ulcerative colitis at that time.
Like I said, this is something that, and I think it was a
female or even as a male, when you're younger, it's just not a
cool thing to talk about. We get older, we understand our
body does crazy things and we're more comfortable talking about
that stuff. But yeah, so we.
But when I lived out there in Arcadia, man, I I kind of lived
in that house, like I said. And then from there I moved and
I lived in a tree for a little bit.
What? OK, go back then and tell us
about the tree. Tell us the tree.
So I mean, I was like, I was just on that journey, that life
journey I wanted. I wanted to be granola I got.
How many mushrooms were involved in living in the?
Listen, there were none at that point.
But yeah, I can't. Speaking of mushrooms, that's my
next big thing. Cool.
But the next chapter of my life is the Mushroom journey.
But, you know, we I moved into a little just a tree house kind of
concept and no phone, no cell service.
And I remember going down the road to call my mom and dad and
they're like, listen, we're going to let you go live your
life. But you got to do one thing.
My mom said she goes, you got to be somewhere I can get a hold of
you. And that was the moment I was
like, OK, so I flipped a coin and it was between Bend OR or
Chico CA. And the coin hit heads and I
moved down to Chico CA and was there and then got in the
restaurant business somehow. And you know, life has always
had a stepping stone with the flip of a coin for me.
Right. No accidents.
It's just like wherever you land, that's it.
Because I mean you. Tails.
Where am I going? Yeah, you got a checkered pass
just like me, like, oh, you wait a minute, you were doing what?
At what time? Like, yeah, I was here at this
time. I did this like, I tell people
about, like, yeah, I was in the Navy and then I worked in the.
I was in a mental hospital working with people and they're
like, what a mental. Then I was a rock Mason.
And then they're like, what? The how many things you've done.
So you sound like real similar, you just jumping around.
We love cannabis. Don't we just kind of go with
the flow a little bit Sometimes if we allow things to work that
way, doesn't always work that way.
Sometimes. Sometimes, you know, we let
society get in our head and we start taking certain moves.
But most of the times we can find a cool journey and find our
path. Look at you guys.
I mean, you guys are doing what you love right now.
You're talking every day about cannabis with great people in
the industry. It's awesome.
I mean, it's surprising. We never thought it would be.
At this point, no, we we just wanted to be we we just thought
it was going to be two stoners talking out of Utah and and
nobody and everybody thought we were from California for a long
time. They still do to this day.
They're like, oh man, I think the funniest thing I ever get.
Like whenever I meet somebody, they go, man, I thought you'd be
taller. Like what?
You sound taller. How does one sound taller?
I don't have no idea. Yeah, No.
You can you project a large. Voice I guess so.
I guess so but and just hearing about that so we get we get
through all that one. But I would really want to go
into what's really at kind of like the root of it, because the
the everything we've read about it all comes back to your wife
and being able to get this started over here.
What what was that process like in in her suffering and how how
were you able to find relief? You know, through the simple
aspects of a tincture at the time of CBD.
She's always been supportive of me since I moved back.
When I was right at 30 years old from California, we connected
back. She had already lost her mother,
and I knew her mother and I met her when she had moved home with
her father. Her father was on his deathbed.
We connected and she was came home from Charleston to just
caretake for him and we connected back at a bar.
She heard I was there. Some of her friends saw me out
of the bar. She she came there, we connected
and we've like literally since that day haven't separated ways
and I ended moving. I ended up moving in with her
like a week later with her father and we found that picture
of me when I was 10 and she was 8 and going through her parents
stuff. We didn't even have it.
So that was kind of a crazy thing, 'cause she had lived in
that house forever and so she lost her father.
And she's always been supportive of everything I'm I've done in
my career. Like it's always been about me.
And when this whole farm bill took place and we had an
opportunity to really step into the space, I really wanted to
make it about her. She really had a passion for
this and we went up to Asheville like I said and took a look at
what was going on and then that's when we stepped into this
journey. I thought it was going to be
something small that I would just support her in.
We didn't realize it was going to turn on to a full blown
career for both of us, and it's been the it's been the most
fascinating time of my life. What was that stepping stone
then in the jump from like, hey, this is just CBD and this is
really beneficial in helping my wife to, hey, we're going to
create a business out of this. Like what was that?
She wanted to do a store and we thought literally that that's
all we were going to do. We really wanted when we went up
to Asheville, one thing, if you guys have ever had a chance to
go to Asheville, if you know anything about, it's beautiful
mountains but also a lot of farmland up there.
So lot of hemp growers who are actually creating their own
product lines and a lot of those stories up there of those
smaller start up dispensaries were people's farms and they
were locally growing their own hemp and they were crafting
their own products and I just got mesmerized by that.
I thought that was super cool. So we when we opened our store,
when she went to open a store, I thought, you know, I would
continue to focus on what I was doing, help her get the store
open. And I soon just got fascinated
by the whole thing, the science behind cannabis, how much every
month I felt like a new cannabinoid was.
We were discovering something about it here in this once this
farm bill came together and you know this whole hemp movements
moving forward. And I just got so mesmerized by
it and then I started seeing the business side of it, of course.
And so we just started to create a bigger journey and I stepped
away from what I was doing at the time, which I was in the
gaming industry prior to this. The casino gaming and we'd help
develop games and everything come out of Guangzhou.
I enjoyed that. I'd spend time in China and
bring games back here and we would develop and see how well
they do on the floor in different casinos.
And I enjoyed the mathematics side of that.
Seeing how long you keep somebody on a game and they
would lose their money before they would play, you got to let
them win a little something. But you can only see too many
people lose so much and once you get into that industry heavy
before it starts draining your soul.
So I mean it was a it was a lucrative business, but it was
also a very much just focused on that.
The science, I mean the the mathematics side of the gaming
side of it stepped away from you.
When you start seeing grandmothers and people start
losing everything they own, you never like to see that.
Yeah, it's got to be really hard to see.
I must really, because I'm drifting off into four different
topics. No, dude, dude, you go, go
because that's, you know, honestly, it's why why we want
individuals like you. That's why we reached out.
That's why we wanted you on the show because you just have a
very unique story. And and even here, like, when
we're peeling these layers, like, I'm just laughing because
I'm just like, yeah, I was in Guangzhou and brought back
gaming to hear and just like, holy shit, this guy has done
everything. And it's like when you're out
there talking and you're, you're drinking, these cells are just
talking like, there's nothing you can't run out of talking
about. Like it's just like, Oh yeah,
this one time I was in the Danang River and we were helping
these locals and we helped them get across.
And yeah, anyways, so I drink cannabis.
And so I mean, it's it's just so cool because it all aligns
right. There's no mistakes.
And with what you've been able to do, because you're talking
about the business side and a lot of people don't understand
that cannabis is really hard to be able to make a profit.
And a lot of the smaller companies, that's why they
disappear so quickly. But it sounds like you guys are
blowing up. I mean you got a a deal with
Sony to help out with that one, right, with Miller.
So it just looks like you really doing it the right way.
Kind of take us through that business side because there's a
lot of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs that are thinking
like, hey, I could do this too, but it sounds like you really
had a good formula from day one. You just aligned with the right
people. Is that right?
Yeah, we've we've been fortunate.
I mean you you do know that and I think a lot of people don't
know what you just said it's this industry is hard Anybody
that most people that get in and out the gate think Oh my gosh,
it's the gold rush. It's the green rush, it it, it
it's not that at all. I mean, there's so many people
who jump in the industry and we see so many people come and go
every year, you know, and I think the key to anything in
life but is intent and never step away from what your true
mission is. And I think unfortunately in
this industry, people that dollar signs get in front of
their face too quick and they'll run down a rabbit hole of maybe
something they didn't originally get in the industry for because
there's a movement in that one specific topic for a moment and
they'll go chase it. Next thing you know they've,
they've just lost everything that they stand for.
We we've had to make some tough sacrifices that haven't always
been lucrative and it's challenged whether or not we're
going to be around six months later just by always keeping the
integrity of our products. So high end.
I mean, we've never been one, even with our other brand that's
race to the bottom when it comes to price points.
We're very, very, we curate where we want to be when we
wholesale our product lines. Quite honestly, we won't put our
products in gas stations, not beverages 100%, but like the
Charleston hip collector brand. And it's not that there's
anything wrong with gas stations.
I would love to put our products in gas stations, but
unfortunately there's a lot of stuff that comes from all over
and it can kind of sometimes get in a Rolodex of products that
people start to discredit and get worried about.
So you know we with the Charleston hip collector brand,
we're in a high hotel chains, we really, really try to curate
where that goes. It's a very clean, well designed
brand. Yeah, yeah.
So anyway, I I I say that I think you just have to have that
intent. You got to have intent, you got
to make sure that you never sub quality for a dollar and I think
some of these minor little things and what happens to a lot
of companies unfortunately and then just your marketing.
I think you want to make sure you really get your messaging
out the gate. We again, like I said, we're
very lifestyle driven. We never wanted to create
anything that looked too heady. That's just not our message is
we want to try to again go back to that normalizing.
It's a goal for us every day to see somebody who's never tried
cannabis to actually try one of these products for the first
time or get a message on Instagram or or Facebook or
anything. Just saying, man, this is really
changed our lives and we've always been told forever that
cannabis is devil's lettuce, you know?
I mean, so it's cool when you see that kind of stuff happen.
It really is. Yeah, especially when you're
talking about like, you know, when when you have to make these
sacrifices, where you're going to forfeit profits to be able to
either test something out or maintain the integrity of the
product. It's incredibly difficult.
And many people don't know about that like you're if you were to
go into gas stations or into some big box store, your margins
get even smaller and smaller and smaller just to pay for that
shelf space and especially if it's mid shelf you're you're
screwed. If you're at the bottom, you're
on your way out. So it's like if we can get that
middle over there to be able to get a premium product such as
this, it's it's great to hear that you're in hotels and it's
even better that I mean with with e-commerce this is this is
helping tremendously in order for people to be able to get
their hands on these products. Yeah, there.
And you know one thing about our website with the high rise
bev.com, you can go on there. We've got so much information on
there about the just the benefits of this stuff.
We've got a full information page that just talks about a lot
of the questions they're asking a fellow drug tests.
I mean some of the basic things that we know, but it's amazing
how many people just don't really understand the the ABC's
of it. Sometimes I I think I'm the most
layman talker ever. Like if you're going to get a
big vocabulary, I'm walking out the door, you know.
But even the way I talk, sometimes it's too elevated for
a lot of people that are just now learning about this.
They they it has to be dumbed down so much and you really want
to just remember when you're speaking with people to keep it
like that, so. Yeah.
That's that's kind of how we broke down the the podcast was
because in all of the conversations that we've had
over the years with so many people, it was really because we
live in Utah. It's a very conservative, like
dogmatic on one way or the other, like state and so and
just like everywhere else. It's been like since the 80s and
all before. How many of it's been just say
no, like the DARE program, all of this stuff of marijuana's
bad, like, so fuck, where was it going with that?
He's high. So.
Oh my gosh, yeah. I was like, man, I don't know.
What this is and he's he's cross fading it too by smoking out of
his his vaporizer for sure. No, no, I it is.
It's it's difficult to be able to educate your your audience
about it, especially where you know you.
You don't have the ability to be able to use mainstream marketing
as you would anywhere else right?
You're not able to just blast out there with SCO and PPC,
which is good, because, I mean, they've changed everything in
the marketing. Cookies is is being phased out,
which is really hurting a lot of companies who wish they could
just just bombard you with tons of advertisements where cannabis
brands have to really grow by word of mouth.
So if it's starting to perpetually grow outside of your
state and more people are being able to see it, like if the fact
that it's in a hotel says a lot about your product because there
are so many of these types of products everywhere.
And what's great is you guys are just sticking to what you know.
You're not trying to do everything out there.
Like are you guys going to start coming out with vape carts and
brownies second or what? What's What's next?
No. So you're right.
So it's really cool that you know, I mean the bigger
corporations that you probably wouldn't see like high rise is
the CBD side is in the DoubleTree in Nashville.
The Drift Hotel, which is a really, really new trendy hotel
in Nashville that just opened up.
We're in their rooms where, you know, as part of their service
the Thompson Hotel, which is the Hyatt Group in Savannah.
We just got an order for to be at all 193 of their rooms is a
is another. That's what I'm talking about.
We're I I think we are starting to see such a bigger trend going
into this and even to see those bigger chains that are wanting
to be a little more progressive and have that holistic vibe
they're they're moving into these products.
I mean it's also. Yeah, I think about that.
You remember that when we were down at MJ Biz Con?
There's a hotel being built right now, or it's already
built. They're just transitioning it to
a 100% cannabis. Oh, based hotel.
Yeah, based hotel. That you can like smoke in it or
partake in it that it'll be, yeah.
Yeah, 'cause you can't do it in any of their casinos or anything
like that right now, but to be able to have it there?
I think I. So we went, you know, the group,
because I think they've got whatever they're doing, about 10
of them, aren't they? Yeah, the the only way they're
able to do it is they can't have any, any gambling whatsoever
inside this hotel. So no machines or anything,
nothing, No video. So they they can be able to have
that because that was the biggest thing for them.
They're like, Oh well, we don't want, you know, guests to, oh,
I'll keep feeding you drinks, but not cannabis.
Well, because cannabis, you'll make logical decisions.
So you're not going to spend your money, you're going to?
Go or you'll get. Bored money like, But if you're
drunk, you're going to be, like, overconfident.
You're going to just keep spending like it's way easier?
It's like what? It's like what Val was talking
about. Like it's soul sucking when
you're watching these people. Like that's what we saw on
Vegas, dude. Like, I'll tell you what, man,
it's been a long time. Like when you're younger and you
see any place with casinos and stuff like that, it looks like
so much fun. And when I was 21, it was
awesome. But now look, we were there.
It was depressing seeing these. Yeah, go go.
So y'all were just out there for.
I haven't been out there since the year before for MJ Viscon.
I'm going out in like a week and 1/2 was a week and a half.
Yeah, I'm going out there in like a week and a half.
And I just don't think because like I said, getting out of the
gaming industry and I just haven't.
I used to go there all the time with that, and I don't know, I
just can't get into it anymore. I'm going to.
I'm excited to go out there, see.
But you know, I'm. I'm with you all.
We checked out Planet 13. That was an interesting
experience just to see like the size of the world's largest
dispensary. Costco of Cannabis.
Like it. It was large.
They had a lot of. Displays.
It it was a dispensary at the end of the day.
But it was it was big like I was.
I was impressed by the amount of products and not that they had
on display that they even carried.
I was impressed at like the amount of registers they had,
the amount of customers that they went through, but like at
the end of the day, it's just another dispensary.
Yeah. And I think the funniest thing
down there, and this was the best, you're you're going to
appreciate this map. There was this really great sign
that said, Amber here like March 31st, dancing on the Mainstage.
And then the next slide that came up was, we also have
daycare. So I'm like, that's really cool
that they're helping out strippers at daycare.
And I was like, that's the most uplifting thing I've seen so far
here in Vegas because it's like, it's just old people shuffling
around with this constant, like constipated look on their face
just. What was it busy?
I mean they. I guess it was.
I mean, you said that it's. Always busy.
Wow. It's always busy, just people
chasing dreams or something. Running away from yeah, from
something. Like you just see these couples
all dressed up trying to look fancy and all that, but you know
your hood like you just see them.
You're like, come on now, like you just trying to play and.
These people trying to get so shit faced and forget life for
like a weekend and I'm like, gosh.
And just that it's just a vibe there that you feel.
And but the coolest thing was when we were down at MJ Biz Con,
was that it was like the only place where everybody was
uplifted, Everybody was excited. It was like you.
You didn't even know you were in Vegas anymore.
And that's sad to think about because it's supposed to be a
awesome, fun, happy place. But it it's almost like
Disneyland. When you get there, you're
pretty disappointed. Yeah, you're just like, shit.
This is going to cost me a lot of money.
That's all I think. It was good the year before
last. It was it was my first time ever
going and I I loved it. Just interesting, I tell you our
industry though, it's people ask me all the time.
They're like, does it ever slow down?
Do you ever get like, I'm like, no, because every day something
so progressive happens that you're like, I'm so happy I'm
part of this time in life, but I'm part of cannabis.
Don't y'all feel that way all the time.
Like, I'm like, man, I mean just just like we've just said here
about the Thompson Hotel, it's just there's so many things that
every day change in our industry.
And I think when you struggle so many years just to get people to
understand the space and it's happening so fast now the
normalization of it, it's just cool.
It's a it's definitely a prohibition time that we're
going through right now heavily. Well, it's crazy because we so
we are, we're global and we pop up in countries, top charts
every week. I think we were in Germany,
Italy and a couple other ones. We're all we're in places where
it's illegal to have cannabis and they're still listening to
it. Like they're just like, Nope,
this, but that is exactly what you said.
It's you're a part of that time. Because it's we, we need those
individuals within cannabis that are not going to be all heady.
Like we try. We joke around about it because
that's the satire. We all grew up with it.
Like Stoner. You know if we go real far back
of Fast Times at Ridgemont High with Spicoli with, what's his
name, Sean Penn. Like, oh, you remember that
show. I know you know that you.
Of course, of course. Dude, that's so awesome.
Like Mr. Hand. Nicole is the OG.
Whoa, oh bud, why are you doing that?
Like it's so it's so refreshing because like if you think about
it like those who use cannabis, they're really laid back and
really open minded and that's what we're we're trying to do
with our podcast. That's what you're doing with
your beverage. Like ours is always go low and
go slow. You know we we are big on flower
first because the experience is usually you get a lot more of
the entourage effect. You get the better whole
complete experience from the plant versus a lot of the
distillates, the extractions. You get not the best experience
for that, but for so many people.
You know this introduction of drinkables, like how many people
like, have drink a ton. I have tons of friends who drink
all the time. I drink all the time and now I
drink. I like the flavor of it, but I
don't really like the feeling of drinking.
So I'll have a drink maybe once every couple months or
something. But mostly it's for the flavor,
because I really like the flavor of a good Scotch or the flavor
of like a craft beer every once in a while.
That's that's really about all I drink.
But when you have so many people who are like, hey, you know, I
don't like hangovers anymore, or, hey, I don't like feeling
like shit or making really stupid decisions because alcohol
takes off some of your, like, inhibitions that maybe you might
normally have. And cannabis doesn't do that
same thing. So I can still kick my feet up,
relax at the end of the day, have a drink, but then I'm not
stupid. I'm not, you know, having worse
sleep. I'm not making decisions that
might not be the smartest thing. Like there's all these things
that come from cannabis that we don't like, you don't see with
alcohol and that, that I think that's why so many people are
switching to these simple drinkables.
It's because there's familiarity with it, like there's the same
time it's. There's also not just the
convenience part, but there's there's the the almost the
clandestine ish part of it as well.
Because now it just looks like I'm just having a drink and it
doesn't really help. You know, I'm, I'm a part of the
local faith here in Utah, the LDS Church.
And, you know, a lot of individuals that the church will
ask me, they're like, well, I really don't want to get into
smoking. I don't want and I just, I don't
want to do inedible because I've heard a lot of bad things about
it and like, yeah, you shouldn't get into it unless you really
know what you're doing. But at the same time like
something like this is so much easier to recommend going.
You know what? Try this out.
You know, drink about half of it.
I mean you could split this with somebody and you're going to get
a lot out of it and they're like, Oh well, maybe I want to
enjoy the whole drink. But you'll know when you've hit
your limit. You could pound this as a beer.
I'll get to my 4th one and I'll be, I'll be like, all right now
I'm now I'm pretty lit. I get one of these and that's
like. They're so easy to take down.
I think of that is a pro and a con with these drinks and I
don't want to say it's a con, but they are.
They're so light and they're refreshing.
They're easy on the pallet, so you can knock a couple of them
back really quick. But I tell everybody that I'm
like just start. If you've, you know, even if
you're experienced with cannabis but not a but if you're kind of
a lightweight drink a half a can and sit back and relax for 15
minutes, let it, let it kick in. Your body will let you know.
But yeah, that's the biggest thing.
The thing about an edible is smoking is always good because
it hits you immediately. But the thing about an edible
that I think is scared to everybody at one point, they've
just gone into freaking outer states.
I'll never forget I was living in.
I was living in Charlotte, NC, and we were flying.
My buddy came into town, his name is Matt Tire.
He's going to love me throwing him out here on this podcast
like that. But he took care of a whole
community of Columbia when everybody needed to get there.
He loved the world. Matt was the man.
So he was my best friend growing up.
He's always my best friend and we we're going out to High Times
Festival and and Francisco so we jump plane and for some reason I
don't know why we think even edible and I know we've heard
these stories for it's smart when you're getting on a plane.
We thought we had first class we did business 1st and it was the
row right behind the first class So we're just staring at
everybody at first class. Squished it with somebody in
between US and I'll never forget that flight.
It was all the way from East Coast to West Coast whipping my
balls because that edible was just we just kind of went all in
and I remember hearing some foreign language behind me and I
was thinking the planes going down, I mean the whole time and
we did not speak that whole flight.
I I shit you not. We didn't sweep the whole plane
off the plane. We ran off the plane and we
spoke at baggage. But.
That was a weird it was the longest 7 hours of my life.
Every minute seemed like it was about an hour so.
That time dilation when you're that high is crazy.
It is because, you know, everything around you is so
intense. Like, Oh my.
Gosh and you. Keep.
Fixate on everything. Like you said, the voice is
behind you and you're like, oh shit, there's a different
language, like. And then your mind goes down
these loopholes. And it goes down your leg holes.
Oh yeah, because you're so high and it goes so fast and you're
just like from zero to 100 and like nothing, and yet you're
still just sitting there going. Yeah, I guess I did a really
good job of stereotyping there, Mendigo.
I didn't mean to do that, but no.
No. Weird things when you get in
those moments. I was like, Oh my.
God, you're making me think about a Dave Chappelle skit
where he's like, you know, I was on this plane and then the guy
comes up and he goes everybody on the fucking ground right now.
And he goes, and it was really confusing for me because he was
Asian. I'm like, why are you talking
like that, right? But I mean, it's it's some of
that that when you were talking about, I was thinking about Joey
Diaz, He was on a podcast. Joe Rogan.
I was.
I was on a flight and I had 500 milligrams of inedible and I was
freaking the fuck out. I I was having panic attacks and
they land. He goes, why don't you tell me
that in a flight? And he goes, 'cause I'm back,
motherfucker. And he pops another one and he's
just like, what the hell? But like thinking about that,
like I know that intensity like it's just and that time dilation
when you talked about, it's like time stands still, it doesn't
move. I'm just telling everybody, do
not go down the edible. I'm going into a journey land
while you're getting on a plane because there's nowhere to go.
There is just nowhere to go except, you know.
Put on some headphones. Yeah, I mean you can try, but.
It has like, no, I I kind of wanted to talk to the audience
real quick about this. So we've been about about 30
ish, 40 minutes or so far and now it's what's really nice
about this drink compared to other ones I've had.
Usually they hit me pretty quick and they go pretty quick.
This one's like a really nice slow build and then it just
keeps coming up. But it's not, it's not too much
for me. It's really great and compare.
I mean, I've had a little bit of of flour, but it's really nice.
Like I don't have a yucky feeling.
I'm glad you said you didn't go Delta 8.
Route D8 makes me feel horrible. We're.
Not a big fan of it at. All not a fan.
And we've been spoiled though we've had, I mean, once you've
had a lot of flour, then you start having Delta 8 and you're
like, this isn't even diet weed. There's just like some weird
dude in the corner and he's from like Belarus and he's like,
don't worry, drink whatever is you need.
You'll like it. And you're like, no, what?
What is this you're like? It's chemicals, but you'll
enjoy. This feels so clean.
This is so nice. The the one thing about these
drinks and you know, Livis, my wife, she's sitting here with me
now, but she was saying the other day because she was like,
Oh my gosh, it was like an hour in and she was like, I still
feel like I'm rising a little bit from this, but it's not like
I want to be careful when I say that because I don't want to
scare people out there, that holy cow, because you're so
controllable. It never is like you like go
from 1 space to like outer space.
It's like you just feel like you're just getting more in the
moment and you're just really so.
We opened the first cannabis dry bar in the state of South
Carolina. It's called If it's on the on
the backside of one of our storefronts.
We opened a high rise dry bar. We did it so people could come
in, experience these drinks for the first time and we kind of
went all in with it. But I'll never forget, once we
were 3/4 away building out, we'd already gone all in.
I drank one of those drinks and I got high.
And then I was like, am I going to want to sit here around a
bunch of people like me that I don't know, like you?
I was like this might have been the worst idea ever.
Bro, that's my favorite. I will go talk to everyone in
there like. Honestly, it is the best.
Everyone in that space goes through this experience
together. You don't even know because
you're in the middle of just these great conversations.
And then what happens when you leave?
That sucks. You got to come back like you're
you're in that space. It's like you can't go anywhere
else from that dry bar. If you're in that zone with
everybody, it's it's a really cool place.
If I ever get you guys in Charleston, I have to bring
y'all there. Yeah, it's a.
Vibe that you would hope for though.
Because like, I look at bars and so my girlfriend and I actually
went to a bar last night just because they have this burger
that she craves every once in a while and we don't really ever
go to bars. And I went in and it was kind of
weird and like depressing and sad.
And I'm like, this is not the vibe.
Like usually when I'm hanging out with friends and that we're
smoking, we're all laughing. Like it's a very different vibe.
And I feel like that is the vibe usually that I would expect in
something like a dry bar. It gets very different
experience than a lot of the like most of the people going to
the bars that I'm seeing or like sad or depressed or like.
Just life's really shitty here, man.
I just work like really fucking long day and I'm exhausted.
Like they're not there happy. Like it's it's just a very
different atmosphere. So that sounds like a really
interesting, unique experience. You said that's in South
Carolina. Since that's in Charleston.
Charleston. OK, you.
Know it was our next storefront we were doing for the Charleston
hemp collector. Yeah, yeah, we need to really
just build an awesome bar and that's been the the highlight of
that store. It's not the storefront that we
have a lot of recognition with the the bar.
It got a lot of press and it's the.
Bar's. Name It's the High Rise Dry bar.
You can find it on Instagram. A high rise under score dry bar.
It's a really cool it shows you all these and we make all kind
of mocktails with our drinks. So we'll take our versions of
this real fruit cannon and we'll make all these mocktails with
it. So it's been really cool.
It's very. Yeah.
So if you guys are out in South Carolina, go check it out.
We'll have the links down below. Make sure you guys stop in.
Yeah, definitely sounds like it's.
So when you were, you were talking about how it just keeps
like rising up. You know what came to my mind
was like being on a Ferris wheel, like a slow Ferris wheel
right around about it's getting close to dusk.
You get that that nice sun coming out there and it's just
relaxing and I feel like moving up just slowly going through it
like that's how this is the feel of it is really it's just very
calming, very nice. But exactly that like if I was
going to a business networking event and be like don't be
serving that we we need to have these here, everybody having
these. So you're going to.
Talk. We go to so many networking
events, that's what they do, is they serve alcohol.
It's like an open bar and you're like, how much better would an
open, dry bar? Beat Oh no, I kind of like it,
'cause you get to see that dip shit go a little too far.
And he's like trying to be outgoing, but you're like, oh,
is that? The weird one, who's in the
corner trying to hit on the woman and she's just feeling
awkward and she's like, bro, I'm ready to go.
Like, can you just back off? Yeah, Yeah.
You got to have one of those around.
Yeah, that's that's the fun one. Talk about a little bit, you
know. So what's been one of the like
unique or odd things that you've seen CBD actually used for or
benefit that you didn't expect? I got to tell you, them damn can
of dips have you ever seen? Them No, I.
Don't know. I mean, I just.
See. Oh, like a dip.
Yes, I just recently heard. I just.
Recently it's popping up on my on my reels when I'm flowing
through there looking at certain things, but I just think that's
a unique thing. I it's different, but I think it
serves a really cool purpose. I mean for people who are
looking for something different, but that would be something I
don't know that I ever would have thought of, I.
Can't either what? I'm not.
I mean, I've never gotten into tobacco.
No, I used tobacco, so I was when I was back in the name.
Demographic for. It well, no there is there's a
huge demographic you got to think about like veterans that
come out like E still leaving now in the service.
When you come out a lot of them dip because cigarettes are
inconvenient or you can't have them in certain areas for one
reason or another, right. It's not like back in Nam
they're like don't don't smoke. They'll give away our position
like it's it's just it's just not as widely accepted.
But you're seeing brands now that are tobacco less that have
nicotine in it and you can put these little pouches and you can
dip that but can a dip dude like.
That I mean, so cool. I mean it really is great.
It's it's just so big plug to those guys.
I don't know who they are, but they got a cool little product
going. On Yeah, 'cause it's interesting
if it was tasted like Copenhagen, 'cause I don't like
the mint or the cherry. Like.
But I remember when I was in the service, I had had a can of dip
with me all the time from Copenhagen, just whipping that
can and then, but I I mean, you knew it was bad for you.
But if it was Canna, yeah, I am peaked.
And it would go into your mouth. So it would be like the
quickest, best experience probably as well.
Oh dude, man, you know what? The whole time you're sipping on
this, you're going to get really elevated real quick.
I'll tell y'all what I think the new wave of it's coming.
And you guys, when I say this, remember I'm East Coast.
You guys are really, really in the grind with all the cool new
stuff coming out, probably a lot more than I am.
But I there's a group out of Tennessee called Volunteer
Botanicals and these guys are awesome ex big Pharma, but they
are really into these tablets now and very small microdosed,
just kind of like almost like a breath Mitt, man.
You just throw one in your mouth, 3 milligrams, you know
you got great fresh breath and you just are feeling beautiful.
Oh yeah, but we've had those, not that brand but we've had
ones like that and it is, it's just like these little tiny
micro dose tablets and I'm like that is for so many people that
is like the perfect dose. That's the perfect product for
like everyday person like mom, dad, working person to just pop
one and function throughout the day.
Y'all see more And I do want to ask you do you see more people
leaning into small dosing these days?
Especially I I. Just I love it.
I love it because I just feel like there's a place for
everybody's grandma. When there's a place for
everybody's grandma, you know you've done it right.
Everybody's got to take care of that granny that they got if
they got. One, well, a lot of it we talked
about is most people's intent isn't to get high.
The intent is to achieve whatever relief from whatever
ailment or. Or to be in an elevated state
like you know. Not everyone's intent is to be
high. Yeah, exactly.
And so it's, you know, all these microdose products become this
perfect design for all the moments that you're not wanting
to be high. But hey, I've got stress, I've
got anxiety. But I'm still working.
I'm still running errands. I'm still being a parent and for
those people who aren't able to go puff on a pen or take a joint
or do something, those micro dose these drinkables that are 5
milligrams like these become these perfect doses for these
people to use and not be too elevated to function and do
their day-to-day. But just it's like how many
people take anxiety meds or stress medication or depression
medication, but a micro dose is basically managing that same
stuff without any side effects like.
It's it's so awesome. I mean I I think the unfortunate
and I'm sure you guys probably on every podcast somehow good on
this rabbit hole because it seems to be such a point of
conversation now. But it's what people need to
hear. I mean we've gotten just so
we've evolved so much in in the industry, not only whether we're
talking about cannabis, whether we're talking about mushrooms.
I mean, you've got to start looking at the science.
And I I just encourage everyone out there to just start looking
at the science. You know, find it 'cause you're
right. Not everybody wants to get high.
We used to only associate mushrooms.
We used to only associate cannabis, which is getting
stoned out of your head or going to Jupiter.
It's not like that anymore. It's a place to find peace.
And I mean, that's really for those of us who really love it
and have the passion for it, It's not always be elevated.
It's to find a level of comfort in our everyday life.
And it's, it's it's God's plant, man.
Grab a hold of it. Yeah, for real.
It's it's something that you know for companies like yours
and and for you and your wife personally and like it's when
you go down that path and you start being able to either
create a product or create a platform to educate people more
often. Now you have a responsibility
like it turned from a from a passion to a responsibility and
that just compounds that passion for it even more.
Because if you have a responsibility, then you have to
be able to produce something that's really good for your for
your community. And that's what it is like when
you meet another cannabis, Anybody who smokes cannabis and
you meet somebody over there, immediately you have a
connection as if you were from the same town or same state or
same country. Like if if you meet somebody
over there in Italy and he's puffing on a joint, you'd be
like, hey, that smells pretty good, That's.
It that's all you got to do. All you got to do is throw the
finger and say that smells pretty good.
That's it. Yeah, that's the beauty of
cannabis. See people that don't smoke
cannabis out there, If you're listening to this, that's how
easy it is to make friends. Just have to get off the
alcohol. Yeah.
Or get on to the high horse. Well, I it'd be so cool to throw
an event and have these drinks just readily available for
everybody and just seeing how many and and the and the
question is like how many new people can you meet today and
make a great connection with like a true connection.
Wonderful the world would be if everybody just picked up a
cannabis drink at the same time and drank it.
If the world came together for one moment and everybody drank 1
drink and then you just walk around everybody, this would be
the most lovely planet. It would just be.
Amazing. Truly.
When you see things from so many other perspectives and so you're
like it, it becomes so much less of us and them.
And it's just like a wee, you know?
Yeah, absolutely. Oh man, so what's?
What's next? What's next for your company?
So you know, we're probably, I am getting heavy in this
beverage world, man. I love it.
So with that being said, I it's funny, I am 49.
Like I said, never in my life ever had an Instagram.
My team just had me put one together couple of weeks ago, so
let me just throw it out there. Matt Skinner, high rise for
everyone. If y'all want to kind of follow
the journeys of what is next to come because that gets dark and
dirty behind closed doors. It can't be that pretty picture
of the brand. When we're going through legal
issues state by state and we're having to get behind closed
doors of DHEC and we're having to help, right regulation or
we're dealing with law enforcement or I'm getting
arrested somewhere because I'm smoking some hemp flour.
You never know what it's going to be, but it's all there behind
the scenes at Matt Skinner, High Rise.
We're going to show this journey and and the beverage world for
me is really big. So like I said, we just dropped
the High Rise Adaptogen line and it will actually be on shelves
here in a couple of weeks. Tell us about that.
What's the Adaptogen line? So the Adaptogen line, we have a
lift and we also have a balance and our lift has ginseng,
rhodiola and B vitamins in it. It's going to be like a
substitution for like a Red Bull or something like that.
But it's very, very health focused.
It's made with real fruit that water and those adaptogens
instead of the hemp, same 2G of organic cane sugar, very health
and Wellness focused, but it's a way to go to a festival, have a
good time. I drink a couple of these and I
kind of feel like that beginning stage of right before a
microdose on mushrooms. You know what I'm saying?
That wind just hits you perfect and you're just like today's
going to be a damn good day. That's kind of before you go
into it. So it's such an uplifting
feeling. But I want to How?
Many of those is required to get to that.
What's that? So how many of those is it to
get to that just? Just two of these and they're
unbelievable. So and then, you know, my next,
my next project is going to be actually dropping a mushroom
beverage. So I'm really putting some
energy behind that and focusing kind of like I said, a lot of
that stuff I'm going to have on my personal Instagram behind the
scenes at our manufacturers working with the creation of
that. But I just this new age world of
NA drinking, the Gen. Z movement.
I mean, you know, I don't know if you guys know this, but I
found this out. I just got back from Expo West
and it was really interesting hearing about Gen.
Z. And we're just really, they are
a lot smarter than we are. They really care about
everything has to have intent. They really want to understand
founders behind brands. They want to make sure if a
founder speaks on something that they can flip a can around and
read the ingredients. They're never making sacrifices
for that. And they also, you know, they
like some funky taste and shit. I can tell you that stuff out
there is funky, but they just care about their bodies, man.
It's just and next year they're going to take up 25% of our work
population. That's how many.
That's the movement. Right.
I mean, it's it's crazy to think about.
There was something my girlfriend watches a lot of
TikTok videos and that and it's interesting to see the Gen.
Z introduction to drinking. They have this thing called a
Borg, basically, and they when they go out drinking, they bring
it and it's like a milk jug or something, their own private
sealable container with their own alcohol.
They put electrolytes in it. They put like all this stuff,
but then they don't worry about getting roofied or anything else
or, you know, having really shitty stuff because it's, yeah,
it's these, like you said, they're smarter.
They do things on a different level because they're like shit
that we never even thought about.
They were like, fuck it, I drink out of a garden hose.
Like, I'm close to your age, man.
I mean, our generation growing up, it was it, it was exactly
the way that we were raised. We're latchkey kids, you know,
we are left to our own. We figure out our own things.
And yeah, we're very self-sufficient, you know, as, I
mean, there's not something you'd be like, oh man, this
broke. Like I can fix that.
Like how the hell do you know how to fix that?
Like, I I was poor once. Everyone just had to figure this
shit out, right. So it's it.
It just is. But this new generation, they're
definitely thinking about like more health conscientious.
They're not just putting anything into their body as when
we grew up there. Like, hey, this is good for you.
It's like, OK, Like, I mean you remember how like hydroxycut and
stuff like that. Like in the early 2000s, like,
everybody's popping that at the gym and they're like, Oh yeah,
that's going to be awesome. Later on, if you abuse the hell
out of it, you're screwing up your heart really bad.
So it's like we we were a little bit more open to just taking
whatever somebody said, this will help you.
You go, why not cool. But now they're more conscious
of it going, is that like you said?
Turn around. Let me look and see.
Oh no, that doesn't help. What the hell is that in there?
And what's really cool about this drink?
I mean, you know you have a lot of flavor in here at 4G of sugar
per can. That's amazing.
I'm, I'm a type 2 diabetic so I've got to watch everything.
And I I gave up soda three years ago.
I don't touch it. I don't.
I I really can't touch caffeine at all.
I I burned out my adrenal glands OD ING on can on caffeine.
That's the cool thing. It's with these types of drinks
you're not going to feel that way and especially you're
adapted one. They adapted Jen one man.
That's super exciting because I didn't hear anything about their
going. Yeah.
And we got a. Shit load of sugar and tons of
caffeine in there. Like on the wider range of
cannabinoids? Oh yeah, this is going to be
like an amazing experience. But now I want that in a gas
station. I want to go pick that up.
Yeah, but like you. Said Yeah, we're going to.
Gas station quality is, it's associated with that.
Gym one, though, if you think of, yeah, yeah, because the
adaption, it's like you would want people to have a healthier
alternative to what they're doing right now.
I mean, I I really fucked myself up drinking too many of those,
so now I I won't even touch it. Not you couldn't get me to touch
it. But to have something like that,
that's that's so that's so cool. We've got a chain called Refuel,
which is 209 high end convenience stores.
Those like kind of like a Wawa, you know what I'm saying, where
they come in, they've really tried to craft the products in.
We just got wind Southern Crown which is Budweiser in South
Carolina and Georgia. We just partnered with them,
they're our distributor, but we just got win through Southern
Crown two days ago that refuel is going to be picking this up.
So they are focusing on these kind of products and helping us
get the education piece out there.
But this is, this is what this is your new generation of of
your Red Bulls and your monster energies.
I mean this is kind of what people, people are looking for.
So again, the lift side of this is that ginzing rhodiola and B
vitamins and then we have a balanced version which is two
other flavors and that has ashwagandha in it and also go to
cola. So it's just that that just
really relaxes you. So it's just this and and again,
I don't know how much you're familiar with those products,
but Ashwagandha is a plant and it's just a shrub and it's just
really, really interesting. But they're they're tasty.
You can taste a little bit of earthiness to them because they
just, you know, you're you're really dealing with plant
medicine. But they have just great effect
based to them. They're awesome.
Yeah, no, I mean Ashwagandha is really good.
They actually helps supplement those who have blood sugar
disabilities such as mine. That helps to actually lower it
quite a little bit as well. So that's awesome.
That's so that's so cool. Yeah.
That basis of your pet line, was that for your dog that it was
created or was it just the general need that you've seen in
the market? There was a general need in the
market but I will tell you I have a Weimer rider, so if
there's. If.
There's ever a dog that needs something to chill about us and
actually he's a good one. I've had three Weimer riders in
my life. They say they're either crazy or
lazy, and I've never seen a version of a lazy one until I
got this one here. And his name's Waylon and he's
pretty awesome, but he definitely has a little pet chew
from the Charleston M Collective brand every day.
It kind of just relaxes him. And for those people don't know
about cannabis and their animals, that's AI mean the
endocannabin system in our dogs is amazing.
They're receptors. They really, really that this
stuff. Works well for him, Yeah.
Such a wholesome brand. Seriously.
I mean you're you know, and and not the shit on any of the other
brands that we've got, but you know, they focus on they they
get into edibles and they get into brownies and the cookies
and that's great. That's nothing innovative there.
But when you stick to your core beliefs of what you're trying to
create, just good products for good people and for good
animals, right. So when you're creating these
things, you're sticking to that brand loyalty where you're not
just going, well, whatever's trendy will make it right.
You're not going to put it out there because that that dilutes
the brand. And then it's a race to the
bottom. So now you're just like, but it
was funny because like you're going through all these things.
I mean, it's just like, yeah. And I'm in Guangzhou, China and,
you know, I've been on the moon twice.
I don't like to talk about it, but you know, it's it's cool.
It's cool. It's not, it's not what you
think. It's a lot colder anyway.
So but it's so cool. You just so many different
things you guys are being able to go forward with.
We love this. We absolutely love this.
And we get a lot of we. We like a lot of these drinks
come through. But I will say hands down, I
have loved this product. During this whole time, I've
loved this. Favorite one, actually, I would
say. The blood orange.
No, no, no high rise. Oh yeah, like.
Best flavor? Best experience?
Dude, this. This pineapple.
That's. What?
I'm talking. About thank you.
No, it's beautiful product. Like we appreciate the work that
you guys put in because there are so many products that are
like heady focused or like it's very Stony culture and this is
very clean. Like this is something I I could
see in either of my parents home.
Not that necessarily they would drink it yet potentially
depending on the moment and what's going on in their life
and what they need it for. Well, and and for those.
Clean enough that. And and a lot of them mean like,
you know, you think about those ultra conservative people, such
as like a lot of people in the LDS faith.
You know, I would tell every single one of those who, you
know, being a member of that church, this is something you
absolutely should have in your home because of just this
chillness about it. Like, you don't feel inebriated,
you feel very relaxed. There's not AI have tried other
Delta 9 products either. It has way too much in it, more
than what they say is on the tin, and it'll get me really
anxious. You know what I'm talking about
right? When you have way too much and
this just is so relaxing, it's. So nice their recipe isn't very
good. So.
You have like a really weird experience and you're like, OK,
I know this says it's temp to ride, but like what's the COA?
What's the quality of this like? Because the experience isn't
nice, this is incredibly clean. Yeah.
And it looks like AI mean just just to look at the brand, this
is a lot of trust into this because it looks so clean.
You don't think it was put together in somebody's garage
and quickly shrink wrap with a hair dryer, right.
They put some little sleeve over and that's good and you get over
there and it's peeling off. Yeah, it's so it's just such a
clean, wonderful. It's absolutely our favorite.
Like it. It's in my fridge at home and
right in my bedroom. I had this little fridge over
there so my kids can't get into the rest of my wife and my shit.
And so just like, look, just let us have our snacks.
But this is like half of it is this, and then the half it's
whatever my wife drinks. So this is fantastic.
This is so good. We couldn't recommend this
enough. This is the best.
We'll have all the links below in the show notes, so make sure
you go check them out. Follow high rise, follow Matt
and his journey on Instagram. I found it.
I found your new Instagram, 'cause I was looking at your
wives and 'cause I was like, oh, I got to find these people,
learn about them. Your wife's was like, oh, my
husband doesn't even have a social.
But then I went and found it through like some high rise one
to something else and I was like, oh like curious saw your.
I got 100. I think I got like 175
followers. Man, I'm doing great.
You're catching up to me. I've been years.
Yeah, we'll, we'll help blow that up.
But yeah, definitely. You know what, man?
It just kind of goes back to it again.
You had to be called out saying, hey, look, I just need to get
ahold of you. See, now you had to move out of
that treehouse and actually find a place with a.
Phone. Yeah, so this is good.
This is your new cell phone, dude.
That's. Right.
That's right. Well, that's almost what it's
like. It's like another job.
I'm learning that really quick, having to film some things here
and there. But guys, thank you all so much
for having me all. It's been a pleasure.
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks again and everybody
again. Go down, see the show notes
below, go follow Matt and get yourself a case of that one
delicious pineapple is absolutely.
Fire. Oh, the blueberry's?
Really. Good, too.
And the lime? I haven't had that one.
Oh, man, that's awesome. That's so awesome.
Good. Come down.
But yeah. All right, everybody, take care.