Brewbound 2024 Rising Star: The Finnish Long Drink

Brewbound [00:05] Next up on the Brewbound Live live stream, a conversation with another one of our 2024 rising stars. Uh, I'm Brewbound managing editor, Jessica Infante, and I am psyched to be having a conversation with two co-founders of the Finnish Long Drink. With me today are Evan Burns and Mikhail Tyle. It is great to see both of you. How are you doing?

Speaker 2 [00:24] We're doing great. Thanks for having us.

Brewbound [00:26] Oh, well, congratulations. We have been so impressed with the brand. You guys have had what can only be described as a meteoric rise, and it's been so, so impressive to watch. So for the people at home who might not be entirely familiar, can you give us a quick overview of the Long Drink's history and tell us what's in it because it's a great story.

Speaker 3 [00:47] Yeah, so me being a Finn, I can maybe give them the quick history background. So long drink is an alcoholic beverage that we've had in Finland for over 70 years now. It was created for the Summer Olympics in 1952 for the visitors to enjoy. And the locals loved it so much that they stayed around ever since, and it's been my drink of choice growing up, my parents' drink of choice growing up, so it's, it's, it's really a category in Finland that is a huge one, just like Guinness is for the Irish, long drink is for the Finns, but we realized that that didn't exist outside of Finland, really. So the whole plan we had as our company was to bring this famous category to the US, and I've been doing that for the past 67 years now.

Brewbound [01:30] Tell us what's in the drink. I know you have different varieties, but a classic long drink, what's in it?

Speaker 3 [01:36] So the traditional long drink consists of, uh, we, we call it, um, citrus soda, uh, with real liquor. So it's 5.5%, um, uh, citrus beverage. Um, basically tastes like a fresca is what we often hear and we described as very refreshing, very sessionable, easy to drink, um, but yeah, made with real distilled spirit. So it has that really clean little kick to it.

Brewbound [01:59] Amazing. I know you've doubled sales year over year since your launch, and last year you hit 2 million cases, which is huge. Evan, what do you think is the secret to the success here? What's driving this? Two

Speaker 2 [02:10] things. I think the first thing is Americans love the taste. It's got a +91 net promoter score, which blows my mind when we've got that information that 91% of people who try it, like it and recommend it to their friends. You just have to taste it. It's hard to explain. And then the second thing is, Consumers these days, they want authenticity in the product. They don't just want another innovation that's a copycat product because there's no reason to care. There's no reason to talk about it. And Long Drink has this rich history from the 1952 Olympics, where it was started and turned into this major category in Finland that's now. To the US, like people love to read that story on the side of the can and tell their friends, their family. You watch it at a bar, people try the can, they look at, first of all, they're confused. What is this? Then they try it, they're excited, and they immediately look at their friends and say, you got to learn about this, and they, they turn the can and they read it.

Brewbound [02:57] Amazing. So, 2 million cases last year. What's our next big volume goal? What's on the horizon for next year?

Speaker 2 [03:03] I, I think the growth is going to continue at the rate that it has been. And, and what's exciting for us is, uh, we're seeing so many pockets across the US that are growing way faster than the company average where we get to that inflection point where it's sort of available everywhere and, and the network effect turns on. So there's places in the country where Uh, you know, even some regional chains were outselling major top 5 alcohol brands in wine, beer, and spirits. And so that, that to us is creating a lot of excitement about the upside.

Brewbound [03:30] Amazing. Now you're in, I want to say it's close to 50, but not all 50 states right now. So what's next? We're in

Speaker 2 [03:36] all the states that are not controlled states. So control and RTD are aren't huge crossover and upside. So we're in all the states that are controlled states.

Brewbound [03:43] And I just got the press release that you're launching Pennsylvania now that they have allowed RTDs to be sold, yeah, in chain stores.

Speaker 2 [03:50] So it's one of the best drinking states in the country, right? Like a lot of great folks that like to have a good time. We could not be more excited. So we, we started, uh, shipping product, uh, to retailers last week.

Brewbound [04:00] Awesome. So one thing that really sets, uh, the finish line drink apart is your veritable coterie of celebrity backers, which is something that's only just beginning to catch on in the beer world. But you've got actor Miles Teller, you've got professional golfers, you've got DJs, you've got so many different people who are Super famous and so, so connected to your brand. What does that do for you?

Speaker 2 [04:22] It's a great question. People come to us all the time and ask, Should I get celebrities involved in my brand? And my response is probably not. With Long Drink, we didn't go to these celebrities and pitch them to be involved. They came to us because they're. Genuine love of the liquid and the story. So Miles Teller is a great example. He walked into a store in New York. There was a tasting going on with one of my co-founders, tried it, loved it, and became a fan, and his manager, after many months of shipping it to me in California, said he wants to get involved. This is the 1st 6 months of the company. We're like, great, that's awesome. DJ Kygo DJed his wedding a few months later after he became a partner. I was like, this stuff's amazing, so we let him get involved when he said he wanted to invest. So, for us, it's not about the celebrity, it's about these folks who are true fans of the brand and the story, advocating and telling that story to others. That's what it's about. So it can be valuable, but just slapping a celebrity on it doesn't do anything these days.

Brewbound [05:14] So Miles was wearing your hat when he was sitting in Taylor Swift's luxury box at the Super Bowl, which is a sentence that like, I don't think anybody could have ever made up. Did you notice a bump after that? What was that moment like for the brand?

Speaker 2 [05:28] Certainly on social media, I mean, we spend a lot of time on, on paid and organic social, and the amount of people tagging Long Drink, having themselves with the hat and themselves drinking over the next 48 hours was, I, I don't know the percentage, I think it was like 3 or 4x. And so you just can't buy that type of affinity, because with Long Drink, it's a category, nobody knows what it is. And so when you see people talking about it, it creates curiosity if they try it, again, with plus91 net promoter score, it, it, it's a client, the customer that's going to stick.

Brewbound [05:55] Amazing. How much education do you have to do with consumers about what the drink is and its history?

Speaker 2 [06:00] A

Brewbound [06:00] ton.

Speaker 2 [06:01] I mean, when you think about it, if we, if we all started a new IPA and we had wide distribution, we get some business because people walk into stores and I'd like an IPA. If you don't know what a long drink is, you never walk into a store and say I'm looking for the long drink aisle, right? So we're building a category from scratch. It's like Mezcal before Mezcal. And so we're, we're really excited about that, but it's tough. And so it goes back to why we have to have these partners who tell the story. Marketing is about tons of investment and tasting, but also the biggest benefit is our fans. Like they are just so into the story and so into the product that if we get enough distribution, immediately we see a massive network effect of friends telling friends.

Brewbound [06:37] Amazing. Who would you say your, your typical drinker is at this point?

Speaker 3 [06:41] Well, I mean, I, I, the best way to say it is that it's kind of the same as in Finland, um, which is kind of an unusual approach, but it, it, it's really almost everybody, um, you know, like I said, like my, my parents drink long drink, my grandparents drink long drink when they go to a sauna, um, you know, and then it's obviously the, you know, the, uh, college people and, you know, the, the younger crowd as well. Um, so it really is, really is everybody.

Brewbound [07:07] And what are your innovation plans? I know there are a couple different, you know, flavor varietals, but there is such a like a perfect mixture that's happening here with with the classic that, you know, what are you hoping to do in the next couple of years?

Speaker 2 [07:20] It's a really good question. We have a pretty unique take on innovation. We think that most companies have way over innovated before they built a brand that is sticky and that their customers identify with. So you look at some of the best brands and alcohol in America, they spent their money and time building affinity, building people, connecting their, their self and identity to that brand. And we think a lot of other folks have over innovated where the customer says, oh, that's just a flavor delivery mechanism. And so for us, if you look in Finland, like, it's one product that is the thing that makes it up, or look at, look at Ireland, Guinness doesn't have 20 different varietals, right? So, or even Miller Lite doesn't have 20 varietals, or Jack Daniel's doesn't have 20 varietals. So we don't think that everything must have an. Innovation component. Now, we certainly think a lot about innovation as far as delivery, right? We have been innovating in pack sizes, and this is not that, that abnormal, right? When you get affinity, go up into those, those larger pack sizes, we think about that. We've done some LTOs and sure, there are a few other flavors that we brought in to really just keep our super fans excited with new moments that they can engage with.

Brewbound [08:17] From your lips to God's ears, there are a lot of people out there who really needed to hear exactly what you just said.

Speaker 2 [08:24] How to bring that back. Like, sometimes I feel really bad for the, the distributors who are just sort of forced to push out yet another copycat brand. Like the world does not need another lime flavored RTD or seltzer. It just doesn't need it.

Brewbound [08:36] Absolutely not. So what are your conversations like with wholesalers and what's your network like? Are you mostly in beer houses or do you have a mixture of wine and spirits too?

Speaker 2 [08:45] Yeah, so we have both, uh, wine and spirits distributors, and it really it's about who really values the upside of the brand. There's a lot of great distributors out there. We know that success comes when you have folks that work together on a shared vision, and so much of our success has come from different distributors, whether it's Miller Distributors. Glazer is a big partner of ours. Beer Networks with ABI, folks that are saying we're willing to, to chase the full potential of this brand. We see the long term vision. It's not just a flash in the pan, uh, flash in the pan flavor delivery mechanism. So, uh, that's what we optimize around, not necessarily is it just spirits, is it just wine? Is it just beer.

Brewbound [09:22] Fantastic. Well, you know, we at Rebound have been so impressed, you know, seeing your news and watching your story and watching your brand grow. You've, you know, you've even like been able to fend off some competitors who were trying to imitate your product fairly poorly, I would say. But you guys have, I, again, to clarify, I said not you, but you guys, it's like your brand has really stood the test and it's been really, really inspiring to watch, and we can't wait to see what's next for you.

Speaker 2 [09:51] Thank you so much. We're having a good time with it and every day we just get up and think, how do we make it fun and how do we make sure our customers are having fun and the rest generally takes care of itself.

Brewbound [09:59] That's what it's all about. Well, Mikael, Evan, thank you so much for being here with us. Congratulations on becoming a rising star, and like I said, we can't wait to see what's next.

Speaker 2 [10:08] Awesome. Thanks for having us.