Given they run a YouTube channel that’s all about reviewing and enjoying alcohol, making their own product seemed like an obvious bet for Max Stanley and Chad Roberts.
But when it came to convincing major alcohol companies to partner with them, it was a different story.
“YouTube as a media platform is still in its infancy,” said Stanley of Cold Ones, the channel the duo launched in 2018.
With 2.8 Million subscribers and an average of 1 million views per video, the Melbourne-based content creators knew they had a captive audience for their product.
“We had a perfect product fit, and an audience eager to purchase – but breweries just couldn’t see what we had to offer,” explained Stanley.
After a slew of meetings, which returned only unenthusiastic offers of collaborations, or merely a few free cases of beer, the team decided to pivot.
“No-one took us seriously. It was like we were speaking a different language when we brought up the potential of partnering with a YouTube channel. In the end, we realised that if we really wanted to do this right, we had to do it ourselves,” said Roberts.
So they did.
Teaming up with local fledgling alcohol startup 80 Proof, they got to work to create their new canned RTD, unambiguously named Grog.
“It was months of testing. We took it very seriously,” explained Roberts. “Being an alcohol-based channel, the pressure was high to ensure people knew we wanted to make something good, and not just an empty cash grab.”
Grog is a Chūhai, or shochu highball, modeled after beverages the pair encountered on a trip to Japan. Mixing Shochu, Vodka, and Soda, the drink appeals to a sweeter palate than the usual seltzer offerings. It’s low sugar, and launches in both grape and peach flavours, with lemon ice launching in early December.
Once the flavours had been engineered, the team offered their local fans the opportunity to try the drink before release, selling tickets to an exclusive tasting event in a warehouse in Prahran.
It sold out in 2 hours.
“The response was unprecedented, we felt vindicated, but we were also just stressed about whether our fans would actually like this thing,” Stanley laughed.
Thankfully, the event was a rousing success, with fans praising the drink, taking their empty cans home as souvenirs and demanding opportunities to purchase in the days that followed. The online sales launch came soon after.
“We didn’t know what to expect. People don’t buy alcohol online, they buy it from the store. But without the backing of a large company, going into stores at launch was out of the question – this was our best shot.”
“We were entirely self funded,” Roberts explained. “We’d each drained our bank accounts dry trying to get this thing off the ground, so we were definitely feeling the pressure on launch day. It was make or break. Or make or broke, I should say.”
In late August, the Cold Ones YouTube channel posted the launch video, with a link to purchase in their description… and the website crashed.
With 97,000 new users rushing to purchase the drink, the website couldn’t handle the pressure and crumbled.
“It was a nightmare. The night turned from a celebration into a warzone, we ended up coding a backup website on our laptops while admittedly a little tipsy off our own product.”
Eventually, their new barebones website went live and people were able to check out. The pair checked the sales numbers through their fingers.
They had done well. Very well.
Launching at 5pm, the drink sold out within 2 hours. By the time midnight ticked around, they had made half a million dollars.
“I’d never seen a number that big, that quickly before. We couldn’t believe it. We had to sit down, although that may have been the Grog.”
Armed with the figures from the impressive launch, the team got to work convincing stores to stock their product. Starting with the independents.
“Obviously, it would’ve been ideal to enter the big chains right off the bat, but being an independent team ourselves, it felt like a good fit for us to get our legs in the industry.”
The team were surprised to encounter a number of fans in the process.
“It was a great feeling, approaching stores to sell our product and hearing them say they love our videos. It made the independent path feel right to us, we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
In the first month of wholesale, purely through independent stores in Victoria, Grog generated $1.5 million in revenue.
“The numbers are great, but what we’re really excited about is that we never need to buy alcohol again. We made our own drink that catered exactly to our tastes. It’s honestly a dream come true, and that’s what it’s always been about.”
At the time of writing, Grog is available in 115 stores in Victoria and Western Australia – the pair’s childhood home state. Find Grog using the Store finder, on the (no longer crashed) Grog Website – Grog.Shop