From Kitchen Dreams to Spirits Success
Max Scott’s journey, from childhood kitchen aspirations to a key spirits role, highlights the power of adaptation. Realizing a Michelin star wasn’t his path, he shifted, finding success by connecting producers and mixologists.
Bridging Worlds, Building Connections
Max emphasizes understanding product stories and passions, fostering connections within the hospitality community. He sees producers as dedicated craftspeople, similar to the farmers and fishmongers of his past.
Key Industry Shifts
He observes a focus on health, work-life balance, and sustainability. Trends include low/no-ABV drinks, flavor exploration, culinary/mixology collaboration, and thoughtful event activations.
Advice: Niche, Curiosity, Responsibility
Max advises finding a niche, building flavor knowledge through tasting, and approaching alcohol with mindfulness. His passion stems from the industry’s dynamic nature and endless learning opportunities.
Transcript
Finding your path – from kitchen to wine to spirits to product manager
Auto-generated transcript; it may contain small transcription errors.
passion flavors and deep sense of community those are the threads that tie together the world of hospitality and spirits but what does it take to transition from a chef to product manager bringing the gap between creators and consumers all while keeping the spark alive joining us today it's Max Scott originally from Sweden but a proud Copenhagen resident for over 13 years with a background as a chef and a passion for Hospitality Max has transition into the spirits world and now thriving as a product manager at
FS his journey beginning in the kitchen but his curiosity and adaptability led him to explore New Paths first in the wine business and then in the spirits from training so many years to managing a diverse portfolio of Brands Max brings the unique insights into Trends shaping the industry and challenges it faces welcome Max thank you so much for accepting my invitation to this podcast and happy to have you here can you give us to the US and the listeners a super short introduction about yourself and
then we will going to cover what I discovered about you and all right uh so my name is Max Scott uh I'm origin from Sweden I've been living in Copenhagen for 13 years uh working with Spirits working for a company called Jewels uh and I've been working for them for 13 years uh and I'm the product manager of that company beside of that I'm living here on amama so in my mild island with my with my family uh two kids nice so you started your journey
as a as a chef in this indust industry not many people might know about it but you are coming from The Culinary industry culinary background how did you end up in the spirits word because there was a transition of couple of uh places in between it's it's it's a long it's a quite long story uh but everybody everything started with my my my aunt that met this uh Rock Chef in the 80s and they uh they wanted to build a restaurant uh so they bought like
an old can um fabric uh outside gothenberg and they open a restaurant and he was a chef and a musician so they was getting like a lot of like local music from around Scandinavia like quite in like this is like 80s mid 80s uh and um everybody went to this place and in the back they had a small ice cream shop cuz he was like very close to the beach and I I started working there where I was 5 years old because I got nothing else
to do so it's always like I starting working with ice cream to be honest that's that's just like and then there was a kitchen involved and okay so you started when you were literally five years old and then continue with this career did you always knew that you wanted to stay in the industry or it just happened I think like so I'm I'm born I'm born in a family with a lot of kids so and I was the oldest one so so I needed something to
do I guess and um I was not working really hard when I was 5 years old but but but I it was like it was connected to the kitchen so I remember since the very young age I was always looking into the kitchen and watching these Superstars you know the chefs for me was like Michael Jordan's mhm you know messy all you know they were like they were they were so cool everybody loves them they they knew how to do everything all the waitresses thought it
was the most sexist guys on the planets and they they talk like Superstars and they act like Superstars and I I just want to be a chef so I always that was almost my dream my entire like youth to be a chef MH so you started as a as a chef and then you transition slowly slow to the more of a management uh position and then as a brand manager to use how how is it that transition from you coming from the kitchen or culinary to
go into more of a corporate or whatever style of job I think I think I think Mo most like transition is in your life is is coming naturally or it should come naturally if it's and for me always been about to finding like know a spot where I can have some space mhm uh um you know and that that's again like from being a kid like what what can I do can I sell some ice cream okay what can I help the kitchen okay I'm going
to take care of the onions okay I'm going to be the onion kid for a summer or something like that or and then when you develop in your in your in your life like then you find a new spot maybe maybe also you can find like a that you are maybe not that good at something I figured out that I was maybe not the best chef uh I I was not the chef that I want to be so um so then I had to find another
way right you know I can see the end of the road like I could work in a like I've been working Michelin star restaurants but I couldn't be the Michelin Chef I didn't have it I didn't have what it take to be you know Renee reppi so then I felt like okay I'm not going to be like all my heroes like all my mentors so if I'm not going to be like them if I'm not going to be that guy who runs the 100 meters race
or whatever and win that gold medal maybe I should do something else and always trying to find another way so then I I found a way from the for the wine business uh and then from that I found into the spirit business and I don't know fact sometimes it's it's like small roads your life right and and then then then sometimes you have choose to take the right or the left and but I always been taking the ones like the turns when I felt like you
know I could I can give something here like it will my my work will matter and cuz I think that's like to feel good I love to work and always been working um and if you can spend so much time with your work it should be something that you feel that is fun right MH and how do you how do you know when is it enough like how do you know when you need to take that turn into into the life into the roads I don't
know I think I think life puts you on that road itself right uh for me been been a lot of different things but like I had a really troubled youth so so I I needed to go to Culinary Institute and and and get away from the area where I from so don't get stuck in stupid [ __ ] uh and um so that was like a very clear thing and and when I when I moved into Spirit or started working with Spirits um little bit more than 20
years ago um I just tried something that just was so fantastic so like I just need to work with this uh like the flavors um but I I I don't think there's any difference between what I'm doing today compared to what I did in the beginning like still about flavors it's still about you know curiosity uh and people Hospitality MH how how is it to be a brand manager cuz many many of us we referred as a brand manager to people but how does a day
of your life looks like when you are working as a brand manager with that many Brands as you you have in the portfolio like I don't I don't think like so like uh it's like this thing with titles people loves to pick people in different boxes and what is a Ty like I think my my my position is more as like a product manager so I'm I'm I'm um working with producers but I I I I love I work with the same kind of people that
you know they are producers making say whiskies or cognacs or mcals or whatever it be but they like a little bit like the same people when I work in the restaurant that came you know delivering the local like farmer would had come with his carrots or the guy who was delivering fish know they're just producing other of stuff or harvesting out of stuff so it's like it's about building relations uh and always be curious like never stop to be curious about what what you what what
who they are and what they're making and what what's going to happen and you know what to come but um of course it's different like it's not a physical job as it uh as it other things are is a lot of computers and uh looking at screens and look have like online meetings and stuff like that which is quite boring it's much nicer to to talk to people uh in real life but um but I I I feel I feel like it's a little bit the
same I think I don't see it's a big difference like some of course some like the guy who delivering like dirty carrots to your restaurant looks maybe different compared to you know the super fancy cognac bottle for 150,000 but they both farmers and and they the mentality is sometimes the same mhm so you are working a lot with the producers and then the way that I see you personally cuz we for our listeners we know each other from before I see you more like a bridge
between the whole Hospitality professionals bartenders chefs and uh so on and then the producers and you were that one Lynch pin that uh help us to communicate together and yes of course like but but again like it's it's just working with PE different people with a lot of passion like people that our passion of of the producing something uh to people that are passionate about hospitality and and and creating flavors So and I've been working with both before so I like I don't think there's a
I don't see that there's a bridge I just walking back and for you know it's more it's more about like I'm just I'm just passing by a message uh so it doesn't feel like it's uh it's it's it's building a bridge because you know you know each other already like if you if you work with flavors and understand flavors it's obvious like all these things are obvious like of course you understand this guy who makes Agave spirits and been waiting for plants to grow for 0
years and then you harvest it and all this process like if you understand and and and then the end product is good of course but if you understand that all that hard work and you've been doing all the hard work in in in a in a bar or a restaurant like it's it's all makes sense it's um it's all about passion I think that's that's like what dri all drives us we we had a very interesting conversation right uh before starting this uh recording about the
the old industry and the new industry how uh how it changed and how people started to perceive more the relationships and the products how it used to be you you brought the example with BCB can we elaborate a bit more on that one it changed a lot like like I think I think if you if you take took like a chef from when I started in in in in the mid like late 80s uh to to the Future like in a time machine they will they
will be shocked it's going to be like uh one of the science science fiction movies because like it was very very different and the trade was very very different before uh but to the good I think it's good I think good that people take care of themselves and because nowadays when you go to like a fair like BCB or people could go to Athens in November they're going to talk they're going to be talks about like your your well-being like how to take care of yourself
like how can I what can I do with my career and so on like when I started with working with with cocktail bars it was all about the product itself mhm and uh and people I was talking about health to be honest like when I was starting Hospitality nobody took care of themselves you know like I I never in beginning I never there were nobody training there were nobody not smoking or not drinking every day or not taking drugs every day like like that was like
it was it was a different different thing uh but I'm really happy I'm really happy that like everybody's not like [ __ ] up so it started to change in a good yeah of course and then and of right now it's the trend to talk about like careers and and and you know health and so on that will be obvious in a couple years and we will talk about something else I guess um but that's a trend and I think it's it's a good Trend that think people
think about this and people are you know if you go if you go to restaurants and bars nowadays like everybody's running and training and take care of from I think it's good nice so what uh what other Trends because you you've been in the industry for long what other Trends have you seen through through the past years that's one uh thing that I was always curious about like what major Trends right now let's say we have this uh life style this career Focus what other Trends
were in the were in the past in the past oh all all like lot of strange uh trends that comes in and out uh uh it was all this like oldfashioned Trend and and heavy boost Trend that was quite interesting when people got very intoxicated very very fast like all the industry events are very very short um um but Trends comes and go and I think there's there's some Global trends that we like to chat about but they will never happen here Denmark is a very
small market and and and uh we like to to to jump on all new things that happening but to be honest like our Market is not big enough for it but definitely like the low no Trend have been big and uh will becoming bigger I guess I think uh it's just beginning of of for if we talk about bartending it's definitely going to be the beginning of the low no ABV drinks I think that will continue nice um and we can talk about flavors maybe instead
of talking about alcohol this this this uh you know like I'm working with alcohol I'm working with ethanol which is a poison like we everybody knows and but maybe we shouldn't talk about the abvs maybe we should talk about the flavors and and um and how it's made instead of of looking to if it's 14 or eight or nine or zero like do it taste good do you like it do you appreciate it I think that's more important than it's cost strength or super boost or
not do you see any changes into the bartender mentality when it comes to to Flavors you're doing a lot of master classes we bringing a lot of producers that are talking about this do you see a a difference into into questions that the bartenders put when they have a master class towards this flavor uh I think I def I definitely think like for us for us in Denmark it've been helping out a lot with the with Gastronomy Trends with with uh with the all this top
restaurants what they've been doing um but I still think there's a lot of sometimes it feels like our the the whole like drinks industry is going in a fantastic Direction but then you go back and and look at what what's like the the bottom line is because we can always talk that we have fre Michelin restaurants that making fantastic food and we can have some super good bars that we want to go to and we have top 50 or 100 or whatever top whatever you you
like to put them in uh but they live their their life on their own but if you look into like the general consumption I was passing by a barious like before coming in here and like that's the same stuff that was on the Shelf 20 years ago nothing enough nothing really happens there so I think I think the drink industry have lot lot of lot of things to work work with like the the the mega top premium industry is definitely like there are they're up in
the sky uh together with the Stars and and and creating a lot of really inting things but I think for like normal consumers or like people that not is not in the industry or don't have like a or super nerdy about it they still have a lot of possibilities to try different things and I think like the battle is not for me for my say like like I I I would love to see bars uh if they're in a restaurant or just bars itself to be
as uh to work with flavors in the same way as the kitchen that that that will that will be when that's going to happen I'm I think I I can I can retire and I can go to bed um cuz that that that's that's the that that will be the like the final thing when when uh when you don't talk about brands or you're not talking about deals or money you're talking about about flavors itself and um yeah and then that doesn't matter what kind of
product is it's more about is it good or not yeah we we had a chef the other day in here and he he said that uh more and more he can see that the Gastronomy and um Mixology started to merge together at least in Denmark for us in the nordics and here how do you see it from your own perspective from your own position do you see it happening more and more or is just that one particular case no but I I do I do think
there's like all the all the the really good parts that we we we know and we talk about and and and there's a lot of them uh but I I still think you know um so so I'm not working professionally as a chef anymore but I like I'm I'm I was very proud to be a chef when I was a chef and I would never have a product in my kitchen that I got paid for or was uh was put in a like in in a
deal with you know the restaurant whatever that would never happen sometimes we will do a collaboration with somebody you know a famous I don't know cavia producer or something like this maybe that we can do an event around that but we would never put anything on menu because of of money or you know because that thing was known um maybe you will tell that you know this vegetables or this fish or this meat is from this area or we working with this Farm MH but that
farm would never pay money to the restaurant to to to be to be a part of the menu and the case of of of bars there was very interesting article and in um that came out uh a couple of days ago about brick Brands uh and how they work with with uh with Co top 50 cocktail bars MH and I feel I don't I don't I don't think a good cocktail bar should have same things that you can find in gas station that's that's my really
my my belief I know and I don't say that the stuff in gas station are bad but as a consumer you can't like it's impossible to to pay something that you can get in a supermarket like you it can't be in the same same same place so uh I I still think there's a lot of work to do there and and and to bring more interesting products um but the spirit industry is very is big money it's big business and that's what it is MHM how
uh how open are the the bartenders we are not talking about the owners bar owners or or how open are the new generations of bartenders to try new stuff like to try smaller local they're extremely open I think they they're extremely open and super geeky and uh I met I met some young bartenders this Sunday and then you know they were all they had questions about everything like they what what but what is this like okay but what like but we moove what like what what
do you put in this why do it taste like this like there was question about everything so they they're super curious uh do you see new more new bartenders coming to the to the industry after the co post definitely like it's it like it wasn't that bad in Denmark that that it was in other markets um we also have to remember that Denmark is a very very rich country uh so we had bars that like almost all the bars survived for the first restaurant survived and
there was money there was still Investments and of course it was hard time like lot lot of bar the bar owners that that I work with and and and know and and visit they're my best friends uh that's the people that I hang out with and you know they come and have Grill and Barbecue in my my my home and we hang out with our kids and so on um so of course they had a hard time but compared to other countries no and and and
um I think the lifestyle in Denmark is very very high compared to a lot of other places so you can make a decent salary you don't have to work seven days a week and if you can find a good place to stay it's a it's a good place to to live like I live I live in around the world and when you're young it's not that easy and you stay in a flat with 15 other blocks and you work 15 hours a day seven days a
week and you don't make any money that that that's normally like the reality of working in the hospitality I don't people doesn't work in Hospitality to be rich you know it's the passion again like that's that's that's what drives us and that's why we're in in all this uh was it any moment when you said okay I had enough of this Hospitality I want to change the the industry to to to drop to drop to work with hospitality for to drop Hospitality completely and then go
to another industry and what was the thought which industry do you believe you could fit in I don't like I don't know like like I like I always love the hospitality industry uh but uh I think it's just about to to find something else that you get in fall in love with like but they have to be done something that is is driven by Passion otherwise I wouldn't do it MH but um I don't know what that would be and but like if I need to
change I will change like I'm a worker and I I'm a Survivor so like if it's uh I don't have any uh like in needs of like U but I don't know what what the industry I could be farming maybe like Farming Farming is like yeah work working with like yeah that would be cool so still somehow using the the old knowledge that you had in the hospitality and I think it it's probably always going to be a link and I don't uh I don't think
I can be like working with something that completely different uh I think after a while you also figure out what's what drives you and and and what what what could be interesting but I'm probably going to work with something that is linked to hospitality or production or flavors or so on yeah yeah cuz I mean your your background and your everything that you do for the industry is quite uh quite impressive you also been part of the bartender Choice Awards multiple times and you've been nominated
and won multiple years in a row how do you see the community growing and how do you see the community working together compared to other countries I think like I went when when I when I started here like 13 years ago uh I used to work for the monopol system in Sweden I was a purchaser uh also taking care of some bigger stores in Sweden uh and I got fed up I went to the place where I used to buy my my whiskies from my collection
which was ules uh which I work for now and uh I found a lot of bottles that I didn't know what to do with them mhm lot of like say lures or a gather spirit and things that you don't sip maybe directly or like I came from the at that time more like the whiskey world uh and I had some friends that just moved from from from London from bars over there and they were a little bit like the first movers um together with Ken and
Peter and and but and then there was this like bunch of guys from from uh mainly from Sweden but also from from Spain and so on and uh and they and they came over and I was testing the stuff that I didn't understood in that we had in the store was his de like well like what do you do with this I drink it it's very sweet I don't like the sweetness should I make a dessert with it no you can make this drink oh cool
so like so um and then easily like understood it was like it was uh it was a community MH but the community world was there because with experts know even I'm not that far away from here I was still an exper I was not didn't have family or friends or all that kind so you you build a community and I think that like family community is still is still there after like it's been there for 15 years now right so I still think there's like quite
unique family industry in Copenhagen but it's based on on on on the experts mhm and again like what do you do when you don't have any any friends or any uh girlfriends or Partners or family and things that you have to spend time with and you don't want to just hang out in the bar or restaurant that you work all the time maybe you want to see what's outside you know that space um and that always been very helpful and like we had the Copenhagen Cocktail
Club I was very happy to be to be a part of and and you know maybe we getting a little bit too old to be super active but we were like extremely active like 10 years ago and now it's just still there as like a small community and um know like during the during the pandemic we were we were very political we do demonstrations and stuff and stuff it was like there is is still love for this you know the the the this lifestyle and I
see like people that comes back coming into Copenhagen now they get involved and and like it's it's not the same groups that I hang up because like I'm 20 30 years that's 20 years too old maybe but but but uh but uh um it's it's uh it's still like it's still a community and I think I I still hope that that people that are coming to Copenhagen feels like yes you know I can come here and I can I can get a career and get a
life if I want to stay here or not in the future uh that's up to them but like but you they can feel like that there is a there is a kind of family thing going on and and and there's like an openness and you can go to different events or tastings or what whatever and it's open for everyone it's like a free source and and after after a while you figure out okay I like to hang out with them and then you find new best
friends and then you maybe move back to you from or to to new destination but you're still going to have those those connections uh so I really hope that you know many years from now when we can we can look back and you know we can meet all these people that been involved in in in the trade no absolutely cuz for instance the the community it's one thing that uh drove my passion as well as soon as I came to Copenhagen I came from Romania to
here and as soon as I started coming to the events that were posted in the group in the community it was much easier from an outside their perspective and it was much easier to enter in the whole industry the community basically not the industry and then meet great people like uh you which actually I have to thank you for that because you were one of the ones organizing and among the others but it uh it just drove my passion as well more and more and more
to create and develop within the industry and then um what would you say would be other ways to apart from the CCC Group that uh we have what would you say from your experience would be another great way of entering into a new industry let's take Copenhagen out of the equation when you are going to a new country how how would you say going in I think it depend depending where where you're in your life but as uh but if we take it from the perspective
like that you're you're you're young and you're coming to a country and and you don't know anyone and and uh and maybe say another language even though you can speak English uh but there's still another language involved and and like I've been in that situation myself when I when I was like a teenager and you going somewhere alone and know it's a it's a scary situation right so like I always been thinking about you know when I meet new people like when I met you the
first time like it's very like it's very important to welcome people so you can feel like maybe maybe it's not that bad you know maybe people are nice here uh but I I guess I guess it but you have to be curious and to to find you know maybe you're your safe spots you know like if if if you're working in the hospitality industry and I don't know Barcelona maybe go to some other like things that have is about the hospitality industry and I learn from
there otherwise like then you have to go go through your hobbies like what what do you like to do in your spare time is that like uh some sport activities or whatever and and and try to to get that way to to to get into some kind of community because it's always tricky and and and the worst thing that can happen is that when you don't feel like it's working and you don't feel that you belong somewhere and then you don't you don't want to be
there right so so it's I think it's it's very important when you get get somewhere and like if you want to be there and work and have a good life you need to find that connection with with u with the place you were staying M how uh how important do you see this major events as well like BCB aens bar show for the career in a young bartender let's say like that how important are they in the beginning or in the middle of the career it
depend it depends what like yeah how how ambitious you are I guess cuz like most people that went to BCB me included just went there and get [ __ ] up for a couple days and was consuming too much alcohol and had good fun um and I don't think that maybe going to give you that much to be honest uh but they're they're like today they're super ambitious people and and and they if they have an agenda with the with the trip it could be could give a
lot and like everybody's there so so if you play your cards well maybe you can end up some somewhere good mhm um but like from my point of view it's always like you have to find your your your your link in so so what what what can I do well I'm not very good at this or that but maybe I can do this maybe there's a reason for me to get in there and and find my spot um so yeah but it's like it became very
very big mhm I I have one more question which is a followup of the what you said uh going to these kind of events and drinking uh too much if you want to answer to this because it's a sensible topic within our industry the alcohol consumption how do you stay away not you personal Max but how do you end up when you are a bartender when you are a chef when you are a waiter not going to that Pitfall cuz you have the the alcohol available
widely available for you it's a little bit of taboo I guess talking about like U but I think as as my my perspective is like there's drugs and alcohol is a drug ethanol is a poison so like we have to clear that out first like before like we we and that this this is my passion in life this is something that I I I love highly and and spend my most money on uh I've been doing so for for way too long um but I need
to be aware of of of the of the danger of the situation uh and um I I remember I was taking care of this I had like this uh romantic uh idea many years ago I was taken care of um I was moving back to the areas where I'm from uh in Sweden and say like it's was like a there was a lot of social problems there and and and and there was building this Monopoly store uh which in the area that had most social problems
in in in Sweden at that time and I thought it was like I'm going to go there and like I'm going to talk about wines to the people to the working class or like people that was living on the edge and of course they didn't care about talking about wine uh and when you have when you have a place where all the consumption like a monopoly is where you have all the people in the local have to go there then you really see how big uh
the problem actually can be with alcohol and uh every morning when you open your store at 9: and you have like hundreds of people like dragging in and then they're like zombies and just getting that bottle they have to shake and uh and you can see what alcohol really is cuz it it is a very very powerful drug there's very few other drugs that is legal that's as as powerful as as as ethanol so I always been like been very like and and and if you
look into my consumption throughout my year I've been drinking way too much compared to normal people I'm very aware of that but it's also why you're drinking uh when do you drink and and you need to you need to understand like yeah and and had respect for this it's like cutting with a knife you know mhm like you cut properly you don't cut your [ __ ] hands off and then then that's the same thing like like you have to be you have to be careful about about
alcohol you can't you can't drink all the time because it's it's it will not be good for you so um but I I know it's it's been me like like a taboo because talking about and then that can you tell people that they drinking too much but you know alcoholism is like it's like it's it's it's a sickness and and people you get it when you drink too much yep and also I believe actually there is also a controversial situation about non-alcoholics which maybe you might
have a lot more insights than I do because most of the people associate the non-alcoholics with uh healthy which not all the time is the case oh isn't that like the same the same the problem that we like humanity is like doing all the time that we're making things a little bit too much too complicated that is like you have to and I like I really I really like the idea that you include people in in a in a social Gathering so if we're going to
go to the bar that is we just passed by before and and and I want to have a non-alcoholic drink and you want to have a drink with alcohol U maybe it's nice that I get the present a drink that is well made as well and looks nice and and I feel like I'm I'm we can enjoy the time together even though that I'm I'm taking decision to not drink alcohol uh not to get a Diet Coke or you know a mango juice with some uh
some Grenadian on top and and look like an idiot uh but a lot of like non-alcoholic products that are made today are not made very SU sustainability like there's no sustainability there's no reason why they are made that way um but you can create non-alcoholic Alternatives yep very easily no absolutely like you can go down pick up some apples and press them and you're going to get a beverage that is probably the much better than 99.9 of all the alcoholic beverages in the world cuz apples
taste very very good in the season so so so I I think sometimes we making a little bit like we're making it too complicated that people that like take the decision to not eat meat well then you can eat vegetables they taste really really good you don't have to create something that is not natural and and I think that the non-alcoholic industry is getting that way like adding too much processes and and and and so on um no alcohol at is itself is very good to
to carry flavors but it doesn't need to be that all the time you know you know you don't have to you have to create the flavor with alcohol and then take away the alcohol set the flavor yeah that doesn't make any sense at all but you can create flavors without alcohol uh and um I think that that's something that should be it should be on every cocktail menu nowadays and they most are they are um and it's going to be the same thing as you go
to a restaurant and you ask for a dish with without meat cuz some people choose to not eat meat and Y and I'm fine with that and I'm fine with people not drinking alcohol no completely completely agree on your side when you say sometimes we are over complicated or sometimes but it was more like okay not all of the non-alcoholics are healthy that was uh my my belief cuz I met some people that most of them they say okay if we are drinking non-alcoholic we are
more healthy or more sustainable and as you touch based and said okay not all of them are made in a sustainable way no not all of the non-alcoholic uh beverages are healthy technically so it's I believe it will go a bit more into the same same way of the of the alcohol where you have good products and you have products that are not meeting the same criteria the same uh requirements but like as as as soon as the consumer doesn't question MH what what they're consuming
they will buy it and if it's easier to to buy a non-alcoholic beverage with uh a lot of stupid additives that you don't need that is not good for your body uh but there's no alcohol you know it's I think Al alcohol is again it's it's it's is a poison but you don't die die of drinking alcohol directly like it's not it's not ter poison for you and and uh and um you don't have to always had extremely high alcohol in in a drink so I
think I think I think it's more about like the consumer you know questioning what they're actually consuming um because as you said it's it is a lot of really bad products out there in this because they know it's a Markus it's a margin people can make money otherwise they wouldn't exist right yep how um oh [ __ ] the question and my brain just shut it down how do you choose brands that would be a co question you can pick another question ah damn it damn it how
um okay I'll let you finish drinking how do you choose Brands when you you are trying to expand your portfolio within the company or how do you find them uh you find them through like different kind of connections uh things that pops up [Music] um I had like in in a short while I really had this idea to like you know we pick things that we think is good commercialized cuz like that's what that we do we like like even though that you can think that
you're some kind of you do something better than you're actually doing I'm I'm I'm doing Logistics like I'm buying a product and sell it to somebody and then and then so maybe that that that that is what I'm actually doing um and for a while I had this idea to like finding stuff that is more um you know what can work for the market like what what what can we make profit out of or like what we believe it's going to be a cool and hype
thing a lot of those Brands doesn't exist today and uh and I think I pick stuff today being a little bit more wise I guess uh I pick things with with with my what I think tastes good most important and secondary is it's like the people behind it and those two things are very very easy you try it you try something if it's good or bad you do you like this is interesting and then you meet the people behind it and if the liquid is good
but the people are bad it's not going to work and then like the third thing is like okay is this a if there's a market for this if I buy it will anybody buy it from me I guess so uh I had a discussion today and and and with with the brand and I really like the product I love the guy behind it and and uh do I believe I can sell it maybe but let's make let's let's do it try because the liquid is so
good and the Gap behind this is is great and uh so let then let's see uh so sometimes it's not maybe the most like business minded wisest decision but I I rather follow my my my heart and my my my taste parts than you know the Excel sheet and see how big my margin can do and how big is uh is uh growing on different markets um because all all that data we can we can figure out to put in the presentation and and and you
can sell all products like that but I I I do feel like like if it's uh if it doesn't if it doesn't take taste great and if it's not like good people behind it you're not able to like like I can can't convince you to to buy it yep how uh how can you train your taste buds as well cuz that's a that's a question that probably some of the Benders will say okay I'm still going to Tas things but I don't I don't believe my
my pallet trained enough compared to your palet how uh how would you say it going to be a good way training training training training like like I wouldn't say my my taste parts now is not that great to be honest uh I've been sick for a while but but but it's not because of that but I haven't been tasting that much but when you when you taste all the time and also like I've been I've been training a lot of the saliers that are doing Danish
uh Danish European Nordic and and world championship and and and um and um been been been honored to work with some of the ones that been winning best s in the world uh and and the top positions uh the last last 10 years so we had we made like a training uh training program for Spirits so that's one one part of what they what they're going to taste this is are extremely professionals that are tasting all the time uh and it's about about like you building
up a flavor library and a lot of things in your library you remember it's like books that you read 10 years ago maybe you read a remember a book but like oh how how did it end actually and you maybe have to go back and read that book uh so it's it's all about like building a library and and and um and figure out things and then you then you maybe go deeper into blind tastings and blind tastings is to find you know something that you
can recognize and then you take the the left turn and then you when when you're in the left turn you have to choose again and then after a while you can figure out where where you are it's like um but but it's all about training like that like that's as soon as you stop train and taste then then it goes back again and then but I I think it's like it's a little bit like learning how to bike you first time like and then you can
be like a lousy biker but but you can still know you can still uh transport yourself and um are there any programs in in here you said you we are working with some leaders are there programs that bartenders and chefs can can access active programs like I think I took I took my education like like in in 2002 uh so a while ago uh it was different than what was now um but I think from my point of view working with different in businesses uh working
with with chefs and saliers and and bartenders and and and people that work in the drinks industry I I still think VCT is the the ones that is like because it's used worldwide and with all respect with different somar like uh trainings you can do and wine programs when but when you travel abroad you need something that people can recognize and if I if I had an education that I'm sar from Copenhagen by you know the Amar uh Society like somebody in Berlin will like what
the [ __ ] is this like that but when you get the VCT you get something and and it's like a platform and if it's the best I don't know um but uh I think it's important with education and have something especially for a lot of people in the hospitality bu that doesn't have an education maybe they just went directly to hospitality and been working super hard and they know so much but it doesn't have it on paper and to have it on paper when you have to
do if you want to change to to do something else to have an education and say well I haven't just been working in the kitchen for 15 years I also did an education in in this or that and then then then you can then that can also help you to find other things to do in life if you want to become an uh import do you need to have a course do you need to have a w course no no no okay it's more like a
curiosity because I found some articles on the internet that says some of them say you need it some of them you don't so you don't know exactly which one is true which one is uh not like in Denmark you don't you don't have to do anything you have to pay your taxes that's the thing here and they also make like abundant Warehouse rules much much easier so you can you can um it's it's very it's quite easy to be an import now noway uh so it's
uh it's it's not like but I guess it's like it's um you need to have some uh you have need some have some money so you have to so you can you can buy it and store it um but and then you have to pay your taxes that that that that's that's the main thing like in in in Denmark is so super liberal um and if you don't pay your taxes then you're [ __ ] I guess uh cuz that then you can close down your business but
um um but it's it's very very easy so if you if we want to open a import company tomorrow we can do so like uh it's easier to open import company than a restaurant okay good to hear like Al alcohol is very very like very black and white it's just it's just the alcohol tax itself that needs to be paid mhm and and uh the rules for what's information that is in the ball strangely enough it's not that hard when it comes to alcohol beverages so
um will be much much it's much harder to import soda Waters or cheeses or hams or whatever products you need for to cons uh for normal consumption mhm so um yeah great you can start tomorrow yeah we do wine business you you mentioned about uh flavors and uh we discussed a bit about the training the palette what kind of new flavors do you see coming in or what kind of the new hidden flavors you see more appealing for the customers I think like the the the
like if you take take the time machine back a couple of centuries it was it was very clear that there was some like flavors that were like uh right now it's only passion or blah blah I think there there's there those Trends are are are coming as well like we we had like the El flow trend for a couple of years and then we have like some other Trends we have like a strong lemon Trend like the the current years and um but I feel I
feel with with that there's a lot of flavors and I think there's a lot of um um there there's more like possibilities in in FL in flavors um I think there's there's a lot of like leaves um that been very interesting to like figs or pandang and stuff like that that um I think that that will come now uh strongly uh could see that like when we were in BCB last week um I think lures in general that that's uh that I think there's more and
more uh um more and more producers that start working more with licors uh not because it it's super easy so because not always super easy but uh but lur is is as modifiers I think modifiers as as as it it's is is growing uh especially in like top Parts um I was actually curious cuz uh I've seen a lot of obviously the spirits are made out of grains yeah why there is not so much focuses all on the lures made out of grades CU I haven't
seen them personally you might have a lot more insights into it but do you see any any way of going making a lure out of a weat we lure is it too strange is it but normally how how how The Lure business works is that you have NS natural grain grain Spirit it can come from whatever grain doesn't matter because it's natural so it's it's it's a it's a vodka uh and you in in in the when when you steep it with the flavor compound if
that's a berry or or or whatever Botanical uh and then added sugar that's normally how the the The Lure business is and that's why it's it's quite easy cuz you don't need to produce your own Spirits you don't have to produce whatever you flavor you want to get it or and you don't have to produce your sugar you can just buy all free ingredients and put it all together um but I think there's there's coming like a new wave of more more interesting uh lures uh
from all around the world um from Denmark as well we can use as modifiers into cocktails and create a lot of really interesting things but as as your question was using a different kind of Base Spirit yes of course you can do that but then you're also going to change like the the the structure and and the flavors of the The Lure mhm and if you want it to taste only melon if you're using um very flavorful Bas Spirits then it's going to be be not
that much melon is going to be the Bas spirit and then maybe it's it's not what you're looking for and natural grain spirit is also very very cheap yeah it's it is so true how uh let's say maybe going a bit back to to the community how how important do you see those brand activations is if a new brand wants to enter into a market or it's already in that market but wants to create a bit more hype around the community how important do you see
this ones from a brand perspective it can be good um but it's also like also depends on what what what kind of product it is and when you're releasing it and and um because if I'm sometimes I want to like I'm take take I'm taking a step back and look like what if I was the bartender get that get invited to my event I like would I would I think this was interesting do you just come and try this new Fantastic brand that I never heard
about uh and maybe you can you can buy them lunch or or dinner and you can give them free free drinks but sometime I think it's very very important for to for for a brand that want to do all this kind of activation if they think it's relevant or not MH because like to convince you like a new a new consumer to be interested in your products well there are so many products and and and uh um so you really have to be unique you need
to have to stand out and do something and of course if you're making a product and you are a brand you'd already think that you are unique otherwise you wouldn't do it but but I still think it's very very it's very very hard and I see all this events and like some some events we've been doing ourself that is doesn't make any sense at all because next day is going to be another one and then it's going to be another one and this industry people they
can't go to every event they they you know that's a full-time job to go to all the T all the ttings and all the events and all the takeovers and so on see it's impossible we have everybody have a job on the side and maybe like a personal life as well um so I think I think uh especially nowadays like we used to do so many events couple years ago and we're doing less now and the reason is that mainly is that we think it's it
became tooo much and um it's really important that you know everybody invest money in this like brand will maybe fly over to Copenhagen they will spend here a couple of days they will stay at the hotel they will eat out they will have all the transportation they will pay for all the activations and and and and in the end will that will they get their investment back most of them wouldn't hopefully most will have like investors and and maybe big groups behind them that they can
do so but otherwise it's very it's very costul uh thing to do um but if but on the other one like if they don't do it maybe they're never going to enter the market so it's like a double edge sword I think it's but uh I think like small producers they should think twice maybe and and and uh if they think that investment is uh is worth it so it's more well because people are overflooded with uh such an events can be a negative way well
to be to Hon that the the the the market is overflowed by with Brands MH uh and and all the brands can't be a part of the the cocktail program or or um or be on the back shelf or be in the menu it's impossible so uh and and everybody's fighting on the same small cake and and be to be one of those like the the piece of the cake and um that will that will never happen so [Music] um so I think I think it's
it's uh and and we meet all these people that have new brands and new ideas all the time and now they creating this now they creating that but it's it's a tough it's a tough market and uh and um of course if like if there could be time and possibility to to to get get get a position for them but not always can everybody can can be a part of of you know the rail Spirit or the back bar or the the bartender's favorite drink when
you when you come to the bar and we're going to drink this together like to be there is is is a very very long road yeah absolutely I have uh two more questions the way that we we like to do it in here it's one question it's super similar to the previous uh guests and one question is tayor made for you which one do you want me to start with uh I'd rather take the one that is made for all the all the GU the one
that is made for all of the guest it's what keeps you motivating staying in the hospitality industry you said industry so no but I think I think is you know is the flavors and the passion you know every day is like is different and again it's the same like it it was the same thing and when I like was starting working full-time when I was 16 it's like wake up in the morning I didn't know what's going to happen but I knew I'm going to meet
with some fantastic people um with the guests to the restaurants and with my colleagues and we will share flavors and and and passion and it's the same thing now like I wake up every like every day like this is going to be great cuz I'm going to I'm going to meet someone I'm going to talk to someone I will like uh I will eat or drink something that is is is outstanding or or interesting and you will learn that's also like a thing like like always
there's always things to learn and that's that's I think with the drink industry it's it never ends like there's you can always take a new turn you can find you know a whiskey bottle that you've been drinking your entire life but then you didn't know the the real history behind it or or other things like if you have interests and everything from history to politics to production there's there's always something behind every products or every every plate or drink that comes out like it's endless so
[Music] uh I think that that that thing get motivated there's no end there's no end of the book the book just continues with with more passion and like more flavors and and more meetings and and uh and then the book will end and that that would be great yeah and uh the one tailor made for you is it if you would have to give back an advice to somebody who is in the very beginning of the career or maybe trying to to come to to the
hospitality career based on your experience and since you started at 9 years old what would be that one advice would you like to give them find a weak link find a weak link we take the find a weak link and take it you know find your spot like involve your spot somebody is maybe not that good at something it could be you know like if you're if you're finding that you have better balance other ones like then run with the tray you better to talk with
people as than talk with people like if you're faster than somebody else like just find find a spot where you're good and be good at it and I feel like you you know you get the you get feel like you're motiv motivated and can be better but always find a weak link where you know you you can see where you you can find your spot like that's always been working for me and uh because then you need it then people need you like otherwise if you
if like everybody else you're not really needed you don't they don't need to hire you but if you can find something that you're good at uh and you can learn more about and and start take that one and then find the next one and and climb up absolutely that's a that's a great way of ending uh ending our conversation and as well as we do with everybody I would I just want to let you know that we would like to do this one one more time
perhaps in couple of months one year who knows where we can touch base with uh you and change your mind see if we change mind and then come up with even more stories and advices for people so thank you so much Max thank you and looking forward for the next time thank you cheers cheers thank you for joining us for this episode of barox the podcast this episode was produced by Mi Paul and I Manuel Li with thanks to Min Media Company please find us on
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