In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with Shannon Urban-Denise, Founder & CEO of ROAM THC Beverages, for a raw, unfiltered conversation about sobriety, anxiety, entrepreneurship, and the future of hemp-derived beverages.

Shannon shares her journey from corporate healthcare and “mom wine” culture to rehab, five years of sobriety and eventually discovering hemp-derived THC beverages as a different path forward. What started as personal survival turned into ROAM - a craft-brewed, small-batch THC beverage brand focused on real ingredients, social responsibility, and reasonable regulation.

This episode goes beyond product talk. It dives into:

• Alcohol culture and recovery
• Anxiety and presence vs. escape
• Building a THC beverage brand from scratch
• Distribution challenges in Pennsylvania & New Jersey
• The fight for hemp beverage legislation
• Why social responsibility matters in emerging categories

No scripts. No talking points. Just two Drexel grads who accidentally discovered they overlapped in college - now building in a category reshaping the adult beverage industry.

If you’re a founder, operator, distributor, policymaker, or someone questioning your relationship with alcohol - this conversation is for you.

Learn more about Roam: ROAMDrink.com

Subscribe for more founder-level conversations in alcohol, functional, and hemp beverages.

The episode is brought to you by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Support the show

Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with Brandon and Dylan, co-founders of Goodmellow, to break down what it actually takes to build a hemp-derived THC beverage company in today’s fragmented regulatory and distribution environment.

This is not a conversation about chasing trends. It is a grounded discussion on operational reality, disciplined growth, retailer relationships, and why the next phase of the hemp beverage category will be decided by execution, not excitement.

Brandon and Dylan share how they approached formulation, positioning, and route-to-market with a long-term lens, why brand credibility is earned at the store level, and how founders must think differently when building in a federally undefined but rapidly commercializing space.

We discuss:

- Why THC beverages must behave like a real beverage business, not a novelty product
- The importance of retailer trust and repeat purchase behavior
- Building a brand without relying on inflated category narratives
- Distribution sequencing and market-by-market discipline
- Regulatory uncertainty and what operators should be doing right now to prepare
- How Goodmellow is navigating growth while protecting brand integrity

The hemp beverage sector is entering a phase where fundamentals matter more than headlines. The founders who understand supply chain, velocity, and accountability will shape what this category becomes.

If you are a beverage operator, distributor, retailer, or investor trying to understand where this space is going, this is a conversation worth paying attention to.

Subscribe for more founder-level conversations with the people actually building the modern beverage landscape across alcohol, functional, and hemp-derived categories.

Support the show

Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with Chris Fontes, Founder & CEO of High Spirits, for an unfiltered conversation about what it really takes to build a hemp-derived THC beverage company in today’s uncertain regulatory landscape.

Chris shares how High Spirits bootstrapped its way to profitability, why staying lean beats chasing venture capital in this category, and what operators must do right now to protect the future of the industry.

This is not a marketing conversation. It is a founder-level discussion about grit, advocacy, distribution realities, and the short window the hemp beverage sector has to legitimize itself through responsible regulation and industry alignment.

Topics Covered:

- Why THC beverages are reshaping adult beverage consumption
- Bootstrapping vs. raising capital in emerging categories
- Retail-first strategy and scaling without heavy overhead
- The fight for clear legislation and why operators must engage now
- Trade associations, certification, and self-regulation as survival tools
- Lessons from alcohol industry evolution applied to hemp beverages
- Parenting, stigma, and normalization of cannabis in modern culture
- What separates brands that will survive from those that will disappear

Chris also discusses his leadership roles across major hemp and cannabis trade organizations and explains why certification, compliance, and collaboration are essential to the industry's credibility.

If you are a beverage founder, distributor, regulator, or investor watching the convergence of alcohol alternatives and cannabis normalization, this episode delivers real-world insight from operators doing the work on the ground.

Learn more about Chris & High Spirits: DrinkHighSpirits.com
Learn more about U.S. Hemp Authority: https://www.ushempauthority.org
Learn more Nate & The FreeMind Group: FMGStrategy.com

Subscribe for more conversations with founders building the future of adult beverages.

Support the show

Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com