Building Palm Folly: How Meaghan Easterhouse Went All-In on a Craft Seltzer Brand

Palm Folly Founder Meaghan Easterhouse on Building a Craft Hard Seltzer Brand on Florida’s Emerald Coast | Panhandle Pulse Podcast

Podcast Description:
In this episode of Panhandle Pulse, Chuck sits down with Meaghan Easterhouse, founder of Palm Folly, a fast-growing craft hard seltzer brand born on Florida’s Emerald Coast. Meaghan shares her unconventional journey from military upbringing and global travels to nursing, nonprofit work, and ultimately launching her own beverage company.

Hear how she went all-in on entrepreneurship—despite having zero brewing experience—to create a unique, fruit-forward, draft-ready hard seltzer designed to elevate the category. Meaghan opens up about the real challenges behind building a brand: closing her brick-and-mortar taproom, navigating distribution, finding the right production partners, and learning tough lessons along the way.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a local business owner, or just curious about the craft beverage industry, this episode is packed with honest insights and practical advice.

Follow Palm Folly on Instagram and stay tuned for new flavor releases as the brand continues to expand across Florida and beyond.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Pain Handle Pulse, the show that dives into real challenges and honest conversations shaping the Florida pain handle. I'm your host, Chuck Asbury. Each week we sit down with the people who make our community strong, sharing real issues, real conversations, and no filters. Welcome back to Panhandle Police. I got a great guest today and Megan Easterhouse. She is the founder of Palm Folly here on the Panhandle and the Emerald Coast. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Yeah. So for our listeners in the area, where did uh you grow up and uh how did you find uh the Emerald Coast?

SPEAKER_02 0:45

So it's not a straightforward story.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Okay. As it is for anyone.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Yeah. My dad was military and joined to see the world. Like that is why he joined the military. And so we moved all over. I've lived all over the United States, Germany, Italy, went to high school in South Korea. Um, and then I went to college in Texas at Baylor University, and then met my husband and we just kept traveling from there. We lived in Colorado and Northern California, and then and then landed here about five years ago. So found the Emerald Coast just really from my Texas roots that um I now claim as home. I lived there 13 years and um we were vacation out here and just fell in love and always kind of dreamed of living here.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

So your favorite place before of all the spots was Texas?

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Yeah, I I mean really I just lived there the longest. So went for college, stayed, met my husband, had my first two children there. And you know, that's just such a formative time that it's kind of why it feels home. And then now we just still go back. My second oldest son is going to Baylor also next year. And so all our roots kind of feel there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

So growing up uh all over the place, what did you do before you started Palm Folly?

SPEAKER_02 2:05

So my degree is in nursing. So I was an RN. I only worked for maybe four years. I hated studying nursing. I was actually a biology major. I don't know why, you know, definitely not wired for that. Never liked a single day that I worked as an RN. Then started having kids. So I have four and stay at home with them. And then my husband works for a nonprofit organization. And at that time, you had to join as a married couple. So I was actually on staff with that organization for 13 years.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Part-time. Um, and it's a college athletic nonprofit. So we're on college campuses, Colorado State and Stanford. Nice. And worked in their athletic departments. Nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah. So doing uh both my sisters are our are our nurses. One uh works in the maternity department, my other works at the surgical center.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

So some people love it.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah, yeah. My family was, my mom was, but this it's not for everyone. I really hated it. Especially the different shifts and you could deal with different types of people. It's uh yeah, it's specifically focused for certain certain group of people.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

For sure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Uh so moving here, you've been here five years. Did you get the idea to to launch Palm Folly while you were here, or did you always have an idea of becoming an entrepreneur and launching your own business?

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I used to just daydream about what it would be, what would the thing be that I would start from a really early age and really just took raising my kids and and they were at great ages when we moved here that I knew it was the right time to leave the organization that I worked with my husband in and um and start my own thing. And so we spent six years in Colorado in Fort Collins, and breweries are just the industry of the town. And it's just it's a positive industry, you know, it's not restaurant, it's not bar, it's very family friendly. You're manufacturing something, and there's also a brick and mortar piece, lots of space for creativity and growth within the industry. And so I don't know. When we moved here, I just knew I was gonna start a brewery.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

It just like seems so random.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

So no, and this is a great place for it. And the marketing and branding that you do for the brewery is focused on the Emerald Coast here. Totally. I love it. And did you incorporate that from day one, or has that always been inspired from the area?

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Well, it's inspired from the area for sure. And then um, even that we brew hard seltzer and not beer. There's a lot of reason behind that, but definitely was indicative of being here. And I wanted the branding to be kind of inspired by the Emerald Coast, but not so like on the nose that we couldn't grow outside the area.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

The goal is to be, you know, big beyond the region.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Start off here and then grow and expand out of the area. Yeah. Yeah. Great.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

So it's not called 30A hard seltzer.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

So you have any background in brewing before you decided to launch this business?

SPEAKER_02 4:52

None. Zero. I'd never pulled a top. I'd never topped a keg. I don't know. It does feel kind of random when you think about it.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah. And so did you like hard seltzer before? Is that why you narrowed on that? Or you just that was what you thought was gonna be the best?

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Well, really, a hard. So I I first was just gonna do a beer brewery, like traditional craft brewery. Um, and when I really started thinking about the beer styles that I wanted to do, you know, I I was just looking at the market and hard seltzer was the fastest growing category in alcohol for about six years. And so no one had really taken it from this kind of basic, boring, everybody's making the same thing drink, um, into anything better, really. Is, you know, and um the beer industry really had a major pivot, I'm gonna say around 2002, between there and 2012 when craft beer just kind of exploded on the market. And before that, it was just domestics, you know, cores and bud and basic. And then craft industry got a hold of it and just created a whole new category of beer. And so I was really wanting to take what hard seltzer was and that our country, you know, is like so popular and just grow and and kind of bring it into that craft space was kind of the heartbeat behind it.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

That's great. So do you had to go out and find a brewmaster or something to help create that process?

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Yep. So I had kind of an angle that I wanted to work. I knew I wanted to be brewed with real fruit purees, and I had kind of a basic understanding of um brewing. And because I did have a biology major, I have some chemistry, you know, up my sleeve, just enough to sort of know what I'm doing. Um, but I hired someone to hone the recipes, or at least they kind of initiated them. They've been reworked several times by several different brewers um over the last five years almost. And then I built the business and the brand behind the beverage. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

So you started doing the branding at the same time while you were uh finalizing on the taste and the the releases.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah. Yeah. So I had kind of someone working that and then I did all the rest of the building.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

So all the branding and that and this is inspired from you directly? It is. It looks great. You just released a new tap, uh, I think that's around here in local places with uh there's the mermaid, I think, is on it or the looks like a mermaid.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

It's really like uh a a girl standing on a it's like a surfboard or almost it almost looks like a stand-up paddle board, it's a long board. But because it's green, she kind of looks like a mermaid. Right. It does.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

But now I see the the paddle board inside there, I'll uh identify the handle. Um so when you launched, did you launch with uh just one seltzer or what was the the launch plan for that? And how long did it take you from fine-tuning the recipe to launch?

SPEAKER_02 7:39

So officially like filed the LLC September of 21 and was working on opening a brick and mortar space. So that was you know the plan to manufacture myself. Um so I had a brewer just working on recipes kind of on the side. And when I felt like we got to the product that I really liked, um just construction in Walton County is slow. And so I was part of a new construction space. I thought we were gonna open July of 22. We didn't officially open till April of 23. So I had recipes ready to go. So I sent them to a contract brewer and we launched um two flavors on draft in November of 22. So we actually, you know, the plan was to open the tap room first, but because we're just kind of sitting around waiting, we got it on the market. So yeah, and one is the flavor that's still out today, like our main, our main one.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

And so how many flavors do you have right now?

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Well, currently, because I've closed the brick and mortar space, um, I have two recipes that are with my contract brewer, a new contract brewer, um, that's done a fantastic job. One is on the market and the second is releasing soon. In the tap room, we had 12.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Okay. So And you brewed all 12 of them locally at the tap room.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

We did on site. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

That was amazing. And when the tap room was there, it was it was a nice little place to go to. But again, as Walton County sees and the traffic and tourists we have here, it's you've transitioned to making it a broader brand.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Uh yeah, you know, I thought that the piece of the puzzle I was really gonna like was the self-manufacturing and running, you know, a tap room, a brick and mortar, and really wanted to have more of the Colorado tap room experience here in Santa Rosa Beach that's just community friendly and based around, you know, bringing your family and your kids and your dogs and just hanging out in a space. And um, I do think that we were able to do that for the community. You know, we had a lot of events and it was really fun. But once I kind of got into it, I realized managing a brick and mortar was really not my skill set, quite frankly. And I could have kept doing it, but I started this to grow a brand that would survive bigger than here.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

And managing that space was just pulling me um from the piece that I I think I really want to lean into, is what I realized. And so just kind of took that little arm off just to go deeper.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

And that's good advice. So you can see that what you want to do to expand the brand, that sometimes you have to take a little bit of a step back or close something that's working to expand beyond there. So it's good that you realize that now and instead of can trying to maintain that.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to think about just severing off this arm that, you know, I did pour my whole heart and soul into that space. And I know you and your wife have been there and got to enjoy it. And it it's just, it was so unique and I was so proud of what it was. Um, but really also just the landscape for breweries is very different in 2026 than it was in 21 when I started it. And um I just think the we're kind of just moving away from the craft brewery. I don't know, just the way that the culture was.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, like that, the mortar places where everyone hangs out for craft brewery spots, but now enjoying the craft brewery at other places.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Yeah. It's really, really changed. And there's a lot of overhead, super expensive. So kind of just cut off the the piece that was uh what I feel like holding the brand back as a whole to be able to just lean into that.

unknown 11:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

So what do you see uh over the next uh few years of Palm Folly and growing? What do you uh have visions for?

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yeah, so much. You know, I just took on some investment and am working on raising a little more capital. And um the goal is the ultimate goal for Palm Folly for me is to be in target stores nationally. I just think we align so well with the brands that they carry and the kind of businesses that they like to have. And there's definitely a there's a pretty clear path to getting there. And so uh introducing more SKUs, so we'll probably end up having three um initially that we've gone to test, you know, uh locally and then in our tap room. Um so we're gonna we're kind of growing into a little broader region here into Tallahassee. We're gonna move into other places in Florida. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

And then um right now your main distribution is all in the panhandle area from Pensacola to Tallahassee.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah, it's it's um Pensacola to like Appalachia Cola. And then Tallahassee is kind of a new little baby market that we're hitting.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

And that's where you moved uh your distillery too, right? So it's being brewed out of there.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

It is, yeah. So um I don't own a brewery at all anymore. I'm like essentially a brand manager. Um and there's a there's a big brewery in Tallahassee that's producing for us with our recipes.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

So how did you go about finding transitioning from closing the brick and mortar to outsourcing the brewing part?

SPEAKER_02 12:53

It's actually more complicated than you would think. Um I've worked, this is my third contract brewer I've worked with. Um and I take great pride in our product and it being consistent and um and clean and preservative-free. And there's a lot of things about what we've made that people have fallen in love with, and there's nothing else like it on the market. So it's not just like saying I brew uh, you know, a blonde ale.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

And then this brewery is gonna make me a blonde ale, and then that brewery will make me a blonde ale. You know, it's really unique product. So getting another facility to replicate what we've made has taken a really long time. So I've worked, done a lot of RD with the brewery that we're in right now, and they they feel about the product they put out the same way I do. Um, and they're super meticulous, meticulous about compliance and making sure that we're, you know, that our labels are appropriate and all the things, all the things that I care deeply about as well. And so yeah, it took a long time.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah. So do you have to go and test and sample everything that's done beforehand and you do that yourselves, or do you have uh like a master brewer that does that too?

SPEAKER_02 14:03

You know, when I the the brewer that worked with me in the brick and mortar, he did some of that initial RD with me. Um, but the the brewers at at the contract facility I'm working are fantastic. And so I do that with them.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

It's different. You went from nursing, you have a biology background, and then yeah, the idea of creating a a brewery. Well, what advice would you give somebody in the area, because this is an entrepreneur type town, everyone moves down here to to just go start doing it and come up with the idea. How would you, if you could start look back to the beginning of Palm Folly, what would you do over?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

A lot of things. A lot of things I would do over, but some of it is you just can't know what you don't know. And learning along the way is part of the process. Losing money along the way is part of the process. Um, I don't know, I think I have a really high risk tolerance, clearly. And that's been helpful. But you know, I think one of the things if you were to be a new entrepreneur is to really know that you know that you know that that is what you want to do and that you're gonna put all your eggs in that basket. And um I've dabbled in little businesses along the way over the years from interior design to I I don't know, I had some little baby brand back in my 20s, you know. And um, this is the first time where I was like, you know, I there's a gap in the market, um, a niche that I can fill. And I felt really confident that I could learn the industry along the way. And I really just loved it.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, you're starting off like you're always had that entrepreneur spirit by dabbling beforehand. And I think that adds up to stuff that I've done and others that's been on the show that's done, they they dip their toes into it and try and it doesn't work. But I think you have to have a high risk tolerance, definitely, because you're gonna fail. You're not gonna succeed on day one.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

And so many things have failed along the way. Um, and I I do think there's this thing with like entrepreneurialism is super buzzy right now. But a lot of what we see is like the end product, and we miss a lot of the mistakes along the way. They're not always, you know, broadcast. I don't broadcast them. It's often you want you want your brand to look successful. So you're not gonna just lay out all the fails in the midst of, you know, but um I I just I would say the the biggest thing is is just be all in on what you're doing. I think so many, I've seen a lot of people here, especially um, like all these stickers on my beer fridge in the garage of, you know, local businesses. Right. And sometimes I look at it and I think, wow, how many of these aren't even here?

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

And we're just kind of came and went. And and I can look at them and say, I don't feel like they were just all in on it. You know, that happens so often. But I mean, we refund us our house and hold our retirements, you know, like all in. Palm folly is a no-fail opportunity and it drives you differently.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

And that yeah, that's good. That it's a good strategy if we we we tell our son the same things. Like if you're gonna do something, there's no plan B, like going through it. If it fails, then you have time to reset, you have time to start over. But if you're only in for a little bit, it's not gonna succeed. Because you're gonna have times when you fail, you're gonna lose money definitely in the first part. First part.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Maybe some people don't.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Maybe not. But most people do.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

So some people succeed immediately, but that's not the way it works for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Yeah. And to be okay with that.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

You know, I definitely feel like I've had a lot of sleepless nights. And you could really, really dwell on the mistakes, or you could just say, wow, I learned from that, and moving forward, do it different. So you can't go back.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Right. And you did it right when you started, you knew your limitations, so you didn't have any idea how to brew beer, but you hired someone to do so.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Like bring in people that can help with the process.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Yeah, bring in experts in the field in the areas that you know you're not sure, and um, and lean into the areas that you do have expertise in. Also, another, you know, I'm not a detail-oriented person. That is definitely not my gifting. But even in in this, one of the things I wanted to do was say at the end of it that I did every single piece, applied for every license. I, you know, filed my own monthly, you know, excise taxes and TGB things, and I I did my own hiring, I've done my own firing. You know, it's um letting yourself get uncomfortable and learn also.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

And so, what was that process of having to let staff and people go in the past? I've done that too.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

It's not uh I'm a terrible employer in that like everyone's my friend.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

So I have, yeah, I mean, they're I've not done a great job.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Of the even that's a huge just again, looking at my strengths and weaknesses and maintaining a brick and mortar. I mean, I loved my bartenders. You know, I just grabbed a beer with one last night. They still, they're mostly like in their 20s and would, you know, they still reach out to me. And I I love them. I've had great relationships with some of them, and some of them because of that, haven't always done the greatest job. Yeah, letting letting someone go, I don't know that I would ever get good at that.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

And I hear other people talk about, you know, you've just got to be honest and upfront. And if it's not working and man, maybe I could grow into that.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Right. But I think yeah, it's not the same part. You don't ever get comfortable doing it, but you have the process of you're putting out a brand, it's your your project. Like they have to have buy-in to be in there and supporting as well. They're not the right part of the team.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

And no one has buy-in like you do.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

You know, no one else is laying awake at night worried about it. You know, I've I have one son in college and one son going to college, and I have four, I don't know if I said that four sons, and so, you know, high school and middle school, and they're the ones they suffer in so many ways. My family is on the line, our futures are on the line, and um no one else has that kind of buy-in. And you can't really expect that of anyone else, but you can expect a work ethic.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

That's really hard. It does. It grew and sometimes it grows. Some individuals take longer to have the work ethic, and some fall right into it at the beginning. And those are the people that are like us. We sit and start thinking of side jobs or what else we want to do or grow, versus this is gonna be my plan A forever. Yeah, that's the hard part. Now you're successful, you have two, another, another seller coming. I see uh where all places are you in the area to get tap? I think there's like at least 15 or more.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Yeah, it's it's always in flux because you know, the turnover rate here of staff is very high. So, you know, you get a bar manager to buy in and they bring you on tap and then they leave their job and someone new comes in and they decide to change everything out. Um, I mean, over the course, we've probably been on 75 to 100 top lines. At any given time, it's a totally different number. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So that's a whole other product business that you have to do. You have to go out and sell.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

You're doing all that as well?

SPEAKER_02 21:41

I do. Yeah. It's very multi pronged. It's really, you know, I thought I was opening a business, but I think I opened four. And some of that is I run really lean and I'm hyper careful of every penny and where it goes. Um, that took me a while to learn as well. And And um, so I do my own social media and I do do most of my own sales. Um I run all the distributing and contractor relationships myself, you know, and ran my own payroll. Like really everything. Everything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

It is the all of it besides the brewing portion. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

I mean, the phone number on Google was my personal cell phone number. You know, it's really businesses, I think, sometimes look big and they're like behind the scenes, it's actually really small.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Right. Which is a good thing because I mean that's how they how you're succeeding.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

So what advice would you give to somebody that says, hey, look, I want to go and do XYZ here in the area for anyone of any age, someone that's in their nine to five or someone that's just graduating high school, uh, that want to start into the entrepreneurial business.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Starting an entrepreneurial business. You know, it's there are that happens here so much. Actually, even just driving here, I was behind some like sprinter van that was like a concierge just elevating your experience while you're on 30. I feel like there's something new every day. I don't think the area, I I think it there looks to be a lot of opportunity here, but it is kind of a saturated market. Tourism is down. There's a lot of negative press about our area. Unfortunately, I found often you don't always get a lot of love just because you're local. Um, I think a lot of times locals are weary of people moving in just to capitalize on the area and to certainly capitalize on the the county road name, 30A. You know, there's a lot of um suspicion, I think, from locals around that. And so um, yeah, if someone were to all you can ever do is try.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

You know.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

And maybe don't think locally, think more globally like you're thinking more nationally in there.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Mm-hmm. There's a lot of niche here that you can do, but it's also pretty saturated. And so if this could be a good, I mean, one thing I do think 30A is great for is that it's a launching pad back to so many other communities. I mean, just the pipeline to Nashville and Dallas and Houston and even a lot of the Midwest, people come and they have a vacation experience that they love. And so if you have a product that can expand outside of this teeny little area, they can take it back with them.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

And you get a lot of exposure for that.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Well, that's interesting. I didn't realize and think even think about that. Like move into the area, everybody is starting some sort of business. You always see that, or or you meet new friends. But I didn't expect sort of the uphill climb to have the local companies like, oh, you're local, so we'll have you in our places. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

Absolutely not. In some ways, I think it bites you in the butt. You know?

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yeah, it's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Right. Because if you haven't been here for the whole entire time that uh the place has existed, that uh I didn't think of that aspect.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

Like even now, I feel like I mean, we are the only local hard seltzer. There's other, you know, cocktails, shout out to Bertie, love them, and um, some local wine brands, and obviously beer. Um, we're the only, the only local seltzer and about the only hard seltzer available on draft anywhere. And that's that's like a whole another piece of the business that is, you know, there's a lot of reason behind. But yeah, getting people to pick us up because we cost more than white claw.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

We cost more than high noon. And everyone's worried about their margin, of course. Um, so I totally understand that. But I mean, we're just never gonna have we're not a cheap grain alcohol. Like we're never gonna cost like what white claw costs, you know?

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Like, your ingredients are different and better than like what's being mass-produced.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

And we're small. It's boutique, and um it's gonna take us a while to get to that. But um, yeah, I mean, that's that's a large reason people offer when they won't pick up our product.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Right. Because the the price is more.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Yeah. But you can also charge more.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Right. Especially since it's being local for the tools there or the area may pay a little bit more of the for it.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

They absolutely do. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Right. The d draft portion of it, that's I guess I didn't think of that question either. You're talking about that. So you have to have that shipped from uh Tallahassee back into the area where it's produced too. So that's another aspect that you have to manage and maintain.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Yeah. Yeah. Freight, I mean, especially as we grow outside of the region, is well, one of the things about getting it to this larger brewery in Tallahassee is that they can pasteurize um whereas we couldn't in our little tiny brewery. And so it had to be kept cold. So that was really hard for freight and for businesses, but now we've solved that problem too. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

So from your every task that you do at Palm Folly, what is your favorite part of uh owning your own business?

SPEAKER_02 27:04

I love all of it. I really do. I mean, I feel like I'm living into what I was created to do, like outside of being a mom.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Um, for the first time, I just really, really love all of it. I love branding and marketing. Yep. And that's probably my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Just the creativity of it does.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

And on Instagram, it looks great in a social media post and everywhere that's tied into around here and g goes tremendously with the coast uh atmosphere.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Which is I love the coast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Which does. It transpires to other places too. It doesn't you've set it where your branding works here, but you can also move it to the other the markets easily as well.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

I think there's like a universal love of coastal aesthetic, you know, whether you live in the middle of Montana or, you know, wherever there is just like innate coolness of surfing vibes or whatever. You know, it's a pretty universal theme.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Right.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

That yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Uh so we talked about your big plans for the next few years, Palm Foly, that you're gonna continue to expand, launching a new, new uh flavor here soon. Outside of that, any other brewing ideas that you got going on?

SPEAKER_02 28:18

I do know really the I think the biggest uphill climb of what I really want to accomplish with Palm Folly is for it to be a draft hard seltzer. So that was a really strategic piece of the way I produced the product in the first place. So it is brewed in a process almost identical to beer. We just don't have a grain. And so um it's it it even has like kind of a beer profile. So it's it's kind of hard to call it a hard seltzer. I've been toying around with, you know, maybe more referring to it as craft brewed fruit, you know, or finding a phrase that people understand um because hard seltzer does kind of put it in a box. Um, but being a draft ready product. So we carbonate at the same level as beer. Okay. So it's not like a typical canned seltzer that's very high carbonation, so it can easily go on any draft line without a restaurant having to adjust their carbonation. And the reason behind having it be on draft is, you know, when I first dropped drinking um hard seltzers, it was, I mean, I love beer, but it does have gluten, it makes you bloated, super high calorie, all the grilly reasons that guys actually care about too. And so, you know, we go out, and what I would want is that like draft product. You know, it's cold, it's fresh, it's crisp, but I wouldn't want the bad parts of drinking a beer. Right. So then you end up with a cocktail, which is often twice the cost. Liquor, you know, it just affects you differently. It just does higher ABV, the extra sugars and that and there. All of that. And then um wine sometimes is just not a wine moment. And so I really wanted a hard seltzer, but I didn't want to go to a restaurant and have them hand me a can for nine dollars, you know, and you're drinking out of a can and not having that experience. And so I was like, what I want is a hard seltzer on draft. And it wasn't available. And so that was kind of really the reason why I went from beer to seltzer was to try to accomplish that.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

So you're gonna create a new whole new market out of this, what it sounds like is your next big part because it's not a hard seltzer. I know. It's gonna be uh flavored fermented beer, or I don't know what you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

If anyone has any ideas, like yeah, we'll ask the audience to put comments on it. I know, please do. I can't figure out what to name the dumb thing.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Well, clean globally so you can replace a whole new brand.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

That's where like, you know, I've been on AI all the time. Like, give me ideas, give me ideas, give me ideas. Kraft brewed fruit has been the closest thing I've liked because we instead of a grain, we ferment on fruit. And so that is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

That's interesting. So we'll keep thinking about some of that. Help me. Um so for for the area here, what I always when we get close to the end here, I like uh to end with a couple of different questions. What are some of your hidden gems that won't be hidden anymore after you say them in the area?

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Well, if I can't go to Pom Folly anymore, I really love going to Lawless Coast. So newer brewery right down the street from where Pom Folly was. And the guys that started that are just the loveliest human beings. And while they were in the process of starting their brewery, they would come into Pom Folly all the time and hang out with me in my brewer. And we just became really close buddies and they have a great space. And they've even let me bartend in there before to get my fix.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Well, that's good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

They're the coolest, it's the greatest spot. And then gosh, I think that's I don't go out a lot.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

But that's nice that you let them come and see your background uh process before you guys flows and share that knowledge and information with others.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Oh, absolutely. And when they were first filing their their taxes, their excise stuff and sales tax. I mean, we would sit together with our laptops and walk them through the process. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Yeah, because you went and learned all it yourself, so you have that knowledge and share.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Yeah, yeah. And it's confusing.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

So it's very confusing.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

And Chad GP doesn't help very much with that. Wow. It does illuminate.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Not to be trusted. Right. Yeah. It hallucinates. Yeah. Well, no, and it is such an important, I mean, it's it's it's serious. So I've had um, I've had an officer walk in the brewery before and flash a badge at me about something I missed on a filing. And so it's real, and you get fines if you don't do it properly and you get audited every quarter. It's it's not for the fan of art.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

It doesn't seem uh that's the first thing to start. No.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

All right.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

So the lawless um brewery that uh is down there, we've been at is a great place.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

Um, and then okay, morning person or evening person?

SPEAKER_02 33:09

I I have changed. So I used to say I was an all-the-time person. Okay. Up late and up early. And then and then I had four children, and they forced you to be a morning person. But we also still used to stay up late. Now I'm just getting old, and so I could I try to go to bed. And I still have to get up early because I still have the kids and have chickens and dogs and cats.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

So you're extremely busy all the time.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Extremely busy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

And still trying to expand.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

Still trying, yeah, and starting a new business. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

So um, all right. So if there is one thing in this area, uh, along with the tour sections that we have or big issue or something problem that we could solve, what would that be here in the area?

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Well, this feels very shallow, but moving here as a mom, especially a mom of a lot of kids, it is a really inconvenient area to live. When you've lived other places and had access to, you know, I miss and again, yeah, it sounds so shallow. I miss just like a target, you know, like close and Costco, and I miss some of those amenities. And it seems like the industry that i is coming no matter what. But I wish there was a little more thought put behind meeting the needs of the people that live here and what they really would want. As far as like chain restaurants and you know, we've got a lot of Burger Kings and McDonald's, but I think we'd all love like a Chipotle or a it's because it's been the whole 30A section has been blocked from chain restaurants for so long.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

And then when they decide to open it up, that's you get a gas station with Burger Kings. Like, yeah, a Trader Joe's or a Costco 10. We have all these places that are close by to put uh infrastructure for the people that live here.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

And they would do really well, right, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Yeah, Costco off 10 on 330 when all the tourists come by, that place would be packed all the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

And we could just order it and have it delivered to our door.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Right. That's great. No, I mean it's still it's all good advice because all that helps uh in the area here. So um it's perfect. Where can people find you on social media? I'll post all the links in here, but uh for them that's listening and driving the cars, they can look you up on Instagram and uh Facebook or wherever you're at.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Thanks. Everything's Pom Folly.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

So that was one of the cool things about the name is it didn't I could buy all the get all of the handles and all the things, pomfolly.com, pomfolly on Facebook, Instagram. Instagram's my, you know.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Big part. Yeah, social media part.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

That's what I'm best at. We're also on TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

But I'm just a little too old to like.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

See, I need to hire that.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Yeah, I have no one that does that. So I think I've maybe posted one TikTok video and then I give up on it.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

My bartenders used to do that for me.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

I just gave them free rain and logins. I'd be like, please just help.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Yeah. So different the younger generation that listens to the show can figure all that out for you. Yeah, I know. Well, Megan, thank you for being on here. It's been great. Oh thank you, having excited for all our listeners just uh to hear.

SPEAKER_02 36:19

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Thanks for listening today's episode. If you liked it, be sure to follow and subscribe. I'll leave you with this. What's the biggest issue you see in the pain handle right now? Join the conversation with me at Chuck Asberry II. I'd love to hear your thoughts.