How Brett Berish Built Billion-Dollar Spirit Brands by Ignoring Industry Rules | Sovereign Brands

Summary

Right About Now – Legendary Business Advice

Episode: How Brett Berish Built Billion-Dollar Spirit Brands by Ignoring Industry Rules | Sovereign Brands

Host: Ryan Alford | Guest: Brett Berish, CEO of Sovereign Brands
Date: January 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Right About Now features Brett Berish, the dynamic CEO of Sovereign Brands (makers of Bel Air, Bumbu, McQueen, and The Deacon). Host Ryan Alford digs deep into Brett's unconventional, brand-building philosophy, examining how breaking industry rules, focusing on taste and authentic storytelling, and championing flexibility have positioned Sovereign as a billion-dollar giant in the spirits space. The conversation is raw, candid, and loaded with punchy advice for entrepreneurs craving results over business-school platitudes.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Building Businesses Like a Comedian

• Brett’s Philosophy: Brett likens business to stand-up comedy: constant iteration based on real audience feedback.
  • Quote: “When a comedian goes on stage and tells a joke, they get the audience reaction, and then they tweak it for the next time… and it could be 20, 30 times before they're tweaking that same joke and it nails it by the end. And to me, that's business.” (00:00)
• Takeaway: Success is about learning, pivoting, and evolving with every “audience” response—be it the consumer or the trade.

2. Radical Culture and Self-Expression

• Brett and Ryan riff on radical company cultures—hiring for boldness and celebrating rule-breakers.
  • Quote (Brett): “What’ll get you fired at any other company will get you hired by mine.” (01:18)
  • Ryan on his own agency: “Our name is fucking Radical. Client, you have the license to live up to this name every day.” (01:42)
• Takeaway: Brand DNA must manifest in how you act, hire, and interact with clients—embrace radical thinking, top to bottom.

3. Origins: Why Spirits?

• Brett followed in his father’s footsteps, despite initial resistance from his dad who hoped for a different path.
  • Quote: “He really wanted me to do finance…which I started out doing, but I veered back into [spirits] and I have never looked back.” (02:36)
• On Not Knowing: Brett empathizes with those unsure of their career choices—emphasizing the struggle and importance of finally committing.
  • Quote: “It sucked for 10, 12 years until I picked something and I picked this industry and stuck with it.” (03:08)

4. Navigating the Outdated, Complicated Liquor Industry

• Brett explains the U.S. three-tier system—its roots in Prohibition and the quirks that still plague the business (e.g., South Carolina’s old mini-bottle law).
  • Quote: “The industry hasn't changed…three tier system…it's fucked up, but it works.” (04:00)
• International markets can be even stranger, but thriving means “figuring out how to make it work for you.” (06:33)

5. Making Irreverence Work: Brand Personality & Flexibility

• Brett prides himself on challenging stale, “hoity-toity” industry norms.
  • Quote: “Sometimes not having a plan is a great plan... be really flexible... that's how I built the business.” (07:35)
• Hiring Mindset: Only leaders, no order-takers.
  • “If they're waiting for me to tell them what to do, they're too late. That's not the person for us.” (07:50)

6. The Core Sovereign Brands Thread: Taste Rules Everything

• Brett disavows traditional taste panels in favor of “does it taste better than the competition, yes or no?”
  • Quote: “If it doesn't taste good, Ryan, they're never going to come back again... It's the taste that's going to dictate everything.” (09:19)
• All the marketing in the world won’t rescue a bad product; taste is the ticket to authentic, lasting word-of-mouth.

7. The Role of Celebrity and Influencer Endorsements

• Brett is unequivocal: celebrity can’t save a bad product.
  • Quote: “…If the song's not good, it won't play…if the taste isn't good, no matter how big the celebrity is, it's not going to work.” (10:30)
• Packaging and design matter, too, especially for challenger brands.

8. Attention to Brand Detail: Packaging, Story, & Meaning

• Brett and Ryan deep-dive the storytelling in every detail—like The Deacon’s Scottish symbolism and the sensory feel of the bottle.
  • Quote: “Everything has meaning to me. And I needed [it] to live and breathe in the brand. I need to believe in it.” (12:48)
  • On consumer experience: “That shit matters and people pick up on it.” (13:29)
• Packaging is as much about experience as it is about standing out on the shelf.

9. Mass Appeal vs. Niche—Breaking the Rules

• Brett challenges the “riches in the niches” adage by refusing to play demographic or geographic favorites.
  • Quote: “I believe in selling to everybody. Everybody. Because the consumer who likes it is the consumer... So I want to sell to everybody.” (13:41)
• Great products can win in markets you’d never predict (example: Bumbu’s unexpected dominance in Canada and Eastern Europe).

10. The Power (and Necessity) of Personal Brand

• Only recently did Brett embrace his own role as a brand-builder and face of the business.
  • Quote: “People started coming to me and thinking, I've always been successful. And my response is, no, that's not true. I went through shit. I lost my house. I had the IRS sweep my bank account. I lost everything in this business.” (15:19)
• Motivation comes from honesty—sharing failures to inspire and instruct.

11. Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

• Be self-reliant and embrace flexibility.
  • Quote: “…the key is don’t rely on anyone. That’s the key.” (16:58)
• Tagline: “Self made tastes better.” (17:00)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On learning by doing: “If you have the wrong plan and you don't pivot, then you can get stuck somewhere spinning your wheels for a lot longer than you should have.” – Ryan Alford (08:24)
• On product rumor and myth: “Our biggest single market in the world outside the US is Canada…We crush it in places like Latvia, Romania, Poland, where rum isn't a thing, but they love bumbu.” – Brett Berish (14:27)
• On transparency: “That’s the most important story to tell if you’re successful.” – Brett Berish, about sharing his failures and journey (15:19)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 – 01:16: Brett’s “comedy” approach to business and company culture
• 02:07 – 03:32: Origin story—why Brett chose spirits
• 03:56 – 06:33: The business of liquor, peculiarities of the three-tier system, and adapting to a convoluted industry
• 07:35 – 08:44: Embracing irreverence, radical hiring, and the value of flexibility
• 09:19 – 10:13: The unbreakable rule: taste rules all
• 10:13 – 11:18: The role of celebrities and why packaging is essential
• 12:15 – 13:41: Packaging and storytelling, extra attention to sensory brand details
• 13:41 – 14:27: Debunking the myth of “niches” and anecdotes about surprise markets
• 15:04 – 16:26: Brett’s journey to embracing his personal story and personal branding
• 16:39 – episode close: Final advice, find Brett and his brands online, parting motivation

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Wrap-up

Brett Berish pulls back the curtain on what happens when you stop imitating the giants, break the rules, and build brands with soul, story, and the courage to learn (and fail) in the open. He champions personal authenticity, resilience, and making meaning in every product interaction. Sovereign’s billion-dollar ascent is no accident—it’s the result of relentless self-reinvention and choosing to taste your own success.

Connect with Brett:

• Instagram: @BrettBearish
• Brands: Deacon Whiskey, Bumbu, Bel Air, McQueen Violet Fog, and more.

Best advice in five words?
“Self made tastes better.” (17:00)

Transcript

[Brett Barris]

Building businesses is like the comedian. When a comedian goes on stage and tells a joke, they get the audience reaction, and then they tweak it for the next time, and then they tweak it again and again and again, and it could be 20, 30 times before they're tweaking that same joke and it nails it by the end. And to me, that's business. You got to constantly learn from your audience and what's working and what doesn't work, what the consumer is reacting, how the trade's reacting, and it's constantly evolving, and that's what we're doing.

[Podcast Announcer]

This is Right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over 6 years in over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.

[Ryan Alford]

What's up, guys? Welcome to Right about now. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. And you know, we like to. We used to have a little moniker said, if it's radical, we cover it. But you know what? I don't know too many brands and too many people doing more radical things than my good friend Brett Barris. He is the president and CEO of Sovereign Brands. And if you're watching the YouTube, which you should be, you would see the lineup of beauties here on the desk. Brett, what's up, brother? How are you?

[Brett Barris]

Ryan, thanks for having me on.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, man, my pleasure.

[Brett Barris]

And just real quick, on the Radical side, you made me think of my brother who I work with. He says, what? You'll get you fired at any other company will get you hired by mine.

[Ryan Alford]

So that's how I think it's funny. I own a digital agency called Rad and our show used to call the Radcast. Now we have the Radcast network for multiple shows. We didn't want confusion. Literally, when I have meetings with my team and I need to get acknowledgement from here, I go in there and I go, our name is fucking Radical.

[Brett Barris]

That's right.

[Ryan Alford]

Client. You have the license to live up to this name every day. And our clients hired an agency named Radical. So you know what that means? Means they can't call me and go, what the hell were you thinking? And I'll go, you hired an agency named Radical.

[Brett Barris]

It works. You say the quiet part out loud. This is what you expect to expect it.

[Ryan Alford]

I love what you're doing, man. I love anyone that's got bravado and doing things A different and understands marketing. And you got all that in spades. Pun intended.

[Brett Barris]

For me, with my brands, it's all based on making mistakes and kind of learning. If I'm veering off in my own direction, it's because a long time ago I realized I have to stop being like everybody else in my industry because I can't be them. I can't be Diageo, I can't be Bacardi, I can't be Jack Daniels. And every time I try to do things the way they do, I failed miserably. I started leaning in on what do I like? Who am I? What do I want to be? And that's when it started working.

[Ryan Alford]

Why spirits? What got you into spirits?

[Brett Barris]

I, like most people, ended up following what my dad did for a living. My dad spent 45 years in the liquor business. In some ways, he loved it, loved it, loved it and lived it at the same time. He hated it for me. I realize this as a parent myself. You want your kids to do something that you perceive as being easier. You perceive as being just something more simple, something that's got more benefit. He really wanted me to do finance something in money, which I started out doing, but I veered back into this and I have never looked back.

[Ryan Alford]

I think it's turned out all right for you.

[Brett Barris]

I tell this to people. I think there's one type of person who knows exactly what they want to do in life. And God bless, they're the luckiest people in the world. And there was somebody like me who had lots of ideas and I was the worst one. Never picked anything because I was always scared that the one idea I'm going to do is not the right idea. I'd run out of ideas. Therefore, I'm just in kind of nowhere land. It sucked for 10, 12 years until I picked something and I picked this industry and stuck with it.

[Ryan Alford]

It's been a fascinating industry because you've got the tiered system in the US with alcohol, and I know enough to be dangerous. You can enlighten us further than my brain can probably do it. But the inability forever to not be able to do D2C and having to go through the tiered system, distributors and all that stuff. I'd love just the business of liquor. Give us a little bit of the evolution from where things started of where it is today.

[Brett Barris]

Funny, it hasn't changed since Prohibition.

[Ryan Alford]

Surely it's gotten a little better. We can run ads about it.

[Brett Barris]

I'll give you one example because it'll be come home to you In South Carolina, industry hasn't changed. It's been a three tier system. And a three tier system, for those of you who don't know what that means is I'm a supplier, I own the brands and I sell to a distributor and the distributor sells to bars and restaurants. I, as a supplier, the owner can't sell direct. And then every state's a new distributor. And then you have some states that are franchise states like the state of Georgia, whereas if you give the brand to a distributor, you can never get it back. Or a state like Pennsylvania where the government is the distributor. In fact, they're probably the single biggest retailer in the United States and it's still owned by the state. So it's fucked up, but it works. But I'll give you one change that's happened in the past 20 years is South Carolina. And if you old enough to remember, in South Carolina, on premise bars and restaurants were only able to serve the customer mini bottles, airplane bottles, by law, billions and billions of billions of mini bottles in bars because it was the only way to control serve. And you get a perfect serve, you couldn't get any more or any less because it was straight out of the mini bottle.

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[Ryan Alford]

I was in college when mini bottles were still a thing in South Carolina that made a pretty strong drink. A mini bottle is actually a lot, but it was so funny because people would come into town like, what is that behind the bar? They thought it was a novelty. I'm like, no, that's how you order drinks here.

[Brett Barris]

We sell globally, in 80 countries. I share that story. People can't comprehend the fact that bars and restaurants sold the little airplane bottles. The industry has not changed, except that's been a change.

[Ryan Alford]

Like these beauties on my table here. Everything that you're making and branding you can'.

[Brett Barris]

No, I cannot sell direct to a bar or restaurant, to retailer. I have to go through a distributor in the state of South Carolina. We have a distributor. Empire is our distributor in that state. Great distributor. And they take on the delivery, the sales and we have, call it somebody in the market who supports them and goes out and visit accounts and sells my brands, bel Air, Bumbu, McQueen, Deacon, our brands. It's convoluted, it's strange, it's crazy, but it works. And the key to anybody's business in whatever industry you're in is you gotta figure out how to make it work for you. And that's what we've done. How do you make it work for you?

[Ryan Alford]

That's to be kind of your statement, how you've made it work for you. Along with self made taste better, which we'll get to shortly. I love taglines. I'm in the business. It's such a hoity toity champagne market. Some of the stuff is just so, I don't know, they take themselves too seriously. There's this fine line of taking your brand seriously and having a stake in the ground versus some of maybe the irreverent, non traditional ways that you've gone at it. What gave you the confidence to go there?

[Brett Barris]

It's the way I've looked at everything as I look back. It's learning from my mistakes. I realized I've got lots of sayings I live by. One of them, which is a strange one, is sometimes not having a plan is a great plan. And what that's taught me is if you stick to your plan for a year or two, you're going to be wrong. And you're wrong, you're wrong for the next year or two. And the key is to be really flexible. That's what I've been leaning into. That's one example of the way we build our business. It's leaning into what works and being very nimble. And that's how I built the business. And it's empowering people. Everyone we've hired, we have a few hundred people in the company we're hiring based on hiring people who are self starters, who are leaders, who if they're waiting for me to tell them what to do, they're too late. That's not the person. For us, it's lots of things like that all coming together that's made my success.

[Ryan Alford]

That's huge. And I'm going to circle that for our audience. We have a lot of budding entrepreneurs, people wanting to start their thing or maybe already in their thing. If you have the wrong plan and you don't pivot, then you can get stuck somewhere spinning your wheels for a lot longer than you should have. You don't and aren't flexible to what's happening around you. That is huge.

[Brett Barris]

It's an interesting. I have a story that I use. Building businesses is like the comedian. When a comedian goes on stage and tells a joke, they get the audience reaction, and then they tweak it for the next time, and then they tweak it again and again and again, and it could be 20, 30 times before they're tweaking that same joke and it nails it by the end. And to me, that's business. You got to constantly learn from your audience and what's working and what doesn't work, what the consumer is reacting, how the trade's reacting, and it's constantly evolving, and that's what we're doing.

[Ryan Alford]

What's the thread for sovereign brands? Kind of how you bring any bottle brand to life.

[Brett Barris]

It always, always, always. And it sounds canned, but it's the taste that's going to dictate everything. Because if it doesn't taste good, Ryan, they're never going to come back again. What my brother and I decided a long time ago is we don't have tasting groups and sommeliers and all that goes with that. If you were in our office on the day of the tasting, I'd have you taste with us and tell me what you think. And my goal is in the category we're in, it's got to taste better than the competition. If you tasted bamboo, which is the rum with the X, it tastes better than any other rum in the category. And that's why the brand today is the number one premium rum in the world six years ago when we launched it. It's the one thing, Ryan, all my brands have in common is no one believed in them. No one. No one believed in them. No one thought they would work. They're in sleepy old categories, which I love, but it's the taste, because if it tastes great, people are going to talk and you're going to build something from there. So it's always that you guys lean.

[Ryan Alford]

In to the influencers, the spokespersons, the celebrity. If Post Malone says bumbu Tastes great. Does it matter if it does taste great or not? The interplay of that brand recognition and leverage that you get from those celebrity endorsements versus the product itself.

[Brett Barris]

If you want to use the example, stick to the artist. If the artist has a shitty song, it's a shitty song. Doesn't matter who the artist is. There's a reason why if you try to pick an artist of 10 great songs and that's it. And that's hard to do in itself. But if you can be the single greatest artist, if the song's not good, it won't play. And to me it gets back to the taste. If the taste isn't good, no matter how big the celebrity is, it's not going to work. But all the other stuff, don't get me wrong, package as an example, your marketing guy means everything, especially at my level. I can't spend the way a Bacardi does and build a brand. I think my packages and the design or the name or the story go with it. Matters too. The consumer hopefully will see us on the shelf or they recognize us and pull it and then taste it and then they'll come back again. But if they don't like the look, they're never going to try it. So they work hand in hand.

[Ryan Alford]

Yep. Similar to wine bottles.

[Brett Barris]

Consumer packaging is critical to me at least I have to in what I'm putting out there. I have to look you in the eye and say, Ryan, you're going to taste the best frickin whiskey in the whole world and there's nothing else like it. And I can look at the eye and tell you why and tell you stories behind it and you're going to taste, you're going to love and you're going to love the stories to go with it.

[Ryan Alford]

Who's your favorite baby on the table here?

[Brett Barris]

In general, I have six kids in my house and if you ask me who's my favorite, every day of the week I got a favorite. And that's just the reality. I love them all. But someone kind of stands up today and it's like oh she or he is so cute. Or this is the best right now. It's the Deacon. It's my whiskey. I'm wearing my shirt shirt that says the Deacon. If you like bourbon, if you like whiskey, if you like Irish, if you like anything. This thing is smoky, it's sweet, it's Pete. It holds up in any cocktails. You can still taste it, which you can't do with any other whiskey. And it just gets me excited. And I'm probably also saying that, Ryan, because it's the new one, it's the newest one. So the newest one always gets more love.

[Ryan Alford]

I worked with Apple for quite a bit, and the way Apple does one thing is the way they do everything. And this. The details that matter, especially in packaging and design. The feel of this bottle, the textures, the design, the first pulled out of the box. I'll just say that right now because the copper kind of look grabbed my attention. And I'm telling you, a brand experience happens the moment you touch it. For Apple, like how easy it is to open the box, that's the first thing. But for you, it's like, I felt this. I'm like, okay, must have. And I love the attention to detail in the. In just the overall bottle and everything.

[Brett Barris]

That softness of Apple packaging, it's nothing expensive, but it feels. It. It feels a little more expensive, but it's true. And you look at that Deacon bottle, you know, there's a white ax in the background behind that character. That's the Scottish flag. It's all over the bottle, which are actually X's. It has to do with Scotland. It says Aquavit on the main label and then debossed in the back. And that has to do with. Aquavit is Latin for the spirit of life. The face has meaning. It has to do with the plague and plague doctors. The goggles have a meaning. The name in Scotland means, if you're the best at what you do, if you're the best podcaster, if you're the best economist, if you're the best barber, you're the Deacon. Everything has meaning to me. And I needed to live and breathe in the brand. I need to believe in it.

[Ryan Alford]

It's showing through. And I think our audience definitely just heard it. And look, let me tell you this, if you're listening, those details matter. In web design, it's like cx, a consumer experience. That shit matters and people pick up on it.

[Brett Barris]

That's the beauty. I always look at it. If you ask me, who's my target audience, I don't believe in demographics. I don't believe in channels. I don't believe in on premise, which is bars, restaurants, off premise, which is retail. I don't believe in cities or states. I believe in selling to everybody. Everybody. Because the consumer who likes it is the consumer. Don't know what you have until you let it go, until you put it out there. So I want to sell to everybody. And that, to me, is how you build a brand.

[Ryan Alford]

They say Riches in the niches.

[Gemini Credit Card Advertiser]

And I've always.

[Ryan Alford]

I fought that my whole career a little bit. You certainly have to have some amount of focus, but you want mass appeal. And word of mouth is like the most powerful thing in marketing still.

[Brett Barris]

I learned from everything around me. And if I use music, which I'm a big fan of, as an example, if you ask any artist what their number one hit was and did they think that song was going to be successful, they'll all say, no, they didn't like it. They didn't think they should put it out. They didn't think it was going to be a hit. And lo and behold, it is. And that tells me you got to try shit. And for me, if I use Bumbu as an example, our biggest single market in the world outside the US Is Canada, known for my company's ever been there. We crush it in places like Latvia, Romania, Poland, where rum isn't a thing, but they love bamboo. If I didn't let it breathe, we would never have known it would be like this.

[Ryan Alford]

Brett, you're a personal brand. You're carrying the brand of the company yourself. I could sense you've always had this personality and this sort of gravitas that goes with you and the brand and what you're doing. But when did that light bulb maybe go on, that you are part of the brand and part of the story?

[Brett Barris]

It happened for me maybe a year before COVID Not long, not that long ago. And the reason is, my brother and I, if you ever asked us, we've always said, it's not about us. Us. We don't want to make it about us. It's never about us. It's about the brand. We don't matter. Who cares about who I am. It wasn't until I started doing an interview series called Self Made, where I wanted to hear people's stories. People started coming to me and thinking, I've always been successful. And my response is, no, that's not true. I went through shit. I lost my house. I had the IRS sweep my bank account. I lost everything in this business business. And I started realizing I want people to know that side because that's the side that motivates me and I want to hear that side from other people. And then I started realizing, boy, I think I can help. I think I can help my brand. At the same time, I realized I can help people. I wish there was somebody like me when I was 19, 18, 17, 16, where they're telling shitty stories about failure. And look at me now, because I think that's very important. That's the most important story to tell if you're successful.

[Ryan Alford]

Brett, I can't appreciate you enough for coming on the show. Let's talk where everybody obviously got the distributor stuff, but where can people keep up with you? The brands. Learn more about everything you're up to and where to get these delicious drinks on Instagram.

[Brett Barris]

Brett Bearish, CEO, the Brands Deacon Whiskey, Bumble, Original Official Bel Air, McQueen, Violet Fog, the own France. Hit us if you have questions. If you want to be a brand ambassador, be part of our team. Just hit us. That's how it starts. And if you're looking to do anything in business, the key is don't rely on anyone. That's the key.

[Ryan Alford]

Self made tastes better.

[Brett Barris]

That's right. Don't.

[Ryan Alford]

Brett, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate your wisdom, your time and your gifts.

[Brett Barris]

Thank you so much for having me, Ryan. Take care, everybody.

[Ryan Alford]

Hey, guys. You know, to find us Ryan is right.com you'll find all the highlight clips from today, links to all of Brett's brands and of course, links to all of mine. Thank you for making us number one this built real and number one because we are number one because you made us that way. We'll see you next time on right about now.

[Podcast Announcer]

This has been right about now with Ryan Alford, a radcast network production. Visit Ryan ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.