Hello hello!
This week, we hosted the most incredible dinner that we now must brag about publicly: we partnered with the wonderful team at Petra Labs to bring together 20 top growth marketers + founders in consumer brands at Dirty French in NYC.
We learned a ton from this stacked lineup of guests, from how they’re thinking about attribution and AI search discovery, to what a day-in-the-life of a viral candy brand founder looks like (shoutout Leo from BonBon). The evening was full of fantastic conversation, learnings, and connections—not to mention ridiculously good food that we’re all still thinking about…
If you’re looking to curate a room of interesting folks in consumer brands in NYC, reply to this email. We’d love to chat!
Now, let’s get into our picks of the week →
Nate’s Pickups:
Saint Spritz
I’ve been really into wine lately. I mean, I did just spend a week in Lisbon earlier this month—home to some of the world’s best wines—and drank a lot of it while I was in Portugal. Saint Spritz isn’t exactly straight wine, but it scratches a similar itch. Who doesn’t love a wine spritz? It’s light, refreshing, and one of the best ways to enjoy a spritz-y drink. I actually first tried these these at our Yom Kippur break-fast meal recently. Me and my friend each went through each of the flavors, and then finished up the night with the non-alcoholic versions. We were very happy with this situation and recommend everyone do the same.
Quick Facts: A family-led brand co-founded by JoJo Fletcher (of Bachelor and Bachelorette fame), Mallory Patton, and Ben Patton. It’s a line of Italian-inspired canned wine spritzes made with 25–35% real fruit juice and come in three core flavors—Amalfi, Hugo, and Sicily Lemon Basil—plus complementary non-alcoholic versions with no added sugar. The brand is sold online and at major retailers including Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, H-E-B, Albertsons, and Total Wine & More.
Reasons to love:
Tastes fresh. These taste like something I’d drink at a bougie Italian coastal hotel by the ocean. Like i’m on that Italian season of White Lotus! And I mean that in the best possible way. They taste incredibly fresh, probably because they use 25–35% real fruit juice—which is apparently 10x more than the leading canned spritzes. They’re well-formulated and do not compromise on flavor whatsoever. They taste like a homemade wine spritz you’d get at a bar or restaurant. Basically, they taste like vacation in a can.
A perfect pair. One thing Saint Spritz has done that I really like, and haven’t seen many alcohol brands do, is launch complementary non-alcoholic versions of its canned cocktails. So you can kick off the night with the boozy drinks and wrap up with the non-alc ones, while keeping the same flavors going. They are also made with real fruit juice and no added sugar and honestly they taste great in their own right.
The branding is gorgeous. The branding, marketing, and positioning are all incredibly strong. It looks and feels very premium, like an Italian wine spritzer in a can. Shocking. The brand also leans into the “better-for-you” side of the consumer world really well but without being pushy, keeping everything still elevated and aspirational.
Where to buy: Online and in select retailers.
Jenna’s Pickup:
Sāch Artisanal A2 Milk Paneer
This is partly a Weekly Pickup, but mostly a public service announcement: We are all sleeping on paneer as a society. If you’re unfamiliar, paneer is a soft, non-melting Indian cheese made by curdling milk with lemon juice or vinegar. It’s used in many vegetarian Indian dishes, almost like how you’d use tofu, but it offers a richer taste and more satisfying texture.
As a pescatarian (something I find myself accidentally preaching in nearly every newsletter…), I’m always looking for more non-meat protein options that can be the star of a meal, especially for hosting. If you’re catering to a veg-friendly crowd that contains a sneaky tofu hater (every dinner party does, statistically), paneer may be your new best friend—and Sāch is doing something really special with theirs.
Quick Facts: Artisanal, small-batch paneer made by two first-generation Indian immigrants seeking better-tasting, high-protein meatless options.
Reasons to love:
Gut-friendly dairy 🤝 paneer. Typically, paneer is made with normal cow’s milk, but Sāch is thoughtfully innovating with A2/A2 milk. This milk contains only the A2 beta-casein protein, which many find to be gentler on the gut! If you’re dairy-sensitive and still looking to enjoy a paneer dish, this is the only one I’d recommend.
Quality you can taste. This paneer is made in small batches with high-quality dairy, and you can taste the difference. Even my friend from Delhi said it was the best paneer he’d had in the States, and tasted just like dishes he’s had at home! If you’ve ever cooked with paneer at home, you know that the options are fairly limited in the US, with many stores only offering one SKU. I was so excited to see a brand innovating in paneer here, recognizing that better options can sometimes create demand, rather than the other way around.
You actually cannot mess this up. Though cultural dishes can be intimidating, I promise, you will not mess up a paneer dish. Paneer is easy to work with—you don’t need to cook it through (like meat proteins) and it doesn’t rely on add-ins to improve its texture. Like tofu, paneer acts like a sponge in most dishes, absorbing sauces beautifully. But unlike tofu, it offers a smoother, creamier, more homogenous texture, and a light, cheesy flavor—none of the sometimes-polarizing earthiness of tofu. I added my paneer to a curry dish by just… throwing it into the pan with sauce and peas and leaving it for a few minutes. It came out perfectly, and I’m already planning my next paneer creation.
Where to buy: Find in a store near you!
In case you missed it… 🎧
This week, we're sitting down with Aaron Butterworth, Senior Specialist in Product Development at Häagen-Dazs, who's been developing flavors for the brand for over 20 years!
She walks us through the entire journey of making ice cream for a massive brand, from brief to shelf—including the "ice cream charcuterie" brainstorming process (as dreamy as it sounds), why some great flavor ideas can never survive a factory, and how Häagen-Dazs's commitment to a clean label shapes everything about the product.
Plus, we're tasting two new flavors on air (!!!!), getting the inside story on Häagen-Dazs's discontinued non-dairy line, and learning how the brand thinks about trends.
Catch the full episode below 👇
Sach is great! Love their packaging too