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Moving the beverage industry ‘Forward’ with non-alcoholic options

Wausau-based beverage company offers products in taproom, wholesale

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October 14, 2024

WAUSAU – As Forward Beverage Co. wraps up its first year in business, Co-owner Amy Yanzer said the past 12 months have been nothing short of a whirlwind.

“We knew that there was a need for this – but (the response) has blown our expectations out of the water,” she said.

Focused on “moving the beverage industry forward,” Yanzer said Forward Beverage Co.’s mission is to create “excellence in every sip.”

With new flavors added regularly and wholesale customers seeing double-digit growth, Yanzer said the sky’s the limit for Forward.

Finding a niche

Moving to the Wausau area from Madison in 2022 for husband Paul’s job – “the last time in our marriage, we moved for my job, so it was time for us to move for his job” – Yanzer said it was never their intention to open a business.

“He thought he’d be doing beverages with hemp in them for that job at Octopi (for the foreseeable future),” she said.

Once here, however, Yanzer said it became clear to her and Paul that there was a need in the community for something like Forward Beverage.

“I said, ‘it’s too good of an idea to not do,’” she said. “So, I told Paul, ‘you make them, and I’ll sell them and talk about them.’”

Yanzer said they founded the business in January 2023 – “we got all the paperwork done with the state and started working toward opening.”

Though Forward’s “modern and sleek” atmosphere “looks like an alcoholic bar,” Amy Yanzer said “everything we have on tap is non-alcoholic.” Submitted Photo

“We found a space and did all the renovations ourselves,” she said. “We replaced the floors, we painted the walls and we brought in new furniture and light fixtures.”

Forward Beverage Co. officially opened at 303 N. 3rd St. Sept. 8, 2023 – just in time for the city’s Artrageous event.

“We had two flavors on tap,” she said. “We had nothing in cans. We probably weren’t ready to open yet, but we did it anyway.”

Yanzer said they sold “a ton” of drinks that weekend, and the reception they hoped to receive from the community with its alcohol alternative has only grown since.

“We’ve received so many comments saying, ‘We’re glad you’re here,’ and ‘You’re doing something that’s good for the area,’” she said. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Joining the growing nationwide mocktail trend, Yanzer said they wanted to provide an alternative for folks looking to take a break from booze.

“So much of our culture is based around drinking, and when you’re not drinking alcohol, you can feel left out,” she said. “We are providing an option for people to still be included.”

Yanzer said for Paul – who has been sober for the past three years – his options when they were out to dinner were limited.

“He doesn’t want a sugary mocktail, he doesn’t do gluten – so any (non-alcoholic) beers were off the table, so most of the time, he would just end up ordering water,” she said. “But when you’re celebrating, you want to have something special, even if it’s not alcoholic. So, that’s kind of the inspiration, too, behind our business.”

Yanzer said businesses like Forward Beverage Co. would likely be successful in Madison and Milwaukee – “but we also believed there were enough people who were seeking options like we were to open up Forward here.”

With a bar top and a “modern and sleek style,” Yanzer said Forward Beverage Co. “looks like an alcoholic bar – but everything we have on tap is non-alcoholic.” 

“It’s a very chill vibe,” she said. “It’s not a bar or a coffee shop – it’s like a great alternative space.”

A balancing act

With two areas of focus at Forward Beverage Co., Yanzer said it’s like they are running two businesses.

“We have the taproom and retail space, but we also partner with distributor Badger Liquor that sells our products to local shops, bars and restaurants so they can have a ready-to-drink mocktail on their menus,” she said. “So, right now, it feels like I’m wearing two different hats for two different businesses. It’s good, but it’s a lot.”

Opening Forward Beverage Co. in downtown Wausau, Yanzer said, was intentionally done so they could integrate themselves into the local community.

“Because we were new to the area, we knew community was important and we wanted to plug into that,” she said. “We’ve gotten to know the local business owners on 3rd Street. We’ve gotten to know the owners of the local bars and restaurants. That part has been really satisfying.”

It’s all in the ingredients

Currently, Forward Beverage Co. has 11 drinks on tap, Yanzer said – “eight of them are carbonated and three of them are nitro infused” – all of which have come out of Paul’s recipe book.

“He has ideas upon ideas,” she said.

When planning a new flavor or phasing out another, Yanzer said they evaluate what has sold well, what Paul has ready to go and what’s in season. 

“It’s really his place to put new things on tap that he wants to try,” she said. “The taproom also gives us the feedback of, ‘this is a great flavor, people really love it. We should can it and sell it.’”

With his unique background as a chemist and physicist, Yanzer said Paul’s skills are second to none in the non-alcoholic beverage space.

“His background makes him incredibly qualified to be leading this industry (in Wisconsin),” she said. “He makes the hemp emulsion that we put in our drinks himself. Most companies have to outsource that and it’s thousands of dollars per kilogram. He filed a patent for a coconut cream emulsion to go into beverages, so your coconut-flavored drink doesn’t taste like sunscreen.”

Paul’s knowledge, experience and creativity, Yanzer said, serves as a competitive advantage for Forward Beverage Co.

Amy and Paul Yanzer recently celebrated Forward Beverage Co.’s first anniversary with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony with the local chamber of commerce. Submitted Photo

“That’s what sets our company apart,” she said. “We’re not just a bunch of professionals trying to build a brand. We’re a husband-and-wife team who are aptly qualified in this field, who are also from Wisconsin and bringing something to Wisconsin.”

Though flavors rotate, Yanzer said the establishment has a handful of staples – including the In-Fashioned – a non-alcoholic version of Wisconsin’s traditional Old Fashioned – and the Citrosa – a mimosa-inspired non-alcoholic cocktail.

Some other regular flavors include:

  • Salted Guava Sour
  • Spicy Jalapeno Passionfruit
  • Lavender Haze Sleep Elixir

According to Forward’s website (forwardbev.com), the beverage company’s soft cocktails are “complex non-alcoholic cocktails formulated to stand on their own as a cocktail” appropriate for all ages.

Foward’s social seltzers, the website states, “are functional, non-alcoholic soft cocktails that contain 100 mg ashwagandha (an herbal adaptogen) and 10 mg Full Spectrum Hemp Extract (7.5 mg CBD + 2.5 mg THC).”

With its extract coming from Wisconsin-grown hemp, the amount of Delta-9 THC in Forward’s social seltzers, according to the website, tests at 0.002% of the dry weight. 

“Our products are fully compliant and legal hemp products in the USA,” the website states.

A well-oiled operation

Yanzer said she and Paul work well together by playing to their strengths.

“I manage the taproom and oversee day-to-day operations – such as scheduling employees, doing the books, making sure we are clean and staffed,” she said. “Paul manages the wholesale accounts, orders the supplies and makes sure that production is managed.”

Forward Beverage Co. currently has three part-time employees and one full-time employee.

“The full-time employee is mostly an assistant to Paul in the back,” she said. “He helps with the production. He helps with deliveries. He can also run the taproom. And then the part-time staff are employees that I oversee in the front – they are customer service, they do events, general day-to-day things.”

Though a lot has happened in a short period of time for Forward Beverage Co., Yanzer said they aren’t done yet.

“We want to be the non-alcoholic beverage brand of Wisconsin,” she said. “We want to be recognizable. We want to be sold in every bar, shop and restaurant so that when you go out, you can have a Miller Lite, you could have a Leinenkugels, you could have a New Glarus or you could have a Forward.”

Incorporating forward into the business’s name, Yanzer said, was done very intentionally.

“It is a nod to our state motto, but we also want to move the beverage industry forward by offering these types of adult, non-alcoholic cocktails,” she said.

TBN
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