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The Startup CPG Podcast

Founder Feature: Brenna Turner and Joey Labes of Sake High!

The Startup CPG Podcast

Startup CPG

Startup, Food, Business, Beverage, Cpg, Entrepreneurship

4.9642 Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Grace Kennedy speaks with Brenna Turner and Joey Labes, the co-founders of Sake High!, a premium sake brand brewed in Japan and designed for the modern U.S. consumer. From launching one of the first canned sakes in the U.S. to debuting innovative sake-based hard teas, Sake High! is on a mission to make sake more accessible, versatile, and relevant to a new generation of beverage drinkers.


Brenna and Joey share their journey of building an alcohol brand as a couple, navigating the complexities of international sourcing and U.S. distribution, and staying true to their values by continuing to partner with traditional Japanese breweries. They also dive into their grassroots marketing strategy, how they’re challenging sake norms, and why consumer education is key to their success.


Explore the future of sake — and the startup driving it forward. Listen now!


Listen in as they share about:

  • The Origin of Sake High!
  • Branding & Packaging Process
  • Disrupting the Sake Category
  • Bootstrapping Growth & Product innovation
  • Challenges of Alcohol Distribution
  • Running a Startup as a Couple
  • Community & Collaboration


Episode Links:

Website: https://www.sakehigh.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenna-turner/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelabes/ 

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.



Show Links:

  • Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
  • Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
  • Follow @startupcpgost
  • Visit host Grace's Linkedin 
  • Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com

Episode music by Super Fantastics

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

All CPG brands need business insurance. Let's hope you don't have to use it, but if so, you better have a good policy. We get asked about it in Slack all the time. When do I need general liability, product liability, workers comp, all that stuff. I always tag in our friends at Amelia Risk Insurance. Just talk to them. You will see what I mean. We use them personally. So does Fishwife, so many other brands from the community. They know you need coverage, but also you need to save money, so they will help you understand exactly what do you need and fight to find you the most affordable and effective policies. Reach out to them at amelia risk.com. That's A.M-E-L-I-A-Risk.com.

0:40.0

They're really happy to have a very friendly chat with you to get started.

1:14.6

So, Sakehai was really born out of a love and passion for sake, paired with a mix or a lack thereof selections in, you know, the U.S. marketplace for good sake that you could find everywhere that is affordable and that you can actually understand when you're picking it up at a store.

1:20.4

On top of that, we saw sake very boxed into your classic sushi nights or your other Japanese cuisines.

1:30.1

Hello, everyone.

1:32.0

This is Grace, and I'm here with another founder feature.

1:36.2

Today, I'm talking to Brenna and Joey, the co-founders of Sakehai.

1:41.0

Sakehi is a premium sake brand that is brewed with love in Japan. Brenna and Joey also

1:47.1

recently launched their innovative hard teas that come in flavors such as hibiscus lime and

1:52.4

matcha. I loved chatting with Brenna and Joey about all of the ups and downs that come with

1:57.6

starting a beverage brand and I learned so much about sake in the process. I hope you enjoy this episode, and as always, let me know what you think.

2:12.1

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the start of CPG podcast. This is Grace and today I'm here with Brenna and

2:19.7

Joey, the co-founders of Sakehi. Welcome to the show, guys. Hi, thanks for having. Yeah, thank you,

2:25.9

Grace. Yes, I'm thrilled to have you. And I'd love to start just by asking you both to introduce

2:31.7

yourself and also what is sake high?

2:34.9

Awesome.

2:35.5

So I'm Brenna Turner and I am one of the co-founders along with Joey Labus right here.

2:41.4

And Joey and I have been dating for probably eight years now and grew up together and found

2:46.7

ourselves into the sake world.

2:48.7

Yeah.

2:49.1

So we launched sake high back in 2022, have been going at it

2:54.4

ever since. We're based here in California, but as we've grown, you know, we've expanded coast to

...

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