About Us

Who We Are

Industry veterans with decades worth of experience in the beverage business.

Michael Wangbickler - HTB Host

Michael Wangbickler

President at Balzac Communications & Marketing, Adjunct Instructor at Napa Valley College, and Disney fanatic.

Emma Criswell

Emma Criswell

Marketing Manager at Balzac Communications & Marketing, and one hell of a cook.

Dan Dayao

Dan Dayao

Hit the Bottle producer and host of No Ordinary Nerd podcast.

Michael Wangbickler and Hit the Bottle

About Hit the Bottle

Our audience is marketing managers and executives at wineries, wine companies, wine associations, distilleries, spirits companies, spirits associations, breweries, beer companies, and beer associations. These are individuals interested in learning more about beverage marketing, particularly on marketing strategy, marketing tech, and learning from leaders in the industry.

Listeners will gain knowledge on beverage marketing from us and other leaders in the business. They will learn practical skills and tactics that they may implement to improve their own marketing strategy. Since marketing tech will be a focus, they may learn new ways to market their products in a way that they may not have considered before.

The vast majority of beverage podcasts either focus on the trade (retailers, sommeliers, distributors) or consumers. Few, if any, focus on the marketing professionals at the producer level. By offering practical advice, with key take-aways each episode, we offer valuable lessons. In addition, there are plenty of interview podcasts that have impressive guests, and while we will also have that, we will focus specifically on marketing, and have additional segments with practical advice. We will also strive for high production value, which few wine focused podcasts do today.