🥃  Barrels gone wild

👋  Good morning. A thing to be grateful for today: not having an employer-mandated microchip embedded in your skin. Washington State isn’t taking any chances with the future of dystopian tech: Two lawmakers introduced a bill earlier this year that says businesses “may not request, require, or coerce any employee to have a microchip implanted in the employee for any reason.” While there aren’t any known instances of the practice — phew! — we certainly agree it’s a “better safe than sorry” situation. 

STARTING UP

Powdered breastmilk offers a solution outside of the NICU

❌  The problem: Donor breast milk — often used for premature or medically vulnerable infants — has traditionally been limited to hospitals. 

💡  The pitch: MaiaMilk, the new consumer arm of hospital supplier Ni-Q, is making a powdered, shelf-stable human donor milk product that families can use at home. The company’s proprietary freeze-drying tech preserves breast milk’s bioactive compounds, nutrients, and antibodies, and is manufactured in a FDA-registered facility with NICU-level protocols and donor screening. The resulting powdered milk is packaged in a portable packet — just add warm water — and contains 20 calories of milk and no additives. 

🚀  The outlook: Parent company Ni-Q has already supplied 4m+ ounces of donor milk to hospitals over the last decade, and now MaiaMilk is aiming to become the solution for NICU-to-home transitions and those looking for an alternative to formula.

NEWS FLASH

• You’re telling me Keurig never made coffee? Keurig is releasing its own coffee line, the Keurig Coffee Collective, something it’s never done in its 30+ years producing coffee makers. The company partnered with coffee experts to create five blends, and plans to introduce more flavors — including seasonal and themed options — in the future. 
  

• Yeah, she’s got that: Kaeden “Staples Baddie” Rowland is a 22-year-old Staples print specialist in upstate New York who’s gone viral on TikTok for her videos explaining the office supply store’s many benefits. She’s not only drummed up interest in Staples, but received a flurry of invites and brand opportunities. “I don’t have any formal training in marketing,” she told CNN. “I’m just opinionated with cheekbones.” 
  

• From ban to boom: Lyka, a D2C dog food subscription company founded in 2018, recently raised a $67m Series C and is now generating ~$200m in annual recurring revenue. That’s despite a 90-second ad about how the company’s real food makes dogs’ “poo less horrific” that was banned by Netflix after viewers said it was too gross.
  

• Tilly’s back… with friends: Xicoia, the AI talent studio behind AI "actor" Tilly Norwood, announced a digital “Tillyverse” built around the character and her “daily life,” per CEO Eline Van der Velden. The company will also unveil other AI characters in Tilly’s world. Meanwhile, AI continues to be a key part of negotiations between Hollywood studios and SAG-AFTRA, the union for human actors.
  

BECOME A PROMPTING PRO

Go from AI basic → expert in a week

You wouldn’t explain how to cook a perfect Thanksgiving turkey in just a couple sentences. 

Likewise, you shouldn’t expect chatbots to churn out genius answers off very little input. 

Just follow this advanced prompt engineering guide to go from AI basic → expert in under a week. 

How pros prompt: 

• Adopt a true engineering mindset
• Design systemic prompting frameworks
• Develop deep-expert AI personas
• Level-up to modular systems and custom frameworks
• Embrace daily automation habits

Don’t go burnin’ your bird… Teach it how to fly.

THE BIG IDEA

Aging bourbon on the high seas and at full volume

For some, sipping bourbon can make a concert or a sailing trip a wee bit more enjoyable.

But what if the opposite were also true? What if live music and time at sea made bourbon more enjoyable? Whoa.

Not content to let bourbon age quietly, innovative distilleries are sending barrels on ocean voyages, exposing them to loud music, and experimenting with other unusual ways to add complexity to their spirits, per Garden & Gun.

Some can be sipped for under $100, others for thousands. But is it just a gimmick?

Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of... whiskey?

Jefferson's Bourbon founder Trey Zoeller was inspired on a fishing trip to load his barrels on a boat. 

• Barrels spend six to eight months aboard ships, visiting 25+ ports, five continents, and crossing the equator twice. 
  
• Constant motion and temperature fluctuations increase contact with the barrels' charred oak interior, drawing out natural sugars and mellowing rough edges.
  
• Increased humidity caramelizes the bourbon, while salt air adds briny accents.

Whisky Advocate awarded a high score to a recent batch of Jefferson's Ocean Aged at Sea (~$80) and notes an increased complexity, mellowed sweetness, and hints of smoke and salt not present in landlubber counterparts.

Talk about good vibrations

Meanwhile, Kentucky distiller Copper & Kings kicks out the jams for its highly rated bourbon (~$30). 

• Eight large speakers and five subwoofers in the barrel-aging cellar blast everything from rock to rap 24/7 for "sonic aging."
  
• Pulses cause alcohol molecules to collide with the barrel, enhancing maturation without the need for barrel rotation.

And they're not alone.

Blackened, a whiskey collaboration with Metallica, plays the band's music at low frequencies during the finishing process. Rye the Lightning, indeed.

Down the hatch

Beyond the sound and the fury of the sea, here are other creative approaches:

• Brothers Wright Distilling Co. stashes bourbon barrels in coal mines as though Prohibition never ended.
  
• Bottles of French single malt Uisce de Profundis (~$640) are submerged 65 feet below sea level.
  
• Talisker's Glacial Edge uses barrels exposed to sub-zero temps to fracture the wood and increase surface area for liquor that retails for $6k.

While unusual aging techniques can feel gimmicky, most employ time-tested and scientifically proven methods of controlling temperature and movement to shape flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel. 

And besides, if the whiskey tastes great, it sounds good to us.

🔗

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The future of US manufacturing? It might be inside a Reno, Nevada, factory. Here’s how SendCutSend accidentally built the Amazon of sheet metal.

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Cost to rent one of AgiBot’s humanoid robots for a day. The Chinese company, the world’s top-selling humanoid maker, just announced its new RaaS (robot-as-a-service) model, with the goal of making bot rentals more accessible and affordable for robo-curious companies and individuals, per Forbes.

At ~$30k/month, we wouldn’t exactly call it a steal (which would be the next most-affordable, albeit unadvisable, option) — but with AgiBot’s A2 Series humanoids expected to be priced in the low six figures, a short-term rental would certainly be cheaper than buying one outright.

On the bright side, the prohibitive costs ensure human workers won’t be replaced just yet.

HOW YOU HUSTLE

Our readers are always dreaming up cool ideas. Here’s our weekly spotlight on a Hustle reader working on something big.

Who: Stephen G.
What: FreshDripd

The elevator pitch: “FreshDripd makes great coffee possible wherever life takes you — no machines, no mess, no waste. Just your favorite coffee in a simple, eco-friendly filter.”

The problem they’re solving: “FreshDripd solves the problem of having to choose between bad coffee and bulky gear.” 

Origin story: “... I spent three weeks in Japan with my family and as a serious coffee drinker, I ran into a problem: I couldn’t bring my coffee with me. What I discovered, though, was Japan’s approach to single-serve coffee: simple, smart, and incredibly efficient. It was one of those ‘why don’t we do this?’ moments. When I got home, I started pressure-testing the idea with friends and mentors. For the first time, the response was unanimous: this one is worth building. My research confirmed something I already suspected: people don’t love the coffee at work, and they feel guilty about using pods that create unnecessary waste. FreshDripd solves both problems.” 

What are you working on? Tell us here.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 2005, Martha Stewart was released from prison after serving five months for insider trading. She then served another five months confined to her New York estate.
🍺  That’s cool: One beer at a time.
📰  Newsletter: Half Baked puts a validated startup idea in your inbox every morning.
🌧️  Chill out: and see the path a raindrop would take to the ocean from any point on Earth.
🐈  Aww: New species identified.

SHOWER THOUGHT

Aliens are commonly thought of or depicted as naked, but they would likely require a spacesuit of sorts, just like humans do. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah, Danny Jensen, and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Sara "Good spirits" Friedman.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.
Working on something big?
We've got a whole library of business-building resources for you.

Subscribe to our other newsletters
Stay up-to-date on AI: Mindstream  |  Expert insights: Marketing Against the Grain |  Sell better: The Science of Scaling

Follow The Hustle on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.