Meet Dave Weaver | Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dave Weaver and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dave, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind the success of SoCo is the product. People absolutely love our Ginger Beer…and for good reason: It is the best tasting drink there is. It is much more than the sum of it’s ingredients, which are very sparse, by the way. Simply lemon, ginger, organic cane sugar and sparkling water in the perfect quantities, and magic comes out. After my brother Benjamin began producing SoCo and I had a taste, I was hooked. There was nothing else that really compared to the flavor and there is nothing else quite like it. This puts it in a distinct category of not being coffee, kombucha, beer, cider, traditional soda, sparkling water or juice, all of which are huge markets right now. So it stands out in flavor and also in it’s own category. Now we’ve got thousands of Texans hooked on it as well. Everybody needs to drink, even during a pandemic. The fact that it mixes so well in a cocktail, as well as being a delicious stand-alone beverage, means that it is very versatile. We sell it at grocery stores, liquor stores, convenience stores, bars, restaurants, and farmers markets.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’m most proud of the fact that we always put out the best quality product. We don’t produce anything else but Ginger Beer, so we’ve refined the process down to a science. Tens of thousands of gallons of Ginger Beer down the road, and I can count the times we’ve had major mistakes on my fingers. Getting started was actually relatively easy. My brother was already selling SoCo in Austin, and I basically took his lead, starting at the farmers market. The people of Denton gave their stamp of approval and that gave us the green light to expand throughout DFW and the rest of Texas. We got pretty steady interest over the next couple years to wholesale at local stores and bars, and then were approached by larger chains like Whole Foods and Central Market. I have to say business did drive itself, because of how darned good this stuff is. One taste and you’re hooked.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In terms of North Texas, Denton is where it’s at. Plenty of great restaurants, bars, music venues and parks. Some of my favorites are Tex Tapas and Boca 31 for eats, Paschall and Miss Angeline’s for cocktails. Follow it up with a show at Dan’s Silverleaf or Harvest House and you’ve got yourself a fun weekend getaway. We also have the best sushi spot in North Texas, but we like to keep that a secret. While Denton is on the outer edge of the widest metropolis on the continent, if you drive 5 minutes north, you’re in unbridled country landscape. This includes the nicest (and cleanest) lake around (Ray Roberts Lake) where you really feel like you’re 1000 miles from nowhere.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our employees deserve all the credit, and we are a small crew of less than ten people here in DFW. Beverage production is back-breaking work not matter how you do it. They work so hard and love it so much that they always work with joy.

Website: SoCoGingerBeer.com
Instagram: @socogingerbeer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoCoGingerbeer

Image Credits
First photo (Marshall Walker)