Martini's Future May Be on the Rocks with the Arrival of the First Interactive Alcoholic Beverage; This Ain't Your Father's Cocktail Party.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- When Doug Hamer and Brian Higgins stumbled on the idea that they could pave their road to retirement with gelatin, or more correctly gelatin "shooters," the two thirty-somethings hit on a generational shift that replaces martinis with a social twist: interactive drinking.

The road to a possible nightlife phenomenon called Hamer out of the telecommunications world (he founded long-distance reseller Allsouth Communications) and Higgins out of information technology to create Suck & Blow, the first interactive beverage in the alcohol industry.

Suck & Blow are patented, six inch plastic tubes containing one-and-a-half ounces of flavored gelatin (13 percent alcohol, by volume). Safety-sealed caps on both ends of the tube require two mouths: one to blow out the gelatin and the other to suck it in. According to Hamer, "Suck & Blow gives hope to socializing singles who can use the need for a Suck & Blow partner to break the ice, rather than risk almost sure failure with those old, tired and just plain awful pick-up lines."

Hamer and Higgins, who have known each other since high school, were attending a coastal water festival in 2001 where they noticed the consumption of tray-upon-tray of gelatin shots as well as the funnel method of downing beer. Inspiration (and a novel attempt to attract a certain someone) led Hamer to put a gelatin shot in the funnel tube and, after attracting the desired partner to lend a blow, the concept swept the festival and led Hamer and Higgins to seriously consider the realities of mass producing individual, tamper-proof and hygienic gelatin shots in a tube. In five months, the idea had the approval of the Food and Drug Administration and was on the shelves in liquor stores throughout South Carolina and Tennessee.

Today, Hamer and Higgins, through their company SAB Enterprises (www.suckandblow.com), have acquired the backing of several private investors and currently market Suck & Blow in 47 states, Canada, Japan and New Zealand. "Our goal is to make Suck & Blow the next Red Bull cult phenomenon," said Higgins. "Now that our distribution is progressing, we're working to brand the product with innovative visibility tactics, much like the ones deployed by Red Bull in their early days.

We've looked at every single angle of any other product out there in comparison to Suck & Blow and there isn't anything that combines the interactive opportunity and excitement of our product, or the hygienic and safety criteria that our product offers," said Higgins. "There are some other smaller competitors out there in the field of gelatin shots or shooters, such as the oral syringe, but we think we've trumped them with the Suck & Blow concept."

The adult beverage trade press has been supportive of the Suck & Blow concept, especially during the annual Nightclub and Bar trade show the past two years in Las Vegas where they have been singled out as one of the industry's "hot products." Early trade support has been pivotal in building customer demand, so much so that SAB Enterprises has announced plans to increase production from 6,000 Suck & Blow tubes per day to 75,000 tubes per day, or 20 million pieces per year.

In addition to the increase in production, consumer demand has driven distribution of Suck & Blow into 47 states, Canada, Japan and New Zealand. Currently, SAB Enterprises is selling through distributors in South Carolina and Tennessee. With the dramatic increase in daily production, SAB is aggressively pursuing distributors in Florida, Georgia, California, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Louisiana Ohio, Illinois and other states. By year's end, SAB plans to be in 10 or more states.

According to Hamer, "Suck & Blow is a great ice breaker that brings people together. The interaction required by the product creates energy in bars and clubs when people get into it and it catches like wildfire."

And what about those people whose eyes first met from opposite ends of a Suck & Blow tube? Have there been any wedding bells as a result? Hamer won't name names, but he does admit to some pretty hot Suck & Blow stories being relayed to him via email. "Let's just say that there has been documented proof in our real-time, email and camera phone world, that Suck & Blow can make a successful introduction. What happens after that is between you and whoever's on the other end of the tube."