Merrick Watts has shut down recent rumours suggesting he’s been chatting with Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) in the hope of landing a job.
Both The Australian and Mediaweek recently reported the claims following tip-offs from sources. But Watts told Mediaweek the suggestions are entirely false.
“Rosso (Tim Ross, Watts’ former on-air partner) and I have not had a conversation about doing Breakfast on Triple M. That’s not happened,” he said.
“I haven’t spoken to anybody at SCA about that job and the position. If people are talking about me doing something, I can’t help that, but that’s not me in that room. It’s not a conversation. And the funny thing is, like, I’m behind the scenes working so hard on this secret deal.”
The “secret deal” Watts refers to is a new partnership between his revolutionary drink brand, Posca Hydrate, and SPC Global. Not bad for a formula first developed in his kitchen during the Covid pandemic.
Rediscovering an ancient recipe
It all began four years ago when Watts, then completing a “massive deep dive” into wine research for his Sommelier qualification, discovered an ancient formula once drunk by Roman emperors and their troops. That drink was Posca Hydrate.
“I was in my home kitchen with all of this like apothecary methods of trying to recreate this ancient formula that I’d read about,” he said.
“Somebody referred to it as like a Roman Gatorade, and then I read two quotes which cited the gut and hydration benefits of this drink, and I was like… that’s interesting.”
Watts not only created the drink but also tested its claims in extreme conditions. “I did a half-marathon carrying 27 kilos and absolutely annihilated myself,” he revealed. “I had no food or drink, and at the end of it, I was absolutely cooked. But then I had that homemade Posca Hydrate I’d been working on and felt instantly better.”
Finding the right partners
Watts later took the idea to Ed Stening, now CEO of the company. “As soon as he tasted it, he just goes, wow. Yeah, but it tastes good, like when you talk, when you read it, you’re like, oh it might not taste that good, it tastes really good.”
But taste was only part of the story. Watts describes Posca Hydrate as more than just a new product.
“It’s really hard to describe, because it’s not just a new beverage, it’s a new category, it’s an entirely new drink, it’s nothing like it in the world. It’s a hypertonic drink, which means that it contains more salts than the blood contains, so it’s specifically ratioed to the blood, so it gives us sustained hydration, and it’s a really, really good form of replenishment.”
And while the Romans never carbonated Posca Hydrate, Watts added a modern twist. “It’s sparkling, which the ancients didn’t do; I added that part. So I literally, I’m not joking, whacked it into the soda stream at home, and that was the best thing.”
To refine the flavour, he used his wine training. “I ran it through the same criteria you would judge wine – the front of the palate, end of the palate, you know, the length, the mouthfeel, everything, and particularly the acidity. So it was really, really quite considered.”
Sealing the SPC deal
Watts said the SPC partnership came after he was introduced to Robert Lervasi, Managing Director of SPC Global. “We sent him some early samples and he was incredibly supportive of the drink,” Watts said.
Those conversations evolved into a deal that will see Posca Hydrate launched as the inaugural brand for The Original Beverage Co., SPC’s new premium beverage division targeting the functional health segment.
Of the moment he learned about the deal, Watts says he was “jumping out of my skin”. “I think everyone in Australia realises how much of an iconic brand it is.”