The Modern Bar Cart Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this LIVE Seminar recording, Eric identifies two key strains of B.S. that run through contemporary tasting notes. Then, using a concept he refers to as "locating the 'heart' of a spirit," he explores how to generate tasting notes that say accurate things about flavor while also allowing people to connect with the liquid in a glass or a bottle.

In this, sweet, funky, and occasionally grassy conversation with Ian Burrell (@therumambassador), author of Rum A Tasting Course, some of the topics we discuss include:

• Why Ian takes a "flavor-first" approach to rum (in general, but especially in this book), and how these flavors are gateways to history, geography, culture, and conversation.

• The different ways that rum can be categorized, and why these categories are a gateway to all the delightful exceptions that will bamboozle and delight your palate and your brain.

• We also discuss the three primary types of rum drinkers and the ways these different mindsets and preferences weave through the contemporary story of rum as we experience it at our favorite bars and distilleries.

• Ian offers a glimpse into some of the completely unique features of RUM: A Tasting Course, including how to make a DIY aroma kit to practice your nosing skills, how he learned about some of the more "illicit" styles of cane spirits being produced around the globe, and how to read a rum label in a way that gives you clues as to what's in the bottle.

• We also explore how rum is the most global spirits category of all and why it can benefit from a "complex-systems" approach that introduces people to many different levels of description on their journey to understand and enjoy the bounty of world cane spirits.

• Along the way, we riff on why it's awesome to know the shoe size of your favorite rum blender, the elaborate heist that Ian has planned in order to secure a barrel or two from Foursquare Distillery, which sex act is most comparable to the experience of drinking Campari, and much, much more.

Every conversation with Ian is both a joy and a complete reinforcement of WHY he is truly THE Global Rum Ambassador. I hope you'll take the opportunity to give him a follow on social media and look into preordering his new book, Rum A Tasting Course, which will be available in the US about a month after this podcast goes live.

In this groundbreaking, down and dirty conversation with Gian Nelson of Jano Spirits, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Gian found his home in the creative and multidisciplinary workspace of the wine and spirits industry and why he's selected Agave Americana as the canvas on which he expresses his passion.

• An overview of the different types of agave spirits currently being produced here in the US, specifically: the differences between using imported agave syrup vs. actual farmed or wild agaves.

• Why Mexico is becoming the "Old World" of Agave spirits production, and how American and other international producers are responding to a lack of shared knowledge across borders with characteristic punk rock innovation.

• What it would mean for a bartender or beverage program in Mexico to import American Agave spirits specifically to feature on their sipping or cocktail menu.

• And How many thousands of pounds of pinas it takes to make just ten cases of agave spirits.

• Along the way, we meditate on the mystical nature of inulin conversion, celebrate the influence of Chicano flavors and cultures, learn how to get your neighbor to let you dig up their agave plants, and much, much more.

Featured Cocktail: The Batanga

This episode's featured cocktail is the Batanga. To make it, you'll need:

• 2 ounces tequila (generally, a silver tequila is utilized, but you can feel free to substitute with any agave spirit of your choosing)

• 1/2 ounce lime juice

• 3 ounces Cola

• Salt for rimming the glass.

Begin by slicing a fresh lime, squeezing it for juice, and rubbing a spent half around the rim of a highball glass. Next, rim the glass with salt and fill it with ice. Since this is a built drink in the style of a Cuba Libre, all you need to do is add your agave spirit, lime juice, and cola to top (in that order), and, important to the ritual of this drink, stir it with the knife you used to cut the lime. Garnish simply with a lime wheel or a nice lime twist and enjoy.

In this tropical deep dive with home bar architect and Tiki expert Jayme Blaschke, creator of The Lagoon of Mystery and host of A Moment of Tiki, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How a brush with homelessness and an off-hand comment made while floating in a pool spawned a passion for tiki and led Jayme to build and cultivate his beautiful home tiki bar, The Lagoon of Mystery.
• A virtual walk-through of some of the building materials, design choices, and escapist landscaping that morphed Jayme's Texas poolside patio into a transportive oasis that plays "Dive In" movies during the summer.
• Some thoughts on how to relate to Tiki culture as a white guy - which Jayme and I both are. We offer perspectives and concrete resources that will help you learn about colonialism, appropriation, and how to celebrate Tiki tastefully in the 21st century.
• A fun romp through the many genres of island-appropriate music that you can use to flesh-out your Tiki playlist - including exotica, calypso, bossa nova, and modern indigenous compositions that will whisk you away to a tropical landscape.
• Along the way, we discuss what kind of Tiki bar could boast a mechanical bull, how to avoid weevils in your bamboo, why NOT to drink green beer with J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, and much much more.

This episode is brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.

Head over to NearCountry.com and enter the code BARCART when you sign up for your subscription to receive 2 free pounds of bacon or ground beef in your first delivery.

In this fascinating deep dive on Japanese Whisky, past and present, some of the topics I discuss with Nicholas Pollacchi of Shibui Whisky include:

• The complicated history of Japanese whisky making, including the sharp left turn that makes this tradition diverge (and reconnect) surprisingly with other world whisky traditions.
• How Shibui is looking to help Japanese distillers and master blenders embrace a new, more collaborative mindset and source more compelling cooperage.
• Then, we embark upon an ambitious, 7-spirit tasting that spans Shibui's Niigata and Okinawa collections, showcasing wheat, malt, and rice whiskies from some of Japan's best artisan distillers.
• During this tasting, we cover the nuances of different grain bases and barrel finishes (including the legendary mizunara oak grown in Japan), as well as different ways to think about Japanese whisky in the greater world whisky landscape.
• Along the way, we discuss the difference between whisky and Okinowan Awamori, the effects of colonialism on the Japanese approach to distilled spirits, what to drink with legendary Scotch distiller William Grant, and much, much more.

This episode is brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.

Head over to NearCountry.com and enter the code BARCART when you sign up for your subscription to receive 2 free pounds of bacon or ground beef in your first delivery.

Eric examines the ways in which spirits can be identified as either "flawed" or "faulty." Some of the topics covered in this Bar Cart Foundations Episode include:

• The similarities and differences between spirits judging and other judged events (like dog shows)
• Why it helps to compare spirits by category and style in order to really amplify the good and bad attributes
• How to identify potentially dangerous faults in spirits that may be caused by ingredient sourcing, sanitation, or barrel contamination issues.
• How to spot less harmful (but still sub-optimal) spirits flaws and trace them back to a particular moment in the manufacturing process
• Why craft distillers are the most susceptible to producing flawed spirits,
• And much, much more

This episode is brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.

Head over to NearCountry.com and enter the code BARCART when you sign up for your subscription to receive 2 free pounds of bacon or ground beef in your first delivery.

Eric gives you a few things to look out for during the second half of 2021, including Japanese spirits and cocktails, orchard-to-table drinks and garnishes, and a few surprises and teasers along the way.

In this eye-opening conversation and rum tasting with Global Rum Ambassador Ian Burrell, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Ian entered the rum world as a bartender, which led to several career transformations as a brand and category ambassador, then the creator of UK Rumfest, and now as one of the cofounders of a blossoming rum brand.
• The fascinating life of Olaudah Equiano, slave-turned-entrepreneur-turned-freedom-fighter-and-philanthropist. He, of course, is the namesake of Equiano rum and the inspiration for both its products and its philanthropic mission.
• How rum from the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean is blended with meticulously distilled and aged spirits from Barbados to create the unique flavor profile and multicultural DNA of Equiano's flagship product and its brand new light rum, which I had the privilege of tasting before it even hit shelves here in the US.
• We discuss the impact of colonialism and geographic indications on today's rum landscape
• We explore the exciting emergence of multi-style or multi-island rum blends, the difference between "nursing" and "doctoring" a drink, how Ian plans to convert Barack Obama into a rum drinker, and much, much more.

In this wide-ranging conversation with entrepreneur and ginger beer philosopher Kenny Richards, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Kenny left behind a career in academia to resurrect one of America's most beloved, and yet also most forgotten drinks categories.
• What it's like to scale a brewery from a few barrels to a much more ambitious craft operation, and what implications that has on ingredients, people, and process.
• We taste through 4 popular (and very different) expressions of Halyard's ginger beers, beginning with Nicole's Extra, followed by Volcano Juice, The Breeze, and Mountain Aid.
• We talk about the best ways to use alcoholic ginger beer in cocktails, and especially the numerous opportunities there are to innovate within the buck/mule category.
• We discuss what it means to become, be, and remain authentic in the age of peak Hazy IPAs, glitter beer, and hard seltzer.
• We cover why Vermonters are constantly stuffing beers in their pockets, the aesthetics of a perfect moonrise, what to drink with Enlightenment philosopher Baruch Spinoza,
• And much, much more.

This episode is brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.

Head over to NearCountry.com and enter the code BARCART when you sign up for your subscription to receive 2 free pounds of bacon or ground beef in your first delivery.

In this fascinating conversation with author and historian Cecelia Tichi, some of the topics we discuss include:

• What the Gilded Age is, and why this time period was so important, not only for cocktail culture, but also in laying the groundwork for the seismic events that would follow in the early 20th century
• How Gilded Age Cocktails was conceived - and (spoiler alert), it may have happened over the course of a few drinks.
• We talk about the equine origins of the word "cocktail" and its interesting ties to concepts like genetic pedigree and mongrel or mixed components.
• We consider the influence of universities, private clubs, and trans-Atlantic travel on the spread and cross-pollination of cocktail styles and recipes across continents.
• We explore what the Gilded Age has in common with today's world of social media and rapid tech innovation,
• We admire the wardrobe and style of the original cocktail influencer, Jerry Thomas
• And much, much more

This episode is also brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.

Head over to NearCountry.com and enter the code BARCART when you sign up for your subscription to receive 2 free pounds of bacon or ground beef in your first delivery.