Eric interviews Toby Maloney (@tobycocktail) about his award-winning book, The Bartender's Manifesto.

Some of the topics covered in this conversation include:

• How Toby thinks about cocktail development, including the importance of inspiration, intention, comfort, and curiosity
• The importance of curated attention in the creative process, allowing you to notice aspects  of the world around you that can be used as inspiration and structural components for cocktail building
• A live cocktail development case study, where Toby and Eric riff on a menu prompt and create their very own custom cocktail worthy of inclusion on a seasonal menu.
• Along the way, they explore the Fall-friendly flavors of pisco and tequila, the strange betrayal of curried potatoes, the speculative physics of anti-gravity cocktails, and much, much more.

In this modern classic conversation with bartender and beverage consultant Toby Maloney, some of the topics we discuss include:

• Toby's journey through the food and beverage world, from bussing and dishwashing, to culinary school, to tending bar, eventually landing gigs at famous venues like Milk & Honey, and Pegu Club, and going on to open The Violet Hour in Chicago.
• The decisions and philosophies (plus the techniques and ingredients) that allowed Toby and his cohort at The Violet Hour to open the hearts and minds of the people of Chicago to the paradigm shift that was the Cocktail Renaissance.
• What it's like to open a bar in 2025, specifically with respect to the ingredients and philosophies that carry over well from the last 15-20 years, and which practices and vibes might need a refresh.
• Then, we take a close look at how Toby is setting the tone at The Elbow Room with pre-batched "Flavor Booms," free pours, dirty dumps, a Hawthorne strainer moratorium,  and other service speed innovations.
• Along the way, we learn why people hated The Violet Hour Team at first, how to "David-Chang-ify" a food or beverage program, why Gen Z is primed for their "Fern Bar" moment, and much, much more.

If you like this conversation with Toby, well buckle up for part 2, where we dig even deeper into how he develops cocktails, complete with a live, on-air cocktail building exercise. But for now, please enjoy part 1 of this super fun interview with Toby Maloney.

In part 1 of my conversation with acclaimed bartender Charles Joly, some of the topics we discuss include:

• The two predominant "schools" of cocktail programs you might encounter in the early 2000s, and how Charles found his home and his voice in the seasonal and ingredient-focused program at a place called The Drawing Room.
• The conditions and events that led Charles to take on his break-out role on a national stage as the beverage director of the incredibly high-profile bar at The Aviary--a venue renowned for its avant-garde, highly technical molecular mixology drink preparations.
• How Charles handled the culture shock of transitioning into that role - the feeling of being parachute-dropped into a foreign land - and why a round of cheeky Tequila shots with guests helped to humanize the service style just a little.
• We also discuss what it means for a cocktail or ingredient to make "sense," which involves using context cues and narrative structure to help communicate the "why" behind the "what" and "how" of a drink.
• Along the way, we explore the tattoos you'd see on Charles' arms if he were to prepare a drink in front of you, why every bartender should know somebody peddling rare tea and Iberico ham, the beauty of "vibe-based" bartender's choice cocktails, and much, much more.

Eric breaks down the highlights from The Modern Bar Cart Podcast in 2021 and previews what listeners can expect in 2022. Topics include:

• 2021 by the numbers (downloads, most popular episode)
• Noteworthy improvements from 2021 (plus an inside look at how the podcast gets made)
• A look ahead at incorporating video and audience engagement into future episodes
• Opportunities for live meet-ups and listener feedback

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.

This episode is the second of a two-part interview with bartender, entrepreneur, and milk punch expert, Eamon Rockey. He's the creator of Rockey's Botanical Liqueur, and if you haven't listened to part I of this episode, you're missing out on a bunch of important background, as well as fun stuff like our featured cocktail, the Rockey's Spritz.

If you did tune in last week, you know that we deviously left you on a cliffhanger, where Eamon was about to reveal his secret to making milk punch without the stress of filtering and straining until you're blue in the face.

We'll start off here by giving you the goods that we so cruelly dangled last time around, and we'll continue with an awesome tasting and discussion centered around Eamon's delicious, painstakingly formulated, and surprisingly affordable botanical liqueur.

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.

In this first portion of a two-part interview with Eamon Rockey, creator of Rockey's Botanical Liqueur, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Eamon's childhood working in kitchens in Hattiesburg, Mississippi propelled him to the Culinary Institute of America and then into some of the hottest fine dining establishments in New York City.
• What it was like to take the cocktail program at the legendary 11 Madison Park and completely standardize its cocktail program by deconstructing ingredients and thinking like a chef.
• How to make a completely virgin spin on Milk punch that can be paired with any base spirit a guest might desire.
• Why milk punch can (and perhaps should more often) be approached as a cocktail technique or process, rather than a recipe unto itself
• What to say when Sasha Petraske of Milk & Honey asks you how you make simple syrup
• 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 Andrew Yancey of Tarnished Truth Distilling, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Andrew and his team opened up the first and (to-date) only hotel distillery in the US
• Why the history and lore of the Cavalier Hotel is so important to the brand and its mystique, including Prohibition-era suicides, fresh prepared wild game, and a mysterious FBI file involving Richard Nixon.
• We also discuss what it takes to design a distillery from the ground-up and the logic behind sourcing vs. in-housing certain spirits at various points in a brand's growth and evolution.
• Of course, we chat about the Virginia Bourbon Invitational, which is a fantastic annual event that will be returning to the Cavalier Hotel for its 4th year in November of 2022.
• Along the way, we touch on the importance of salt water in your bathtub, why the first person you hire should always be a chemist, grandfathers with multiple side-hustles, 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.

In this fascinating deep dive with bartender and ice cream fanatic Iain McPherson, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How a childhood love of frozen treats, a fascination with lucid dreaming, and a stint at Italy's most hallowed gelato university led Iain to explore the largely untapped universe of freeze concentration.
• Why this process - first pioneered by German "Eisbock" makers - has affectionately and efficiently come to be known as "switching."
• Then, we break down the process, including how to use switching to modify both ferments and distillates, what tools you'll need, and some of the experiments that have yielded the most interesting results at Iain's bars.
• We also cover why switching produces more pure flavors than heat- and pressure-intensive techniques that employ traditional stills or rotovaps, a few important precautions to keep you and your guests safe when making and enjoying switch-finished products, what the future holds for freeze-thaw mixology, 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 effervescent and eye-opening conversation with Fever-Tree co-founder and CEO, Tim Warrillow, some of the topics we discuss include:

• The drinks landscape in 2003 when Tim and his partner Charles set out to fundamentally change the way we approach the oft-overlooked and even-more-oft commodified carbonated mixers category.
• Why ingredient sourcing has played a pivotal role in Fever Tree's rise to cocktail stardom, leading Tim to dodge nail strips and rocket launchers in the search for the world's purest quinine.
• The symbiotic and dynamic relationship between premium spirits and premium mixers, and why Fever-Tree looks to the world's best distillers as inspiration for new products and flavor combinations.
• We also talk about Fever-Tree's new "Easy Mixing" book, which contains over 150 cocktails spanning beloved cocktail categories like the Mule, Highball, Summer Cup, Spritz, and even low- and no-ABV drinks.
• Along the way, we cover why Fever-Tree only comes in glass bottles, how the flavor of Mexican limes depend entirely on the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, what to drink with philanthropist Bill Gates,
• 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 eye-opening conversation with Bar Director Deke Dunne of Allegory here in Washington, DC, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Deke transitioned from a life in politics to a life behind bars, starting by working security at perhaps DC's most successful pop-up EVER and then making the switch to bartending.
• What a surrealist Victorian novel by Lewis Carrol has to do with Ruby Bridges, a civil rights pioneer who was the first black child to desegregate a white school here in the US, and why the artwork at Allegory mixes those stories together and puts them on display.
• Of course, we talk cocktails and drink development, explaining how Deke and his team use flavors to tell stories. And this might sound cut-and-dry, but when we explain how rum, bourbon, oxidized sherry, banana liqueur, and a purple tuber all came to reside in a Kefir-finished milk punch, your mind will be blown.
• We also necessarily dig into the tricky balance that a bartender needs to walk when engaging with guests about historically charged and culturally sensitive subject matter. It's possible to do it really well, but there's also a lot of work that occurs behind the scenes to strike the right balance.

Along the way, we discuss the role of hospitality in a concept bar, why a Ramos Gin Fizz is like a baseball bat donut, what's next for Deke and Allegory in 2022, and much, much more.

This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed, spirits and infused cocktail wisdom courtesy of Kurt Maitland, and a little bit of interview magic by yours truly. This has been a Modern Bar Cart production, copyright 2021.

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 wide ranging conversation with spirits expert and cocktail author Kurt Maitland, some of the topics we discuss include:

• Some notes from the early days of Kurt's spirits adventures, including a Jameson drinking college friend from Hong Kong, a bar with a Dutch name in Brooklyn, and a conference room at an architectural firm.
• How Kurt came to co-found the Manhattan Whiskey Club, and some crucial tips for starting a spirits appreciation group in the post-COVID world.
• Then we dive into Kurt's books, which are both intense and wonderful in their own ways. We cover how he leveraged his super powers as a paralegal to assemble the over 1,100 cocktail recipes in his first book, Drink, and why he was bitten by the infusion bug, which inspired The Infused Cocktail Handbook.
• We also take time in this interview to discuss the current state of the bar scenes in both New York and Washington, DC and where we think things are headed as we continue to slog through what I refer to as the "long tail of COVID."
• Along the way, we explain why people only ever follow a cocktail recipe to the letter once, the problem with the term "terroir," what to drink with former president Lyndon B. Johnson, 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 cross-over interview courtesy of the Drinks Adventures Podcast, James Atkinson interviews ESPN journalist Baxter Holmes about the NBA's burgeoning wine obsession.

It's a perfect little rabbit hole in which to think about the intersection of flavor, popular culture, and the network effect that can occur when a few influential people become evangelists and educators with the power to open the eyes (or in this case the palates) of a vast audience.

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 mailbag episode, Eric answers questions submitted by listeners. The topics include:

• Why 375ml bottles are less prevalent than 750ml bottles in the spirits space
• How different "pony & jigger" designs and sizes afford different uses for professional and home bartenders
• How to access this years Tales of the Cocktail seminars, and what's in store for next year's event
• What to do when you're trying to set up a home bar in a smaller-than-desired space
• Upcoming "Breaking Bloody" teasers
• 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 cask-strength conversation with spirits judge, educator, and master blender Nancy Fraley, some of the topics we discuss include:

• Nancy's journey to spirits blending, from Harvard Divinity School, to maritime law, to her apprenticeship under the legendary brandy maker Germain Robin.

• The story of the first Cigar Blend Bourbon (developed, of course, by Nancy) and how she weaves together factors like fermentation style, maturation humidity, cask finishes, and more to achieve the elusive flavor note known as rancio.

• A crash course in blending theory, which draws on architectural and corporeal metaphors to describe how to build flavor profiles in barrel-aged spirits

• Why the terms "master distiller" and "master blender" have become watered down in recent decades, which underscores the importance of humble practice day after day, year after year, in the pursuit of world-class distillates.

• We also explore the tension between the intellect and the instinct in spirits blending, using Nancy's experiences to illustrate how and when to let the wisdom of the body triumph over the chaos of "monkey mind" and the dance of contingency.

• Along the way, we divulge the connection between French brandy and rotting pheasant, trace the story of an all-but-forgotten yeast strain, share how you can sign up to taste some of the rankest, most flawed distillates in Nancy's "Nosing for Faults" class, 

• And much, much more.

This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed, whiskey blending insights and some delicious pours brought to you by Nancy Fraley, and support from The American Distilling Institute. This has been a Direct Fire Studios production, copyright 2025.

In this barrel-aged deep dive into Bourbon and American whiskey with distiller Lauren Patz, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Lauren's roots in Napa Valley winemaking led her to fall in love with the craft of distillation and barrel maturation.
• Why California in general (and Northern California, in particular) is a burgeoning American whiskey ecosystem bursting with local grain, available cooperage, and more native wine finishing opportunities than anywhere else in the country.
• Then we walk through Lauren's method for making Redwood Empire Whiskey step-by-step, examining her approach to important procedural touchpoints like malting, fermentation, sourcing, maturation, and blending.
• We also sample a delicious new product offering called "Grizzly Beast," which is a bonded bourbon whiskey made using some of the first barrels of whiskey laid down by Redwood Empire in their early days of operation.
• We also take some time to work through Lauren's approach to evaluating and judging bourbon and American whiskey as an anchor judge for the American Distilling Institute's annual judging of craft spirits.

Along the way, we chat about the wheat-and-rye hybrid grain you've never heard of, the virtues of "negative capability," what to drink with Dune author Frank Herbert, 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 episode, Eric gives listeners his thoughts on Tales of the Cocktail 2021, which is being held remotely for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.

He covers the use of new platforms and technology to streamline the event process and provide networking options, which seminars he is excited about, and how to take advantage of both live and pre-recorded events after they occur.

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 American Whiskey, some of the topics I discuss with author and spirits judge Eric Zandona include:

• A quick rundown of a few pivotal points in our country's whiskey history, including "The Taft Decision" and the pioneering female distiller who made her mark on the sour mash process.
• How early geographical and climatic constraints set the stage for the traditional whiskey styles that would come to define local drinking cultures in various regions of the US.
• Then, we get regional. We talk about the differences between Pennsylvania-style and Maryland-style rye whiskey, we look at Texas's unique barrel aging conditions, and we investigate the funky, new world Single Malts of the Pacific Northwest.
• We also talk about some emerging legislation at the state level that classifies certain geographically limited categories, like Kentucky Bourbon, Tennessee Whiskey, and the new and intriguing Missouri Bourbon category.
• Along the way, we talk about why craft whiskey is so much better than it was five years ago, why more people should be talking about barrel entry proof, who serves the best Martini in London, 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.

This episode is a post-mortem examination of a large-scale, milk clarified cocktail that Eric recently helped to create for the wedding of his friend and co-founder, Ethan Hall.

We thought this would be useful as an in-the-trenches analysis of how to take a cocktail from concept to reality at an ambitious but technically achievable volume of about 4-5 gallons for roughly 40 guests.

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 wide-ranging and pine-scented conversation with Master Distiller Ryan Christiansen, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How time spent in his father's hardware store as a child led Ryan to appreciate taking complicated equipment apart and bringing people and communities together. 
• What it was like to build Caledonia Spirits from the ground-up alongside his partner and beekeeper Todd Hardy.
• Why Barr HIll gin defies categorization as a London Dry, Old Tom, or New American style gin
• Some thoughts on the finicky and inconsistent barrel aged gin category, and what makes Barr Hill's Tom Cat reserve product such a stand-out example of what a barrel aged gin could (and perhaps should more often) be.
• Along the way, we cover the tricky business of understanding where bees have been hanging out, some hints as to the location of the mythical "juniper extraction curve," why "hazy Martinis" are set to be the next big cocktail craze
• 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 conversation with Dogfish Head Brewery founder Sam Calagione, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Sam took his creativity from the writer's workshop to the brewery, scaling Dogfish Head from the smallest commercial brewery in America to a top 20 craft brand over the course of two decades.
• What it means to make "off-centered ales for off centered people," which requires us to travel back in time over 500 years to the publication of the reinheitsgebot - Bavaria's infamous beer purity law.
• How Sam invented the practice of continual hopping using a vibrating football game that now resides in the Smithsonian.
• Why Dogfish Head's acquisition by the Boston Beer Company was like a merging of kindred, yet complementary souls.
• What the future holds for Sam and his beer, including tropical fruit farming in South Florida, art and music collaborations, 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 blockbuster Baijiu pairing and Chinese food smorgasbord, some of the topics we discuss with Brett Steigerwaldt and Derek Sandhaus include:

• The base grains, production methods, and flavor profiles of seven - count em - SEVEN different baijiu categories, including: rice aroma, light aroma, laobaigan, phoenix aroma, strong aroma, sauce aroma, and extra strong aroma.
• The relationship between baijiu and food, both at a basic level, and in the context of each different region and culinary tradition
• How different Baijiu styles "hack" the very foreign (to us) looking production method involving microbe-packed grain bricks called "Qu" and giant steamers to create flavors and aromas that are vastly different from one another.
• We also talk about what a phoenix smells like, how various traditional spicy and numbing ingredients affect how baijiu tastes, why food and drink exploration is an important act of cultural ambassadorship,
• 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 wide-ranging conversation with Noah Rothbaum and David Wondrich, some of the topics we cover include:

• How Dave transitioned from English professor, to Esquire columnist, to full-fledged cocktail historian, and how that journey brought him to collaborate with Noah at The Daily Beast and on their current Oxford Companion project.
• The difference between writing about spirits and cocktails in the early 2000s vs. today, and how our relationship to "The Truth" (in quotes here) is different than it was during those early days of our great cocktail revival.
• Why long-form booze writing has (paradoxically) spawned a lot of attention and accolades in today's age of listicles and tweet threads.
• And how conducting historical research is very similar to noodling for catfish.
• Along the way, we discuss why Beachbum Berry can't stand the Pina Colada, where Dave hid that lump of Ambergris he's been missing for the past several years, the merits of a good rum punch, 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 Andrew Hellman of 1pt Co., some of the topics we discuss include:

• What an infusion IS at a technical level, and why you might consume more of them in your day-to-day life than perhaps you realize.
• How, with the help of his wife Anna, Andrew used his experience in finance and design to launch a new company aimed at changing the way we think about infused spirits.
• The painstaking design that went into One Part Company's infusion hardware and consumable packets, from the Scandinavian aesthetics to the insanely easy infusion process.
• Andrew's approach to sourcing ingredients and creating flavor accords to pair with specific cocktail formats
• We answer a timely listener question about scaling a homemade bitters recipe into something perhaps more commercially viable,

We cover the merits of curated music playlists, the woes of sourcing lavender, what to drink with a grandma straight out of the Mad Men era of the 1950s, 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.

This episode is an introduction to a philosophy called "Epicureanism," a word that has become associated with those who seek out good food and drink.

• We begin by explaining who Epicurus was and what ideas he developed and spread throughout the Hellenistic world beginning in the 300s BCE
• Then we walk you through some of the important differences between Epicureanism and another philosophy called Stoicism
• And finally we explain why Epicureanism is a useful way to think about not only pursuing the sensory pleasures of life, but also more generally why it's a tremendously attractive lens through which to view the strange and stressful world that we're all experiencing in the here and now.

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 presents selected recordings from the 2024 ADI Gin Summit to provide a few extra perspectives on botanical spirits from some of the world's best category experts, including:

• David T. Smith - a prolific gin judge and author of The Gin Dictionary and many other excellent cocktail books,
• Natasha Bahrami - creator of The Gin Room in St. Louis and Gin World, which is an international gin education series for bartenders and other industry professionals), and
• Virginia Miller - experienced spirits judge and travel writer (The Perfect Spot) who works with esteemed organizations like the World's 50 Best and the James Beard Foundation

During this session, we'll discuss topics ranging from:

• What constitutes a London Dry gin from a technical standpoint
• building a botanical library
• Use of character-forward distillate bases
• Deployment of color in gin and related products
• And much, much more!

In this well-shuffled, cleanly dealt interview with Dave Beck of Paverson Games, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How a trip to Scotland sparked the idea for a game that would challenge players to distill, age, and sell their own spirits...all thanks to an inheritance from a long-lost relative.
• Why Distilled is considered a "medium weight, Euro-style game, and what it looks like to make booze using cards, tokens, and distiller avatars.
• How the Kickstarter campaign for this product met its funding goal in less than an hour, on its way to eclipsing that goal by over 15,000%.
• Which technical distilling processes were creatively mixed into the game mechanics of Distilled, and which needed to be saved perhaps for a future edition, including heads and tales cuts, the Angel's share, and pulling flavor notes from wood.
• How the game educates and introduces players to spirits from different cultures, using  avatars based on historical distillers from around the world - all with special recipe and abilities.
• Along the way, we talk about why American games are so confrontational, the simple joy of summoning elevators, how to order a proper brandy old fashioned at a Wisconsin supper club, 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 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.

In this eye-opening conversation and rum tasting with Kō Hana Rum General Manager Kyle Reutner, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Kō Hana Rum started as a passion project dedicated to Hawaiian heirloom cane varietals, spreading from a small lot to several hundred acres of cane farmed at several locations on Oahu.
• What heirloom cane even means - from its pivotal role in the polynesian diaspora to the advent of commodity sugar farming, to recent efforts to resurrect a nearly lost cultural staple crop.
• Then we get into the tasting. Boy do we taste. We sample four white (i.e un-aged) agricole-style rums from Kō Hana, all with different flavor qualities and origin stories.
• Along the way, we talk about Hawaiian terroir, the primacy of plants in the species-naming agenda of native polynesians, how Kō Hana has diversified its offerings using the only cacao grown in the United States, 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 is joined by co-producer and travel correspondent, Adam Bauer to discuss the many signature Bloody Mary cocktails served at St. Regis Hotels all around the world. The drinks featured include:

• The 7452 Mary (St. Regis, Deer Park)
• The Downhill Snapper (St. Regis, Aspen)
• The Capitol Mary (St. Regis, Washington, DC)

This episode also touches on a few key tensions within the Bloody Mary world. For example: the tension between ritual and innovation and the impulse to reach for familiar flavors when you're traveling away from home.

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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 Navy Strength conversation with Bobby Freeman (@nononsensegin), creator of the hit YouTube Channel, No Nonsense Gin Drinking, some of the topics we discuss include:

• Bobby's journey through gin, beginning with the gin & tonic that launched his obsession and all of the stylistic preferences and affinities he's developed along the way

• A discussion of recent gin trends in the UK, including the "Pink Gin Bubble" that occurred during COVID and the current obsession with citrus-heavy gins.

• We also cover the popular cocktail trends that are dominant right now in the London bar world, including Pisco & whiskey sours, porn star martinis, and brambles.

• And of course, this wouldn't be a true gin nerd conversation if we didn't take the opportunity to sample some of our personal favorite gins featuring outlandish botanicals, like oyster shells, elephant dung, ants, and prickly pear cactus.

• Along the way, we discuss why Bobby gets a little nervous when ordering a Mojito, which South American country has suspiciously good deals on distilled spirits, the gin with a flavor profile that can only be described as "pure fart,"

• And much, much more.

In this stimulating still dialogue with Dr. Eric Stroud of Mohawk Spirits Distillery, some of the topics we discuss include:

• The differences between traditional and vacuum distillation - that is, distillation that takes place in the presence of high heat vs. distillation that takes place at room temperature but under high pressure.
• How Dr. Stroud secured a grant from the American Distilling Institute that allowed him to fabricate and test ancient still designs found in alchemical and medical texts from the Renaissance and Enlightenment.
• What it's like to test glass stills with zig-zags and coils and chambers that seem to be in all the wrong places.
• The implications of Dr. Stroud's compelling test results for the craft distilling community, as well as what new experiments are on the horizon.
• The virtues of working with native North American fruits and berries,
• What to drink with a late Renaissance alchemist,
• 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.

Some of the topics we cover in this wide-ranging conversation with spirits writer, educator, and judge Billy Abbott include:

• How Billy took the leap from a career in computing and database management to pursue his passion for whisky, and what the past decade has looked like for him following that drastic vocational shift.
• What it means to be a generalist in a world teeming with whisky specialists, and why it pays to take a curious, humble, and omnivorous approach to learning and teaching about spirits.
• Then we take a slight left turn and talk about Asian spirits, including how Billy became one of the first Awamori Jinbners, his thoughts on Shochu and Bajui, and the tricky business of introducing large markets to spirits they know nothing about.
• But that's not all. We give you the inside scoop on BIlly's new book, we cover some exciting new spirits producers and trends in Europe and the UK, and we even wax poetic on the importance of sandwich ergonomics in the age of COVID.

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 walks through his method for cutting back on drinking using a simple tool he calls a "daily accountability journal." This method stands in stark contrast to "booze cleanse" months like "Sober October" and "Dry January."

Along the way, he discusses the difference between "dry" and "wet" societies, why we tend to set ourselves up for failure during the holidays, and how you can use the daily accountability journal to really earn a drink or two at the end of the day.

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.

In this Bar Cart Foundations episode, we trace the history of the mint julep and describe some important points regarding its craft.

• We begin by trying to define what a julep is, where it comes from, and where mint enters into the equation.
• Next, we place its formulation in contrast to other drinks that were popular during its heyday - that time being the late 1700s to mid-1800s.
• After that, we talk about its connection with the Kentucky Derby, which leads to a few fun equestrian mixological digressions.
• And we wrap with some tips for preparing mint Juleps in the year 2021 in time for the Kentucky Derby or whatever other excuse you might have for making them.

In this barrel-aged deep dive with spirits writer Brent Joseph, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Brent came to love Bourbon and used his passion to propel himself into a senior contributor role at Bourbon & Banter.
• The recent retail experiences that led him to pose the titular question of his four-part article series: "Is Bourbon Broken?"
• The economic and market forces that have led to massive demand for particular brands and bottles (and the subsequent perverse incentive to flip them for outrageous prices on the secondary market).
• What it means for a bottle to be "allocated"
• The role that social media has played in the fetishization of certain bottles and purchasing habits
• How to be a smarter Bourbon shopper and better citizen of the Bourbon community
• 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.

Sother Teague is the barman behind the hit NYC bar, Amor y Amargo (Trans: "Love and Bitters"). He is also the authors of the books, I'm Just Here for the Drinks and Let's Get Blitzen.

Some of the topics covered in this wide-ranging conversation with Sother Teague include:

• The origin story of Sother Teague. From a biker bar in Panama City Florida, to the New England Culinary Institute, to tending bar in New York City.
• Why Amor Y Amargo is a bumble bee, and how it transformed from a trendy pop-up to an acclaimed East Village destination.
• The bizarre, seductive energy that characterized a pre-pandemic visit to Sother's Bar, and what can it teach us about the meaning of being together and sharing a drink.
• How Sother has become the reluctant master of the pivot, and what changes are in store for guests at his new concept: Reserve by Amor y Amargo.
• Some thoughts on the daunting task of pairing food with boozy, stirred cocktails
• My first Underberg Bitters drinking contest (you'll never guess who won)
• Details about what's on the horizon for Sother (including several trash bags of bottle caps and a new Sunday Dinner ritual)
• 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.

In this passionate conversation with spirits entrepreneur Mary Sadlier, creator of Coole Swan Irish Cream Liqueur, some of the topics we discuss include:

-How Mary spun a career in accounting and finance into a crusade with her dairy farmer husband to revolutionize the Irish Cream liqueur category.

-The story behind the Coole Swan brand name, which involves a uniquely Irish geological feature, a famous poet, and a flock of...you guessed it, Swans.

-Why the assimilative properties of cream make it an excellent canvas for conveying other flavors

-How Mary manages to keep her ingredient list smaller and more natural than her competitors.

-Ideas for using Coole Swan on your bar menu or in your next at-home cocktail adventure

-What to drink when you're hanging out with Clint Eastwood

-And much, much more

In this bitter and botanical deep dive with Keli Rivers and David T. Smith, we preview their new book, Negroni, and discuss the ins and outs of this classic equal-parts cocktail.

Some of the topics we discuss include:

• The various origin stories of the Negroni - both the conventional story about count Camillo Negroni, and also some stunningly international accounts that cast doubt on when and where this cocktail was truly invented, and by whom.
• What it's like to assemble a cocktail book during a pandemic, and why Negroni turned out to be a timely tool for home bartenders affected by lockdowns and a lack of bars.
• The three primary buckets that all negronis can fall into: perfect ratio through formulation, perfect ratio through balance, and perfect ratio out the window.
• Some of the more exotic or avant-garde Negroni recipes in the book, including tiki negronis, creamy negronis, and even a negroni served hot.
• We learn the story behind Keli's tattoo, the importance of having a bottled negroni in the fridge at all times, the virtues of gin and cola, and much, much more.

Welcome to another episode of Modern Bar Cart LIVE!

This time around, we were lucky enough to have special guest Erin Petrey of Bourbon & Banter join us in person for a tasting of four different bourbons. The goal here was to see how different styles and mash bills affect the flavor profiles of America's spirit and learn to appreciate how different flavors can be mapped onto decisions made during the distilling and barrel aging process.

The bottles we taste in this stream are as follows (in case you want to taste along with us):

• Rebel Yell Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Elijah Craig Small Batch
• Four Roses Single Barrel
• Wild Turkey 17 year Bottled in Bond

Quick little bio for Erin:

Born and raised in the Bluegrass, Erin has always held an affinity for her home state's signature spirit. Throughout her world travels (35 countries and counting!), Erin delights in spreading the gospel of bourbon across the globe, from Spain to Korea, and especially in her now home of Washington, DC. Erin spent her formative years studying international relations and finding the best libations the Nation's Capital has to offer. Though a high rye bourbon will always be her favorite, she can never say no to a pretty bottle. Always up for an adventure, Erin also enjoys kayaking, science fiction, exceptional cocktails, and travelling everywhere possible.

This episode was brought to you by Near Country Provisions.

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In this continuation of our two-part exploration of spice in the Bloody Mary cocktail, Eric chats with food scientist Sarah Kolk of Silver Spring Foods about the chemistry and sensory biology responsible for our experience of spicy horseradish.

Then, after a super spicy horseradish tasting, we synthesize some of the things we've learned about chemesthesis, benign masochism, and how spice operates like the "motor" of the Bloody Mary cocktail, helping to propel you out of your hangover.

Eric continues his two part investigation of the rise of Artificial Intelligence in the cocktail and bar world with special guest Rob Nester, creator of the hit podcast, Drinking with Robots. 

Some of the topics covered include:

• Why AI and human bartenders have some of the same tendencies, especially when it comes to picking base spirits for cocktails.
• The role that "cognitive outsourcing" plays in our lives, and how to think about "outsourcing" certain tasks to artificial intelligence.
• The reason why LLMs can often produce cocktails that are about 90% perfect, but often fall short of actual greatness.
• Some thoughts about how the "intersubjectivity" of flavor is actually a human superpower
• A few mind-boggling statistics about the computing power of the human brain when compared to the supercomputers that run ChatGPT
• And much, much more

This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed, AI and cocktail insights courtesy of Rob Nester, creator of the hit podcast, "Drinking with Robots." This has been a Direct Fire Studios production, copyright 2025!

Welcome to the latest installment of our Breaking Bloody series, where we systematically break down the Bloody Mary cocktail to investigate what each of its myriad ingredients bring to the table.

This time around, we're getting saucy, maybe a little zesty, and perhaps un poco picante. That's right, we're talking about spice, that flavor that puts some pep in your step and some fire in your belly. This episode goes out to all you pepper-heads out there who enjoy some sweat on your brow and some zing in your chow, you hard-charging capsaicin crusaders, Sriracha muchachas, and Cholula chieftains. To be Frank, it's gonna be a red-hot ride, so hold on to your scovilles, pour yourself a glass of milk, and for the love of God, keep your hands away from your eyes (and other sundry mucous membranes).

Our expert guests include:

• Dr. Alissa Nolden (Flavor researcher, University of Massachusetts)
• John Shope (Pepper Head and Brand Ambassador, Catoctin Creek Distilling Co.)
• Sarah Kolk (Research Scientist, Silver Spring Foods)
• Dr. Dan McCall (Gettysburg Odor and Flavor Lab)

In this fruity, fermented conversation with Crag Cavallo and Dan Pucci, authors of American Cider, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How each of these gentlemen fell in love with apples and cider through their shared experiences in the New York hospitality scene and their happy proximity to the Hudson Valley - one of our nation's most prolific apple hubs
• Why cider developed differently in America than it did in Europe, and how different geographic, cultural, and economic factors contributed to various dark ages and revivals in the apple world.
• Of course, we talk about different exciting apple varietals with cool names like "Northern Spy" and "Black Twig," as well as the four different categories that all cider apples can be placed into.
• We explain the different decisions that cider makers encounter on their way to delicious ferments, including yeast, terroir, and naming conventions.
• We offer tips for sourcing excellent cider for your home bar and even how to start experimenting with making your own cider,
• And much, much more.

In this interview with Professor Brian Connors of Florida International University, some of the topics we discuss include:

• His travels through the world of hospitality and education, including stints at Cornell, and Johnson & Wales, time spent in Ireland and at Michelin star restaurants in France, and even a little bit of chef work on private yachts.
• How Brian thinks about generalists and specialists in the hospitality space and what you can do to apply your unique skill set to a bar or restaurant career.
• What Florida International University and Bacardi are doing to explore the new face of hospitality during a pandemic and prepare the next generation of chefs, bartenders, and managers for the challenges they'll face moving forward.
• Why Bar Project 2021 took a page out of the tech industry's playbook by incorporating a sort of hospitality hackathon into their program.
• Where Brian and I think the industry is headed as we continue our march into 2021 and beyond.
• How to survive a drunken trip to Oaxaca with Hunter S. Thompson,
• And much, much more