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I’ve been working on getting Christophe Rossi on the show since mid-August of last year. His bar, L’Escamoteur, came highly recommended from several Kyoto locals while I was in Japan. I dropped in expecting to have a drink or two, but ended up staying all night. And several subsequent nights. The cocktails were perfect and delivered with a bit of m…

Lately, there seems to be a theme of guests that had a specific path in life only to find it disrupted and hijacked by the craft spirits business. And this week is no exception. Jason Cox was working as a translator when he decided to spend a few months studying Mexican slang and dialects. When he attended his first mezcal tasting, he was immediate…

This week’s guest, Garett Richard has worked in some of the best bars and with some of the best bartenders in New York, which also makes them some of the best in the world. And being a tikiphile running a Tiki/Tropical bar in New York makes him something of a unicorn these days. Having made an unlikely jump from radio to hospitality, he has, in jus…

Rolling Fork Spirits won me over immediately. The two owners, Turner Wathen and Jordan Morris, set out to create a brand that offered something no one else was offering. Luckily for us (read: me) that meant rum! This small, independent bottler could easily fly under the radar of spirits geeks. But, again, lucky for us, they’re doing it more for the…

I’m back in Japan today, and talking to one of the few tiki bar owners in the country. Brandon Grilc’s career as an architectural historian took a left hard turn when he and his wife decided to spend some time in Japan teaching English. They had already become tikiphiles and amateur Mid-Century (American) historians while living in the Pacific Nort…

When Ashok Chokalingam took his first job with Amrut Distilleries, he had no idea how far that job would take him, and the impact he’d have on the whisky category, India, and worldwide acceptance of one of the most beloved whisky styles in the world – made in India. Not Scotland. His first job with the company was to relocate to Newcastle upon Tyne…

The Cocktail Wonk is back on the show after six long years. And he’s accomplished a lot in that time. This week we’re talking about his influential book, Minimalist Tiki and his new tome, Modern Caribbean Rum, and how those books lead him and his wife Carrie to start their own publishing company, Wonk Press.…

If you’re reading this we hope you’re in Tokyo, because you’re in for a real treat. Tonight is the opening of Japan’s newest craft cocktail bar, Tokyo Confidential. So today I’ve got Holly Graham on the show to discuss how she got here. Both literally and figuratively. How does a Londoner end up in Asia for 15 years, spending 10 of those years in H…

Just a decade ago, Chris Montana opened DuNord spirits. In the ten years since, his role has grown in ways that he could have never imagined. Looking around rooms filled with craft distillers, he noticed that no one looked like him. So he set about to help remedy that through educational programs to teach young men and women of color how distillati…

UPDATE: My good friend, Brother Cleve, passed away unexpectedly on Sept 9, 2022 — just a few months after this interview. Cleve was a mentor, a friend, and a confidant for me, as well as countless others in the industry. He was always quick with a smile, generous beyond reproach, and one of the kindest humans I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. He is…

After the first ever shochu episode back in 2017 A Shochu Lesson with Erik Zmara, I received a tweet from a gentleman in Japan that was working in a distillery. He sent some responses to questions we weren’t able to answer during that episode. That man was Stephen Lyman and his life has been a whirlwind since that tweet. Stephen is now lives in Jap…

A week ago I had the opportunity to visit KōHana Rum in Kunia, Oahu. And that visit was precisely what I needed to get my groove back. The trek to the distillery from Honolulu is a picturesque paradise. But the one thing that I didn’t see on that drive was sugarcane. Sugarcane used to be an important crop for Hawai’i, but the industry up and vanish…

Over the last decade, Sherry has increasingly become a drink of choice for bartenders and service industry professionals. It has started showing up on bar programs, in cocktails, and the used casks have become a distiller’s favorite way to finish different spirits. Although once as ubiquitous on the table as whiskey or rum, consumption dropped off …

Today I welcome Jennifer Matthewson, founder of Daily Blender ,to the show. As the ripple effects of the pandemic are now becoming clear, it looks as though we are losing her blog as another casualty of COVID-19. Food journalism has been going a major transformation over the last decade. The early 2000’s saw the rise of message boards which I turn …

One in four Americans lives with some degree of disability – whether that is the need for a wheelchair, limited sight or hearing, or limited range of motion. Yannick Benjamin is one of those Americans. And he also happens to be the co-owner of one of New York’s hottest new restaurants. Contento, located in East Harlem, opened on June 10th of 2021 i…

Nick Kokonas has worked in some of the most well-known cocktail destinations in Chicago. But it was at Heritage that he curated a program that eventually led to an entire project. When his manager there told him that they’d do a book together once he had over 50 unique tonic recipes, Nick took it literally. His new book, Something and Tonic, came o…

There are few things more confusing than the three-tier system controlling alcohol distribution in the United States. It’s a topic that is complex even for policy savvy bar owners and restaurateurs — and even more so for the average consumer that just wants to find a bottle of their favorite bourbon (or rum!). So, today I’ve brought in Adam Thierer…

It’s been four months, but we’re finally back from break. And this week I have my friend Al Thompson on the show to talk his position as Beverage Director for Thip Khao and Hanumanh in Washington DC. This position is somewhat of a departure for him as he has spent the last several years working as the bar manager for Chef Jose Andres’ modernist coc…

Sullivan Doh has seemingly done it all, and just seems to be garnering more respect from the community each time he shifts his focus. He became enamored with fine dining at quite a young age working at Michelin-starred restaurants in London. It was there that he decided that, if he were going to make a career of hospitality, he needed to get into b…

Charles Joly has witnessed and been a part of the craft cocktail renaissance since the beginning. After starting as a bar back in a high volume, underground Chicago club, he moved on and moved up – finally taking the reins at The Drawing Room in Chicago. And he realized that hospitality was his forever career. And he had a knack for it. After one o…

Bailey Pryor’s achievements are impressive. He is the recipient of several Emmy awards, has written, directed, and produced scores of movies and documentaries, and is the leading authority on notorious rum runner, Bill McCoy. And he’s barely over 50-years-old. F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said there are no second acts in life. But, Bailey’s years o…

It’s the return of André Darlington! The last time he was on the show we were discussing his now-bestselling cocktail book, Booze & Vinyl. And now he’s back to discuss his new book that took him around the world on a cocktail adventure, just months before travel restrictions and COVID-19 shut down the kind of trip he was on. Now he’s back and his n…

PLEASE NOTE: This episode mentions several links and articles. They are available at the bottom of these show notes. Sother Teague is no stranger to Shift Drink. We’ve been planning on doing a show together for years. But my first visit to his show, The Speakeasy, also included the venerable Simon Ford. So yours truly sat and listened. One does not…

When Sother and I get to chatting, jaunts off-topic aren’t rare. So, here we’re offering this bonus material for you to eavesdrop. If you haven’t listened to I’m Just Here For the Shift Drink, check in to hear all about bitters!Av Shift Drink

Misty Kalkofen needs no introduction in the spirits community — or if you listened to my interview her on our last episode,Drinking Like Misty Kalkofen Pt. 1. But regardless of whether or not you’re familiar with her work, you’ve likely encountered it. After spending the first half of her career behind Boston bars as a protégé of Brother Cleve, she…

Misty Kalkofen has done it all. She was building craft cocktail menus in an era ruled by pre-mixed Long Island Iced Tea. While studying at Harvard Divinity School, she took at job behind the bar and ended up as a protégé of lounge legend and Tikiphile, Brother Cleve. Her dedication to hospitality and quality libations led her to focus her energy on…

Carrie Abbott started her candy company, Newfangled Confections, back in 2012. But that wasn’t the beginning. This hospitality industry veteran had been running the pastry and service side of a catering company (with my future business partner, Chef Micah Frank) when she made a confection that would alter the direction of her life. After two years …

It’s been a wild ride for Vincent Pollard so far. As many bartenders out there, he started in the business with no real knowledge of the craft cocktail scene. But working in Canada for some of the best bars in the country put the hooks in him. He’s since been full speed ahead. His most recent project has taken him to Colombia to work on launching a…

As we wrap up the end of the year in our living rooms rather than bars and restaurants, I want you to take a moment and listen to this abbreviated episode about the impending collapse of the hospitality industry. YOU CAN STILL HELP! But that window is closing quickly. I’ve added links below as discussed on the episode this week. Please leave additi…

When Randy Prasse took the job to help overhaul the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, didn’t realize that a month later the world would shut down and no one would be able to gather in groups for the entire year. Like everyone, the organizers had to pivot and rethink what a festival could be while everyone was locked down in their own homes. This year, the…

In the food and beverage world, it’s easy to dismiss companies with wide distribution as “sellouts”. We expect everyone to starve for their art and if they don’t, they become an object of our ire. Angry Orchard falls into that category. Their hard ciders have become so ubiquitous that it can feel (unfairly) that they’re the behemoth that crushes th…

Pete Schmutte, owner and pastry chef extraordinaire of the newly-opened Leviathan Bakehouse in Indy, joins the show this week to talk about his path into pastry at a time when it seems that pastry jobs were disappearing and the career path might be dead. He persevered with the kitchen work he loved, progressing through the ranks in kitchens and bak…

I’ve mentioned my business partner numerous times on the show – perhaps ad nauseam (see Fear and Loathing with Beachbum Berry). I always try to avoid doing interview with people within my circle because it’s awkward when we know each other so well. We’ve worked together on and off for 20 years, and directly for 10 years. Our partnership has allowed…

We may be witnessing the death of independent restaurants as we’ve known them. We all closed with the trust that we would have help recovering. That trust was misplaced. But many people are stepping up to help rescue the industry they love. One of the most important organizations is Thirst Group. They’re a grassroots collective of professionals tha…

It’s our 100th EPISODE! To mark the occasion, this interview was conducted in-person and… Arthur is back! And he’s brought a good friend with him this time. Elizabeth Cooper has spent her career around wine – starting in restaurants as a teenager before moving into management and finally into the sommelier program, where should would first meet Art…

For the first time in three years, I took a break. This week’s episode is a repost from an interview I did with Thomas Dean of Sipping with Somms a few weeks into the U.S. quarantine. It was a fun interview, and one of my first times doing any remote audio work. I have Tom to thank for helping me tweak and test the equipment setup I’ve been using f…

Barrell Bourbon roared onto the liquor scene less than a decade ago with a plan. Founder Joe Beatrice had tired of his career in tech and made the big leap into the whiskey business right as the bourbon craze hit high gear. He left New York City and moved to the heart of Bourbon country in Kentucky. Joe decided that he would source only the best di…

Eli Sanchez spent the last 5 years working as a bar manager, General Manager, and cocktail guru for two of our restaurants, The Inferno Room and Rook. But, like many of us that cut our teeth in the 90’s, craft cocktails weren’t even part of the experience in the beginning of our careers. He spent 12 years working at one of the city’s old school wat…

Josh Davis and I had been planning on doing an episode for several weeks. But we both got busy and never got on that Skype call. And then May 29th came. On that day, Amy Cooper weaponized the police in Central Park while the Minneapolis Police Department murdered George Floyd. Four days later the country was on fire, literally and figuratively. So …

Nico Palazzi is one of the country’s most respected importers. His company, PM Spirits, is known as THE purveyor of fine spirits (listen to our previous show, Unicorn Booze with Nico Palazzi). He is constantly traveling, tasting, choosing casks, and working with small, craft producers all over Europe. In March, that all ground to a halt. Some of th…

Sother Teague has built a small empire in New York City. He’s a partner and operator of numerous bars, including the acclaimed Amor y Amargo in the East Village. He’s the co-host of The Speakeasy. He’s been a professional chef. A culinary school instructor. A mentor. And now he’s come to the toughest obstacle of his career – getting through a globa…

NOTE: This episode was recorded a week before the country went on lockdown from COVID-19. The Bartender’s Handshake is a phrase used to define a way in which bartenders often greet one another upon arrival to each other’s bars, or as a thank you on the way out the door – with a shot. And over the last decade, that “handshake” has increasingly becom…

This week’s episode comes during a time of uncertainty for the restaurant industry. Will we make it out of this? If we do, will customers come back for cocktails? Is this a Second Great Depression? While those things are yet to be answered, there is one thing to remember. The original exotic bar was born out of the Great Depression – Don The Beachc…

Strange times we’re in. A virus has killed tens of thousands already in the last few months, all non-essential businesses are closed, and the entire hospitality industry disappeared overnight. This podcast has always served as a temporary escape for me – a way to ignore what’s going on around me, if only for an hour (in the same way Tiki does). It’…

This week, notorious locavore Opie Crooks - executive chef of A Rake’s Progress, and hospitality hero - Jill Tyler, co-owner of Tail Up Goat and Reveler’s Hour, join us from the frontlines of what’s been an emotional week, to discuss their closings of their restaurants in response to the COVID-19 emergency. We call for action and legislation that w…

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