Our Top 10 Podcasts from the Last 100 Episodes

MIXOLOGY TALK PODCAST #199

Today, we’re revisiting our favorite 10 podcasts of the last 100 episodes– with special guest, our very own Julia Tunstall. Split up between technique and career-focused episodes, these are podcasts you definitely want to go back and listen to if you missed them the first time!

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS:

• 2:01– Smoked Cocktails with Ben Potts (episode #182)
• 5:16– Cocktail Pairing with Lucas Hugg (episode #161)
• 8:39– Beer Cocktails with Chris Krause (episode #173) and Nicole Barker (episode #174)
• 13:35– Red Cocktails with Amy Mirate (episode #172)
• 16:25– Non-Alcoholic Cocktails with Julia Momose (episode #137)
• 19:00– Non-Alcoholic Amaro with Jason La Valla (episode #176)
• 21:19– Chris Elford (episode #175)
• 22:56– Beachbum Berry (episode #178)
• 24:48– Jennifer Colliau (episode #120)
• 26:47– David Sangwell (episode #124)

10 best episodes in no particular order

How we came up with the list –

Here are the episodes

Technique

Ben Potts smoked cocktails – 182

• Takeaways: Smoked Cocktails are very eye catching
• Cocktail families that lend themselves to being smoked – if it has been barrel aged (char) it lends itself well
• Stick with Stirred cocktails
• Equipment list – Smoking gun Polyscience
• Surface area of the container makes a difference
• Different types of smoke to create – Spices, Dried Fruits
• Techniques to utilize smoke in the cocktail – mixers, syrups, vessel, etc
• Cold glassware is better for sticking smoke flavor
• Fun technique Smoked meat fat washing

Lucas Huff Cocktail Pairing – 161

Takeaways:

• Using Wine as a reference for cocktail and food pairing
• Favorite aspiring French 75 with oysters add a touch of absinthe
• Food knowledge is critical for creating pairings
• Collaboration with chefs is critical
• How to target flavor timing – using heat to focus on when the flavor evolves
• Spirit heavy cocktails are really hard to pair with food – High alcohol blows out your pallete

Chris Krause and Nicole Barker – beer cocktails 173 and 174 respectively

Takeaways:

• Techniques that work for beer cocktails – Replace water instead of water Make the beer into a syrup first and then add flavor
• Beers to use in cocktails – sour beers, porters, lagers, etc
• Don’t use ice – dilution will kill the cocktail
• Beer cocktails are for young people
• Taste the beer go flat to see how it will work in cocktails

Chris Krause

• Using Growlers from local breweries – This preserves the flavor of the original beer
• Use Beer Concentrate and beer syrups
• Making beer foam
• Reduce the sugar to add more flavor in a cocktail, 2:1, 3:1

Red Cocktails with Amy Mirate MTP 172

Takeaways:

• How to incorporate colors into a cocktail :
  Dried Pigments
• Purees and frozen fruit
• Reinforce the color with spices that evoke the feeling of the color
• Using freeze dried fruit for a diy approach
• Natures Flavor and Fresh as are great flavor and color
• Using a double boiler to make a consomme – 2 lbs of fruit (frozen) and 8 oz of sugar – preserves the aromatics vs boiling
• Working with berries, add a touch of elderberries to punch up the fragrance

Julia Momose N/a – 137

Takeaways:

• Adding a purposeful N/A can add to the overall guest experience
• Moving away from cocktail families and focus on flavor descriptors and the flavor experience
• Dilution is your enemy, using the water in the best way possible, flavored ice
• Instead of base spirits, descriptors start using “bases” building flavors through techniques like cooking with different temperatures for ideal extraction.
• Peppercorns can be a big asset when creating spirit free drinks
• Tea is a great vehicle for spirit free creation – Different steeping amounts have different expressions

Non alcoholic Amaro with Jason La Valla 176

Takeaways:

• Created a flavor library to create his first amaro then blended them. This helped him to identify specific flavors in cocktails
• Use fresh herbs and orange peels  – Biggest tip
• He covers flavor extraction using alcohol vs non alcoholic extractions – he went with a flavor house.
• Use Non alcoholic mixer as a way to boost overall flavor in a cocktail – highballs tend to water down the base spirit, but a spirit free mixer can help to amplify it and add complexity

Just a fun interview

Career/business

Chris Elford – 175

Takeaways:

• Context – Right at the beginning of the pandemic and gives some great information and mental approaches on how to execute a to go cocktail menu
• To go menu is an extension of the experience that you want to create in your bar/restaurant.
• Sold the kits with and without booze They include the story, inspiration and also a list of other spirits that will work in their mixers
• Incorporate social media to help build your platform
• Individual cocktail to go servings was a lot of work vs income
• Interesting conversation that really showcases how hard the early part of the pandemic impacted our industry
• If you offer too many options, they might not make a choice

Beach Bum Berry 178

Takeaways:

• Amazing story teller
• Canadian whiskey and Carribean rums were the safest to drink during prohibition
• Rum fell out of favor right after prohibition and the price fell dramatically and tiki was a perfect vehicle to create a fun, profitable environment
• Tiki cocktails was the first craft cocktail after prohibition
• They used fresh ingredients used complexity by focusing on adding complexity in every step of a cocktail family, using different rums, different type of infused syrups, etc
• Talks about the journey of finding the recipes from Don the beachcombers.
• Bartenders were being poached as fast as they could and opening restaurants all over the world – this was a good enough reason to make all his recipes and ingredients a secret.
• World war 2 was the second wave of tiki popularity. Tiki offered a mini vacation
• 1950’s had the cold war and all the red scare of the time and tiki was a perfect escape
• Tiki restaurants were considered fine dining during their era. 1 million dollar build outs in the 60’s
• 70’s was a victim of the counterculture, Vietnam  and moving away from what your parents liked. Drugs became more of a focus
• 80’s was the death of tiki -prepackaged
• One of my best stories around bartenders and how it impacted culture. The suffering bastard and how a bartender changed the direction World War 2 – Battle of El Alamein

Jennifer Colliau 120

Takeaways:

• Growing a business while working as a bartender – the birth of Small Hands food
• Focus on not making the best syrup, but focus on making the best end cocktail
• Deep dive into specific techniques with making syrups – making orgeat and pineapple syrups
• Labor cost vs buying quality made products
• We dive into some of the struggles of the environment of running a bar as a manager
• Tips on being a bartender entrepreneur

David Sangwell 124

Takeaways:

• Relationships are key both with vendors but also with the staff in each venue.
• Bar manager to beverage director – being organized – follow up with action items via email at any meeting
• Multi site operator Challenges – Training a staff that have different time constraints he used videos to train a staff and used Survey monkey to reinforce training
• Got a slack network of bartenders of other bars to pick up shift
• Communication is the biggest thing
• Remember names of each bartenders in each location
• Standardize equipment and inventory
• Motivation – Read each situation, see where each bar is at first and the personalities. Lead by example. Hearing the ideas of the staff
• New bartender to Multi site operator – get more experience however you can. Understand the mechanics of business, show initiative.
• Look for education, it is out there.
• Build relationships with vendors !!!!
• Bar manager to general manager – spreadsheets should be understood. Seeing the business from the guest perspective.
• Build processes if you continue to run into the same issues
• GM into multi site – Technology is your friend Dropbox,
• Know who is responsible for what – accountability, Communication. Being a confident presenter
• Surprises – you have to manage your time efficiently and what is going to move the needle the most.

Thanks for Listening!