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Marie the Beachcomber Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

Marie King has been making cocktails longer than most of us in the tiki bar business. She got an early start in hospitality at the age of 16 and couldn’t wait to get behind the bar. But, in order to do that, she’d have to move away from her home in Southern California and make her way to The Big Easy, New Orleans. But her travels weren’t done yet. She spent time trekking across Europe and getting a feel for a different way of doing things behind the bar before returning to Los Angeles to run LA’s oldest tiki bar, the Tonga Hut.

Now ten years later, she finds herself running the iconic beverage program for THE tiki originator… Don The Beachcomber. It’s been an incredible journey, one that would be nigh impossible to replicate in modern times. Mix up a Zombie and tune in to hear how she did it.

Mahalo Satan!

Eric Kaye Talks Holmes Cay May 29, 2024

Show notes

Eric Kaye spent decades of his life as a professional musician and amateur rum aficionado. But, as a composer for film and television, technological advances brought the barrier-to-entry intro so low that the competition for those film contracts started to dry up by 2017, as producers looked for cheaper options, even emplying AI services to do the work previously done by a musician. So Eric Kaye decided it was time to turn his passion for rum into a full-time career.

Eric decided the path he would take would be as an independent bottler of fine rums. As a musician accustomed to travel, it was a logical step that would allow him to visit distilleries, rum caches, and blending houses such as E&A Scheer and the Main Rum Company. He launmched Holmes Cay in 2018 and made big waves immediately with the first release, a Barbadian rum distilled at Foursquare.

In the years following, Holmes Cay has garnered a loyal following by rum and spirits geeks from far and wide. He now offers a wide variety of labels under two primary categories – the Single Cask rums that are hunted and collected by the hardcore rum nerds, and the Single Origin blends that offer a taste and terroir of a particular place like Fiji and Reunion Island.

And just a few days after this episode drops, on June 1 2024, there will be three more releases. So what better time than now to grab a bottle and eavesdrop on this conversation between Eric and myself? Cheers!

Worthy Park with Zan Kong May 15, 2024

Show notes

It’s always a great time when I get a chance to talk with Zan Kong of Worthy Park Estate. But, despite the many hours of sharing Jamaican rum together, I’ve never really asked about his background and how he ended up in Jamaica from Canada. Well, this was my opportunity to remedy that. Tune in to find all about his big move from hospitality to rum production, and everything about Worthy Park Estate rum – where it’s made, how the climate affects the finished product, and what the rum landscape is like on the island at the moment.

If you’re trying to hunt down some of this rum in the USA, and I highly recommend you do since it’s one of my go-to rums, check out Backbar Project. And you can find Zan on Instagram at @zankong

Brooklyn Kura Sake with Brandon Doughan May 03, 2024

Show notes

Resonation with Christophe Rossi Apr 17, 2024

Show notes

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 magic, but the real draw was the sense of customer service. He was born in Marseilles and lived in India for nearly a decade studying sitar and Indian Classical music before moving to Japan. In Japan, he spent his time as magician before diving head first into the craft cocktail business.

Christophe mentions the word “resonation” several times throughout this interview. And I couldn’t think of a better title of the episode. He strives to find that resonation of everything within himself. When he is doing some sleight-of-hand magic while handing you a cocktail, it’s the connection he makes with you that makes the experience special. That resonation is a important part of being a musician, too. Especially playing the sacred ragas of India. To say he’s an enigma would be an understatement. But he’s one of the most naturally-talented and driven entrepreneurs that has ever graced my show.

Aguardiente and Mexican Rum with Jason Cox Apr 03, 2024

Show notes

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 immediately drawn into a world of fine-dining, mezcal, and Oaxacan rum.

It’s been a circuitous path him but it’s safe to say his life is even more incredible now than it would have ever been as a legal translator. He has now lived in Oaxaca for 15 years and, after founding 5 Sentidos Mezcal, he learned that one of the mezcaleros he had been working with had extensive experience fermenting rum from local sugarcane. Which has now found its home in a bottle labeled Alambique Serrano.

This is the story of how it all came to be.

“Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run… there’s still time to change the road you’re on”.

Tropical Standard with Garret Richard Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

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 just a decade, made some pretty big splashes in the industry. After the closing of his workplace, Existing Conditions — owned by industry luminaries Don Lee, Dave Arnold, and Greg Boehm, Garret wasn’t sure what he’d be doing while NYC shut down due to COVID-19. He started working on a book that he’d conceptualized prior to 2020, but that’s about as far as he could plan.

Fast forward to 2024 and he’s at the top of his game. His book, Tropical Standard, was released in 2023 and through a series of happenstances, he took over the cocktail program at The Sunken Harbor Club – just above Gage & Tollner. And it seems that he’s just getting started.

You can find Tropical Standard wherever you buy your books but, as always, I recommend purchasing from an independent seller and even a brick-and-mortar store if you can. Check out TropicalStandard.Com for book and purchasing info.

Rolling Fork: Spirits for Rum Nerds Dec 20, 2023

Show notes

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 themselves than anyone. They source some of the best rums of the world and then, rather than bottling immediately, they further age in southern Indiana, just a few minutes from Bourbon country in Kentucky. And that proximity means access to some very interesting barrels. This may not be the most economical way to run a business, but it means they’re sitting on and releasing some of the most sought-after rums in the world.

They share rickhouses, facilities, and a headquarters with Huber Winery and Starlight Distillery in Indiana, and that partnership means a lot of collaboration. It’s an easy place to get to from Louisville and Bourbon country, and from Indianapolis, of course. I highly recommend check it out if you’re in the area. Turner and Jordan treat their visitors right. And Ted Huber has built a beautiful location in the rolling hills of southern Indiana. The area is called “starlight” for a reason – the property is absolutely beautiful during and after sunset.

The Kazan Room with Brandon Grilc Nov 22, 2023

Show notes

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 Northwest, but now found themselves immersed in a culture where tiki was practically non-existent. When he realized that teaching English wasn’t going to scratch that tiki itch, he and his wife decided to open a tiki bar close to their home in Kobe.

The Kazan Room has been attracting tiki travelers and cocktail nerds from all over the world since it’s opening just a year ago. Hear how he overcame the hurdles of opening his first business, navigating contracts in a language he can’t read, and re-introducing tropical libations to a country where whisky highballs and shochu rule.

Kanpai!

Amrut Whisky with Ashok Chokalingam Nov 08, 2023

Show notes

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 and convince the Scots that to start drinking Single Malt Whisky made 8000 km away — instead of their ones made in their own backyard. But with persistence, he started getting his bottle placed on bar shelves and was welcomed everywhere by whisky lovers.

Fast forward 20 years, and Ashok is now the Head of Distilling and International Sales and has formulated some of Amrut’s best-selling whiskies. On today’s episode, hear how a man with no experience in whisky, distillation, or alcoholic beverages became the voice of the Indian whisky industry, and how that is impacting the category worldwide.

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