The Modern Bar Cart Podcast

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Episode 215 - Last Call 2021 Dec 30, 2021

Show notes

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.

Episode 214 - (Part II) The Curds Are Your Only Friend with Eamon Rockey Dec 09, 2021

Show notes

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.

Episode 213 - (Part I) Hacking Milk Punch With Eamon Rockey Dec 02, 2021

Show notes

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

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.

Episode 212 - Tarnished Truth, Delicious Whiskey Nov 25, 2021

Show notes

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.

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.

Episode 211 - The Science of "Switched" Cocktails with Iain McPherson Nov 18, 2021

Show notes

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.

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.

Episode 210 - Fever-Tree Mixers with CEO Tim Warrillow Nov 11, 2021

Show notes

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.

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.

Episode 209 - Through the Looking Glass with Deke Dunne Nov 04, 2021

Show notes

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.

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.

Episode 208 - Recipes Aren't Enough Oct 28, 2021

Show notes

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.

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.

Crossover: The NBA's Wine Obsession with Baxter Holmes of ESPN Oct 21, 2021

Show notes

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.

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.

Episode 207 - Half Bottles and Pony Shots Oct 07, 2021

Show notes

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.

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.

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