CL-064 David Neimanis on the Wonders of Super Punch

Some of my favorite stories start small. Usually with a question, perhaps something you ponder passively before it takes you down a rabbit hole full of wild twists and turns, unexpected stories and delights.

David Neimanis had just such an inkling. He's a food and beverage writer, and wanted to know more about the surprising comeback of amaro, or bitter Italian liqueur, which, for decades, had fallen out of favor. Most of our parents probably didn't drink amaro, but our grandparents might well have. David decided to pull on the thread, and try to figure out why something like amaro would have skipped a generation.

A simple question ended up unfolding into an entire piece. David wrote about such generational drinking habits in his article, "The Rise of 'Grandpa Drinks' — Exploring the Old-Fashioned Roots of Modern Drinking Trends," published on our website on December 1, 2020. As part of the story, David delves into his own history with obscure, bitter, European liqueurs—recently, he found himself ordering Riga Black Balsam, which hails from Latvia, and which was a drink favored by his grandfather.

In this conversation, we talk about the nature of curiosity, and how simple questions often unfold in interesting and compelling ways. David didn't necessarily have a grandiose idea or theory about the new popularity of these drinks—he simply asked a question and followed the answers where they took them. His piece is highly inquisitive and honest, and isn't afraid to take a pit stop to explore an interesting tidbit along the way. The resulting story feels like following a winding road full of surprises. Here's David.