The Modern Bar Cart Podcast

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. 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.

In this barrel-aged deep dive into Bourbon and American whiskey with distiller Lauren Patz, some of the topics we discuss include: How Lauren's roots in Napa Valley winemaking led her to fall in love with the craft of distillation and barrel maturation. Why California in general (and Northern California, in particular) is a burgeoning American whiskey ecosystem bursting with local grain, available cooperage, and more native wine finishing opportunities than anywhere else in the country. Then we walk through Lauren's method for making Redwood Empire Whiskey step-by-step, examining her approach to important procedural touchpoints like malting, fermentation, sourcing, maturation, and blending. We also sample a delicious new product offering called "Grizzly Beast," which is a bonded bourbon whiskey made using some of the first barrels of whiskey laid down by Redwood Empire in their early days of operation. We also take some time to work through Lauren's approach to evaluating and judging bourbon and American whiskey as an anchor judge for the American Distilling Institute's annual judging of craft spirits. Along the way, we chat about the wheat-and-rye hybrid grain you've never heard of, the virtues of "negative capability," what to drink with Dune author Frank Herbert, and much, much more. 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.

In this episode, Eric gives listeners his thoughts on Tales of the Cocktail 2021, which is being held remotely for the second year in a row due to the pandemic. He covers the use of new platforms and technology to streamline the event process and provide networking options, which seminars he is excited about, and how to take advantage of both live and pre-recorded events after they occur. 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.

In this fascinating deep dive on American Whiskey, some of the topics I discuss with author and spirits judge Eric Zandona include: A quick rundown of a few pivotal points in our country's whiskey history, including "The Taft Decision" and the pioneering female distiller who made her mark on the sour mash process. How early geographical and climatic constraints set the stage for the traditional whiskey styles that would come to define local drinking cultures in various regions of the US. Then, we get regional. We talk about the differences between Pennsylvania-style and Maryland-style rye whiskey, we look at Texas's unique barrel aging conditions, and we investigate the funky, new world Single Malts of the Pacific Northwest. We also talk about some emerging legislation at the state level that classifies certain geographically limited categories, like Kentucky Bourbon, Tennessee Whiskey, and the new and intriguing Missouri Bourbon category. Along the way, we talk about why craft whiskey is so much better than it was five years ago, why more people should be talking about barrel entry proof, who serves the best Martini in London, and much, much more. 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.

This episode is a post-mortem examination of a large-scale, milk clarified cocktail that Eric recently helped to create for the wedding of his friend and co-founder, Ethan Hall. We thought this would be useful as an in-the-trenches analysis of how to take a cocktail from concept to reality at an ambitious but technically achievable volume of about 4-5 gallons for roughly 40 guests. 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.

In this wide-ranging and pine-scented conversation with Master Distiller Ryan Christiansen, some of the topics we discuss include: How time spent in his father's hardware store as a child led Ryan to appreciate taking complicated equipment apart and bringing people and communities together. What it was like to build Caledonia Spirits from the ground-up alongside his partner and beekeeper Todd Hardy. Why Barr HIll gin defies categorization as a London Dry, Old Tom, or New American style gin Some thoughts on the finicky and inconsistent barrel aged gin category, and what makes Barr Hill's Tom Cat reserve product such a stand-out example of what a barrel aged gin could (and perhaps should more often) be. Along the way, we cover the tricky business of understanding where bees have been hanging out, some hints as to the location of the mythical "juniper extraction curve," why "hazy Martinis" are set to be the next big cocktail craze And much, much more. 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.

In this conversation with Dogfish Head Brewery founder Sam Calagione, some of the topics we discuss include: How Sam took his creativity from the writer's workshop to the brewery, scaling Dogfish Head from the smallest commercial brewery in America to a top 20 craft brand over the course of two decades. What it means to make "off-centered ales for off centered people," which requires us to travel back in time over 500 years to the publication of the reinheitsgebot - Bavaria's infamous beer purity law. How Sam invented the practice of continual hopping using a vibrating football game that now resides in the Smithsonian. Why Dogfish Head's acquisition by the Boston Beer Company was like a merging of kindred, yet complementary souls. What the future holds for Sam and his beer, including tropical fruit farming in South Florida, art and music collaborations, and much, much more. 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.

In this blockbuster Baijiu pairing and Chinese food smorgasbord, some of the topics we discuss with Brett Steigerwaldt and Derek Sandhaus include: The base grains, production methods, and flavor profiles of seven - count em - SEVEN different baijiu categories, including: rice aroma, light aroma, laobaigan, phoenix aroma, strong aroma, sauce aroma, and extra strong aroma. The relationship between baijiu and food, both at a basic level, and in the context of each different region and culinary tradition How different Baijiu styles "hack" the very foreign (to us) looking production method involving microbe-packed grain bricks called "Qu" and giant steamers to create flavors and aromas that are vastly different from one another. We also talk about what a phoenix smells like, how various traditional spicy and numbing ingredients affect how baijiu tastes, why food and drink exploration is an important act of cultural ambassadorship, And much, much more 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.

In this wide-ranging conversation with Noah Rothbaum and David Wondrich, some of the topics we cover include: How Dave transitioned from English professor, to Esquire columnist, to full-fledged cocktail historian, and how that journey brought him to collaborate with Noah at The Daily Beast and on their current Oxford Companion project. The difference between writing about spirits and cocktails in the early 2000s vs. today, and how our relationship to "The Truth" (in quotes here) is different than it was during those early days of our great cocktail revival. Why long-form booze writing has (paradoxically) spawned a lot of attention and accolades in today's age of listicles and tweet threads. And how conducting historical research is very similar to noodling for catfish. Along the way, we discuss why Beachbum Berry can't stand the Pina Colada, where Dave hid that lump of Ambergris he's been missing for the past several years, the merits of a good rum punch, and much, much more. 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.

In this fascinating conversation with Andrew Hellman of 1pt Co., some of the topics we discuss include: What an infusion IS at a technical level, and why you might consume more of them in your day-to-day life than perhaps you realize. How, with the help of his wife Anna, Andrew used his experience in finance and design to launch a new company aimed at changing the way we think about infused spirits. The painstaking design that went into One Part Company's infusion hardware and consumable packets, from the Scandinavian aesthetics to the insanely easy infusion process. Andrew's approach to sourcing ingredients and creating flavor accords to pair with specific cocktail formats We answer a timely listener question about scaling a homemade bitters recipe into something perhaps more commercially viable, We cover the merits of curated music playlists, the woes of sourcing lavender, what to drink with a grandma straight out of the Mad Men era of the 1950s, and much, much more. 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.