The Modern Bar Cart Podcast

In this episode, I chat with Charlie Berkinshaw, the founder of Element [Shrub], and we get into all the fascinating details of that product. Charlie’s a good friend of mine. His photography and instagram skills are ON POINT, and I know you’re gonna enjoy this interview. Find Element [Shrub] on Instagram (@elementshrub), Twitter (@elementshrub), and Facebook. You can also visit their website (elementshrub.com), and if you’d like to send Charlie an email, hit him up at charlie@elementshrub.com. SHOW NOTES What is a shrub? According to Charlie, it’s a colonial way of preserving fruit using vinegar (and sugar). The nice thing about shrubs is that they provide two taste components found in many cocktails: sweetness and sourness (or acidity). Not only that, but they also yield the flavor of the fruits and spices found in the shrub. Element [Shrub] Flavors -Lemon Mint -Chai Pear -Honeydew Jalapeno -Blueberry Rosemary -Pineapple Turmeric -Grapefruit Vanilla -Blood Orange Saffron -Cranberry Hibiscus LIGHTNING ROUND QUESTIONS What is Your Favorite Cocktail? The Corpse Reviver #2 What is your Favorite Spirit? Gin, even though I used to stay away from it. I like it because it’s sort of an open book. Books The Flavor Thesaurus The Flavor Bible What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out as a home bartender? Don’t be afraid of shrubs. People are scared of adding vinegar to their cocktails because they’re afraid it’s going to taste like salad dressing. But if you back up and think about what a shrub is, you realize that it’s just sweet and tangy, and those are two taste elements you’re going to be adding to most cocktails anyway. So don’t be afraid of Shrubs, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

My guest this episode is Josh Wulf of the Wulf Cocktail Den. He’s a great guy who’s really passionate about making delicious cocktails and connecting with other people over a well-made drink. The goal of this episode is to give you a high level overview of the unsung heroes of the cocktail ingredient world: bitters, vermouths, and liqueurs. But in addition to a lot of great knowledge about those, we also hit a lot of other topics, including: The similarities and differences between bitters, vermouths, and liqueurs Historical oddities and word origins The bitters, vermouths and liqueurs that you should have on your bar cart How James Bond “disrupted” the Martini The value of drinking with your grandfather And much, much more.

In this episode, I drop by Gettysburg College, my undergraduate Alma Mater, to catch up with Professor Dan McCall of the Gettysburg Odor and Flavor Lab, who’s doing really interesting research in the field of taste and smell perception. As you’d imagine, he’s got a lot of really cool insights into exactly what happens when you take that first sip of your favorite cocktail.   Some of the topics we discuss include: The evolutionary bases for smell and taste The brain structures and psychological mechanisms responsible for flavor perception Cocktails as a psychological playground for flavor decision making Cultural flavor preferences in France and the U.S. The magic of blackcurrants And Much, Much More If you liked my interview with Colleen O’Bryant, where we talked about herbs and seasonal flavors, then I have a feeling that this episode is also going to be in your wheelhouse. And while you’re listening, don’t get intimidated if you hear a few psychological terms--Dan always does a good job of breaking down complex things like brain structures and sensory pathways into their most basic, easy-to-understand form. This conversation is a true treat for your brain, so settle in and enjoy my conversation with Professor Dan McCall. Want to get in touch? Email him at dmccall@gettysburg.edu

  In this episode, we’ll acquaint ourselves with the magical world of citrus in all its tart, tangy glory. Most people are familiar with the use of citrus in their favorite cocktails, whether that’s the orange peel garnish in your Old Fashioned, the squeeze of lime in your Mojito, or the pucker of lemon in a classic whiskey sour. But have you ever stopped to think about why we put citrus in our drinks? What role does it play? What would cocktails taste like without it? I’m gonna begin today by taking you through the history and science of citrus, and then give you some excellent bar hacks to help you bring your citrus game to the next level. Specifically, we’ll talk seasonality, how to select your citrus, and best practices for peeling and juicing. For a complete transcript of this episode, visit modernbarcart.com/podcast.

Disclaimer: None of the audio or written content hosted here or elsewhere is intended as medical advice. You should always drink in moderation, and always consult a licensed physician before consuming ingredients or substances that are new or unknown to you.   I see the red clover, I see the black locust flowers...I see things, and I want to put them into my body. - Colleen O'Bryant   Hey Everybody, As you may have guessed from the little disclaimer before the intro sequence, this episode involves cocktails and your health. Now, I may not be chatting with a licensed medical physician, but my guest, Colleen O’Bryant of Wild Roots Apothecary, has a ton of awesome insights on how we can build a healthier relationship with cocktails and alcohol in general. She’s also an expert herbalist, and this episode is filled with super-fun ways to incorporate herbs into your cocktail creations. Some of the things we cover in our discussion include: Colleen’s journey from office management to spirited herbalist Her fairy cocktail hour The regenerative properties of skunk cabbage, dandelions, and other herbs The arts of scouting and foraging DIY bitters and infused spirits Our favorite herbal liqueurs And much, much more. I have a feeling that this is going to be one of the most popular episodes of this podcast, so I hope you enjoy my interview with Colleen O’Bryant.

Hello, and WELCOME to the Modern Bar Cart Podcast—the cocktail podcast where we demystify the tools and techniques that make great drinks. I’m your host, Eric Kozlik, and I’m glad you’ve decided to join me for what may be one of the most crucial early episodes you’ll listen to on this podcast. In Episode 2, I broke down the essential cocktail-related tools you’ll need to build your home bar or bar cart, and if you recall, I used a computer analogy that compared hardware and software to cocktail tools (like shakers and bar spoons) and consumables (like spirits and mixers). Today, we’re going to take a deep dive into our metaphorical cocktail software—the literal spirits and cocktail mixers you’ll need on hand if you want to start learning how to mix delicious drinks. Because this episode follows more of an audio essay format, I’m going to include a complete transcript of this episode (including links) in the show notes at modernbarcart.com/podcast. This is going to be a fairly BRAND-DRIVEN episode (at least toward the end) where I make a TON of brand recommendations at different price points. So please do check out the show notes or email podcast@modernbarcart.com if you have any lingering questions.

A glass doesn’t have to be vintage to be cool. Choose the glass that makes you feel the best about your drink. -Andrew Whitehead   Hey Everybody, Welcome to Episode 3 of the Modern Bar Cart Podcast! I’m your host, Eric Kozlik, and I’m coming to you today with a glassware crash course interview with Andrew Whitehead, AKA Liquorary. By day, Andy is a mild-mannered, luxuriously bearded father who takes his daughters to the Baltimore aquarium to see their favorite sea creatures. By night, he’s a vintage glassware expert bent on finding art deco martini glasses and stately, heavy bottomed rocks glasses to grow his collection and spread the joy of home bartending. In this episode, we talk about almost everything under the glassware sun, including: The basic types of cocktail glasses Vintage vs. Modern glassware How to take care of your cocktail glassware Tips for breakage-prone drinkers And Much, Much more. Someone once told me that I’ve got a face for radio, but Andy truly has a voice for podcasting. He’s extremely knowledgeable, well spoken, and really great at making the fine nuances of vintage and modern glassware accessible. This episode was a blast to record, and I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed putting it together. So without further ado, sit back and take in the wonderful world of cocktail glassware with Andy Whitehead.

Hello, and WELCOME to the Modern Bar Cart podcast, a weekly radio show where we demystify the tools and techniques that make great drinks. I’m your host, Eric Kozlik, and today I’ve got for you one of the FOUNDATIONS episodes in which we review the essential tools that every good bar cart or home bar should have. I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find an episode of this podcast that DOESN’T contain at least some small tidbit of advice about how to optimize your home bar, but this episode is gonna be a central repository of the most crucial bits of advice so you can access it all in once place and review it anytime you like. When it comes to building your home bar or bar cart, I like to use a computer analogy, in which the consumable cocktail ingredients are like computer software, and the various tools that you reuse again and again to make your cocktails are like computer hardware. The idea being that you purchase a piece of hardware once—the physical computer—and that hardware can then be used to run an almost infinite array of software. For this episode, and other foundations episodes, the show notes are going to be really important if you’re looking to put any of our recommendations into practice. So if I spend any significant amount of time discussing a specific brand or product style, you can expect to find more information (in the form of links, pictures, or videos) in the show notes, which you can find at modernbarcart.com/podcast.

 To me, hosting is the ultimate form of respect. One of the most selfless things you can do for your friends is to have a well organized, well run get-together. It’s a form of affection. -Alex Luboff   I used to put a ton of pressure on myself to give people the best drink they’ve ever had...and then I remembered I’m not a professional. -Jordan Wicker   In this episode, I sit down with a chat with a couple of my favorite cocktail personalities: Alex Luboff and Jordan Wicker of the Speaking Easy Podcast. I was actually a guest on their show back in August of 2016, and they’ve been producing consistently great audio content on cocktails and home bartending for over a year and a half now. Since this is episode 1, we discuss the joy of being a home bartender, as well as some of the trials, tribulations, comedic mistakes, and life hacks that will help you decide if building your own home bar or bar cart is a project you’re interested in undertaking. Some of the things we discuss include: How Jordan and Alex got into podcasting The values of a good home bartender Alex’s duck bar Cocktail rookie mistakes The “Zone of Proximal Drinking” Must-read cocktail books Where to grab a drink with George Washington And much, much more. These fellas are a real pleasure to listen to, and you can find all the various ways to connect with them at the end of the episode...and of course, right here in the show notes. Finally, despite not being a part of the recorded dialogue, I want to give a huge shout-out to the Speaking Easy Podcast’s fantastic producer, Silent Tyler, without whom this would not have been possible. So, make yourself a drink (and if you’re not in a place to do that, make yourself a mental drink, and enjoy this awesome kick-off episode with the gents from the Speaking Easy Podcast.  

Hello and WELCOME to the Modern Bar Cart Podcast. I’m your host, Eric Kozlik, and I’d like to thank you for joining me for Episode Zero, where I’ll introduce myself and provide a quick breakdown of what I’d like to accomplish with this podcast. First and foremost, this is a show about cocktails. What they are, how to make them, how to incorporate them into your life in a healthy way, and how to assemble an at-home bar or bar cart that will impress your guests and stimulate your own imagination. I’ll be coming to you with a combination of short, medium, and long-form content about the most important and intriguing topics in cocktails. You can expect special guest interviews, a ton of great cocktail recipes and modifications, and a straightforward, intellectually curious approach to investigating cocktail-making techniques and concepts that sometimes get breezed over or outright ignored. Starting out, many of these are going to be FOUNDATIONAL episodes, and we’ll be using the concepts established here in future episodes to inform the way we think about (and enjoy) our favorite cocktails. Hopefully the teasers in this episode have you excited for the variety of topics we cover in just these first few episodes as we work our way through some of the most crucial starter info and go deeper into the mysteries and flavor magic of cocktails. As always, you can get in touch with me by emailing podcast@modernbarcart.com, or by following @modernbartcart on Instagram. You can also stock me there personally @quixologist. That’s about it for now. But I’ll catch you in Episode 1, where we sit down with Alex Luboff and Jordan Wicker of the Speaking Easy Podcast to talk about the joys of home bartending. Until then, remember: Drink responsibly and experiment boldly.