The Modern Bar Cart Podcast

In this fragrant, vine-ripened deep dive with Birk O’Halloran, creator of Rockwell Vermouth, some of the topics we discuss include: How Birk worked his way up the supply chain over the years, dabbling first in hospitality education, becoming a sommelier, working in the off-premise world, and eventually launching his own wine and vermouth brands. What it means to make an American vermouth, and how that journey incorporated a unique botanical called Artemisia Californica, AKA California Sagebrush. Why there’s not a lot of information available about vermouth recipes in the historical literature, and what that meant for Birk’s research and development process. Then, we conduct an in-depth tasting of the Rockwell Sweet and dry vermouth. We talk about the uniquely American grape varietal used for the wine base, as well as some of the innovative, solera-aged extracts used to aromatize the end products. Along the way, we explore Birk’s multi seasonal approach to his sagebrush sourcing, the implementation of various dried fruit extracts as flavorants, what you can learn when subjecting the world’s most popular vermouth brands to advanced laboratory testing, and much, much more. 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.

In this wide-ranging conversation with Porchlight Beverage Director Nicholas Bennett, some of the topics we discuss include: Nick’s journey from a beer and shot bar near Montauk to a supper club in Brooklyn, and on through some of the most legendary beverage programs in Manhattan, including Booker & Dax and Amor y Amargo. How making his mom’s friend the worst cocktail she’d ever had kick-started an epic journey into education, experimentation, and creativity that has defined his upward trajectory in the hospitality business. Why Nick has embraced miniatures of himself in lego figurines and a puppet named Bennett, and how these avatars figure into the way Nick goes about educating and creating enthusiasm around cocktail trends he cares about. Of course, we also talk about the fantastic beverage program at Porchlight, which is a Union Square Hospitality Group venue. It’s a place where Nick has been able to experiment with lots of fun riffs on drinks from the cocktail dark ages, and he’s excited to share with us what’s on tap for 2022. Along the way, we explore why Nick is a Blue Curacao apologist, the Proustian memory of his great-aunt’s shaken Manhattan with spoiled vermouth, who one might encounter when questing for the Underberg of Destiny and the Centrifuge of Truth, 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 refreshing and perfectly balanced conversation with Maria Denton, Southeast Regional Manager for Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits, some of the topics we discuss include: How Maria used her career working for one of the world’s most prestigious spirits brands and managing one of Washington, DC’s busiest bar programs as a timely springboard into her current position with Lyre’s. What creating non-alcoholic spirits has in common with building the aroma profile of a perfume, and how that allows Lyre’s to create products with the world’s most popular cocktails squarely in the crosshairs. We also taste what (I assume) is the world’s first non-alcoholic Absinthe, and we pair it with All The Bitter’s New Orlean’s Style Bitters and Lyre’s American Malt no-ABV whiskey to create a fantastic Sazerac. Maria and I also get the chance to address some pointed listener questions about how to handle technical factors like temperature and dilution in no-ABV cocktails. Along the way, we find out which new spirits and mixers we can expect from Lyre’s in the near future, where the Champagne Queen stands on non-alcoholic Prosecco, where to grab a drink with your favorite impressionist painter, 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 eye-opening conversation with Spiritless CEO, Lauren Chitwood, some of the topics we discuss include: How Lauren’s experience running events and activations for big spirits brands led her to join forces with her two business partners to solve one of the industry’s trickiest problems: what to drink when you’re not drinking. What it was like to take Spiritless from a basement experiment using PVC pipe and a popcorn machine to a full-fledged operation that uses real spirits to capture the barrel-aged essence of american whiskey. Then, of course, we taste Kentucky 74 - two versions of it! Lauren uses these two samples to walk me through the evolution of the product and explain how she and her team are zeroing in on the flavors that cocktail lovers really crave. Along the way, we cover the mixological appeal of going ‘halfsies,” my controversial views on bourbon, what other spirits Spiritless has in the pipeline, 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 spirited discussion with Ian Blessing, co-founder of All The Bitter, some of the topics we discuss include: How Ian’s career as a sommelier at restaurants of all kinds (including the legendary French Laundry) led him to ponder and experiment with non-alcoholic spirits and cocktail ingredients. What happens when you decide to side-step ethanol as an extracting agent and instead harness the solvent powers of vegetable glycerine and vinegar in your bitters recipe. As we taste, we also cover why Ian and his wife and business partner Carly roll out a platoon of bittering agents and also spotlight a featured functional ingredient in each of their flavors, including Holy Basil, Lemon Balm, and Schisandra Berry. We also dig into the medicinal history of these kinds of products and the really specific opportunity they hold in the no-ABV cocktail space, which is to replace the somewhat “anesthetic” effect of alcohol with other functional, and felt health benefits that can still impact your mood and homeostatic state. Along the way, we cover the difference between adaptogens and nervines, our mutual love for shrink-banding thousands of bottles of bitters by hand, what numerical coincidence always makes Ian giggle, 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 Mark Sansom, content editor of The World’s 50 Best Bars and 50 Best Restaurants, some of the topics we discuss include: How Mark and his academy of experts manage to cover the entire globe in any given year, shedding a flood light not only on bars and restaurants in major markets, but also on regions that traditionally get less attention or acclaim. How The World’s 50 Best differs from more traditional hospitality rating indices, like the Michelin Guide. Which bars (and bar styles) topped the list this past year, and some fun updates about their new Best Cocktail Menu award. We also talk about the difficulties posed by the current pandemic: from cocktails to-go, to the rise of food-and-cocktail pairings, to the 50 Best for Recovery recipe book, which raised over 1.3 million dollars in aid for the hospitality industry. Along the way, we cover 50 Best’s new travel planning tool, called “Discovery,” Mark’s morning coffee ritual, the polarizing nature of sea urchin gonads, 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 Derek Brown, author of the forthcoming book, Mindful Mixology, some of the topics we discuss include: How Derek entered into the low- and no-ABV cocktail space, partially as a function of shifting life circumstances, and partially as a way to deepen the conversation around what a cocktail is or should be. What it means to drink mindfully - we’re all aware that this word has many different connotations, and Derek explains exactly what he means by the phrase “mindful mixology.” Then we take a look at the book: how it’s set up to give you a crash course in the ingredients and techniques that create delicious low- and no-ABV drinks, as well as the other voices from the NA cocktail space he pulled in to comment on subjects like non-alcoholic spirits and setting the mood without alcohol. Finally, we wrap up by exploring the language we use to describe cocktails without booze, how bartenders and bar programs can learn more about incorporating No- and low-ABV drinks into their menus, and the burgeoning future of the no-ABV spirits category. This content 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.

Eric weighs in on the use of the word "mixologist" to describe someone who makes cocktails either professionally or as a hobby. He does this by first taking a good, hard look at this word, “Mixologist,” both in terms of its historical usage and its various meanings and connotations. Then, he sizes it up compared to other words used to describe bartenders Finally, he makes a case for why it’s a pretty good word - maybe not without fault - but certainly worth keeping around. 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.

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.

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.