The Speakeasy

Today on The Speakeasy we talk with Matt Kourie. He's a cocktail enthusiast, turned home bartender, turned guest bartender, who had turned his one bedroom Queens apartment into a speakeasy, home bar room. Kourie has been organizing successful events in hospitality since 2013. The New York native has brought together over 20k individuals since that time, through his NY Best Wings Festival championships to BBQ events, partnered events with Time Out New York Magazine, the New York Cocktail Expo and more. Kourie is passionate about the focus of hospitality first, as well as bringing people together to grow and learn as a community. If you're going to New York Cocktail Expo on August 19th, use promo code SPEAKEASY for 20% off. The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast.

Noah Rothbaum is the editor of The Daily Beast’s Half Full section. He also hosts the podcast Life Behind Bars with legendary cocktail historian David Wondrich. In addition, Rothbaum is the author of the book The Art of American Whiskey: A Visual History of the Nation’s Most Storied Spirit, through 100 Iconic Labels and the associate editor of the forthcoming Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails. Rothbaum’s first book, The Business of Spirits: How Savvy Marketers, Innovative Distillers, and Entrepreneurs Changed How We Drink, was published in 2007. According to Chicago magazine’s chief dining critic, Jeff Ruby, “Rothbaum knows drinking like Newton knew gravity, but he’s not all high and mighty about it, creating laws and whatnot.” And The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog called him “one of the smartest tipplers (and writers on spirits) we know.” The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast

Damon and Sother are joined by Julie Reiner and Susan Fedroff of Clover Club, Leyanda, Flatiron Lounge, Pegu Club...basically some of the most iconic bars in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast

This week, Damon and Sother are joined in studio by Lauren Myerscough, co-founder of Cocktail & Sons. The company has a line of all-natural hand-crafted syrups, cordials, and tea concentrates for a variety of bars and restaurants in New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and more! Also joining them is Valerie Franco, satellite regular at Amor y Amargo and drummer extraordinaire, who appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night (and will be again in the near future)! The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast

This week, Damon and Sother are joined in the studio by Kat Hamidi of Capitoline Vermouth, Washington DC's first commercially available vermouth. After Negroni Week and Bar Convent Brooklyn, what better way to come down than with Americanos?? The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast

Thomas Spaeth is a bartender at Dear Irving in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan. In the summer, you can also find him serving drinks at Grand Banks, a seasonal oyster bar on the deck of a historic fishing boat docked at Pier 25 on the Hudson River. He's always on the go. When he's not bartending, Thomas can be found salvaging bicycles by night and rebuilding them into urban speed machines. The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast

Damon and Sother are joined in the studio by Angus Winchester, the Global Director of Education for the Bar Convent Berlin and Bar Convent Brooklyn and is curating over 100 training slots at these two significant trade events helping to educate and inspire Hospitality staff from around the world. Winchester’s contacts and knowledge have been built up over nearly 30 years of engagement with the best bars and bartenders in the world. As founder member of one of the first global bar consultancies, and now with Alconomics Asia in Hong Kong, Angus has provided on- premise consultancy, profit enhancement advice and training to trend setting outlets from Washington D.C. to Hong Kong, including the multi-award- winning Salvatore at Fifty (RIP, alas) and Trailer Happiness in London, Mandarin Oriental Hotels in Hong Kong, Hainan and Bangkok, the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach, the luxury Nimb Hotel in Copenhagen and Intercontinental Hotels globally. The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast

From a young age, William Elliott had a fascination with taste and memory, and sharing the experience. Though he grew up in a “dry” household, his obsession with liquor and food sprang from elicit sips of pastis from his parent’s cupboard and busted attempts at bouillabaisse. During a stint playing music around California and the desert Southwest, Elliott realized a new obsession, and transitioned full-time into the realm of beer, wine, and spirits. He has been an integral part of the critically-acclaimed Maison Premiere since its opening in 2011, serving as its Head Bartender for the three years it was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Awards. After MP won the JBFA for Best Bar Program in 2016, Elliott, now as Bar Director, conceptualized the bar at Sauvage as an strong-headed sibling to Maison Premiere; in an age of multi-national brands and marketing campaigns, the liquor selections and cocktails speak to nativity and so honor the producers and regions from which they hail. Within months, the bar at Sauvage was lauded with glowing reviews, including NY Time’s Pete Wells enjoying many treasured bottles on the back-bar and the “exemplary” cocktails. The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast

This week, Damon and Sother are joined by Jeffrey Morgenthaler, the bar manager at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon. His newest book is Drinking Distilled: A User's Manual, an opinionated, illustrated guide for cocktail beginners, covering the basics of spirits plus making and drinking cocktails. The Speakeasy is powered by Simplecast

This week, Damon and Sother are joined by the husband and wife team of Jackson Stamper and Tonia Guffey-Stamper, of Employees Only and Highland Park Distillery, respectively. Tune in for hiccup cures, beef tartare, and some pretty outstanding Scotch.