The Modern Bar Cart Podcast

This time around, we explore the fascinating flavors of different Drambuie releases. If you haven't heard of it, it's a honey and whiskey liqueur made in Scotland, and if you have heard of it…well, you know that you can't make a Rusty Nail cocktail without it.
In this episode, the bottles we taste through include:
Today's Drambuie base expression
A bottle from maybe 4 or 5 years ago…just to see if it's the same juice
A vintage bottle from the '70s or '80s
A 1980s-era Drambuie decanter special release
Drambuie 15-year old (made, of course, with 15-year-old whiskey)
And we wrap things up with the ready-to-serve Drambuie Hot Apple Toddy
Watch this entire tasting on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LkJlnIWTEFs
Thanks to David T. Smith for providing the wonderful rare and vintage Drambuie expressions we taste through in this episode. Thanks also to Eric Zandona, Joe Barber, and Erik Owens for joining in the fun and providing their expert palates and feedback.

In this Down Under conversation with James Young of Old Young's Distillery, some of the topics we discuss include:
The influence and defining characteristics of the Australian cocktail scene, which differs starkly from what you might find when you travel to Europe and is responsible for such mixological gifts as Mr. Black Coffee liqueur and the butterfly pea coloring craze.
How to plan your travel itinerary around tasting delicious spirits in every state in Australia, including whisky in Tasmania, Gin & Brandy in Western Australia, and rum up in Queensland and Kununurra.
The growing interest in distilling brandy using Australian grapes and aging it in local casks. This leads us down a number of interesting rabbit holes concerning grape varietals, process and maturation requirements, and even the importance of Australian dessert and fortified wines.
Through this entire conversation, you'll be able to trace an underlying thread of quality, which seems to be a cultural hallmark that unifies the diverse flavors and landscapes that you encounter in the agriculture, spirits, and cocktails of Australia.
Along the way, we muse on antipodean oddities like: why all white rum in Australia is technically cristallino, what the brandy distillers of the world could learn from Pisco, why you should be drinking gingin gin with Jim, and much, much more
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(04:45) Australian Cocktail Trends
(07:23) Distillery Destinations in Australia
(13:47) The Rise of Australian Brandy
(18:00) The Story of Gingin Gin
(19:51) Standards of Identity through Production Rules
(25:15) Australia as a Culture of Quality
(27:59) Australian Brandy Grape Varietals
(32:07) Conclusion

In part one of my two-part waltz through the flavors and landscapes of Australia with James Young of Old Young's Distillery, some of the topics we discuss include:
The history and evolution of the Australian distilling industry, specifically with respect to the development of the Australian whisky scene and the rise of distinct gin and rum traditions.

The impact of Australian agriculture and wine on the types of grains, casks, and other production choices that have come to define Australian whisky on the world stage.

The flavor and culture phenomenon that is Australian gin, including the story behind Four Pillars' Bloody Shiraz and the proliferation of wine-flavored gins and a survey of unique endemic botanicals to look out for.

Along the way, we also take time to consider the six seasons you'll experience in Perth, Australian brands and bottles to keep your eye out for on American liquor store shelves, the fine line between lemon myrtle use and abuse, and much, much more.

In part two of my exploration of flavor and memory with Dr. Kevin Peterson, some of the topics we discuss include:
What the Big 5 personality index (also known as OCEAN) might be able to teach us about how guests think about factors like novelty and comfort in the cocktails they enjoy.

The difference between the highest-rated drink (on average) on most Castalia menus, versus the highest-rated drinks for specific individuals.

How people respond when asked to describe their ideal cocktail - including the aesthetics and memories they tended to focus on, and which qualities they most often left out of the description.

We also explore a somewhat half-baked theory I propose about flavor as an "attractor," which is an explanatory concept taken from complex systems science that deals with nonlinear dynamics.

Along the way, we muse on the complexities of serving baijiu cocktails in the midwest, what kinds of cocktail experiments Dr. Peterson would run if we were all guinea pigs in his flavor lab, the sublime transcendence of cauliflower and pomegranate marinated lamb, and much, much more.


Please head over to sfumatofragrances.com to check out Cocktail Theory and pre-order his upcoming book, Data-Driven Drinks, and I hope you enjoy the thrilling conclusion of my latest interview with Dr. Kevin Peterson.

In this data-driven conversation with Dr. Kevin Peterson, some of the topics we discuss include:
How winding down Castalia and Sfumato after a decade of service provided the impetus for this new project, and why Kevin has set out to address a very different set of questions than in his last book, Cocktail Theory.

Why matching a person with their ideal drink is very different (and much more difficult, it turns out) from trying to make the optimal Old Fashioned or Negroni or Daiquiri.

This leads to a conversation about all the variables that go into cocktail preference: sweetness, acidity, bitterness, booziness, effervescence, egg white, spiciness, and so much more - how does one begin to build such a high-dimensional beverage algorithm in pursuit of aesthetic pleasure?

We also discuss some of the algorithmic tests that good bar programs and bartenders can implement in order to zero in on guest preferences more quickly. These include good menu writing, the classic bartender's choice speed interview, and the possibility for creating a guest profile with likes and dislikes.

Along the way, we explore why spicy drinks are a trap, the sea change I experienced the first time I tasted Green Chartreuse, the idea of perceptual thresholds in cocktails and in life, and much, much more.