We round out 2025 with Bret Heiar, a true original of the hospitality world. These days, he’s the Wine Director at Avec River North, and he's gearing up to open a new Avec location in Highwood, bringing One Off Hospitality’s wine ethos north to the suburbs. Bret got his start as a teenager slinging fries at I-80’s World’s Largest Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa, before bouncing through back-of-house gigs, front-of-house service, and eventually discovering a deep obsession with all things wine. Along the way, he lived a vagabond lifestyle, training obsessively in martial arts, hitchhiking on Grateful Dead tour, and bumming around Europe. As one of the city's foremost wine curators, Bret is known for building lists that favor lesser-known regions, older vintages, and unexpected finds. This episode, we talk creative ways to train your palate, the strange world of celebrity rider wine requests, the lost art (and enduring power) of puns, and what it really means to build a wine program with integrity. Plus: squirrels, scooters, grilled cheese philosophy, and plenty more.