In this wide-ranging conversation with cocktail expert and bar mentor Jim Meehan (@mixography), author of The Bartender’s Pantry, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How ingredient sourcing and processing ties into the exercise of integrity--not just in sourcing the highest “quality” ingredients, but also exploring how your purchasing power plays into our larger agricultural and economic systems.

• The way that Jim and his illustrator, Bart Sasso, used procedural graphics to create a four-dimensional rendering of the ingredient prep recipes. I’ve never seen illustrations as clever as these in a cocktail or a cookbook, and I think you’ll love them.

• Why the process of being a good cocktail generalist actually forces you to become a micro-specialist in many different facets of cooking and mixology.

• The importance of taking ingredients and recipes seriously while also preserving the magic of fun and playfulness in cocktails.

• The fascinating, delicious gray area that opens up when you realize that the ingredients you’re transforming in the kitchen are also transforming YOU

• And much, much more.