Laid Back Lush

Ouzo hails from the nation of Greece and is easily its most prominent liquor. This anise-heavy drink is still a prominent part of the local culture, particularly where food is concerned, but how did it come about? Tune in to find out Ouzo's history, production methods, and more in this episode!

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What is wine expertise? Well, it seems to depend on who you ask. To some it's the height of sophistication, for others it's complete nonsense. In this episode, we'll be discussing the philosophical implications of what influences wine expertise, how it manifests itself in the industry, and why the perception of this expertise matters. Perhaps both sides of the argument could learn a thing or two from each other....

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Are wine experts full of it? Adam Ruins Everything seems to think so, but we have some doubts about that claim. In this episode, we're diving into the science of wine tasting to see if the world of wine is really built on as shaky a foundation as many claim it is. While we do understand that yes, there are many people in and out of the industry that make claims beyond their ability, the science of wine tasting presents a much more nuanced reality to the ability of the brain to discern a wine's character. The science is fascinating, and we're very excited to share it with you!

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Remember when we did an episode on wine tasting at the start of this podcast? We hope not because it was bad. Listen to this one instead, it's much better, we promise. This go around we'll be walking you through how we taste and analyze wine. It's not all smells and flavors, there's also structural elements in wine that greatly affect the enjoyment you'll get from it. We hope this episode gives you the tools to analyze them all and further your journey into wine discovery!

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We're back with even more analysis of the effect of social media on the perceptions and opinions of wine on the internet. In this episode, we're looking towards the trend-driven marketing that gets fueled by algorithms and how this can trick some into forming opinions on wine that don't necessarily reflect reality. From the flashy images of Instagram to the game of telephone we discovered is being played on Vivino, we discovered that social media tends to become a feedback loop between algorithms and marketing when it comes to wine information. We hope this episode helps you see past the curtain, so to speak, of the pretty language and images of social media reviews and provides you with the tools to find accurate information on the wines you're curious about!

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The world wide web is home to the largest collection of information man has ever known. How did man decide to utilize this? By giving controvercial opinions and clout chasing on social media, of course. In this episode, we delve into some of the hot takes on wine we're come across and try to disprove some of the myths about wine that seem to be popular on these apps. Hopefully we can make sense of this brave new frontier...

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Welcome back! In today's episode we're exploring the diverse world of craft brewing here in the commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia has an extensive history of beer brewing that predates even the founding of the United States, and we're excited to share this unique story. It's a tale of trial and error, something still found in the industry today, but thankfully innovation always seems to triumph. We hope you enjoy (hopefully with a unique brew in hand) our exploration!

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This episode has certainly been a long time coming! We have been itching to talk about the state of the rapidly growing wine industry here in our home state, Virginia, for quite a while now, and we're excited to finally broach the subject. From our challenging climate to the producers we like the most, we hope to give a comprehensive introduction of Virginia wines to any curious drinkers out there looking for something new to try. We hope this episode piques your curiosity!

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In our infinite wisdom, we have decided to return to our bad alcohols series. This time, we sought out the worst recommendations from our local ABC store clerks. The result was 99, a brand of 99 proof liqueurs that are sold at a frighteningly low price point. As always, this was a really bad idea. Tune in to find out just how bad it gets.

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Join us as we continue our exploration of Phylloxera, the great wine blight. In this episode, we will be delving into the history of how Phylloxera was discovered and nearly led to the eradication of the global wine industry. With the solutions hard to find and even harder to implement, this epidemic is a tragic and fascinating look at how science, collaboration, and ingenuity can overcome dire circumstances.

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