Giannis Miliotis is a brilliant bartender at Oz Cocktail Bar on the Greek island of Chios. Chios also happens to be where Mastica - the plant which produces the resin that goes in to making Mastiha Liqueur - originates from. Giannis takes us through a bit of Mastica history, how he uses the liqueur in cocktails, and we hit him with the Free Pour 5!

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Ross Blainey is William Grant & Sons’ The Balvenie Brand Ambassador for Australia and New Zealand. His job, as he puts it, is to bring the stories from the 126-year-old Speyside distillery to those who haven’t been able to get there. Some of those tales are also behind the company’s new ‘The Balvenie Stories’ range of whiskys.

Ross’ first encounter with The Balvenie’s Single Malts was as a teenager, when he was tasked with building the whisky range at the Dufftown pub where he was working. He grew the bar’s range of single malts from under 10 to almost 200, yet found that he kept coming back to The Balvenie 12 DoubleWood as his go-to dram.

We ask Ross about the process to becoming a Brand Ambassador, the qualities that bode well for success in the role and what goes into developing brilliant tasting events.

"It's about passion and communication."

Then, we explore what's next for the category of whisky, as well as some food pairing tips, with some classic stories from the Distillery interspersed throughout.

Key points

• 05:14 Getting into Whisky
• 07:05 Ross’ go-to dram
• 11:08 Becoming a Brand Ambassador
• 16:09 Tasting events
• 19:00 The weirdest tasting note he’s encountered
• 20:40 The Balvenie Stories
• 27:27 What next for the category of Whisky?
• 34:12 Translating the Scottish accent
• 36:34 Food pairings

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Jim Meehan owns Please Don’t Tell, a hidden high-end cocktail bar in New York that has become something of an institution. He's also an accomplished author - many of you would be familiar with his work in the PDT Cocktail Book and Meehan's Bartender Manual, winner of the 2018 James Beard Foundation Cookbook Award in "Beverage" category.

Even now that he’s stepped back from his New York duties to settle down in Oregon, Jim remains a highly sought-after industry authority. He spoke candidly with us in the early months of this year about why he made that move, as well as how he encourages young people to traverse the hospitality industry that can present a unique set of challenges.

Key points

• 02:00 The bar industry in New York
• 06:30 Opening another PDT in Hong Kong
• 11:20 Stepping back to settle in Portland
• 14:15 How to 'swim in the deep end' of the bar industry
• 24:45 How Jim manages to be an author, owner and father all at once
• 29:45 What drew Jim to hospitality
• 34:50 The 'memory-creating' business
• 36:00 American Express’ The Centurion Lounge

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David Wondrich is the world's pre-eminent drinks historian. After beginning his career as an academic - he has a PhD in Comparative Literature - Dave decided to combine his appetite for writing and history with his passion for well-made drinks. So, he began tracing the stories behind many of the cocktails we enjoy to this day and, in doing so, he built an awareness and community that helped drive the drinks renaissance of this century. His books, including Imbibe! and Punch, are essential reading for bartenders or anyone fascinated by the history of the cocktail.

Nicole & Marcus chatted to David in January 2019, about where he thinks the drinks rennaissance is at, why he thinks the category of whiskey has been "overtaken by geeks and douches", the future of the neighbourhood bar and much, much more.

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Next up in our ‘best-of’ series of podcasts is our chat with Philip Duff.

Philip has been a successful drinks consultant, educator, producer, writer, judge and venue owner. The Irishman has done it all since establishing his consultancy, Liquid Solutions, 20 years ago: He opened the Netherland's first Speakeasy – door 74 – mentored some of the world's best bartenders (including Marcus!) and at the time of recording, he was the Director of Education at Tales of the Cocktail.

Phil's latest project has been getting his own range of spirits off the ground and into bars the world over. Old Duff Genever - 100% owned by Phil - is one of only three brands permitted to carry the seal of Schiedam, and since our chat, Proof & Co have announced they'll be bringing it to Australia and New Zealand.

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For the next month, we’re bringing back some of our greatest hits as part of our ‘best-of’ podcast series. You’ll be hearing four of our most popular conversations with cocktail royalty. The first of those is this chat with ‘King Cocktail’, Dale DeGroff.

Dale is a bartender, author and “one of the world’s foremost cocktail experts” according to in the New York Times. We were lucky enough to get him on the other end of the phone when he was in Australia in late 2018, to chat about the cocktail industry he’s a part of today versus the one in which he began his career in the 1970s, plus plenty of stories in between.

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Kayla Grigoriou is a Bar Manager at Bar Torino in Adelaide who recently made the Top 20 Australian bartenders at this year’s Diageo World Class competition.

Kayla takes us through the cocktail that helped her make the cut, the elements of the next phase of competition that she was preparing for at the time of recording, the Free Pour Five and more.

Next week, we kick off our ‘Best of’ series of podcasts, in which we're bringing back some of our earlier interviews with some absolute household names of the industry, starting with Dale DeGroff.

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Wes Heddles and Sacha La Forgia both own and run different award-winning South Australian distilleries. Wes is one of two men who co-founded Prohibition Liquor, a small-batch gin producer, and Sacha is a former winemaker who now heads up Adelaide Hills Distillery. Adelaide Hills' headline product is their 78 degrees gin, and the company has recently begun the foray into vermouth and whiskey production.

Wes and Sacha were good friends before they became direct competitors, so there is plenty of banter to be had during their chat with Nicole. She asks about how they started out, the saturation level of the gin market in Australia, where further opportunities lie and what sets their products apart.

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Robin Wolf is a career bartender and the winner of the Tales of the Cocktail 2019 Official Cocktail Competition. Her liquid creation, titled Night Gardens, riffed off of the competition themes - Highball and 'Cultivate' - to settle on a Jasmine Tea number that is simple and refreshing.

Robin herself is a well-rounded and accomplished hospitality professional who has a background as a wine sommelier. She currently runs the bar program at The Hatch Rotisserie & Bar in Paso Robles, California, as well as makes her own range of bitters for her company SLO Bitter Co.

For the full Night Gardens recipe, head to https://talesofthecocktail.org/industrynews/tales-cocktail-foundation-announces-winner-tales-cocktail-2019-official-cocktail-competition

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In Marcus' absence this week, we're throwing back to an earlier chat with Japanese Master Bartender Hidetsugu Ueno. Owner of the world renowned Bar High Five in Tokyo, Ueno is the most revered of anyone behind a bar in Japan, which is astounding when you consider the fact he doesn't even drink.

We asked about the gruelling master & apprentice style of bar tutelage that's ever present in Japan, his meticulous ice-carving and dilution techniques, and the subtleties of making conversation with customers. He's as fascinating as ever.

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Find all of our episodes at https://www.themessagepod.com.au/livingproof

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