Proof of Concept

Before they ever worked a competition, Brigid Green and Robbin Green Yeh were shoppers like everyone else — noticing the medals on bottles and taking them as a reasonable bet. Years of volunteering at The Tasting Alliance competitions changed what those stickers mean to them. In this episode, they talk about seeing the blind judging process up close, the expertise and care that goes into every award, and why a medal reads differently once you know what stands behind it.

Maddee McDowell, Executive Vice President of The Tasting Alliance, has spent years helping build what grew out of a single competition and keeps it running at a scale Anthony Dias Blue’s original San Francisco International Wine Competition could only hint at. In this episode, she talks about what it means to carry that legacy forward, what it actually takes to run competitions of this size, and the standards that have stayed the same no matter how much everything around them has grown.

Molly Horn spends her days watching what people actually buy. As Head of Mixology, Spirits Education, and Celebrity Events at Total Wine & More, she knows what pulls someone toward one bottle over the twenty next to it — label, price, word of mouth, or something harder to name. In this episode, she gets into how that view from the retail floor shapes the way she judges at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and what the gap is between a spirit that wins a medal and one that uses that medal to win a customer.

Behind every competition is a crew that keeps it honest. Alex Hoyt and Nic Bishop have spent years on the San Francisco World Spirits Competition floor, and they bring serious industry chops of their own to the room. In this episode, they talk about what it's like to work alongside some of the world's best palates, what you pick up when you're pouring hundreds of samples a day, and why the people running the room matter as much as the ones behind the table.

What happens after the bottles arrive and the doors close? Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Chief Judge of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, joins Toby Blue and Jason Rabinowitz for a behind-the-scenes look at the art, discipline, and responsibility of judging spirits blind. An award-winning bartender and author of The Bar Book and Drinking Distilled, Jeffrey brings decades of experience behind the bar to one of the world’s most respected spirits competitions. This episode is the first in a series featuring the judges who help determine what earns the industry’s highest honors.

Season Two opens with the person who decided to open the doors. Amanda Blue, President of The Tasting Alliance, joins Toby Blue and Jason Rabinowitz to talk about leading the world's most prestigious spirits competition, protecting the integrity of blind judging, and why this season pulls back the curtain on how Double Gold is earned.

In this bonus episode, Toby Blue and Jason Rabinowitz taste Blackleaf Organic Vodka with founders Kevin Larkai and Monté Burrow — nose, palate, finish, and the judges' notes behind the Double Gold and Platinum honors.

What does it take to build a luxury spirits brand that didn't exist before — without waiting for permission? In this episode of Proof of Concept, Toby Blue and Jason Rabinowitz sit down with Kevin Larkai and Monté Burrow, co-founders of Blackleaf Organic Vodka, one of the most decorated organic vodka brands in the world. Kevin and Monté open up about the quieter, harder chapters of building the brand, becoming their own distributor, "Making Organic Sexy," sustainability that's substance over performance, and what it means to be Black founders in a category where ownership remains incredibly rare. Plus: the emotional weight of earning Double Gold and Platinum Awards at The Tasting Alliance's San Francisco, New York, and Asia World Spirits Competitions — and why they're just getting started.

In this bonus episode of Proof of Concept, hosts Toby Blue and Jason Rabinowitz pour their way through the Heaven Hill portfolio — one of the largest family-owned distilleries in America and a cornerstone of Kentucky whiskey. The lineup spans Henry McKenna, Elijah Craig, and Rittenhouse before taking a smooth left turn into Carolans Irish Cream. From bottled-in-bond bourbon to benchmark rye, this tasting digs into what nearly two centuries of distilling heritage tastes like in the glass. Whether you're a bourbon loyalist or just building your whiskey vocabulary, this one covers a lot of ground in a single sitting.

Heaven Hill has stayed family-owned for almost 90 years — through a fire, a generational handoff, and a whiskey boom that swallowed up most of its peers. Co-President Kate Latts joins Toby Blue and Jason Rabinowitz to talk independence, patience, and what it takes to protect a legacy bigger than any one leader.