Quench! Archives - WebTalkRadio.net

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Quench! Archives - WebTalkRadio.net episodes

August 26, 2013 Quench! – Masterful Insights
We all do our best to decode the world of wine, but have you ever wondered what the subject looks like from an expert’s point of view? Mark speaks with Virginia Philip, Master Sommelier, winner of the competition for Best Sommelier in America, wine director at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, and owner of Virginia Philip Wine Shop and Academy. She shares her insights on wine quality, her efforts to educate others on the nuances of wine, and some of the challenges she faced years ago as a woman starting out in the wine business. In Bizarre Beverage News, Mark examines the strange practice of hyperdecanting—many of us like to aerate wine, but few consumers will pour a bottle into a blender and froth it on the highest setting for 30-60 seconds. Is this insanity, or cutting-edge technique?
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LINKS:
Virginia Philip—Link to: http://www.virginiaphilipwineshopacademy.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
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32 min
August 19, 2013 Quench! – The Millennial Wine Market
Once upon a time, executives in the upper echelons of the wine industry were alarmed because market research indicated people under 35 primarily drank beer or spirits rather than wine. What would happen, they wondered, in a decade or two? If these folks reached their peak earning years without learning to love the grape, the wine business had a dim future.
Fortunately the situation turned around, in large part because of the advent of social media and a group of marketers who knew how to exploit it. Mark talks with Alan Kropf, who founded Mutineer Magazine in 2008 and is a member of the Millennial generation himself, and who offers insights on the dynamics of how wine is marketed to the younger generation. On Bizarre Beverage News, Mark discusses the new phenomenon of the cotton candy grape, and speculates on the type of wine that might be made from it.
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LINKS:
Mutineer Magazine—Link to: http://www.mutineermagazine.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
Mark Spivak
Author of Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History
(www.amazon.com/Mark-Spivak)
Moonshine Nation (forthcoming from Globe Pequot Press in Spiring 2014) Host of Quench!, Great Tasting Talk Radio (www.webtalkradio.net) Wine and Spirits Editor, Palm Beach Media Group
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33 min
August 12, 2013 Quench! – The Treetops of Sequoia Grove
Currently there are seven multinational beverage conglomerates that control two-thirds of the wine sold in the U.S. The result of this near-monopoly has been a tidal wave of quaff—roughly 200 million cases of wine that taste more or less the same from one producer to another. In the midst of this situation, wineries that are individual and distinctive stand out more than ever. Since its founding in 1978, Sequoia Grove in Napa has kept its quality high, its production low and its prices reasonable. Mark speaks with Michael Trujillo, the current Director of Winemaking, to get some insights into how he does it. On Bizarre Beverage News, Mark begins with the strange tale of Treasury Wine Estates (one of the seven multinational beverage conglomerates), which just destroyed $145 million worth of its own wine; he follows that with an update on Operation Swill, the law-enforcement sting intended to make New Jersey safe for the consumption of high-end booze.
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LINKS:
Sequoia Grove Winery—Link to: http://www.sequoiagrove.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
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31 min
August 05, 2013 Quench! – The Economics of Wine
Is it true that most people choose cheap wine over more expensive wine in a blind tasting? Do wineries that advertise in the Wine Spectator get high ratings than those that don’t? Why do certain wineries consistently wine gold medals in competitions and county fairs, while others get skunked?
Mark explores these questions with Orley Ashenfelter, head of the American Association of Wine Economists and publisher of the Journal of Wine Economics, who has dealt with a number of controversial topics in a scrupulously scholarly fashion. On Bizarre Beverage News, Mark recounts his favorite story connected with Ashenfelter’s organization: how a researcher concocted a phony restaurant in Milan, wrote a wine list filled with low-rated selections, submitted the list and won the Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence.
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LINKS:
Journal of Wine Economics—Link to: http://www.wine-economics.org
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
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31 min
July 29, 2013 Quench! – Craft Beer, Part II
Continuing his exploration of the craft beer universe, Mark speaks with Mitch Steele, brewmaster at the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California—once referred to by Beer Advocate magazine as the best brewery on planet earth. They discuss issues such as beer with food, why craft beer has become such a mania among certain segments of consumers, and the phenomenon of cult beers attracting huge prices and an active black market. Steele, who worked for Anheuser-Busch in an earlier phase of his career, offers some interesting insights from both ends of the beer spectrum. On Bizarre Beverage News, Mark delves into two unusual stories:
the appearance of Coca Cola-flavored wine in France, and the establishment of the Prosecco Police in Northern Italy.
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LINKS:
Stone Brewing Company—Link to: http://www.stonebrew.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
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33 min
July 22, 2013 Quench! – Craft Beer, Part I
In the past decade, craft beer has exploded in popularity across the
United States—even as the sales of mainstream brews such as Budweiser
are declining drastically. This trend has been fueled by publications such
as the Beer Advocate, and bears an eerie resemblance to the mania that
occurred when wine first became part of the American landscape in the late
1970s. There’s an active black market for the top craft brews, which
sometimes sell out in a matter of hours for inflated prices. Mark speaks
with Tyler Jones, head brewer at the Portsmouth Brewery in New Hampshire.
Founded in 1991, Portsmouth was the country’s first brewpub, and has
been part of the craft beer movement from the beginning. On Bizarre
Beverage News, Mark explores an intriguing question: would you pay $225
for a bottle of wine that was aged on the ocean floor?
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LINKS:
Portsmouth Brewing Company—Link to: http://www.portsmouthbrewery.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to: http://www.inconicspirits.net
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29 min
July 15, 2013 Quench! – Who Gets the Tip?
Foodies often debate about which restaurant personnel to tip, and how much. Should you tip the sommelier? Should you tip on the cost of a bottle of wine? However, the real question—and a far more compelling one—is the issue of who is actually pocketing that money. Is your tip going to the person you intend to reward, or is it being skimmed off the top by a greedy member of management, or an even greedier owner who is using it to pay the salary of a dishwasher? Mark interviews Maimon Kirschenbaum, the 34 year-old attorney who has become the most feared man in the New York restaurant community. Kirschenbaum has brought a series of successful class-action lawsuits against Manhattan’s top restaurants, and reportedly won over $40 million in settlements for his clients. On Bizarre Beverage News, Mark investigates the strange tale of Grand Theft Vodka—how a gang of thieves broke into a Miami customs warehouse in the middle of the night and made off with $1.1 million worth of vodka.
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LINKS:
Maimon Kirschenbaum—Link to: http://www.jhllp.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
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32 min
July 08, 2013 Quench! – Anatomy of A Craft Distiller
What are the differences between someone who makes less than 40,000 cases of spirits each year and an operation such as Smirnoff, which cranked out over 26 million cases in 2012? Obviously the distinctions go way beyond numbers and relate to intangibles such as entrepreneurial spirit, vision, passion and commitment to quality. Mark speaks with Brian Ellison of Death’s Door Spirits in Washington Island, Wisconsin, one of the country’s leading producers of craft spirits, to get an idea about what he does, how he does it, and—most importantly—why he does it. On Bizarre Beverage News, Mark investigates the latest major wine heist: the theft of nearly 400 half-bottles from the legendary Chateau D’Yquem in Bordeaux, worth roughly $130,000.
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LINKS:
Death’s Door Spirits—Link to: http://www.deathsdoorspirits.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
Mark Spivak
Author of Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History
(www.amazon.com/Mark-Spivak)
Host of Quench!, Great Tasting Talk Radio (www.webtalkradio.net) Wine and Spirits Editor, Palm Beach Media Group
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32 min
June 24, 2013 Quench! – Limoncello: The Art of Citrus
How did a lemon liqueur produced in a small part of Italy’s Adriatic Coast become an international sensation? Mark speaks with Alan Kropf of Anchor Distilling, one of the marketing wizards behind Luxardo, the world’s oldest commercial producer of Limoncello. He then explores the subject further with Chris Chickerneo, a young entrepreneur from Chicago.
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Chickerneo fell in love with the drink a few years back during a visit to Italy; he began making it after he returned home, and today is one of the country’s top artisan producers of Limoncello. His company, CelloVia, turns out a half-dozen different versions in small batches, and is on the verge of national distribution. During an extended segment of Viewer Mail (messages sent in by listeners who enjoy watching their iPods), Mark reviews some of the many emails received over the past few weeks, discusses whether diners should tip on the dollar value of a bottle of wine, and reveals the truth behind some of the allegations about the founder of the biodynamic movement.
LINKS:
Luxardo Limoncello—Link to: http://www.anchordistilling.com
CelloVia¬—Link to: http://www.cellovia.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
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36 min
June 17, 2013 Quench! – Is it Paint Thinner, Or Is It Airline Wine?
Why is it impossible to get a decent glass of wine in coach, during a period when airline cocktails are getting better than ever? Why can you drink better wine in Utah than you can at 30,000 feet? Mark gets a consultant’s point of view from Josh Wesson, who has helped choose inflight wine for JetBlue for nearly a decade. A former sommelier and wine retailer, Josh explains the challenges involved in selecting wine to be consumed by passengers in pressurized cabins, and reveals some of the things he looks for in making his decisions. On Bizarre Beverage News, Mark gives the details on Operation Swill, a law enforcement sting recently conducted in New Jersey. Officials raided 29 bars and restaurants for putting cheap booze into high-end bottles, and found one establishment that was actually passing off rubbing alcohol infused with caramel food coloring as single malt Scotch.
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LINKS:
Joshua Wesson—Link to @joshuawine on Twitter
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net
Mark Spivak
Author of Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History
(www.amazon.com/Mark-Spivak)
Host of Quench!, Great Tasting Talk Radio (www.webtalkradio.net) Wine and Spirits Editor, Palm Beach Media Group
The post Quench! – Is it Paint Thinner, Or Is It Airline Wine? appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.
34 min