Creating your own cocktail recipes is one of the most rewarding parts of bartending. But where to find the inspiration? Peter Lusher of the French Crust Bistro in Cincinnati Ohio talks about his method of creating cocktails starting from experiences. He believes that smells and emotions of a moment can help you break out and move beyond the traditional method of starting from ratios and recipes to get you to what you want to recreate in your drink. 

As 2017 starts to wind down, the fun is still going strong with Charlie Tonic. This week Ginny Tonic and Charlie sit down with Frank Seta from Lucky Turtle in Finneytown, Ohio to talk about their 2nd anniversary and how Frank's created a craft beer and whiskey bar that avoids the cliches associated with those drinks. Next, Ginny talks with Peter Lusher from French Crust digging into how he goes about creating cocktails based on experiences rather than ratios and recipes. All that and some great event recommendations for you before it's done!

This week our interview takes on a married couple who both changed their lives in the past 5-7 years in order to follow their dreams and start new careers. Tracy McElfresh runs Tracy's Sewing Studio in Dayton, Ohio and Jeffery McElfresh is the head brewer and helped open Yellow Springs Brewery in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Their journey started with Tracy leaving her job to open a fabric shop just as Jeffery was losing his job as a manager with Border's. Jeffrey took that moment as an opportunity to take his home brewing hobby into the professional realm.

This week for Bottoms Up we try two barrel aged beers from the Dayton Beer Company. The first is their Beast of Tadmor Village (Dopplebock) which we follow up with Midnight Dream (Russian Imperial Stout). After sharing our thoughts, we take you over into a bit of bonus audio exclusive to Bottoms Up as  we consider the many amazing breweries of Dayton.

This week we walk you through some fun events and life adventures before we settle into a discussion of what to give and what not to give that alcohol and spirits enthusiast in your life. From there we check in with Dayton Beer Company and consider the Breweries of Dayton. All this plus event recommendations and more!

Ginny Tonic knows her way around a distillery so she was very excited to talk with Carus Wagner of Second Sight Spirits for this week's episode. Carus and his best friend started a small distillery in Ludlow, Kentucky after working together building sets for Cirque du Soleil. She talks with him about life changes which inspired them to start a craft distillery.

For this week's Bottoms Up podcast, the cocktails and recipes are coming at you quick as we whisk you away to a private party where the shots are paired with Pitch Perfect films. While we are there we interview the party's host and we even chat with some of the guests before we're done. 

This week we take you from Metropole to Tokyo Kitty and back before we ultimately settle into a discussion of the alcohol and bar industry trends that helped shape 2017. After we cover the basics of what has been an amazing year, we whisk you away to a private party where cocktails are paired with the Pitch Perfect films. There we chat with the host and some of the guests. After that stop we drop off back home with a few great recommendations and call it an Hour, Charlie Tonic style.

This week Ginny Tonic talks to Chuck Cowdery about how he went from a marketing professional who only knew bourbon because that was cheap stuff his parents drank, to being one of the most well known bourbon bloggers in the United States. His story of growth and the love of Kentucky bourbon history is inspiring even if you don't love bourbon, but I can't imagine anyone who doesn't love bourbon.

This week we pay a visit to Fibonacci Brewing Company! We are joined by Bob and Betty Bollas as we settle in at the bar to run through some of their wonderfully interesting beers!