The Speakeasy

By Heritage Radio NetworkSociety & Culture Arts Food

The Speakeasy episodes

October 27An Island Girl with Kate Perry
How do you go from a bartender to building a career and an identity around a type of rum you’ve grown to absolutely fall in love with? And then, once that’s done, how do you walk away? That’s what Kate Perry, National Portfolio & US Market Manager for LM&V is doing right now, and she sits down with Greg & Sother to talk about falling in love with some of the Caribbean’s funkier rums, talking her way into her dream job, and then knowing when it was time to turn the page and walk away.
PLUS, we all know there are too many breweries in this country, but are there too many distilleries too? Greg and Sother discuss.

Follow Kate at @wheninrhum
Follow LM&V at @lamaisonandvelier
Follow Cazimi at @cazimi.vashon

LINKS
Become a Regular
Check out bartender.com and use promo code Speakeasy for 15% off!
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
45 min
October 23Rum Through the Jungle with Brad Parkes
What comes first in a premium brand? A great product, or a market niche? That’s the question Brad Parkes, the Co-Founder of Palm Republic Rum is sitting down with us to resolve. He discuss building a premium brand in a category that isn’t always renowned for quality, getting people to change their mind about rum, and bringing a blended product to market in a world that’s a little single origin obsessed right now.
PLUS, Do people become night owls because they’re bartenders, or become bartenders because they’re night owls? Greg & Sother discuss.
Follow Palm Republic at @palmrepublicrum

LINKS
Become a Regular
Check out bartender.com and use promo code Speakeasy for 15% off!
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
34 min
October 20Drinks Shoots & Leaves with Iain McPherson
When you’ve already pioneered two advanced techniques that take the bartending world by storm, and been called Cocktail Menu Innovator of the Year by The 50, where do you go next? That’s what Iain McPherson, the owner of Edinburgh’s award-winning bar Panda & Sons is here to talk about. He discusses the difference between high-tech moves that improve a drink and ones that are just impressive to bartenders, how his Scottish & Korean heritage shaped his take on hospitality, and how all of this may have started thanks to his training at a gelato school in Italy.
PLUS, Greg gives a shoutout to a local hero.

Follow Iain at @thecocktailpanda
Follow Panda & Sons at @pandaandsons

LINKS
Become a Regular
Check out bartender.com and use promo code Speakeasy for 15% off!
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
38 min
October 16A Little Schooled with Tiffany Hernandez & Juliana Manzanarez
There are times when we all need a lawyer. Tiffany Hernandez, the founder of Escuelitas and Juliana Manzanarez, the founding attorney of VIA law group sit down in the studio to discuss of the administration’s immigration crackdown is affecting the hospitality industry, and what ordinary citizens can do about it. They run through the laws bar owners and managers need to know when dealing with law enforcement, some of the lesser-known laws people have on their side, and the ways you as a listener can get involved.
PLUS, your annual PSA about pumpkin spice lattes…

Follow Tiffany at @mezcalmistress
Follow Escuelitas at @escuelitasfoundation

LINKS
Become a Regular
Check out bartender.com and use promo code Speakeasy for 15% off!
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
53 min
October 14All the Booze That's Fit to Print with Ryan Foley
Running a print magazine in the year 2026 is a choice to say the least. Ryan Foley, Publisher of Bartender Magazine sits down with Greg and Sother to talk about how the magazine has changed since his dad started it, what it’s like running a family business with his mom, what sorts of stories readers of a bartending magazine are looking for, and how physical media is staying current in the digital age.
PLUS Happy Oktoberfest to all who celebrate! Greg and Sother ring in the season by giving traditional German beer styles their flowers and pointing to a possible example of what craft beer can do to refresh its image. And don’t even get us started on pumpkin beers…
Follow Bartender Magazine at @bartendermagazine

LINKS
Become a Regular
Check out bartender.com and use promo code Speakeasy for 15% off!
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
47 min
October 09The Gin Twins with Ektoras Binikos
No one in this industry’s mind works quite like Ektoras Binikos. The man behind Atheras Spirits, the distillery that gave us a shisho mastiha and fig leaf liqueur is back on The Speakeasy because he’s gone and done something really radical this time: made a couple of normal base spirits. Ektoras chats with Greg and Sother about what it was like to make gin and a vodka after so many weird creations, how making a London Dry style turned into making two different “twin gins” and how his bars, New York City’s Sugar Monk and Bitter Monk, have evolved as his spirits business has grown.
PLUS Greg’s in New York and Sother’s on the road!? See what inspired this bizarre role reversal, what Sother’s doing in North Carolina, and what locally foraged goodies he’s managed to whip up along the way.

Follow Atheras Spirits at @atherasspirits
Follow Sugar Monk at @sugarmonknyc
Follow Bitter Monk at @bittermonkbrooklyn

LINKS
Become a Regular
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
52 min
October 06Make Cocktails, Not War with Jena Ellenwood & Lily Chun
How is a bartending competition different from a regular shift? What if there are cameras beaming that competition out to a national audience? And what if NSYNC is in the room watching you make drinks? Those are the conditions Lily Chun and Jena Ellenwood had to contend with on Cocktails Wars, a new competition show on E! and they’re sitting down with Greg and Sother to spill the tea. Hear them talk about the competition (and who won!), what it’s like to show up to a studio call on two hours of sleep, and how someone who’s made a life behind the bar can parlay a media appearance into a second act.
PLUS Greg and Sother break their silence on The Last Ditch. Hear what they have to say about America’s most famous (for the moment) bar.

Follow Jena on instagram at @jena.lane
Follow Lily at @lilsmcc

LINKS
Become a Regular
Support “Spirited Ladies”
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
47 min
October 02A Bartender Prepares with Nic Hamilton
Are you playing a character behind the bar? Or just being yourself? Actor, author and CocktailTok celebrity Nic Hamilton joins Greg and Sother to talk about his stage and film career, how his first cocktail video got a million views overnight, and what it’s like to move from online content creator to a regular working bartender. They discuss how being being the bar prepares you for a job on camera (and vice versa), how to craft drinks that the algorithm and human beings alike will enjoy and, for the Regulars, they settle once and for all whether or not Zoomers are drinking less.
PLUS protein in vodka? It’s real, and it’s spectacular.
Follow Nic on Instagram at @nicholas.hamilton and on TikTok at @nic.hamilton

LINKS
Become a Regular
Order Nic’s book, Sipsy-Doozy
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
41 min
September 29The Best of 50 Best with Emma Sleight
What does it take to be one of the 50 Best bars? And what does “Best” mean anyway? Emma Sleight from 50 Best sits down with Greg and Sother to discuss how a bar makes the list, whether she’s still impressed with hospitality and what role these kinds of lists play in the hospitality industry at large.
PLUS, a line of 20% spirits has hit the market. Is this just fad-chasing or something real? Greg and Sother discuss this latest move by Diageo.
Follow The 50 Best Bars at @the50bars

LINKS
Become a Regular
Follow The 50: the50.com
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
52 min
September 25A Book and a Library with Brett Adams
Brett Adams just finished writing his second book. Good thing he had a lot of time since his day job is curating a bar with thousands of different bottles. Brett, author of “Raising the Bar” and “The Bartender’s Library” sits down with Greg and Sother to talk about his work as Spirits Curator and Education Manager at the Multnomah Whiskey Library, why he wanted to write such an in-the-weeds book after a much more stripped down debut, and what bottles he would take with him at the end of the world. Want to hear what goes into a $7,000 dram of Japanese Whiskey? Brett has your answers.
PLUS, cocktail names are getting simpler. By a lot. Greg and Sother unpack this latest iteration of the minimalist trend and whether or not it might be an overcorrection.

Follow Multnomah at @multnomahwhiskeylibrary
Follow Brett at @your.daily.brett

LINKS
Become a Regular
Preorder Brett’s Book
For resources on dealing with cold, hard water agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
The Speakeasy is on YouTube!
Check out Quiote Imports and use promo code “Speakeasy” for free shipping.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
30 min

About The Speakeasy

From the publisher's feed

Award-winning bartenders and co-hosts Sother Teague and Greg Benson sit down to talk cocktails, spirits, wine, beer, tea, coffee, and all the other exciting liquids in the universe. With each…