The Speakeasy

This week, Damon and Sother are joined in studio by Lauren Myerscough, co-founder of Cocktail & Sons. The company has a line of all-natural hand-crafted syrups, cordials, and tea concentrates for a variety of bars and restaurants in New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and more!

Also joining them is Valerie Franco, satellite regular at Amor y Amargo and drummer extraordinaire, who appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night (and will be again in the near future)!

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This week, Damon and Sother are joined in the studio by Kat Hamidi of Capitoline Vermouth, Washington DC's first commercially available vermouth. After Negroni Week and Bar Convent Brooklyn, what better way to come down than with Americanos??

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Thomas Spaeth is a bartender at Dear Irving in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan. In the summer, you can also find him serving drinks at Grand Banks, a seasonal oyster bar on the deck of a historic fishing boat docked at Pier 25 on the Hudson River. He's always on the go. When he's not bartending, Thomas can be found salvaging bicycles by night and rebuilding them into urban speed machines.

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Damon and Sother are joined in the studio by Angus Winchester, the Global Director of Education for the Bar Convent Berlin and Bar Convent Brooklyn and is curating over 100 training slots at these two significant trade events helping to educate and inspire Hospitality staff from around the world.

Winchester’s contacts and knowledge have been built up over nearly 30 years of engagement with the best bars and bartenders in the world. As founder member of one of the first global bar consultancies, and now with Alconomics Asia in Hong Kong, Angus has provided on- premise consultancy, profit enhancement advice and training to trend setting outlets from Washington D.C. to Hong Kong, including the multi-award- winning Salvatore at Fifty (RIP, alas) and Trailer Happiness in London, Mandarin Oriental Hotels in Hong Kong, Hainan and Bangkok, the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach, the luxury Nimb Hotel in Copenhagen and Intercontinental Hotels globally.

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From a young age, William Elliott had a fascination with taste and memory, and sharing the experience. Though he grew up in a “dry” household, his obsession with liquor and food sprang from elicit sips of pastis from his parent’s cupboard and busted attempts at bouillabaisse. During a stint playing music around California and the desert Southwest, Elliott realized a new obsession, and transitioned full-time into the realm of beer, wine, and spirits. He has been an integral part of the critically-acclaimed Maison Premiere since its opening in 2011, serving as its Head Bartender for the three years it was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Awards. After MP won the JBFA for Best Bar Program in 2016, Elliott, now as Bar Director, conceptualized the bar at Sauvage as an strong-headed sibling to Maison Premiere; in an age of multi-national brands and marketing campaigns, the liquor selections and cocktails speak to nativity and so honor the producers and regions from which they hail. Within months, the bar at Sauvage was lauded with glowing reviews, including NY Time’s Pete Wells enjoying many treasured bottles on the back-bar and the “exemplary” cocktails.

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This week, Damon and Sother are joined by Jeffrey Morgenthaler, the bar manager at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon. His newest book is Drinking Distilled: A User's Manual, an opinionated, illustrated guide for cocktail beginners, covering the basics of spirits plus making and drinking cocktails.

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This week, Damon and Sother are joined by the husband and wife team of Jackson Stamper and Tonia Guffey-Stamper, of Employees Only and Highland Park Distillery, respectively. Tune in for hiccup cures, beef tartare, and some pretty outstanding Scotch.

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Eric Medsker is a New York City based photographer and content creator working on a variety of commercial, publishing, and personal projects centered around food and beverage. Some notable projects include Wylie Dufresne's WD~50 cookbook, Brian Bartel’s The Bloody Mary Cocktail Book for Ten Speed Press, and the social media for Death & Co.

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In her own words, Melissa “Mellie” Wiersma is just a girl who giggles a lot, makes lots of drinks, has a lot of love for Boston, and has started falling in love with New York. She's worked in every type of joint, from buttoned-up cocktail bars to roofs and dives, and has enjoyed every moment of it!

She is also a contributor to the forthcoming book Drinking Like Ladies, which is dedicated to the proposition that a woman’s place is behind the bar. . . or in front of it. . . or really any place she pleases.

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Originally from the Finger Lakes, NY, Lauren Corriveau moved to NYC at the age of 17. After graduating college with a degree in Merchandising and Business Management, Lauren went on to work in the fashion industry for almost 10 years. Although she worked in bars and restaurants while in college, hospitality didn't factor into her career path until 2013, when she was hired as a member of the opening team for Battery Harris in Brooklyn. The process of opening a new space resonated with her experience in retail and design and sparked Lauren's passion for hospitality and menu development. Shortly thereafter, she started working at Donna, where she was fully introduced to the cocktail industry. Upon receiving a job offer from Natasha David in 2015, Lauren left fashion for a full time career in hospitality, becoming Head Bartender of Nitecap just one year later. During her time with the company, Lauren has been an integral part of running the business and shaping the brand alongside David. Lauren’s cocktails have been featured in multiple publications including Punch, Eater, Grub Street, Supercall, NY Post, and Sous Vide Magazine.

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