Living Proof: Conversations for Bartenders

Salvatore Calabrese is a bar consultant, author, competition judge and industry great who's been in the game for over 40 years. In The Master Series, The Living Proof Podcast will be taking in the advice, stories and opinions of those considered to be legends of the industry.

David Wondrich is the author of two of the most widely popular books in the bartending biz, Imbibe and Punch. We chat to the drinks historian for our fourth installment of The Masters Series. In The Master Series, The Living Proof Podcast will be taking in the advice, stories and opinions of hose considered to be legends of the industry.

Marcus and Nicole return to their chat with the late Gaz Regan, bartending legend and pioneer of the cocktail revolution. In The Master Series, The Living Proof Podcast will be taking in the advice, stories and opinions of those considered to be legends of the industry.

It’s been a year like no other, especially for bartenders and anyone in the hospitality industry. So for our final episode of 2020, we're taking a look back at the year that was on the Living Proof podcast.

Dushan Zarić is an owner and co-founder of Employees Only, one of the most recognisable hospitality brands in the world. To date, EO has operated bars in Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong and Miami.

Jeremy Spencer is co-founder of both The West Winds gin and Curatif canned cocktails. The West Winds was one of Australia's initial gin distilleries, beginning way back in the old days of 2011 and effectively paving the way for the hundreds that have come since. Jez takes us through how they were able to make a splash thanks to some Margaret River seawater and slightly risqué marketing slogans. Now, Jez has brought a new range of premium canned cocktails to market. Curatif was born from the frustration he and his co-founders felt towards the quality of drinks available in places like hotel rooms, golf courses and on long-haul flights. Having seen the canned cocktail market taking hold in the US, they've decided to package up some of their own, many of which have a distinctly Australian flavour - such as the Never Never Negroni and Archie Rose Espresso Martini.

Sam Egerton is Group Bars Manager at Merivale. He's also the latest bartender to be featured by Blends of the VIRTUAL World with his 'Growing Drinks in the Modern Bar' series. Check it out at https://www.theblend.world/en-au/news/growing-drinks.

Margot Lecarpentier is a Parisian bartender, and co-owner of Belleville bar Combat. At only 33 years of age, she was last year voted the city's Most Influential Bartender. And just to drive the point home, Combat was named the Most Influential Bar. Margot's a champion of making cocktails and spirits more accessible for the uninitiated. It stems from having seen the perceived unapproachability of mixology first-hand, around six years ago. Back then, when Margot was just starting out behind the bar, she had been buying up all the best books on cocktails and spirits. But it was all gobbledegook. So, she's written her own - La Bible de Alcools. We ask her all about that, how Paris is faring amid a second wave of the coronavirus, the man who acts as Combat's forager and flavour-finder, becoming a mother behind the bar and more.

Jacques Bezuidenhout is a San Francisco-based Industry Specialist at Liquid Productions. He is also a bartender with 20+ years' experience, having worked at a range of successful venues such as Tres Agaves and the Starlight Room, as well as on the cocktail programs for 70+ venues at the Kimpton group of Hotels & Restaurants. Importantly, Jacques is also a student of hospitality and spirits production. He's joined Julio Bermejo on many trips to Mexico to study tequila, has visited Jerez de la Frontera to check out Sherry and, most recently, France to dig deeper into Calvados. We chat about life in San Francisco in 2020, squeezing thousands of limes to order at Tres Agaves, making a $650 drink at the Starlight Room, running 70+ hotel bars and some of his favourite Sherry cocktails.

Willy Shine is the Brand Meister at Jägermeister United States. German digestif Jagermeister has earned a place on most backbars around the world thanks to the notoriety of ‘Jager-bombs’. But at its heart, it is a versatile and complex amaro made with 56 different botanicals. Willy Shine joins the podcast to discuss his career, how the company has set about changing people’s perceptions of the product, as well as its versatility in cocktails.

After graduating with a degree in political science in her 20s, Canadian Lauren Mote was left questioning whether it was actually herself or her grandmother who had wanted her to become a lawyer. Lauren already had experience running a host of bars and businesses and, deep down, she knew that was where she found her calling. Now a ‘Global Cocktailian’ for Diageo Reserve and World Class, she talks Nicole and Marcus through what her role entails, and how brands can build the all-important customer connection through experiences that go beyond the glass.

Dan Gregory is an Australian bartender currently leading the charge at Evolve Spirits Bar in Hobart. Dan himself is a former winner of both the Australian Bartender of the Year and the Australian leg of the Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge competitions, both of which he took home in 2017. Despite all the accolades - and much like the city of Hobart - Dan's humility has led to him somewhat flying under the radar. We find out about Tasmania's burgeoning hospitality scene, just how much preparation went into those competition wins and why he's made more martinis at Evolve than anywhere else he's worked thus far.

Steve Schneider is the former US Marine who is now an integral part of the Employees Only team. Many of you would already be familiar with Steve, who has one of the more extraordinary and inspiring background stories that led him to becoming an icon behind the bar. It's been over 15 years since Steve first discovered his love of making drinks, when he was working in a dive bar while recovering from severe brain injuries. Fast forward to today, and he is a co-owner of six bars and restaurants in four different countries, now including the famed Employees Only NY - where he first started working as a bar-back many moons ago.