It’s always a great time when I get a chance to talk with Zan Kong of Worthy Park Estate. But, despite the many hours of sharing Jamaican rum together, I’ve never really asked about his background and how he ended up in Jamaica from Canada. Well, this was my opportunity to remedy that. Tune in to find all about his big move from hospitality to rum production, and everything about Worthy Park Estate rum – where it’s made, how the climate affects the finished product, and what the rum landscape is like on the island at the moment.

If you’re trying to hunt down some of this rum in the USA, and I highly recommend you do since it’s one of my go-to rums, check out Backbar Project. And you can find Zan on Instagram at @zankong

I’ve been working on getting Christophe Rossi on the show  since mid-August of last year. His bar, L’Escamoteur, came highly recommended from several Kyoto locals while I was in Japan. I dropped in expecting to have a drink or two, but ended up  staying all night. And several subsequent nights. The cocktails were perfect and delivered with a bit of magic, but the real draw was the sense of customer service. He was born in Marseilles and lived in India for nearly a decade studying sitar and Indian Classical music before moving to Japan. In Japan, he spent his time as magician before diving head first into the craft cocktail business.

Christophe mentions the word “resonation” several times throughout this interview. And I couldn’t think of a better title of the episode. He strives to find that resonation of everything within himself. When he is doing some sleight-of-hand magic while handing you a cocktail, it’s the connection he makes with you that makes the experience special. That resonation is a important part of being a musician, too. Especially playing the sacred ragas of India. To say he’s an enigma would be an understatement. But he’s one of the most naturally-talented and driven entrepreneurs that has ever graced my show.

Lately, there seems to be a theme of guests that had a specific path in life only to find it disrupted and hijacked by the craft spirits business. And this week is no exception.

Jason Cox was working as a translator when he decided to spend a few months studying Mexican slang and dialects.  When he attended his first mezcal tasting, he was immediately drawn into a world of fine-dining, mezcal, and Oaxacan rum.

It’s been a circuitous path him but it’s safe to say his life is even more incredible now than it would have ever been as a legal translator. He has now lived in Oaxaca for 15 years and, after founding 5 Sentidos Mezcal, he learned that one of the mezcaleros he had been working with had extensive experience fermenting rum from local sugarcane. Which has now found its home in a bottle labeled Alambique Serrano.

This is the story of how it all came to be.

“Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run… there’s still time to change the road you’re on”.

This week’s guest, Garett Richard has worked in some of the best bars and with some of the best bartenders in New York, which also makes them some of the best in the world. And being a tikiphile running a Tiki/Tropical bar in New York makes him something of a unicorn these days.

Having made an unlikely jump from radio to hospitality, he has, in just a decade, made some pretty big splashes in the industry. After the closing of his workplace, Existing Conditions — owned by industry luminaries Don Lee, Dave Arnold, and Greg Boehm, Garret wasn’t sure what he’d be doing while NYC shut down due to COVID-19. He started working on a book that he’d conceptualized prior to 2020, but that’s about as far as he could plan.

Fast forward to 2024 and he’s at the top of his game. His book, Tropical Standard, was released in 2023 and through a series of happenstances, he took over the cocktail program at The Sunken Harbor Club – just above Gage & Tollner. And it seems that he’s just getting started.

You can find Tropical Standard wherever you buy your books but, as always, I recommend purchasing from an independent seller and even a brick-and-mortar store if you can. Check out TropicalStandard.Com for book and purchasing info.

Rolling Fork Spirits won me over immediately. The two owners, Turner Wathen and Jordan Morris, set out to create a brand that offered something no one else was offering. Luckily for us (read: me) that meant rum! This small, independent bottler could easily fly under the radar of spirits geeks. But, again, lucky for us, they’re doing it more for themselves than anyone. They source some of the best rums of the world and then, rather than bottling immediately, they further age in southern Indiana, just a few minutes from Bourbon country in Kentucky. And that proximity means access to some very interesting barrels. This may not be the most economical way to run a business, but it means they’re sitting on and releasing some of the most sought-after rums in the world.

They share rickhouses, facilities, and a headquarters with Huber Winery and Starlight Distillery in Indiana, and that partnership means a lot of collaboration. It’s an easy place to get to from Louisville and Bourbon country, and from Indianapolis, of course. I highly recommend check it out if you’re in the area. Turner and Jordan treat their visitors right. And Ted Huber has built a beautiful location in the rolling hills of southern Indiana. The area is called “starlight” for a reason – the property is absolutely beautiful during and after sunset.

I’m back in Japan today, and talking to one of the few tiki bar owners in the country. Brandon Grilc’s career as an architectural historian took a left hard turn when he and his wife decided to spend some time in Japan teaching English. They had already become tikiphiles and amateur Mid-Century (American) historians while living in the Pacific Northwest, but now found themselves immersed in a culture where tiki was practically non-existent. When he realized that teaching English wasn’t going to scratch that tiki itch, he and his wife decided to open a tiki bar close to their home in Kobe.

The Kazan Room has been attracting tiki travelers and cocktail nerds from all over the world since it’s opening just a year ago. Hear how he overcame the hurdles of opening his first business, navigating contracts in a language he can’t read, and re-introducing tropical libations to a country where whisky highballs and shochu rule.

Kanpai!

When Ashok Chokalingam took his first job with Amrut Distilleries, he had no idea how far that job would take him, and the impact he’d have on the whisky category, India, and worldwide acceptance of one of the most beloved whisky styles in the world – made in India. Not Scotland.

His first job with the company was to relocate to Newcastle upon Tyne and convince the Scots that to start drinking Single Malt Whisky made 8000 km away — instead of their ones made in their own backyard. But with persistence, he started getting his bottle placed on bar shelves and was welcomed everywhere by whisky lovers.

Fast forward 20 years, and Ashok is now the Head of Distilling and International Sales and has formulated some of Amrut’s best-selling whiskies. On today’s episode, hear how a man with no experience in whisky, distillation, or alcoholic beverages became the voice of the Indian whisky industry, and how that is impacting the category worldwide.

The Cocktail Wonk is back on the show after six long years. And he’s accomplished a lot in that time. This week we’re talking about his influential book, Minimalist Tiki and his new tome, Modern Caribbean Rum, and how those books lead him and his wife Carrie to start their own publishing company, Wonk Press.

If you’re reading this we hope you’re in Tokyo, because you’re in for a real treat. Tonight is the opening of Japan’s newest craft cocktail bar, Tokyo Confidential. So today I’ve got Holly Graham on the show to discuss how she got here. Both literally and figuratively. How does a Londoner end up in Asia for 15 years, spending 10 of those years in Hong Kong, before picking up her life and relocating to a city she’s never lived in. And to open her first bar.

But this isn’t just any Londoner. Holly was the Managing Editor for DRiNK Magazine (where she will continue to help when possible). She has worked in, managed, and popped-up in every major city in Asia. Hear how she assembled her team of Avengers and the hurdles she’s had to overcome to make tonight’s opening a success.

Just a decade ago, Chris Montana opened DuNord spirits. In the ten years since, his role has grown in ways that he could have never imagined. Looking around rooms filled with craft distillers, he noticed that no one looked like him. So he set about to help remedy that through educational programs to teach young men and women of color how distillation works, how 3-tier distribution operates in the United States, and honed their business acumen.

Then COVID-19 hit and brought a new set of problems. But that’s now how Chris saw it. The pandemic shutdowns and subsequent George Floyd protests, literally in his backyard, brought new opportunities for communication and community in Minneapolis and beyond. How he has accomplished all of this and still maintains the quality and service with his distillery is a testament to his tenacity and enthusiasm for the industry.