Radio Imbibe

Audrey Saunders has been one of the world’s most influential bartenders and bar owners for more than 25 years, at places including Blackbird and Bemelman’s Bar starting in the 1990s, followed by her pioneering New York City bar, Pegu Club. In this episode, Saunders makes her first-ever appearance on a podcast, sharing details behind her role in restoring the Tom & Jerry to prominence as a holiday...

Trained as an engineer and while working toward her MBA, Cha McCoy made an unexpected detour into a career in the wine world. For this episode, we talk with her about what led her into working as a sommelier and wine educator; the ways she approaches wine education; and her new role as beverage director for the Charleston Wine + Food Festival , taking place March 2-6, 2022.  Radio Imbibe is the au...

Our November/December issue features a profile by Nneka M. Okona about veteran Atlanta bartender Thandi Walton. For this episode, Walton talks with us about the path she took from her native Zimbabwe to working behind Atlanta bars, the bartending approach she embraces, and her thoughts on mentorship. Radio Imbibe is the audio home of  Imbibe  magazine. In each episode, we dive into liquid culture,...

Our September/October issue features an article by Max Falkowitz on how bars and distilleries are making concrete steps toward ecological sustainability. For this episode, we chat with one of the distillers quoted in that feature, Maggie Campbell . Formerly a distiller at Privateer Rum in Massachusetts, Campbell is now the estate rum manager for Mount Gay in Barbados. We’re joined in this conversa...

Pouring Ribbons was Imbibe ’s Cocktail Bar of the Year in 2013, and over the course of the past decade, it’s remained one of the world’s most influential cocktail bars. For this episode, we chat with bar partner Joaquín Simó about Pouring Ribbons’ reopening in September and plans to permanently close the bar next April, what he hopes the bar’s continuing legacy might look like, and what guests can...

Shannon Tebay is familiar to American cocktail drinkers from her time behind New York City bars including Death & Co. , where until recently she was head bartender. This summer, she moved to London to assume a new role as head mixologist for The Savoy Hotel , and head bartender for its American Bar , one of the world’s most historic and celebrated cocktail bars. For this episode, we chat with her...

It’s Negroni Week! For this episode, we check in with one of this year’s charity fundraising partners, No Us Without You LA , chatting with cofounders Damián Diaz and Othón Nolasco about their work to support undocumented back-of-house hospitality workers and their families during the ongoing Covid crisis. Then, we head to San Diego for a Tony’s Negroni from Anthony Schmidt at J & Tony’s Discount...

Earlier this summer, bars and restaurants in the U.S. fully emerged from the pandemic, many operating under new sets of guidelines to keep guests and staff safe. With the delta variant now surging and wildly different rules and regulations taking shape across the country, we check in with bar owners in different parts of the country to see what their experiences have been and how they’re navigatin...

Back in early 2020, Dr. J Jackson-Beckham appeared in our annual Imbibe 75 issue as our Beer Person of the Year, based on her work at the time as the diversity ambassador for the Brewers Association, and her roles in academia and the nonprofit space. For this episode, we catch up with Dr. J on her consultancy, Crafted for All , which focuses on helping craft-beverage organizations become more incl...

For Imbibe ’s July/August issue, Dan Q. Dao explores the expanding world of Vietnamese coffee in America, sharing the stories of Vietnamese cafés and the drinks they serve. For this episode, we visit one of those cafés, Hello Em in Seattle’s Little Saigon neighborhood, and chat with Yenvy Pham (who co-owns the café with Nghia Bui) about her family’s role in the city’s Vietnamese culinary scene and...

In the summer of 2020, wine educator and enthusiast George W.C. Walker III made a big move from Michigan to step into the role of assistant director of operations at Wade Cellars , the Napa Valley winery opened by NBA champion Dwyane Wade. We featured Walker as a Person to Watch in our Imbibe 75 issue earlier this year, and for this episode, we check in on how he’s settled into his role at Wade Ce...

The July/August 2021 issue kicks off summer with a celebration of outdoor imbibing. For this episode, Trevor Easter and Britta Currie from The Snug in Sacramento walk us through one of the recipes they shared for that issue, the Phil Collins , and chat about bar life post-COVID and the drinks they’re excited to be mixing this summer. Radio Imbibe is the audio home of  Imbibe  magazine. In each epi...

Chris Cabrera is the national LGBTQ+ ambassador for Bacardi, and one of our Imbibe 75 People to Watch for 2021. For this episode, we chat with them about their work in creating the role of an LGBTQ+ ambassador and what this means for the hospitality industry, as well as about their role as an activist in the LGBTQ+ community, and the ongoing significance of Pride.  Radio Imbibe is the audio home o...

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey founder and CEO Fawn Weaver was featured as one of our Imbibe 75 People to Watch in 2018, and since then, Uncle Nearest has gone on to become the fastest-growing American whiskey brand in history. For this episode, we catch up with Weaver about the newly announced Uncle Nearest Venture Fund—a $50 million project to invest in spirits brands founded, owned, and led by B...

Kevin Diedrich’s prodigious talents as a bartender made him a star of San Francisco’s bar scene, and his Union Square bar, Pacific Cocktail Haven , is one of the mainstays of the city’s cocktail culture. For this episode, we chat with Diedrich about the challenges he’s faced running PCH during the Covid crisis; his decision to open a new bar, Kona’s Street Market (one of our Imbibe 75 Places to Wa...

The May/June 2021 issue of Imbibe features a look at the flavorful world of liqueurs. For this episode, we’re joined by Jake Parrott, the national sales manager for Haus Alpenz —which imports some of the more fascinating (and delicious) liqueurs in the category—as he discusses how such liqueurs are produced and how to properly taste and appreciate liqueurs in cocktails, and guides us through a tas...

The March/April 2021 issue of Imbibe features an exploration of Scotch whisky and some of the people helping to shape the category, including Tommy Klus, a longtime bartender and current owner of Scotch Lodge in Portland, Oregon. For episode 22, we chat with Klus and Scotch Lodge bar manager Aaron Zieske about introducing drinkers to the wonders of Scotch whisky, what excites them most about the s...

The March/April 2021 issue of Imbibe dives deep into the world of Scotch whisky, and one of the people we spoke with for this exploration is Cameron George , the U.S. national brand ambassador for Ardbeg . For episode 20, we chat with George about the expressive single malts from Islay, and we discuss the evolution taking place within Scotch whisky’s outreach and marketing efforts. Radio Imbibe is...

Ian Burrell is no stranger in the rum world. An acclaimed rum expert, educator, and ambassador, and a founder of events including U.K. Rum Fest and London Rum Week, Burrell is now one of the co-founders of Equiano Rum , which debuted in Europe and the U.S. last year. In this episode he talks with us about the rum’s distinctive blend of spirits from Mauritius and Barbados; the history of the rum’s...

Our March/April 2021 issue dives deep into the world of Scotch whisky, with explorations of the spirit’s history, its diversity of regions and styles, and the people helping to shape whisky’s future. Becky Paskin is a veteran drinks journalist and the former editor of ScotchWhisky.com , and a co-founder of OurWhisky , a global campaign to champion diversity and inclusion in the whisky industry. In...

Our March/April 2021 issue dives deep into the world of Scotch whisky, with explorations of the spirit’s history, its diversity of regions and styles, and the people helping to shape whisky’s future. One of the people featured is Dr. Rachel Barrie , a longtime whisky veteran based in Edinburgh who’s now master blender for Brown-Forman, working with whiskies from the Benriach , GlenDronach , and Gl...

This year’s Imbibe 75 highlights people, businesses, and organizations working to build a better drinks world. For this episode, we talk with Dragos Axinte, the founder and CEO of Novo Fogo , about how he incorporates environmental and social sustainability into every aspect of his cachaça business, from running an organic, carbon-negative operation to investing in the reforestation of threatened...

This year’s Imbibe 75 highlights people, businesses, and organizations working to build a better drinks world. The cover of this year’s Imbibe 75 issue features Atlanta bartender Tiffanie Barriere , who first appeared in Imbibe while helming the renowned airport bar One Flew South. More recently, she's combined her bartending skills with her gift for communicating and educating, particularly about...

This year’s Imbibe 75 highlights people, businesses, and organizations working to build a better drinks world. One of these organizations is THIRST Group (The Hospitality Industry Re-Imagined Security Trust), an  advocacy group composed of bar owners, craft distillers, and other hospitality professionals, that tackles pandemic-related insurance coverage. For this episode of Radio Imbibe , we talk...

This year’s Imbibe 75 highlights people, businesses, and organizations working to build a better drinks world. For this episode of Radio Imbibe , we talk with one of this year’s People to Watch: Dr. Hoby Wedler . A native of California’s Sonoma County, Wedler is an organic chemist and entrepreneur with a deep enthusiasm for wine. Blind since birth, Wedler is the founder of Accessible Science, a no...