CRAFTED

Jonathan Ellsworth’s preferences for red wines over white wines are well established. But in this conversation and wine tasting, we’re going to see if Eli can change Jonathan’s mind. This past weekend, Jonathan and Eli opened four bottles of white wines and hit the record button. We tried a few different white varietals and blends that Eli believes may appeal to those staunchly in the red-wine cam...

Our guest today is Chef Paul Jensen, who is the executive chef of fine dining at Big Sky Resort, a former restaurant owner, seasoned culinary competitor, and a newly named member of the 2028 U.S. Culinary Olympic team. With over 30 years of competition experience, Paul has represented the U.S. on the global stage, honing his craft through more than 100 contests. His dedication to food, mentorship,...

Jonathan talks with Kara Williard and Eli Brown about one of the oldest cultivated crops in the world: garlic. We discuss hardneck garlic vs softneck garlic; how to grow garlic; its medicinal properties; black garlic; garlic honey; and yes … vampires. RELATED LINKS Check out the Blister Craft Collective Become a BLISTER+ Member TOPICS & TIMES: Kara's Farming Background (4:34) Sunny Sage Farm (...

Jonathan Ellsworth talks about this very big topic with someone who is in quite a unique position to have this conversation with: Eli Brown, a 26-year-old sommelier who is also certified in mixology and distilled spirits, he has been named a Top 100 Bartender in the U.S., and he is currently working on a project involving N/A and low ABV beer and spirits and wine. Jonathan Ellsworth and Eli Brown...

Today, you are going to hear what is essentially an ongoing conversation that Jonathan has been having for about 30 years now with one of his best friends, Matthew Halteman, about food, food systems, sustainability, fine dining, and the ethics of what we eat. Matt is a foodie, a father, a fellow in the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and a philosophy professor at Calvin University (he received hi...

Happy New Year! Today, we are sharing the craft categories that most captivated some of our Blister reviewers in 2024, and revealing some of the categories they are most curious about heading into 2025. And over on our Blister Podcast , you’ll also get to hear our team talk about the highs, the lows, and the lessons learned in 2024, plus their resolutions for 2025. RELATED LINKS Check out the Blis...

Scott Rao is one of the most influential people in the world of coffee, coffee roasting, and coffee brewing. Scott is also the owner of Prodigal Coffee (located in Boulder, Colorado), and in this conversation, we dive deep into specific coffee topics and discuss the pursuit of quality in general. We Want to Hear from You! Have a topic, craft category, or craft company you’d like to see us cover? E...

Studio Shed was started in the Boulder, Colorado backyard of their co-founder Jeremy Nova, a pro mountain biker and Olympian. Jeremy needed a place to store all his bikes and was uninspired by what was available, so he built his own. Today, Studio Sheds are still built in Colorado, and their portfolio now includes studios, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and commercial spaces. Jeremy built that f...

What are two of the best things in the world? Deep powder skiing and a great food truck. And today, we’re talking about both with professional skier, Yu Sasaki . We also talk about Yu’s beautiful short film, Home From Home ; moving from Hokkaido, Japan, to Revelstoke; the ins-and-outs of running a food truck; and more. RELATED LINKS: Watch Yu’s Film: Home From Home Become a BLISTER+ Member Check o...

Last year, we talked with Alex LeBlanc about starting Calibration Coffee Lab in Greenville, South Carolina ( CRAFTED ep #26 ). Today, Alex is back to update us on how it’s going, what he’s been learning, how his thinking about coffee has evolved, and how he’s going about trying to build a brand that people will love. And if you’d like to check out Alex’s coffee, CRAFTED listeners can get 15% off b...

Camper vans seem to be everywhere these days, and for good reason — the level of versatility and convenience they offer is hard to ignore. But starting down the road of ownership can be extremely overwhelming, so in today’s conversation, we sit down with Wayfarer Van’s Andy Mullins to answer some of the common questions people have, and to get an inside look at Wayfarer Van’s unique approach to bu...

Mark Connell is the executive chef at PARC Aspen , and he’s back to talk about fine dining and the importance of tasting menus; what he learned at Alinea; the specific tasting menu Jonathan recently had at PARC Aspen (including what Mark put on the plate & why); the difference between striving for consistency vs. striving to be consistently good; and more. RELATED LINKS Check out the Blister C...

“My whole goal in life was to be a ski bum and a chef.” For Mark Connell, the executive chef at PARC Aspen , we can definitely say: mission accomplished. Mark is a passionate skier and a culinary genius, and we discuss how Mark & Jonathan first met; Mark’s background and his time working at The French Laundry; what punk rock has to do with high-end cuisine; frozen pizza; white wine; celebrity...

These days, owning a beautiful home is often prohibitively expensive, while “affordable” housing too often fails to include quality craftsmanship. But there is a solution, and today, Zack Giffin reminds us of this fact and discusses the craft of designing smaller structures that address our true needs. This is a conversation where design and philosophy come together in a big way, as does the art o...

In this episode, we get a crash course on the vinyl revival and why spinning records on a turntable is a more engaging way of listening to music. Our guest, Michael Fremer, is regarded as one of the premier experts in the audio field, and he's extremely passionate about it. Michael and Simon get into how Led Zeppelin II was made, why Howard Stern hates vinyl, how to go about buying your first turn...

One of the greatest big-mountain skiers of all time is also seriously passionate about making great pizza. So what’s the story here, and what do pizza and skiing have in common? What has Sage learned about the art of making dough and sauce? And what do you need to know to start making great pizza yourself? We cover all of this, plus Sage’s most recent trip to Alaska. RELATED LINKS Check out the Bl...

La Marzocco is the most iconic espresso-machine maker in the world, and last month, Jonathan went to the La Marzocco Accademia to talk with their head product designer, Stefano Della Pietra, about the history and core principles of the company; how he became the head of product design there; and the task of taking La Marzocco into the future while staying true to the brand’s storied past. RELATED...

After much deliberation, we’re revealing the machine that Jonathan ended up going with on his quest to create daily doses of “hero espresso” — a phrase coined at the end of this conversation. Simon Stewart joins Jonathan for all the glorious, dorky details, and they also discuss decaf coffee & N/A beer; the price of a thing vs. the amount of joy it brings; mtn bikes vs. espresso machines; &amp...

Jonathan Ellsworth was recently at JING Tea headquarters in London for another CRAFTED conversation with JING founder, Ed Eisler. After a proper tea tasting, they sat down to discuss all things tea (and skis); agriculture as art; and the qualities of a great tea. RELATED LINKS CRAFTED ep. 23 w/ JING’s Ed Eisler Check out the Blister Craft Collective Become a BLISTER+ Member TOPICS & TIMES: Cof...

Today we are discussing a product that people get very passionate about — and even more opinionated about: cast-iron cookware. Jonathan is joined by Blister senior bike editor, Simon Stewart, who has been using cast-iron cookware for more than twenty years, but is now on a quest to see if the fancier, more expensive options out there are better than their cheaper counterparts. We also discuss the...

WNDR Alpine founder, Matt Sterbenz, aka, the ‘Sauna Shaman’, talks about how Hoji kicked off his obsession with saunas; their numerous benefits; and lays out what it takes (and costs) to build your own sauna. (On our site, you can check out a bunch of photos of the sauna that Matt built. It’s sweet.) RELATED LINKS Check out the Blister Craft Collective Become a BLISTER+ Member TOPICS & TIMES:...

To wrap up the year, we are sharing the craft categories that most captivated our Blister reviewers in 2023, and some of the categories they are most curious about heading into 2024. This is a fun one, and it certainly fills out the picture of the people behind our reviews, videos, articles, podcasts, and Blister Summit events. And over on our Blister Podcast , you’ll also get to hear our team tal...

Over 30 billion bottles of wine are consumed each year around the world, and today, we’re talking about why we need to — and can — move away from ‘business as usual’ in the wine world. Our guest is Revelshine founder, Jake Bilbro, and Jake lays out some fascinating, rarely discussed facts about the impacts of the wine industry; his mission to change that; and why the likes of Jeremy Jones, Shane D...

Last year on CRAFTED, we talked with Blister reviewer, Paul Forward, about the art, ethics, and craftsmanship of traditional bows ( episode #8 ). And this is the companion conversation to that episode, about the art of making arrows. TOPICS & TIMES: Kodiak Island (5:29) Only a Traditional Bow (11:10) Arrows: An Amateur's Take (14:42)r Relating Arrow's to Skis (28:39) Feathers: Weights, Forces,...

Based in Vermont — where they still make their products — Bag Balm is an American company with a 125-year history and one very remarkable story. Bag Balm’s president, Libby Parent, joins us to talk about cow udders, celebrity endorsements, and the countless uses of their products, and you’ll also get a great lesson on how to steward a company with such a rich history into the modern world. TOPICS...