The Curious Bartender Podcast

Alessandro Palazzi is the Head Bartender at Dukes Hotel in London where this episode was filmed. In a career spanning 50 years, he has made possibly more martinis that anyone else alive today at what is perhaps the most famous martini bar in the world. On the episode Alessandro shares his 50 year career in hospitality, the philosophy of Dukes, his tips on how to make a great martini, what it was l...

Dawn Davies is a certified master of wine, former sommelier to the star, former head wine and spirits buyer for Selfridges, and has been the head wine and spirit buyer for the Whisky Exchange for the past 8 or 9 years. 00:00 What is Wine? 01:40 Where is Wine Made? Climate, New World & Old World, History, Soil 08:56 Wine Producing Regions of Note 15:19 Tasting Chablis, Comparing Wines, Intro to...

Lyndon is the designer a co-founder of more than 20 bars, pubs and restaurants in the UK including Crazy Pedros, Bunny Jackson’s, Junkyard Golf, Cane & Grain, and Southside. Through a complex range of business partnerships he has conceptualised and built these venues over only a little more than a decade, becoming probably the most successful British bar entrepreneur of his generation. Beyond...

Ian Stirling is the co-founder of the Port of Leith Distillery, located in the historic port of Leith, Scotland. He’s also the co-founder of Lind & Lime Gin and runs a wine and spirits bottling and import business. The Port of Leith Distillery is one of the most remarkable in the world — a vertical distillery built like a tower block in an urban landscape. It holds the unique distinction of be...

Charles Maclean is a renowned Scottish whisky writer, expert, and author. He has written numerous books on the subject, including Whisky: The Water of Life and Scotch Whisky, and specialises in the history and culture of scotch whisky, along with the sensory evaluation of its appreciation. This interview took place at his residence in Edinburgh. Expect to hear about Charlie’s earliest experiences...

Jack Stein is a chef, author, and TV personality. He is the executive head chef of Rick Stein Group including the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall, which recently celebrated its 50th birthday. On the episode we talk about 50 years of The Seafood Restaurant—how it all started as a nightclub, its transformation into a culinary institution, and what the future holds as Jack and his brothers ta...

Isabel Graham-Yooll is a leading expert in the world of fine spirits and the secondary market. She was the director of Whisky. Auction and before that, she worked as a spirits buyer at Bordeaux Index and Milroy’s of Soho. In 2024, she launched Wisgy , an independent consultancy specialising in old and rare spirits, helping collectors, investors, and enthusiasts make sense of the ever-evolving mark...

Salvatore Calabrese has remained one of the leading figures in global cocktail culture for at least forty years. He has served kings, queens, presidents, and a string of Hollywood actors over a career that has seen him tend the bar at legendary Mayfair hotels such as The Dukes, The Lanesborough, Fifty St James, The Playboy Club, and most recently Browns Hotel. We sat down for a conversation about...

Antonio Amorim is the CEO of Amorim Cork, who over a 155 year history have become the world’s biggest producer of cork and cork products.  Amorim produce 6 billion cork stoppers annually accounting for over 50% of the global market. Expect to learn the varied way in which infiltrates our lives, cork is harvested, processed and graded, how cork stoppers are produced and their applications, how the...

James Hoffmann is the best known coffee person in the world. He is the author of the World Atlas of Coffee, co-founder of Square Mile Coffee Roasters, former World Barista Champion, and the host of the James Hoffmann YouTube channel. Expect to learn how delicious instant coffee is made, how barista competitions work, the best ways to up your coffee game at home, why this might be the end of the go...

Andreia is an archaeologist and museum curator, working principally with the Art of Drinking Museum at the World of Wine in Porto, which holds more than 3,500 drinking vessels dating back 9,000 years. This episode was recorded and filmed in the museum, along with eight selected artefacts taken from the display cabinets that together total more than 20,000 years of human drinking history. Expert to...

Ryan Chetiyawardana aka Ryan Cheti, aka Mr Lyan, is  a bartender, bar operator, and author, known for his unique creative style and multi award winning bars in London, Washington DC and Amsterdam, including White Lyan, Cub, Dandelion, Lyaness, Silver Lyan and Super Lyan. Expect to learn about Ryan’s approach to creativity, how important language is to hospitality and flavour, some of the weirdest...

Nick Wykes is a former bartender and drinks consultant turned professional sport psychologist who holds a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology and a Doctorate in Sport Science. There is a lot to be learned from elite performers and how they set goals, manage adversity, and work with other people. These skills are certainly applicable to people who work and train in teams but also relevant to anyone...

Adrian Bridge is the CEO of Taylor’s, Croft, and Fonseca Port Wine brands, a hotelier, museum owner, and holder of perhaps the greatest collection of glassware on the planet. This interview was recored in one of Taylor’s port lodges on the banks of the Douro river. To watch it in full atmospheric 4K HD head to the Curious Bartender YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVD2zCfy0GVCd5kF...

Angus Winchester is a 36 year legend of the hospitality and drinks industry who has worked with bars and bartenders across the world. He was the ambassador for Tanqueray Gin for a number of years, and has also worked with Sean Finter at Barmetrix, BCB in Berlin, and the Dark Horse bar in Bath. Follow him on Threads and IG: @anguswinchester

Vikram Achanta who is a 25 year veteran of the India bar and drinks industry. He is the  founder of Tulleeho, one of the country’s premiere education and consultancy agencies, the co-founder of 30 Best Bars in India and the co-founder of India Bartender Week.  This conversation, recorded in October at Bar Convent Berlin, features Vikram, who was delivering a seminar on the rise of indigenous India...

Dr. Arielle Johnson is a chemist, biologist and food scientist. She was the science advisor to Alton Brown on the TV show good eats, is a director’s fellow at MIT media lab and has worked with acclaimed cooks and scientists across the world. She is the chief scientific advisor for Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, which was founded by Rene Redzepi - who also wrote the forward for a recent book, Flavo...

Colin Dunn is a whisky educator and collector and one of the best known ambassadors for malt whisky in the UK. This is a wide ranging conversation about malt whisky covering producing regions, production, marketing, new and old distilleries, luxury whisky, along with a tonne of anecdotes from Colin. You're in for a treat. We are switching Spotify episodes to audio only for the time being, as it ma...

Sean Finter is a hospitality coach and mentor who has worked with hundreds of clients over the past 20 years to help them improve profitability, hire better, optimise their business operations and generally perfect the craft of hospitality. Trawling Sean's social media, I offered him 10 of his own quotes with which to frame a conversation around hospitality, business, motivation, efficiency and su...

Ian Burrell is a bartender, brand owner, and rum ambassador. He is best known as The Rum Ambassador and as the founder of RumFest, as well as the co-founder of Equiano rum. This is a wide ranging conversation about the culture, classification and love of rum. To support the podcast please subscribe! Thanks to our sponsor: Fever-Tree Ian's book is available to buy now - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rum...

Charles is a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, the author of Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating , and the head of the The Crossmodal Research Laboratory, which explores the interactions between senses when we experience flavour.  Charles also won the 2008 Ig Nobel Prize for Nutrition for his work on the 'sonic crisp'. On the episode we discuss the evolution of flavou...

Please subscribe wherever you watch or listen to podcasts as it helps support the show. Alice Lascelles is an award-winning drinks journalist, author and presenter. On the episode expected to find out why I don’t garnish my martinis, the bizarre way that Hemingway liked to drink martinis, Ian Fleming’s tip for ordering a martini in a pub, why an espresso martini IS a martini, whether a £25 Martini...