The Spirited Enthusiast

Season 2, Episode 1 - Leandro Di Monriva of The Educated Barfly

We're back! Our first episode of Season 2 features the one and only Leandro Di Monriva of The Educated Barfly, and is a can't-miss episode, whether you love cocktails or are a spirits-only fan (for now). Since its inception in 2017, The Educated Barfly YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/theeducatedbarfly) [https://www.youtube.com/c/theeducatedbarfly]has been dedicated to high-quality, in-depth tutorials on classic, modern, and craft cocktails. The channel - which Leandro runs with his producing partner, Marius Haugan - has amassed over 85.5 million views, 522,000 subscribers, and 1,550 videos. But that only begins to capture Leandro’s role in modern cocktail culture—as a consultant, author, and storyteller focused on the craft, culture, and people behind great drinks. Leandro's success comes from his unique blend of professional technique, spirits education, approachability, and deep historical curiosity for both home bartenders and industry professionals. Our candid conversation with Leandro peels back the curtain on the spirits industry. He doesn't hold back as he tackles subjects like the realities of cocktail competitions, marketing, the challenges of bringing cocktail culture to the screen, and the complicated dance between authenticity and brand sponsorship. But perhaps most exciting for our listeners, Leandro shares his definitive tips to level up your home bar game. And he joins forces with me to, once again, try to get Martin on the rum train. Leandro's book, "Home Bartending Mastery: Iconic Cocktails to Build Skills and Drink Better," is out now and available wherever books are sold, including Bookshop.org (https://bookshop.org/p/books/home-bartending-mastery-iconic-cocktails-to-build-skills-and-drink-better-leandro-pari-di-monriva/c7b4773a70d08155?ean=9780760393789&next=t [https://bookshop.org/p/books/home-bartending-mastery-iconic-cocktails-to-build-skills-and-drink-better-leandro-pari-di-monriva/c7b4773a70d08155?ean=9780760393789&next=t], which supports independent bookstores), Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/home-bartending-mastery-leandro-pari-di-monriva/1146904076 [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/home-bartending-mastery-leandro-pari-di-monriva/1146904076]) ,and Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Home-Bartending-Mastery-Iconic-Cocktails/dp/0760393788 [https://www.amazon.com/Home-Bartending-Mastery-Iconic-Cocktails/dp/0760393788]) You can join The Educated Barfly's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/theeducatedbarfly [https://www.patreon.com/cw/theeducatedbarfly] You can follow The Educated Barfly on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/theeducatedbarfly/ [https://www.instagram.com/theeducatedbarfly/] As always, please email us with any comments, questions or suggestions at thespiritedenthusiast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/spiritedenthusiast [https://www.instagram.com/spiritedenthusiast]), share with spirits novices and enthusiasts alike, and subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Cheers!

Episode 8 - A Very Merry Whisky Advent with George Kaplan

We get into the holiday spirit on this episode, chatting with George Kaplan, a whisky enthusiast, who, for the past several years, has run an expertly curated Whisky Advent from December 1 to December 25th. Through George's Advent, he creates community, educates (not only about whisky but about movies and music as well), and shares some of the best whisky out there. George walks us through how he created the Advent and gives tips for starting a spirits Advent of your own! You also won't want to miss this episode because Martin and Kim make absolute fools of themselves trying to guess whiskies presented to them by George in a blind tasting. Find George on Instagram @gkap59 [https://www.instagram.com/gkap59/?hl=en] and enjoy George's Advent playlists on Spotify (link below). As always, please email us with any comments/questions/suggestions at thespiritedenthusiast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spiritedenthusiast [https://www.instagram.com/spiritedenthusiast], share with spirit novices and enthusiasts alike, and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode!

Episode 7 - Daniel Whittington of Whiskey Vault

Daniel Whittington's Instagram bio [https://www.instagram.com/rdwhittington/?hl=en] reads: "A whisky youtuber, a whisky somm, a whiskey drinker, a Chancellor, a musician, and a business consultant with a reasonable taste in hats." That description barely seems to scratch the surface of what Daniel has done in the whisk(e)y community. Daniel's ⁠Whiskey Vault YouTube Channel [https://www.youtube.com/whiskeyvault]⁠ has nearly 450,000 viewers and approximately 2,100 videos. Daniel founded the Whisky Marketing School⁠⁠ ⁠ [https://whiskymarketing.org/]in 2015, where he created the Whisk(e)y Sommelier course, and he is the Chancellor of Wizard Academy [https://wizardacademy.org/] in Austin, TX, a "Non-Traditional, Non-Profit, Non-Boring Business School." Daniel also co-founded the Whiskey Tribe community and YouTube Channel,⁠ and co-founded Crowded Barrel Whiskey⁠ [https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__crowdedbarrelwhiskey.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=GPY_kb1s9fpTzWAdPwSJO6njL7fVwsJhHEO2IcE5-pA&m=3qMFrtg4LBYStxwIsuDiEOX_yTcfy9A03f-wPFdeoWVun92TGBB4bE3LJq7ykKmB&s=61TPywspiMoxIa-EXI2wTiAHj5i1JZRAXL_Pc6zxZBw&e=] in Austin, TX. Before Daniel's whisky journey started, he spent 20 years as a studio and touring musician. Our chat with Daniel covered, among many other things, spirits education (including which programs and certifications are best suited for which purposes), the importance of knowing how and when to communicate about whisk(e)y (and when not to), the overlap between the sensory experience of a spirit and EQ (for all you spirits and music nerds like us), the current state of the whiskey industry, and how to make a great gin and tonic that actually tastes like a cocktail. As always, please email us with any comments/questions/suggestions at thespiritedenthusiast@gmail.com [thespiritedenthusiast@gmail.com], follow us on Instagram @spiritedenthusiast [https://www.instagram.com/spiritedenthusiast/], share with spirit novices and enthusiasts alike, and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode!

Episode 6 - Holly Seidewand of First Fill Spirits and Her Whisky Love

If you want to hear from someone with a wealth of whiskey/whisky knowledge, an incredible story and career, and an infectious passion for spirits, you can't do better than Holly Seidewand, who co-owns a fantastic retail whisky shop called First Fill Spirits in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. with Charles Grabitzky, which focuses on independent bottlings and new-whisky producing regions of the world. Holly has traveled all over the world visiting, studying, and writing about distilleries, and has documented over 150 distilleries including distilleries in Japan, the USA, Scotland, Ireland, Tasmania, and more. She worked at Knockdhu Distiller (anCnoc) under distillery manager Gordon Bruce in the Highlands of Scotland, was on the Bacardi Single Malts team as the North American Brand Ambassador, and holds a General Certificate in Distillation from the Institute of Brewing & Distilling, Scotland.  We had SO much fun talking to Holly and only scratched the surface of what she had to offer. You can find Holly at her store (https://www.firstfillspirits.com/) and her blog (https://www.herwhiskylove.com/), and make sure to subscribe to her and Charles' podcast, It's Whiskey #FFS (https://open.spotify.com/show/2y1PxWAm63xL8sl1cDHy9e?si=d43dd77363074287). As always, please email us with any comments/questions/suggestions at thespiritedenthusiast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @spiritedenthusiast, and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode! We have many more episodes launching soon that we can't wait for you to hear. And please share with anyone - spirits novices and enthusiasts alike! *The music used to introduce Holly is from her podcast and was written by Isaac Joel Goldenseal.

Episode 5 - A Whisky Tasting with @weber_ninja (Brandon "Woody" Williams)

@weber_ninja's handle is "Spreading Happiness with Grilling" and he does just that for his 15.3k followers on TikTok and 13.8k followers on Instagram (as well as on YouTube and Facebook). Woody is a grilling champion, including winning 1st place at Paris Steak Wars in Paris, TX in 2022 and in 2024 was ranked 13th in the world at the Steak Cookoff Association. Woody has gone "viral" with his grilling videos, but, like us, his true passions are the relationships he has built in the community he has grown. As Woody has said, "we are all from different walks of life, but have some of the same things in common." In this episode, we gave Woody the chance to ask us anything about spirits and took him through a tasting of generally accessible and reasonably priced whisky. If you would like to taste along with us, we poured: (i) Redbreast 12 Year Old Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey; (ii) Arran 10 Year Old SIngle Malt Scotch Whisky; (iii) Eagle Rare 10 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon; (iv) Bulleit Rye Whiskey; and (v) Talisker 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky. We think enthusiasts at all levels (from beginner to seasoned) will love this episode as much as we loved recording it. As always, please email us with any comments/questions/suggestions at thespiritedenthusiast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @spiritedenthusiast, and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode! We have many more episodes launching soon that we can't wait for you to hear.