Episode 303 - The Official Rum of Leisure with Malcolm Gosling Jr.
Release Date: 09/25/2025
Episode 315 - The Seagroni
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
In this aquatic maturation deep-dive with Danny and Billy Dalla Polla, Eddie Odabachian, and Nick Carmer of , creators of the Seagroni, some of the topics we discuss include: The genesis story of the project, starting with the question: “what if there was sunken treasure in this reef?,” and culminating in a fateful Negroni week experiment that changed everything. What happens to spirits and cocktails when they’re barrel aged under water, as compared to the conditions and results you might expect from standard, terrestrial warehouse conditions. How consumers have been reacting to the...
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Episode 314 - Rare and Vintage Drambuie Tasting
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
This time around, we explore the fascinating flavors of different Drambuie releases. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a honey and whiskey liqueur made in Scotland, and if you have heard of it…well, you know that you can’t make a Rusty Nail cocktail without it. In this episode, the bottles we taste through include: Today’s Drambuie base expression A bottle from maybe 4 or 5 years ago…just to see if it’s the same juice A vintage bottle from the ‘70s or ‘80s A 1980s-era Drambuie decanter special release Drambuie 15-year old (made, of course, with 15-year-old whiskey) And we...
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Episode 313 - Australian Spirits Trends with James Young
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
In this Down Under conversation with James Young of Old Young’s Distillery, some of the topics we discuss include: The influence and defining characteristics of the Australian cocktail scene, which differs starkly from what you might find when you travel to Europe and is responsible for such mixological gifts as Mr. Black Coffee liqueur and the butterfly pea coloring craze. How to plan your travel itinerary around tasting delicious spirits in every state in Australia, including whisky in Tasmania, Gin & Brandy in Western Australia, and rum up in Queensland and Kununurra. The growing...
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Episode 312 - Intro to Australian Spirits with James Young
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
In part one of my two-part waltz through the flavors and landscapes of Australia with James Young of , some of the topics we discuss include: The history and evolution of the Australian distilling industry, specifically with respect to the development of the Australian whisky scene and the rise of distinct gin and rum traditions. The impact of Australian agriculture and wine on the types of grains, casks, and other production choices that have come to define Australian whisky on the world stage. The flavor and culture phenomenon that is Australian gin, including the story behind Four...
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Episode 311 - Flavor Attractors with Dr. Kevin Peterson
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
In part two of my exploration of flavor and memory with , some of the topics we discuss include: What the Big 5 personality index (also known as OCEAN) might be able to teach us about how guests think about factors like novelty and comfort in the cocktails they enjoy. The difference between the highest-rated drink (on average) on most Castalia menus, versus the highest-rated drinks for specific individuals. How people respond when asked to describe their ideal cocktail - including the aesthetics and memories they tended to focus on, and which qualities they most often left out of the...
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Episode 310 - Data-Driven Drinks with Dr. Kevin Peterson
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
In this data-driven conversation with , some of the topics we discuss include: How winding down Castalia and Sfumato after a decade of service provided the impetus for , and why Kevin has set out to address a very different set of questions than in his last book, Cocktail Theory. Why matching a person with their ideal drink is very different (and much more difficult, it turns out) from trying to make the optimal Old Fashioned or Negroni or Daiquiri. This leads to a conversation about all the variables that go into cocktail preference: sweetness, acidity, bitterness, booziness,...
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Episode 309 - The Donn of Tiki with Alex Lamb and Max Well
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
In this fascinating conversation with Max Well and Alex Lamb, directors of , some of the topics we discuss include: How a COVID-era YouTube short on the history of Tiki in LA snowballed into a full-length feature film on one of the most iconic bar entrepreneurs of the 20th century: Ernest Gantt, AKA Donn Beach, AKA "Don the Beachcomber." The way that stop-motion puppetry and clever era-appropriate animations were used to give Donn an embodied presence in his own story, with audio unearthed from a single set of tapes uncovered at the University of Hawaii. The interesting ironies that run...
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Episode 308 - Your Whiskey Math is Bullsh*t
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
Eric kicks off 2026 with an audio essay rant targeted at the ham-fisted "percentage" math that people use to answer the question: "How much of a whiskey's flavor comes from the barrel?" In the censored words of George Carlin: "It's all BS, and it's bad for ya." To demonstrate this, we sift through GC-MS whiskey sample results, human neurobiology, and behavioral economics. In the end, it's a poorly posed question invented to solve a problem that doesn't exist, and it colors our expectations about flavor in harmful ways.
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Episode 307 - Sacred Serves: The Rituals that Make Drinking Human
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
This time around, we’ll be taking a look at drinking rituals from around the world. A few months back, my friend asked me to write an article about drinking rituals for her new publication, . She has graciously agreed to let me read the article on-air and give you all a bit of a “Director’s Cut” version of the article, entitled: . For those of you who have the opportunity to enjoy a few drinks with family and friends this holiday season, I hope some of these thoughts about the importance of ritual, hospitality, gratitude, and the sometimes radical act of coming together can help...
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Episode 306 - The Bartender's Manifesto with Toby Maloney
The Modern Bar Cart Podcast
Eric interviews Toby Maloney () about his award-winning book, . Some of the topics covered in this conversation include: How Toby thinks about cocktail development, including the importance of inspiration, intention, comfort, and curiosity The importance of curated attention in the creative process, allowing you to notice aspects of the world around you that can be used as inspiration and structural components for cocktail building A live cocktail development case study, where Toby and Eric riff on a menu prompt and create their very own custom cocktail worthy of inclusion on a...
info_outlineIn this smooth-sailing conversation with Malcolm Gosling Jr., 8th generation steward of the Goslings Rum company, some of the topics we discuss include:
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How a lapsed ship charter to Virginia kicked off the Gosling family’s spirited enterprise on the humble 21 square mile rock in the middle of the Atlantic known as Bermuda.
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The ways in which Goslings rum both conforms to and expands what most rum nerds think of when they hear the term “British-style Caribbean rum,” and why the family’s roots in sourcing, blending, and retail are key to the entire flavor profile and identity.
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We also dig into two key brand stories: the origins of the “Black Seal Rum” name and logo, which involves upcycling Champagne Bottles used by the British navy, and of course the legend of how one poor bartender’s failure to politely cut off a drunk guy is responsible for the Dark ‘N Stormy cocktail.
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And we wrap up by covering some of Goslings Rum’s longer-aged and special edition products that will pique the interest of any rum enthusiast, including their “Spirited Seas” project that’s aged aboard the Oleander cargo ship.
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Along the way, we discover why pigs gave Bermuda a scary reputation back in the day, explore some of the creative activations Malcolm and his team are pursuing as “The Official Rum of Leisure,” take a spin in crazy aunt Shiela’s industrial rum swizzle machine, and much, much more.
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