From Napa to DC to Manhattan and just 7 other sparkling stops!
Bureau du Champagne, USA today announced its annual list of the Top 10 Bars and Restaurants where Champagne plays a starring role. The list, now in its third year, recognizes establishments that elevate and celebrate the uniqueness of the sparkling wine that comes only from Champagne, France.
Released in advance of Champagne Day 2024, the list showcases Champagne standouts in every U.S. region. It recognizes restaurants and bars that take special care to offer Champagnes from a wide variety of producers, list them properly on their menus, and serve them with élan.
“We received nominations for spectacular bars and restaurants across the country, and selected from them a list of destinations that embody the spirit of Champagne,”
Lori Russo
Director,
the Bureau du Champagne, USA.
“While these restaurants and bars differ in style, spanning the spectrum from fine dining to fried chicken, they all have one thing in common: they understand what makes Champagne special. For that, we couldn’t be prouder to raise a glass to them on Champagne Day and the rest of the year.”
The full list of this year’s featured bars and restaurants can be found below in alphabetical order:
Apéro, Washington, DC: Apéro’s list of more than 700 wines places special emphasis on Champagne. The intimate setting in DC’s popular Georgetown neighborhood is an ideal spot to explore an extensive list of Champagnes smartly organized by style.
Be Bubbly, Napa, Calif.: In the heart of California wine country, Be Bubbly takes care to showcase Champagne with a menu that includes a map of the region’s five wine-producing districts and a philosophy of Champagne as a celebration of life.
Boiler Room, Omaha: The wine list at this terroir-focused restaurant, originally conceived by a Master Sommelier, offers a broad range of Champagnes at varying price points so everyone can join in the celebration.
Charleston, Baltimore: The wine program at Charleston emphasizes the special relationship between wine and food. The Champagne list, which spans three pages of its menu, explains the magic of Champagne along with a diversity of tasting profiles.
Coqodaq, New York: Proving the versatility of Champagne, Coqodaq pairs the sparkling wine with both caviar and its signature bucket of Korean fried chicken.
Coupes, Dallas: Coupes bills itself as a bar for Champagne. True to its name, its vast menu of Champagnes explains that “Champagne is a sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wines are Champagne.”
Fizz Champagne & Bubbles Bar, Sacramento, Calif.: Fizz believes in celebrating everyday triumphs with Champagne. Its menus and events elevate Champagne from France and distinguish it from other sparkling wines.
La Vie,Waikiki, Hawaii: La Vie’s emphasizes farm-to-table dining with French flair, so its large selection of vintage and non-vintage Champagnes creates the perfect complement, and the view is special, too.
Pops for Champagne, Chicago: Known for its special events, tastings, Champagne education and a vast list of Champagnes of every style, Pops has been dazzling Chicago with Champagne since 1982.
Sexy Fish, Miami: The extraordinary interior of this Brickell restaurant is matched only by its extensive list of Champagnes both accessible and rare.
For more information on Champagne Day or to find an event near you, visit champagneday.champagne.fr. More events will be added in the near future, so check back often.
Bureau du Champagne, USA, is the official U.S. representative of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), a trade association representing the houses and winegrowers of Champagne, France. The Bureau works to advance the CIVC’s mission of defending the interests of the Champagne appellation worldwide through education and advocacy. For more information, visit us online at www.champagne.us.
Self-made Billionaire John Paul DeJoria acquires Waterloo Gin
Passionate entrepreneur and philanthropist John Paul DeJoria, the self-made billionaire founder of Patrón Tequila and Paul Mitchell hair care, has announced the purchase of Waterloo Gin, the first gin brand distilled in Texas.
Developed by Treaty Oak Distilling in Dripping Springs, Texas, near Austin, Waterloo Gin was launched in 2009, named after Austin’s original name – Waterloo – before the city was rechristened in the 1830s for Texas pioneer Stephen F. Austin.
Waterloo is known for its exceptional quality, craftsmanship, and unique flavor profile that blends fruits and botanicals that perfectly capture the Texas Hill Country.
The brand’s flagship Waterloo No. 9 Gin (94 proof) is crafted in the New American style, distilled with nine local botanicals including lavender, grapefruit, and pecan. The other expression in the Waterloo portfolio, Waterloo Antique Gin (also 94 proof), spends two years in first-use medium char American white oak barrels, matured under the hot Texas sun to develop rich wood flavors that complement the herbal notes of the base Waterloo No. 9. Both Waterloo Gins are naturally 100% gluten, carb, and additive free.
“Waterloo is an extraordinarily high-quality, innovative and world-class spirit, a gin I’m certain that people will enjoy,” says DeJoria, who founded Patrón Tequila in 1989 and built it into a $5.1 billion business when it was sold to Bacardi in 2018.
“I’m very honored for the opportunity to help grow this incredible brand, and share Waterloo Gin with more bartenders, retailers, and consumers all across the country.”
The company will be led by CEO Justin Meigs, who was previously an original member of the Empress Gin executive team that launched and grew the brand to over 260,000 annual case sales in 5 years, prior to the company’s exit in 2022.
“I’m incredibly excited about this new chapter for the Waterloo brand, now in the capable hands of John Paul DeJoria and his talented team of spirits industry veterans,” says Daniel Barnes, the founder of Waterloo at Treaty Oak. “Their deep industry experience and passion for cultivating and growing brands gives me great confidence that Waterloo will continue to flourish and reach new consumers everywhere.”
Though the recipe, production process, and brand name for Waterloo Gin will not change, the brand packaging and imagery will undergo a comprehensive refresh, with expanded national distribution, early next year.
Currently, Waterloo is available through Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) in Texas and Breakthru Beverage in Florida.
Larceny Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey released an engaging new commercial to support the recently launched “Seize Tonight” which encourages fans of Larceny to unleash their carefree spirit and get into some “good mischief”.
The brand will also extend its reach with Community Ambassadors who embody this same spirit in the gaming, music and food scenes to create compelling content which highlights the craftsmanship behind Larceny Bourbon and their respective passions.
The “Seize Tonight” campaign is centered around the idea that the most memorable moments happen when you let curiosity get the best of you and take a little risk – much like John E. Fitzgerald himself.
On the heels of its successful premium packaging redesign, the brand will debut an engaging new ad on premium streaming platforms directed by award-winning commercial film director André Betz.
The spot shows how Larceny can be the catalyst for turning an ordinary evening into a memorable one.
The hero seizes the opportunity to liven his friends’ night out by playing the piano after seeing a compelling vision of a keyhole ignite on the instrument. The crowd is surprised to hear the piano play, partly because the hero is so good, but also because the piano is clearly off limits. The spot reaches a pivotal moment when the stern bartender walks over to tell off the hero, only to reveal that she’s there to pour him a glass of Larceny in appreciation of his spontaneity.
Both the 30-second video, as well as 15-second version, will be streamed on Connected TV and Online Video.
The “Seize Tonight” campaign’s manifesto will be brought to life by expanding the brand’s reach and appeal beyond the traditional bourbon drinker through influential Community Ambassadors in the gaming, music and food scenes.
LP Giobbi is a celebrated DJ, producer, pianist, and activist, known for her innovative sound and impactful contributions to music and advocacy.
BlackKrystelis a dominant force in in the world of gaming and has made her mark as an efficacious voice for carefree, authentic fun.
Fabrizio Villalpando is a no-holds-barred home cook whose bold attitude towards entertaining through food has left a mark in the culinary scene.
Justin Sajda is a self-described “average guy who makes above average cocktails” whose creative concoctions elevate the spirits he serves behind the bar and on social media where he can be found @thirstywhale_.
Unlike many other bourbons, Larceny is made with wheat instead of the traditional rye, using a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat and 12% malted barley. The use of 20% wheat as the secondary flavor grain is 25% more than the leading competitor, resulting in exceptional smoothness. Larceny Small Batch is available nationwide at a SRP of $27.99 and the new, premium packaging is now shipping. Individual batches of Larceny Barrel Proof are released nationally on an allocated basis three times annually at a SRP of $64.99 and will be bottled in the new packaging starting this fall.
Fans of Larceny are encouraged to enjoy it straight, on the rocks or in the classic Paper Plane cocktail.
ABOUT LARCENY BOURBON
The story of Larceny begins with John E. Fitzgerald, a bonded U.S. Treasury agent with a penchant for thievery of the best Bourbon.
Using his keys to let himself into rickhouses at night, the “Fitzgerald Barrels”, as they came to be known, became one of America’s most beloved whiskeys after Prohibition with the launch of Old Fitzgerald.
Today, the John E. Fitzgerald story continues through Larceny, an incredibly smooth and exceptional small batch Wheated Bourbon. First brought to market in 2012, Larceny is one of the most successful new-to-the-world Bourbons in the past decade.
Produced by Heaven Hill Distillery, the brand offers Larceny Small Batch and Larceny Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Since its inception, Larceny has been an award-winning, best in class Bourbon receiving accolades such as Double Gold at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Whisky Advocate Whisky of the Year in 2020. F
Horror Hit “Soul Trader” heads to Washington DC at DC Shorts International Film Fest September 6, with Director/Producer Susan Dynner, Executive Producer / Actress Shauna Grace in person
Award-winning short film The Soul Trader will be to be screened in Washington DC as part of DC Shorts International Film Fest in ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA DC (630 Rhode Island Ave NE) on Friday September 6 at 12pm.
The Soul Trader is a 12 minute short proof of concept for a feature or series directed by Susan Dynner (Brick, Punk’s Not Dead, Code Blue: A Love Story) and starring Shane West (A Walk to Remember, ER, The Dirty South), Donna Mills (Knots Landing, Nope, Origin), and newcomer Shauna Grace.
The story follows Coral Chase (Shauna Grace), an occult hitwoman who has the power to steal life-extending souls, which she then sells to vain, wealthy elites like Erica Claessen (Donna Mills), who clings to the crumbs of youth. She’s flanked by stoic bodyguard Damien (Shane West), who ultimately emerges from the shadows as her rival when she’s about to carry out a money-spinning hit at a target’s home and realizes she’s not the only one with murder in mind.
“We’re excited to share this story and show a strong female lead that audiences are falling in love with”
Director / Producer Susan Dynner
The short film launched at the Cannes Film Festival’s American Pavilion in May and has been gaining momentum ever since.
It won its first award just weeks later at the Manhattan Film Festival in NYC. Now it’s set to screen at many more festivals on the West Coast, East Coast and across the globe.
“This project is definitely a good luck charm. Playing the role of Coral, working with our cast and crew has been incredible. But the biggest thanks is the reaction from the audience. Getting to meet people who are excited and inspired by the story and characters.”
Actress / Executive Producer Shauna Grace
Meanwhile the filmmaking duo Susan Dynner and Shauna Grace are busy taking meetings toward their next step.
What is their next step?
“This was always meant as a proof of concept short film to become a feature film or TV series. With the sold-out screenings and awards, it just confirms our feeling that this story is so much bigger than a short.”
Susan Dynner
Actress Shauna Grace has been receiving strong reviews, comparing her on screen presence to other heroines including Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johansson.
Dynner’s experience as a studio development executive for visionaries such as Richard Donner and Wolfgang Peterson shines through. Also, her producing work on Sundance hit “Brick” and festival darling “Punks Not Dead” shows her ability to bring production value on a range of budgets.
Both Dynner and Grace will attend their DC Shorts screening on Friday September 6 at 12pm and be available afterwards to discussion.
The Soul Trader is directed and produced by Dynner, written by newcomer Mike Underwood, photographed by Matthias Schubert (The Door Man, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, Shelter in Solitude), produced by Lauren Bancroft (The Making of Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles, Wild Bitch, Bite Size Halloween), edited by David Hopper (God Bless America, In Between Songs, Rust Creek), and executive produced by Shauna Grace, with music composed by Jeff Russo (Fargo, Ripley, Star Trek: Discovery).
Dating Expert Andrea McGinty makes it easy with 33000Dates.com
Today we’re going to get to the source of what those date’s are actually about. So with us is a dating expert, Andrea McGinty from 33000dates.com.
Joe Winger:
So just to start things off, what inspired you to become a dating coach?
Andrea McGinty:
You mean what inspired an accounting / finance major to become a dating coach?
I started this when I was in my 20s. So this is the 1990s.
There’s no Google yet. There’s no online dating. It’s going to happen in the late 90s, but it hasn’t happened yet. At that point I was living in Chicago and I was getting married and five weeks before the wedding, he called it off and it was like – boom!
What do you do? First I cried, of course…
Anyway my friends started fixing me up on dates, still in your 20sand you know how those dates go,
They know someone that’s single, so they think you should like them, blah, blah, blah…
After some of those dates I was really thinking about it and I thought, it’d be great if there was a place you could go, like an executive recruiter for your professional life.
The same thing for your personal life.
And of course, there was nothing like that at the time. Even in high school and in college I fixed up two of my suitemates. They’re still with their husbands that I fixed them up with.
I was already good at this and I thought I could start this.
Anyway, fast forward.
I started a company in Chicago called It’s Just Lunch. Where people meet for lunch. We do all the work.
Fast forward, 15 years later, it’s still the same.
[At my first dating company, It’s Just Lunch] we had 110 locations globally and then I sold. Timing was perfect because online dating was coming out of its infancy and it was a mess it at first, just the scammers, the crazies, the horrible stories,
I thought, “Oh, wow, there’s a need. People have no idea what to do online and how to date.”
Dating Expert Andrea McGinty makes it easy with 33000Dates.com
Joe Winger:
Is there one big lesson to learn how to be more successful with dating in today’s world?
Andrea McGinty:
I think there’s a couple, there’s probably two lessons to learn.
#1 is you need to understand how to navigate online dating because there’s over 1400 sites out there.
#2 you’ve got to be really careful that you don’t give up too quickly.
Most people give up in the first 2-3 weeks because they go online, see a bunch of people, they probably went on the wrong site by the way too, like not the right site for them at all. Then they see these people who like them and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, this is online dating, forget it, I’m done, gone.”
And it goes back to they didn’t do it right, they had no idea what they were doing.
Joe Winger:
Can you bring some clarity to that and help somebody understand what are the first few steps are and how to do them correctly?
Andrea McGinty:
Absolutely. With online dating you need…
#1 you need to be really careful that you’re choosing the right site.
When we’re talking about 1,400 sites out there, I tend to work with the top 25 sites. When I’m working with a client I start initially with a zoom call with a client and get to know them what they’re looking for.
I work primarily with the 40 – something 50- something, through the 60s age group. Second time around, second acts in life type of thing.
Back to the right site…
When I’m choosing a site for a client after the zoom call, I’m thinking about. “Okay, what sites do I think they belong at?” And it’s very different if you’re in Los Angeles versus Houston versus Washington versus New York City or Orlando, Florida.
[The sites are] so different, how the sites function and the type of people that are even on the site.
I’m strategic too. I use three different large companies for research. I use Gallup, Pew and Statista. I pay to get research on a monthly basis and it really tells me the percentage of men to women on a site.
Some sites that are 80% men. Some sites are 80% women
You might be having an awful time on a site because you’re a woman and you’re at a site that’s 80% women. You’re in the wrong place.
So I do the homework with the research. Geographically where you live, level of education, income. Is that site’s membership increasing, decreasing?
#2 Your pictures.
Oh my gosh. I’m like a crazy person with photos because you have to have really great photos. I don’t mean LinkedIn photos, I don’t mean glamour shots, and not selfies.
The candids are nice because it’ll show you and your friends. Out playing pickleball, out playing tennis, out having drinks with your girlfriends. The professional shots. Depending on where you live, you’re just gonna get some great shots up against a graffiti wall in Brooklyn or a nice shot by the beach that are just a little more.
You want a couple full body shots.
You want the photos to be current, within the last year. Just like you don’t want to be surprised when you show up on the date and there she is. She has a few more wrinkles and a few more pounds than what I saw online.
It’s like you’re not being truthful about the whole thing.
Online dating is a visual medium. You’ve got to be presenting yourself. My LA and Orange County market, Dallas market, they get that. But there’s other parts of the country. I’m like no, we are not putting that picture of you online. There is absolutely no way.
#3 Your profile
Once they look at your photos online, if they like what they’re seeing, they’re going to read about you. It can’t be the same old stuff. Like I like to walk on the beach and I look as good in a tux as I do…. it puts me to sleep.
So a short, sweet, interesting, quirky profile sells.
A lot of times it’s hard to write about yourself. That’s why it’s nice to have somebody like me, write about you.
[Summarizing] You’re on the right site. The right photos. Your profile. Now it’s looking through high potential dates for you….
#4 Looking for High Potential Dates
Putting in algorithms, putting in search filters. That’s something I teach people how to do because otherwise it’s like you’re looking for a needle in a haystack and you want it like a needle in a little Easter basket.
Once we throw those filters and algorithms on, it gets rid of 80% of the people. Now we’re down to some of these people that look like high potential people for you.
#5 Send messages
We found 10 “someone” ‘s and now we send messages.
We don’t send them a weak heart or any of that kind of junk because men get so irritated. Because half my clients are men, they get so irritated with this.
Why are these women sending likes and hearts and no message?
That’s my constant battle with women.
Hey, you’re in your 40s, you’re not 90 when women had to wait to be pursued. We’re not living in our grandparents era, right? We’re equals. We can reach out to the men too.
The men totally appreciate when a woman sends a well crafted, interesting, short three sentence message.
The messaging is super important because you don’t want the: “Hi, how are you?” – or this is horrible. “Hi, you’re so good looking.” “Hi, you’re so beautiful.”
It was like, copy paste, they threw that out to the world, they sent that to everybody.
So now you’ve sent a message, hopefully he / she messages back.
#6 Schedule a date
The next thing is let’s get that date scheduled. This can all be done with just a couple texts on both people’s part:
“Okay, yeah, I’m totally interested. How’s Friday, at 5:30p at Bistro 110. Let’s meet for a glass of wine?
Because chemistry only takes place in real life.
Joe Winger:
In reality, do most dates get set up that quickly? It seems like there’s more delays and game-playing?
Andrea McGinty:
From the time you first send a message to someone, if the date has not been scheduled within five days of that initial text. There’s a 90% chance the date will never occur.
I’ll say to my client, “We’re going to go right for it right now.”
Write a couple of cute lines that are just for that person and then be like:
“You know what? I don’t really need to text you anymore or talk to you anymore because I’m ready to meet you. I’m super interested. How’s Friday night…?”
Sometimes you’ll get back a reply, what’s the rush?
I think to myself, what isn’t the rush here?
What do you want to talk about? Can’t you just get dressed?
We both live in Beverly Hills for goodness sakes. How long would it take us to get together and meet, right? We’re both in New York City. C’mon. Let’s do this in person.
If you’re getting those people that are drawing out the process, you either just cut bait. Just block them, goodbye, gone.
Or you say, you know what, if you don’t reply, you’re going to end up on my waiting list.
And you do it with a little humor, add an “LOL”
That can work too, where people crack up and they’re like, yes, I would love to meet you Saturday. Let’s grab lunch.
Joe Winger:
In today’s world of different levels of politically correct, cancel culture, different levels of sensitivity, regardless of whether you’re in a very conservative culture, progressive culture, etc.
How do we deal with any level of uncomfort when it comes to online dating?
Andrea McGinty:
First of all, you’re not in the workplace dating right now. Cause that’s where a lot of that happens, right?
This is where I say “Women, you’ve got a big advantage right now because you can feel very comfortable and free reaching out to men and get over that whole thing”.
Women wait to be pursued. There was this book that came out in the 90s: “The Rules.”
Wait to be pursued by the man and then don’t respond to him for three days. What the heck is that about?
No. Reach out to men.
Now for men, you’re not going to send stupid messages like, “Oh, you’re so gorgeous and sexy and blah, blah, blah”
Nobody wants that message.
You would find that offensive too.
As far as men reaching out to women, just do it in good taste.
Women are there to meet men. Creepy doesn’t happen very much online anymore. We’re out of that 2000 – 2010 era where more of that stuff happened.
There’s so many more hoops. Both parties jump through [hoops] on top notch dating sites now and dating apps now that verify that you are who you say you are and verify some information about you.
Joe Winger:
Most of the people watching this, they’re into food. That means fine dining. They’re into wine and cocktails and collecting wine.
What kind of a goal can they look for if they come to 33000Dates.com?
When they approach and connect with you, what should they be thinking about and preparing so they know how to best represent themselves in that first conversation with you?
Andrea McGinty:
Just be real with me and, people that are foodies and wine collectors, there’s a lot of us out there. There’s a lot of people out there that will find that very attractive.
There’s a lot of people that like to try different wine bars, they like to go up to Napa. Maybe that’s your third or fourth or eighth date,
Be real with what your interests are and… talking about food.
This goes back to when I’m writing your profile, when people just say, “Oh, I like Italian food.” I’m like no. Give me something here.
“I like carbonara with peppers and from Trattoria is amazing.”
It doesn’t have to be written in a snobby or snooty way, but it’s just like fun. Like you’re describing what you like to eat or your favorite foods or it could be talking about, you like this vintage of wine.
Be very specific with me because that’s how I can help you the most and be really upfront no, no PC woke stuff with me because this is your personal life.
Joe Winger
What are some realistic goals for your online dating experience?
Andrea McGinty:
We’ve got to make sure that we’re not listening to all the noise out there. We’re not listening to our negative friends about dating and friends and family can be two really negative forces because you get one of one of two things.
If it’s family, maybe a lot of them are married and they’re like, Oh, you’re good looking. You’re so awesome. You don’t need to do online dating. That is like for losers.
That is so not the story anymore.
You’ve got friends that are like, “Oh, I just tried Bumble. It was horrible”. “I did hinge. It was horrible.”
A lot of dating is going in with a good attitude. I’m not talking about rainbows and unicorns; and everything’s perfect or anything like that.
We spend a lot of our 20s and 30s becoming successful and working on our careers.
By the time we’re 40s, even 50s we’re there career-wise. So now, it’s time to focus on our love life.
That could be two very different pictures: it could be a second act because you’re divorced.
Or it could be you’ve been single and just all your efforts have been going into career and friends and travel and all this other stuff, good stuff you’ve got going on.
But you wake up one day and you’re like:
“Hey, I’m 45 and I’m single. What’s up with this?”
Go into online dating, approaching it the way you did your career. Strategically. It’s no fun to think about your love life, like strategically, hire somebody, think about how you play golf.
You didn’t just go out on the golf course. You took a bunch of lessons.
Everybody’s playing pickleball now. But you didn’t just go out on the court, even if you played tennis before. You took a couple clinics, right?
That very quickly threw you into the intermediate range all of a sudden because you put some effort into it.
Same with dating.
But if you want to do it effectively and pretty effortlessly, just like you did with golf, hire the pro to do this stuff for you.
My typical male client tells me I take 80% of the workload off him because he doesn’t have to think about it anymore.
I’m coming up and presenting ideas to him, presenting women to him and just getting them through. All of the hoops and the messaging and all that stuff. Getting them to the good dates because they’re out there.
There’s some markets, like Los Angeles and New York, that can be big complainers about dating. I think because they’re trying to do it on their own.
When I get online and go on the good sites in those two markets, there are so many good people on there.
It’s just a matter of having somebody doing a good portion of the work and pushing you.
And oh, here’s the other thing, accountability.
When you’re working with me, you have accountability because you’re going to talk to me next week. And I’m going to say:
“Okay, Tell me what happened to you last week.”
“How’d that date go?”
“Did you call back that other one that we talked about?“
I did text her after the date you said you were going to, what happened?
So that little push along the way and keeping you on track too.
Because we’re in a culture where, we’re educated, we’re taking great trips, we’re dining out. We’ve got a nice group of friends that we love to hang out with.
It can be really easy to sweep this all, to the wayside. There’s no reason because there’s a loneliness epidemic in the U.S. and we all know if you’re with somebody, that you really enjoy hanging out with you’re going to live longer and you’re gonna live happier too.
Right.
Joe Winger:
You’re offering great dating tips. Thank you.
Let’s say you’re someone who’s done the work on your profile, messaged all those people, asked for a date, and they’ve all disappeared.
What’s that person doing wrong?
Andrea McGinty:
You kinda gotta take responsibility for it. You’re doing something wrong.
Here’s the deal. You don’t know what you’re doing wrong.
But that’s stuff I can fix.
That’s another thing. You have to stay away from those free sites or sites that have free people on it because there’s no skin in the game there. They’re just dilly-dallying around, playing around on there and not really serious.
Part of it is recognizing the statistics that you’re going into up-front that for every 5 texts you send, 1 person is going to respond back.
I give my clients homework on a weekly basis, two sessions. That’s all I ask of them.
During those two 30 hour sessions they have to send out 8 messages. So I know by the time I’ve talked to them, they’re going to at least have gotten back 3 responses.
If their photos are really good, they might have 8 responses back.
If they haven’t already booked the date, craft the email, craft the text, craft the message that’s going to get that date in person. And get us there. Get us there.
Joe Winger:
Andrea McGinty from 33000Dates.com dating expert.
Any requests from the audience watching and listening?
Andrea McGinty:
I would just say, take a look around my site, maybe take the dating quiz that I have on the site. It’s fun. And it’s really fast. It’s 10 questions, and it goes right to me. It doesn’t go to any of my people. And. I can rate you and what you’re doing and tell you whether or not I can help you too.
So if you do take that quiz, give me as much info as you can. I don’t mean personal info, but like where you live, your age, but that’s all going to be on there. But take that quiz because that’s a good way to contact me and see if we might be a good fit and maybe I can help you if you really want to meet somebody.
DC Coffee Drinkers: Healthy for the Planet, Healthy for People. Rahm Roast Coffee from Dr Christina Rahm
Today we’re talking coffee! The rich and delightful taste of Rahm Roast, crafted from carefully selected coffee beans straight from Guatemala.
Dr. Christina Rahm is a scientist, supermom, devoted partner, and the ultimate coffee aficionado!
With a passion for detoxing and a mission to uplift lives, she’s not just about the lab coat life; she’s out there exploring the globe in pursuit of both science and the perfect cup of joe.
Today’s conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit FlavRReport’s YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
So what I love the most is your introduction, Dr. Christina Rahm, “Mother. wife, scientist and coffee lover.”
Dr. Christina Rahm:
Thank you. Yeah I always start with mother. Now my kids are older. I’m like, am I supposed to say mother to adult children? They were such an integral part of my life. And hey, that was the reason I started drinking coffee. Just to be honest, I had to stay awake to take care of them.
Joe Winger:
Do you remember what first inspired you to get interested in coffee?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
Motherhood, basically..
I grew up in a home where everybody loved coffee but me. I remember when I had my 1st child, and I was thinking, how do all these mothers stay awake?
I worked back then too. It was a lot, working and taking care [of my first baby].
I was delusional because I thought I’m going to have my son, and I thought, I’ll go back to work on Monday. Cause you don’t know. I remember that Monday getting up and calling my mom and saying, “This is not doable. What am I going to do?”
I had a job where they let me take him to work, but still it was a lot. And my mom was like, you’re going to have to drink coffee.
I grew up on a farm and they would offer it and I’d be like, no, I don’t like it. I was the only one in my family that didn’t like it, but I learned to love it after I had a child.
Then I three more [kids]. But I love the taste of it.
Also, as a scientist, I had a pituitary tumor and different types of cancer.
When I started researching, you can’t ever claim that a natural substance cures anything, but I did notice there were certain types of coffee and coffee beans that caused cancer cell death, apoptosis.
So it was one of the things that I added to my regimen.
What happened was, the cancer metastasized and I was trying to eat everything from spirulina to coffee to resveratrol.
I did give up alcohol for a while.
Then someone said one glass of alcohol is good because of the resveratrol.
So I added wine back in [to my diet].
But like I learned to love [coffee]. The more I researched it, the more I understood that it had mold and mitotoxins and it had all kinds of things.
Even though the pure bean could help from a physical perspective and from a healthcare perspective because of the pesticides and GMOs in the land, air and water that we have.
I hate bringing up the topic because people [think] the environment’s not that bad.
The problem is, regardless of your political stance, our environment is not healthy like it used to, because we’ve had so much pollution/
Nuclear war and when a nuclear war happens, it does not leave the stratosphere.
It disseminates across our world.
So a our things – plants and herbs and roots and seeds – you have to be very careful where you get it.
Most of my career I focused a lot on detoxification and really helping clean out the environment.
Things I’ve worked on… You can go to the store and buy coffee or buy vitamins and they can have heavy metals, lead, mercury, horrible things in it.
I don’t want to scare people.
Instead, I’ve worked on creating some things that hopefully will help people feel, look, and be better because we just all need to be as great as we can be.
There’s no easy, one pill solution, right?
Coffee was definitely something for me.
People drink [it] every day, and if they’re going to drink it, I’m hoping they drink something that’s, free of mitotoxins, that has a good pH level, that is fair trade.
I had a whole list of things that were so important to me.
When Rahm Roast launched I was very happy because we ended up getting a 91% cup score. We worked really hard for that. Only 1% of the coffee in the world has a score that high.
But I think what was more important than a score, what’s that going to do for you?
What really matters to me is that the coffee did not have toxins and the coffee did not have heavy metals and it hadn’t been exposed to GMOs or pesticides.
If my name was going to be on it it better be something that’s really helping people and making their life better. That was important to me.
Joe Winger:
Two words you said a second ago, let’s connect them: coffee and detoxification.
I would meet with different coffee plantations and different owners trying to find a really good place. We ended up being able to find a place in Guatemala that was on top of a mountain, which had never been exposed to GMOs and pesticides.
The water’s clean, the air’s clean.
It was a very isolated place. We decided we wanted to partner with a business that was small. All they cared about was making something that was just really unique and special. [Unlike most other businesses] they were not worried about mass production.
They’re worried about making sure that it tastes good, which taste was important to us.
But the biggest issue was let’s make sure that everything is fair trade, the organic, the vegan, we wanted everything. I wanted to be sustainable.
For me, sustainable is not enough.
We need to remediate things because you can to be sustainable. It’s not completely accurate, right?
I have a lot of patents based on remediation of things and making sure that you’re not just detoxing, but you’re helping the plants and you’re helping everything grow.
Because we should have this much top soil [gestures to 6 inches] and now we have this much top soil [gestures to 2 inches] and there’s not enough nutrients in it that help the plants and the roots and the seeds. They’re just not the same.
We explored all of that and came up with a process to clean the beans and detox the beans of any kind of monotoxins, mold, fungus, bacteria, viruses, anything surrounding it.
I developed that in 2015. I started by basically writing a series of patents that had to do with getting rid of nuclear waste.
The regeneration of land, air and water and the human body and also the reversal of aging.
What I’ve learned as a scientist and as a human being is to admit failure every day, and then to admit that I’m going to try to be better every day.
And that’s what happened with the coffee.
It was a one step process that involved a four day process to make the cleaning and it’s made from basically a zeolite silica trace mineral vitamin mixture which goes in and cleans the beans.
I think that’s the reason our cup score is so high because the PH level basically getting rid of all those minor toxins, all the things, the beans that are harmful or could be harmful creates a ph level that is very conducive to our body.
I don’t know if you know this, but our Earth is composed of silica and water, right?
As humans, we are too.
So when you put something in your body, you want to make it compatible bioavailable to the body. And I would say that’s another proprietary thing that I do. And I work on things I’m working on.
Understanding the DNA of a coffee bean, and understanding our DNA and then understanding how they would work copacetically together.
Another thing that was really close to me that I actually have not talked about in any interview is the fact that. With coffee and coffee enemas and different things that people have, there’s like a 70 percent increase right now in colon cancer. It’s horrible. And I would credit that to the environment and to all the things we’re being exposed to.
And even vegans are getting colon cancer. Even younger people. You can look it up.
It was in the New York Post, everything else. So I wanted a coffee that a doctor decided functional med doctors or doctors in other countries wanted to help with this area that could use it as a colon cleanse as well.
Again, I have not talked about that anywhere, but for me, it was essential because as a person that’s had so many different types of cancer, I want to put things in my body that will help my body.
What’s interesting about what I do for a living now, I used to work in pharmaceutical and biotech and we could say.
We don’t cure bronchitis, but here’s zithromax to help with bronchitis and it does right from my perspective.
Giving people things that make their body, make them achieve the greatest thing they can, that, which is to be their best self, it’s so important.
And if those things that we give them can also improve the cellular health of their body by making the healthy cells healthier and making the cancerous or the sick cells not even wanna be there, then that is a goal.
There’s been all kinds of studies, there’s all kinds of information which shows that could be possible.
But again, the problem is in theory, yes, that can help people in different areas of health.
But in reality, I don’t feel like it has because I think the coffee beans and coffee has been exposed to so many things in our environment that then sometimes we’re putting more toxins into our body.
So that was really a major focus for me when I worked on the coffee.
We drink coffee every day and we deserve to have really good coffee.
I’m not saying,me making spaghetti and saying my spaghetti is the “best spaghetti in the world.”
I will tell you that I’ve traveled to 89 countries and I’ve studied this for years and this has been a topic of mine since I was in my twenties, that has been important to me.
Then my oldest son, my Mom used to give him the coffee with the sugar and the cream and he would just keep drinking it.
And I would get in an argument with my Mom about why are you giving my Son coffee now?
He’s bouncing off the walls. He just loves it.
So he put fire under my feet on it. I was like, I’m too busy working on all these other projects.
He was like, “Mom, you have to make good coffee.”
Because some people drink four or five glasses a day. So it needs to be healthy for you.
It’s just like water. If you’re going to drink water, you want to drink healthy water; and water is part of the process when I make the coffee too. It’s a specific type of water that helps clean the beans.
It’s interesting. I tried to do it in the United States. I could not find a master coffee maker that could do what I wanted.
I found one in Cyprus [Greece].
So I was in Cyprus introduced to an award winning coffee grinder coffee maker.
He’s won awards all over, [ he] understood my process, understood how to do it.
Then after you tasted it, after it went through the process, he was like, this is amazing. This is the best coffee ever. And again, it makes sense.
Like when we’re healthy, we look better, right?
When coffee beans are healthier, they taste better. They’re better.
It’s just simple and I love it.
I think it’s magical how science works and how all of our DNA is connected. We’re connected to a leaf on a tree. We’re also connected and able to bring coffee to the world that’s going to help people.
I think it is probably one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most in the last three to four years of my life.
Joe Winger:
That’s beautiful. Obviously you have a huge scientific background. Our audience is into the flavor. Food, spirits, wine, coffee based on flavor.
I’m sure you can understand how science can intimidate so many of us.
Is there a very simplified way of explaining what makes Rahm Roast good for the body, good for the planet?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
It’s like going to an organic farm up in the mountains where everything’s perfect and tasting a bite of a watermelon and it just tastes so great.
Or of strawberries.
When you go to these places on these islands that have never been exposed to GMOs and pesticides.
And you’re like, why does this taste better?
Sometimes in the United States, you’ll buy a rose for someone and it doesn’t even smell like a rose, but then you’ll go to a tropical island where they don’t use GMOs or pesticides and it smells so beautiful.
This is the most beautiful rose. It smells so amazing.
The coffee was made and sourced from a single source in a place that was the perfect environment that we could find. We looked everywhere.
Then the process. That was made basically cleaning it until it was beautiful and perfect. It’s like you brush your teeth, you take a bath, you look better.
If you don’t shave or brush your teeth or take a bath for two years, then you may not look the same as you look today.
This coffee has been cleaned in a very holistic way, organic way using only natural.
It tastes amazing. It tastes almost like chocolate.
It’s very smooth.
Using zeolites [like they] used to line the ducts of the Aztec and Incas and Mayas and the pyramids. It’s documented throughout history and all I did was take a process and make sure it was cleaning so that it would look beautiful.
I think it’s simple.
I sourced it from the most amazing place that had not been exposed to pesticides and GMOs, that was fair trade, that everything was a sole source farmer.
We knew everything about the history. I want your audience to also know this.
It’s not just the beans and the plants.
It’s the parent plants and the genetics behind it.
When you see race horses. They breed, right? You pay a lot of money if you have a winner from the Kentucky Derby. Because it’s genetics.
There’s a genetic component and there’s always this debate about genetics and the environment.
Which one’s better?
And so to me, both are important.
So I looked at the genetics of the plants and the seeds
I made sure the environment was a really good environment to raise a healthy environment to raise these amazing coffee beans. And then we just cleaned them and made them even more beautiful so that everyone could taste how amazing they are.
Scientists made GMOs to try to make plants bigger, better, right? That failed.
So as a scientist I went back to school, I went to Harvard and studied nanobiotechnology for a very different reason than most people think.
I studied to see how we could reverse it.
Things naturally from things that we’ve put into our world that weren’t natural, that have hurt us.
Joe Winger:
Incredibly inspirational.
From a corporate point of view, can you talk a little bit about what inspired you to pursue the social responsibility of the company?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
In my career, I worked for the government. I’ve worked for a lot of the top pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
I would say I failed at that in many ways.
Our economy depends on spending a lot of money on health care.
It was a hard time for me, but I never gave up.
From my perspective. Since I had cancer, since I had Lyme’s disease, since I had a child that had cancer, I’ve devoted my life to trying to do the right thing. I have an opportunity to be alive for a reason.
It was a blessing, even though I didn’t feel like it was a blessing when I was diagnosed. I have a warrior strength of fighting anything.
We’ve just got to be better humans, right?
My goal is to make every person have the longest, best life possible.
That means mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. And as a scientist, I feel like it’s on my shoulders and my responsibility to tell the truth and to do it in a positive way instead of being a whistleblower blowing things up.
I want to offer these things that can help people.
About 8-9 years ago, I started really stepping up and talking about social issues, working on female empowerment. I just always try to talk about how we can empower.
When you have gifts, if you have influence, if you have money, if you have power, your job is to protect those weaker than you or that need help.
And somehow we’ve lost that in our move for success.
We think we don’t we forget about that. But for me, that’s my motive to make social change is to it’s my responsibility to be a good human. I’m going to die someday. And I’m going to have to answer for everything I’ve done on this earth.
So I have to try every day to be better.
The coffee was something that was for a social change that I think we need to be aware of without scaring everyone.
And so that has led me to move past that. To run companies. I have 22 companies actually under DRC ventures and a lot of people don’t know that. So there’s 22 companies that I’m actually in charge of right now, trying to make some good social changes in the world.
Joe Winger:
For our audience who wants to learn more about your and Rahm Roast Coffee, what are the best ways?
Finding Your Power through healing: The Orchid Book Conversation with co-authors Rocio Aquino, Angel Orengo
Rocio Aquino and Angel Orengo, co-authors of “The Orchid” are, as their website shares partners in life and spirit, wanderers who found home in each other’s hearts.
Their journey together has been filled with a myriad of cultures, beliefs, and encounters with both the ordinary and extraordinary.
The Orchid: The Secret Code of Modern Goddesses
The Orchid: The Secret Code of Modern Goddesses
The story focuses on five of these women, each wrestling with unique life challenges such as closeted sexuality, career pressures, spousal abandonment, sexual abuse, eating disorders, and manipulative behavior.
As they engage with the program’s curriculum, they peel away layers of self-deception, pain, and societal conditioning, discovering that the love and solutions they seek already reside within them.
The Orchid serves as both the setting and the metaphor for their collective journey toward self-realization and empowerment.
Today’s conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit FlavRReport’s YouTube channel here.
I go to a lot of book events, and a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, I went to The Orchid’s book signing. What I was amazed by was there was so much emotion in the audience. Big smiles, happy tears.
What are we missing in our lives that your book, The Orchid, helps us recognize?
Rocio Aquino:
How beautiful [of a] question. I think, to be honest, that we are perfect already. And we forgot.
Angel Orengo:
Yeah, I think we forget that at the core life doesn’t need to be that difficult. It’s not that complicated that we allow ourselves to be complicated by the things around us, by the things that we’re told, by the way we think our lives need to be, by the number of houses, clothing, shoes – everything right that we need to have.
The moment you bring it down to the basics and you’re like, yeah, life should be simple. We are okay. We’re just learning here. We’re back. We’re like in a school and the teacher wasn’t angry because we got it wrong. On the contrary, it was just like, Oh, don’t worry. I’ll teach you.
Joe Winger:
So what I’m interpreting is, people are having these emotional realizations because they’re remembering your message that they’re perfect already?
I was in the front, so I was not as intimate like you and your perspective. But what resonates with me and what I see that can resonate for someone else is that they know and they understand that they are not alone on this journey.
The struggles they are feeling are real. They feel the difficulty. Everyone at some point is [feeling] who here has a difficult path? Everyone is like me. That connection is not superficial, but it’s more in a deep way when you are in a group setting after being so disconnected really to talk about the important things that matters in life has another connection.
Angel Orengo:
We’ve gotten large amounts of feedback by now. Some people are touched by the fact that someone has written a book selflessly to help them. I know there were people that were touched very much by that.
I think you understand what that means really, it was all about how do we help the reader get to a different place, right?
Go from point A to point B, right? There are people that for the first time find themselves in an environment where they can treat themselves with some kindness, where maybe they haven’t stopped to think about that before. Because we try to block it.
It’s easier to numb pain than to experience it and let it go.
Other people are [having the realization that] it’s not that complicated. I’m just so happy that I found this now. I think it’s just all of that energy.
The energy in the room that day was really powerful. When you’re in the presence of that energy and by presence, the collective – it wasn’t us. It’s we – emotions come to the surface, and that’s how we clear emotions, and that’s how we clear energy.
Thank you for sharing that because I didn’t realize that was happening.
Rocio Aquino:
We didn’t have any idea and remember, we have two teenage daughters. They bring us back to reality really quickly at our house.
Joe Winger:
Going to the actual book itself between the characters, the descriptions, their backgrounds.
What’s real? What’s fiction? And for fiction, what inspired it?
Rocio Aquino:
Everything happened, everything is real, but never happened all together.
Angel Orengo: And not to those people.
Rocio Aquino: We know that some of the places exist and all the situations exist.
The fiction is today there is not a place that you can go for free to heal in this way. But we hope that someone will open it. Let’s hope we can do it..
Angel Orengo:
Yeah, the characters, the book is absolutely real.
Every single thing that happens there has either happened to us or happened to someone we know, or we’ve read it in the news.
The story about the model and the sexual abuse that’s real, right? It’s happening in the modeling industry now where they have gone through their own “Me too” movement.
There is a scene in which “Olivia” is doing a silent walk and she has a vision of her mother near her. [to Rocio] That’s something that has happened to you, about your own mom who passed away.
There’s a scene in which “Olivia” is speaking to her father. It was a difficult relationship and her father wasn’t the best version of a father that he could have been.
That a lot of it is after my own experience with my own father, who I met three times in my life. One of which, the longest, was five hours. So we took pieces and through the help of everyone who collaborated in the book to construct these characters that brought together all these experiences.
We wanted to write the story of Rocio, who morphed into “Sophia”, and then we realized that we wanted to tell more that we needed that in order to be of service to the people who would be reading the book, we needed to tell more stories because there are so many things happening to women out there that we don’t hear about that we wanted to do justice by representing as many of them.
That’s where it all comes from.
Rocio Aquino:
The same happened to us when we were reading, not writing the book. We were crying constantly. At one point I put it down, we were crying [so much]. Then we did it first in English and after in Spanish and then we were crying in Spanish so was like, “Okay I’m continue to heal.”
The process for us was really intense
Angel Orengo:
The experience that you’re having [the audience and reader’s emotion], everyone is sharing similar things. It’s simple, but as I’m going, I find myself thinking about things that I’ve never thought about in my own life.
I need to put them down. Sometimes it takes me a little bit before I pick it up again. So it’s like peaks and valleys of intensity.
Joe Winger:
As authors, how are you feeling now knowing that so many people are having such extreme feelings and discoveries from your pages?
Rocio Aquino:
You never know how your work is going to be received, to be honest.
Even though we have a very strict culture of not judging anyone, being totally neutral, we are going to make suggestions.
Now that people are seeing the book, it’s a pleasure, it is humbling.
Angel Orengo:
There was intentionality in what we were writing. The book came after our first year of deep introspection into who we were and how we wanted to change our lives. [We studied] a lot of self help books. At the time that we started writing, it was about how do we share this with people who normally don’t have access to information
Also for people who don’t have resources to go and spend time in a retreat for a weekend or spend $5,000 or even $500. [We thought] we should do television because this is our background. But let’s own the intellectual property, the story behind it.
[We thought] we should do television [series], but let’s own the story behind it.
So when we sit down with the people who are going to help us craft the TV show, we have a say in how it’s made. Right now what ends up happening is that people don’t think that love is powerful enough to deal with the issues that you have around you.
We think that we have to combat anger with anger or force. That’s what we’ve been raised to believe. We’ve gotten to a point where love really does conquer all, but not in the way in which we were taught.
So when we approached a book, it was, “Let’s do it with a lot of love,” we said, and if we can help one person, it’ll have been worth it.
Everyone who we are connecting with is having similar reactions so it’s humbling. We’re filled with gratitude beyond belief that we were chosen, selected, inspired to write what we wrote and to put it forth.
Not just write it, but really now be the face of it and take it to as many places as we can.
Rocio Aquino:
That’s the main point. When someone says “Thank you”, because now that means I can continue to share with more people. If more people feel better about themself, that is incredible. That’s our main point to invite everyone to our party.
If more people feel better about themself, that is incredible.
And the part is really, if you are feeling better about yourself? Great! So it’s about that.
Joe Winger:
During your book event introduction, you mentioned one of your goals is to bring The Orchid to real life. Where are we today with that goal? How can the audience help you?
Angel Orengo:
Everything in your life begins with an intention. Waking up in the morning, getting off your bed, right?
Everything is intention after intention. The first and most important thing that we want is for people to truly enjoy the book because through the enjoyment of the book, there is a transformation that’s taking place.
We now understand that the way to change the world, and even though this is not the ultimate intention is the indirect intention, we can make this place a better place to be for all of us.
It begins by me feeling better about myself, and you feeling better about yourself. And it begins by all of the things that we create.
All these things these women are experiencing in The Orchid.
To your question, the first thing is for people – and it’s happening already – to say, wouldn’t it be awesome if this place really did exist and these transformations were taking place. If one person says it, it’s a big deal.
If a million people begin to think that way, or a billion people begin to think that way. Wow. It is about the power of what we have to manifest.
In terms of The Orchid as a retreat center, I think there are versions of it throughout the world already. There are many places that exist. I think those places will be inspired when they read our book to go to a different level. We can do more to expand the way we’re doing this.
There are podcasts down the line. There are television shows that we’ve mentioned. There’s a digital community that we would like to work on and develop. There is a nonprofit because there are going to be issues that will require that approach.
We’re going to continue building this community that ultimately is going to want to continue conversations as to how I deal with this.
Even though we attempted to do a very complete seven day experience at this retreat center, the truth is that the experiences can vary greatly.
There’s so much more out there.
We only depicted a number of healers. The number of healers and healing modalities out there are endless. I believe it will happen.
We have had initial conversations with certain people about it, but I would say it’s in early stages.
I would much rather encourage everybody who is already well advanced into a retreat center to look at themselves and see if there’s anything that can be learned from ours and create their own orchid so that we can help more people around the world.
Rocio Aquino:
Yes. Take the lessons, what you learn and it really is, “How I can begin to have a conversation with someone.”
Joe Winger:
As authors, can you talk a bit about what your writing process was like? What was the timeline going from idea to finished, published book?
Angel Orengo:
We began our process for the book at the end of 2021. So it took us about two and a half years.
We’ve come across a lot of people who say, ”Wow, that’s fantastic.” It took them nine years or 10 years and so on.
We were doing this 24 hours a day for two and a half years.
We relinquished everything else that we were doing and we dedicated ourselves to our growth, our personal growth and introspection, which in itself was the core of what’s at the book and to crafting putting on paper as many of the thoughts and ideas that we had.
The first step was Rocio and I basically went back and forth. We started thinking about which things worked. At first she was the guinea pig. She was experiencing things, a lot of healing practices.
Rocio Aquino:
It’s a process. Experiencing different things, and at the beginning you don’t have it very clear, but you begin, “Okay, this was my story.”
The main thing was to teach the lessons in a very original way. When you are relaxed, when you are in your house watching TV or reading.
You begin to question, is this serving me or not? The process of putting our learnings on paper.
Everyone is a creator. We can create and create.
No one is going to have our perspective. Angel was very clear [about] what he likes in life and has never spoken bad about anyone.
In my mind, I was not like that. I was speaking bad about people. But then I learned the power that [kind of speaking] represents and now I don’t want to do it.
But it’s those lessons that you begin to learn [from]. I grew up with that different paradigm, and now that I know another one, I prefer the new one.
Because it gives me more freedom, creativity, and everything.
We put everything in place. We worked hard to make this happen because our motivation was to do a book for [the younger version of] me 32 years ago when I tried to kill myself and I didn’t have the tools and I didn’t have anything.
So this is a book that I wish my mom had before she passed away 32 years ago.
The motivation was really to spread that another way of thinking was available. So we were in a hurry, like this needs to be available for those Rocio’s, for those Pepitas who were out there, who are out there and need to have something that they can grab quick, and they can begin to see a change.
Angel Orengo:
I would add, the process of writing the book was truly experiential. It wasn’t just spitting it out, we were living certain things.
There were times we stopped the book to have an exercise of releasing energy.
What we realized as we were writing, there were things inside of us that needed to be addressed.
Whether it was an experience that happened when you were a child…
I can’t tell you the times where we were crying, deeply moved by what we were writing and reading and how that was cleaning us inside and how that was changing us.
We went through different hurdles.
For example, we realized at an early stage that the book could not be judgmental about anything. if we were going to connect with readers, right?
We had no idea that we needed to ensure that the people at the Orchid, Mary and her staff. [They] never looked at anybody and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” It’s more, “We know we’ve been there. You too can heal from that.”
And so all of those things emerged as we were writing.
There was intentionality and some clear ideas as to how we wanted to proceed. The truth is that we were experiencing and adjusting as we went.
Rocio Aquino:
With a lot of respect.
Angel Orengo:
With a lot of respect for each other, the people we were collaborating with, and the reader.
Joe Winger:
The book is called The Orchid: the Secret Code of Modern Goddesses.
The color scheme, it’s primarily female names, from a traditional or direct point of view, it’s geared more toward a female audience.
As the authors, trying to get a guy in a woman’s life to read it. What would you encourage them to say to get a guy to read it?
Rocio Aquino:
#1, I’ve been a woman and reading many books about guys, written by guys and I love it.
So maybe it’s time for a guy to be open minded. I can do this and I can read a book about women.
#2, it’s incredible to go in the deepest way of thinking of women. So try to understand how they work and what they are thinking. This is a fantastic opportunity. It has so many good sides because you want to have a better understanding of your mom, of your sister, your girlfriend, your wife, your daughters.
Then you’ll have a better way of how women relate to each other, but how do they relate to themselves, and how you can be an ally in their process.
Angel Orengo:
Recently I was writing a brief article for a fraternity that I belong to and I was very active when I was in college.
Essentially the article is to inspire them to read this book. The issues that we talk about, whether it’s sexuality, limiting beliefs, the power of forgiveness, the power of gratitude or any of the other issues that the women who are there are speaking of, they’re universal.
They’re not gender based, right?
So any opportunity that you have or that you give yourself to relate to those issues, it’s an opportunity to grow.
I think for men for far too long, we’ve defined masculinity as “the absence of emotion” or perhaps the “existence of physical strength.”
More and more we’re finding out about emotional intelligence, right?
That emotions in general and our ability to share them to be vulnerable is powerful and can only enhance the people that we are.
I would say be open minded. The issues are truly for everybody. You can learn a thing or two, not just about yourself, but about the women in your life.
It’s and it could be really powerful. Plus let’s face it, the better we communicate with one another, the better we relate to one another across genders the better our community is going to be, and we need more community in the world.
I think if anything has shown us, and this is true at any time, right?
Every person you speak to, we’re all longing for community. We need connection. We need to connect more with each other.
Rocio Acquino:
Deep connection, not superficial.
Joe Winger:
The book is called The Orchid, The Secret Code of Modern Goddesses.
Wrapping up, for people out there who want to buy the book after hearing about it, Whether it’s websites, social media, how can we follow you? How can we buy the book?
Rocio Aquino:
There are so many ways right now. We have a website: TheOrchidBook.com
You can find the book in English and Spanish.You can buy it on Amazon, and Barnes and Noble, Apple, and we have the audiobook too.
And the exercise, if you want to do a book club with your friends, you can do some exercise that are on the website.
Celebrating in DC? We asked a Kosher Expert for Perfect Passover Wines for Passover 2024
Passover starts Monday April 22 at sundown and ends April 30th. But today’s conversation is about the flavors of Seder dinner.
Jay Buchsbaum
Royal Wine and Kosher.com’s Jay Buchsbaum visits to talk about flavor, tradition, tastes for every family member and what’s exciting in the wine world for 2024.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, unedited conversation, visit our FlavRReport YouTube channel.
Joe Winger: Jay, welcome back. I appreciate that you’re returning. Last time was great and we learned alot.
Jay Buchsbaum: Thank you for having me. Wow. This is great. So getting invited back for a second date, that’s really cool.
Joe Winger: Passover is just around the corner and we want to talk about different over wines to enjoy during the celebration and some great wine pairings.
I wanted to start off with what might be one of the popular new bottles – Carmel Black Cabernet Sauvignon.
Jay Buchsbaum: It’s very hot and the reason it’s very hot is because people want something that’s rich and flavorful, especially the American palate, what we call the New World style.
Opulence, fruit forward, but they don’t want to spend a fortune like you’d have to from some fancy vineyard in Napa or from Judean Hills. When it comes to Israel or the Golan Heights, and this is one of those wines where they’ve put together this at the beginning of opulence, lots of fruit forwardness, 14 months in oak and about $25.
So it’s really one of those really wonderful wines. What I noticed, and they say they forgot to do it, but I noticed that it does not have an appellation specific, except for Israel. The reason I believe the winemaker did that – I don’t know for sure – he talks about it on the back [of the bottle] that they brought the grapes from some of the finest vineyards. He chose small amounts [of grapes] from the best vineyards from different places and put them all together, carefully crafting it so that it’s big and rich and flavorful and still under $30 bucks.
Joe Winger: That sounds amazing. What are some good food pairings that you’d recommend with it?
Jay Buchsbaum: A roast would be great. On the first and second night of Passover, we don’t officially roast anything because we don’t want people to think that it was a sacrificial lamb that was done in Egypt because we don’t have it today yet.
Until the reestablishment of the temple on the Temple Mount at some future time.
So people cook a roast in the oven, it’s not barbecued. That’s what they’re talking about from a historical, spiritual sense – but a delicious roast, maybe chicken marsala, where you have mushrooms and caramelized onions, you have a really rich flavor to go with that.
A lot of the Sephardic foods are like that too. We talked about traditional foods. Traditional foods from where? Sometimes it’s Eastern Europe, sometimes it’s Middle Eastern, and sometimes it’s Sephardic.
Lots of seders have a mix of all [cuisines] because you have melded families.
Joe Winger: Royal Wine currently has a wide roster of wine suggestions for Passover Something for every adult at the table, from Grandpa to 25 year old Grand-daughter and her boyfriend.
Jay Buchsbaum: That’s a great point. I’m going to give you the last one first only because I thought this was so much fun when I thought about it and I actually might do it.
Let’s say the boyfriend is coming over. He wants to bring you something and he doesn’t know what to get you because, he’s not that observant..
So I thought, why don’t you end the meal with something Sparkling. The Momentous Rosé. That might be fun. You go out with a pop, so to speak. There’s Vera Wang’s Prosecco Rose that’s also wonderful. Both around $20.
But if you want to go really high end, why not go with the Rothschild Brut Rosé from Champagne, which is magnificent. It’s 100% Pinot Noir, and about $100 a bottle.
So you have great diversity and accessible and quite delicious sparkling wines.
Grandpa, or if you have a real fine wine guy. You have beautiful wines from the Rothschild vineyards, the Haute Medoc. which is in the upper $30s, and then you even have Grand Cru’s LesCombes, Grand Cru Margaux as an example, and some amazing wines from the Herzog Winery in California like the Alexander Valley Herzog Reserve, or the Napa Valley Herzog Reserve.
We have a beautiful Lake County Reserve Cabernet from California. Big, opulent, delicious, mouth filling.
I start my Seder usually with a rosé. The reason for that is because you’re starting your Seder, having eaten nothing pretty much since the morning. So you’re on an empty stomach and the tradition is to finish at least the first glass. So I try to start with a rosé. It’s a little lighter, a little lower in alcohol, a little lighter in texture and, and I like to start with an Israeli wine first.
Joe Winger: Iis there a hidden gem as far as just high quality with amazing value?
Jay Buchsbaum: There’s a really wonderful wine from New Zealand.
It’s a white wine, not a red wine. It’s made by the Rothschild family, but it’s made in New Zealand, called Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc. Less than $30 for sure. Fresh, sweet lemons, but with enough acidity and structure, almost like a palette cleanser.
Joe Winger: Anything that you’re looking forward to in the next few months that wine lovers should be getting excited for?
Jay Buchsbaum: We were missing rosés from Israel for a whole year because of the sabbatical year. We skipped that vintage of roses, and so they’re back for the first time in 24 months for this Passover.
I love some of the new Italian wines. One of them to take a look at is Cantina Giuliano. it’s a boutique winery. They make 3,000 – 4,000 cases maximum. It’s run by a young couple and I just had them over at my house for Sabbath Shabbat. His wines blew people away.
I think the most exciting thing is our new winemaker and what our new winemakers is doing with our grapes. His selection and his final product over at the Herzog Wine Cellars. And that could be
Our new winemaker, his name is David Galzignato. He’s with us about three years and he has a background that is with some of the finest and smallest, medium sized boutiques.
He was going to be moving to France, going to go for his MW [masters of wine] and they asked him if he’d come and consider working with us and he did. He has been making literally blow your brains out wonderful wines so our Napa Cabernet, our Alexander Valley Cabernet are just up and down the line, the wines, especially the reds are just rich and opulent.
He got Joseph Herzog to buy a visual sorter, they range in cost between a $100,000 – 1 million dollar machine.
What they do is when the grapes come in [during harvest] and there’s something called sorting tables.
Done by hand [vineyard workers literally sorting through the harvested grape bunches, looking for] damaged or a little beat up or whatever, and they only allow the perfect grapes to go through.
This visual sorter does this electronically by computer, so nothing is missed, zero. As a result, the grape quality is much higher
Famously said in The New Yorker Years ago, “There’s only three things that matter in good winemaking. Good grapes. Good grapes. Good grapes.”
So, the fruit that we get and the fruit that we end up making wine out of is literally the most important thing.
By using these kinds of methods, which are not inexpensive. But the quality is through the roof. We’re looking to make a 100 point wine one of these days and I think it might we might get close this year.
Philly Cocktails! Now Madre Mezcal offers a Gateway to a Better Taste
Today’s conversation is with Ryan Fleming from Madre Mezcal. The LA nightlife veteran reveals his time working behind the bar in some of Southern California’s hottest spots, as well as the inspiration that got him to travel to Mexico, discovering Mezcal.
The aroma, flavors, science and food pairings for Mezcal.
Love Tequila? Discover the Gateway to better taste with Madre Mezcal’s Ryan Fleming
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, unedited conversation, visit our YouTube Channel.
“…I’ve been a big Mezcal lover before I ever sold it…”
Joe Winger: Can you share the behind the scenes or how the brand itself was created?
Ryan Fleming: I’ve been a big Mezcal lover before I ever even sold it or made a dollar doing that. So I got to actually meet Ron Cooper, who is the legend that started the Del Maguey label back in 2011.
I got to drink rabbit Pachuca with him and all these other amazing things. The reason I bring him up is he’s a kind of one of the people that we look up to, how to sustainably bring a brand and how to create culture that crosses boundaries in a sense.
He has a beautiful book that I recommend anyone to read if you haven’t read Ron Cooper’s book.
But we share a similar story. One of our founding partners, Tony Farfalla and one of my good friends, Stefan Tony’s an artist and he was literally traveling through Oaxaca doing documentaries and embracing the art and culture. He happened to meet Jose Morales, which is the first family we ever worked with.
If you have original bottles of Madre [Mezcal] before the labels have changed, it used to say Jose’s name on the bottle.
So Tony was bringing bottles back to Brooklyn in plastic water bottles and it snowballed. His friends in Brooklyn were like, this stuff’s great. Started out in plastic water bottles in 2014. I think it was 2016 when our first glass bottles actually came by and we became like of a more legit brand and company. But it started with Tony and Stefan; and they brought on our CEO and COO, Chris and Davide.
Chris actually is one of the founding driving forces in the electronic scene in the 90s in Europe. Chris comes from a very artistic, music based background. Then he went on to work for some bigger alcohol brands in the vodka world.
Davide, who is our COO, my direct boss, who I love, is Italian and his whole family built furniture and he got his big break by importing and bringing furniture over [to the United States]. He also works with a beautiful high end apparel line.
“…everyone has a very unique artistic background, which really reflects the brand and the label…”
So everyone has a very unique artistic background, which really reflects the brand and the label. Just not wanting to make a quick buck and actually make something we can stand behind and believe in.
As the families now blossom into four, we use three: the Vasquez family, the Blas family and the Morales family are our three main producers for our red and black label, which most people are familiar with.
We just brought in Moises and he’s actually from Santa Catarina Minas. That’s a little town where all they really make is their production. It’s a town known for nothing but clay pot distillation. So if you actually use a copper pot in, in Manera and Santa Caterina Minas, you’re looked at as what are you doing? That’s not what we do here.
He’s our last and newest producer and he may be the most cowboy of them all, and he’s my favorite.
When you get to Tlaxcala, you have to walk over like a little rope bridge over like a river and stuff into the hills of Minas to see his production, and he’s got his grandfather’s old still, and he’s got his mom’s little kitchen that he wants to reopen, and it’s like a restaurant. But if you and I were to look at it, it just looks like a backyard set of tables and chairs with a cooking center.
No, this is a restaurant for the village. It’s really beautiful down in Minas. I recommend everyone, if you get a chance to go down there, it felt like the jungles in Costa Rica, cause it’s up near the hills and it’s just so green and lush up there.
“…I’ve been working in the alcohol industry for almost 15 years …”
Joe Winger:What got you down there? Was it for a vacation or for Mezcal?
Ryan Fleming:
So I’ve been working in the alcohol industry for almost 15 years and I worked for the Houston Hospitality Group for over a decade, helping run programs and menus. I worked for a couple other restaurants, but I used to work for Stillhouse Whiskey, which many people remember the terrible flavored moonshine in a gas can.
Yeah I actually sold that. I did pretty well, there was always one flavor that someone loved. I had the mint chocolate chip and I would keep it in the freezer to take care of my sweet tooth when I didn’t have ice cream. So that’s how it started.
My buddy, Stefan, who’s one of the founding partners goes, “Hey, we got this Mezcal company.” I was just basically consulting for free lunches.
One day he goes, do you want to go to Oaxaca? And I went, absolutely.
I familiar with going down to Mexico city, but I’d never been as far South as Oaxaca. So I jumped at the chance.
[Meanwhile] we all got an email from Stillhouse saying “Hey, I know things are being shaken up right now, but trust me, everything’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
That weekend, apparently the whole team got laid off, but I didn’t get the email untll I came home Monday. They’re saying, “Ryan, are you going to be okay? Do you need help finding work?”
So I went down to Oaxaca, met the families, broke bread with Jose Morales, got to meet his mother who blessed the roast and cooked us dinner. They offered me a job.
That was started my journey about six years ago with Madre [Mezcal ]and I’ve been with him since.
Fleming motions to tattoos on his arms and hands.
Discovering Madre Mezcal
I have it tattooed on my hand right here. I have it tattooed on my palm right here. And I think I have another one on the inside of my leg too. We do tasting events and we’ll have pop up tattoo artists all the time.
Tequila vs Madre Mezcal
Joe Winger:
You mentioned the tastings and the education. Are there quick lessons that you teach the most often?
Ryan Fleming:
Basic production, culture, financial, environmental and economic sustainability.
I don’t think people understand that Oaxaca is the second poorest state in Mexico. Everyone thinks the Mezcal boom must be bringing so many jobs, but it really only affects about 20 – 40,000 people that live in Oaxaca for the production,
Mezcal is great because it does bring some financial sustainability to the families. Jose started off driving a taxi to pay his bills and now he’s making Mezcal in his family’s tradition. His whole family, his cousin, his uncles, they all make Mezcal for a living now.
There’s so much culture behind it. Even the old argument of did the Spanish bring over copper stills and that started distillation or does it go back to the Aztecs and Mayans? Because they found distillate and pottery from 3000 years ago. It’s those little nuances.
People really like to talk about the environmental, but giving back to the people down there by not just buying product, but giving them some ownership, which Madre does do, so that everyone has a little bit of skin in the game.
So I think Sustainability, whether it’s environmental, economical, cultural, and production. Those are the things I really like to talk about.
Joe Winger:What is the basic difference between mezcal and tequila? Or is it more complicated?
Ryan Fleming:
You could say production techniques, additives, mass production are probably the three biggest differences.
Tequila can only be made with one agave. It’s a blue weber. Mezcal can be made with the other 47-ish varietals, and that number is always fluctuating, based on classification and family genius.
Production is the big one. Tequila is made in massive factories and made with either chemicals or steam for the most part.
Whereas mezcal is actually made by hand, roasted in an earthen oven. The biggest thing that separates Tequila and Mezcal is the 1% additive rule.
Tequila can have up to 1% by volume additives, and they don’t have to tell you. That’s why certain large brands will say 100% Agave, but it’s full of additives, because it doesn’t take much with modern chemistry. Just a couple drops of glycerin or vanilla extract to change the flavor and hide all the nuances.
Mezcal can’t have any additives by law.
Joe Winger:Can we walk through the roles and responsibilities between the families that produce Madre Mezcal?
Ryan Fleming:
Yeah, the four families. Let’s start with Jose Morales. Him and his brother both make mezcal. Now they produce for us in the US exclusively. We encourage all of our families to continue making mezcal to trade. They use it for a local economy.
Every time I go down there, [their operation is growing]. When they started, they had three stills. Now there’s 12 up and running and they have solar power. It’s just so crazy to see how much the transformation has happened.
The original recipe, the blend of cuishe and espadine at 90 proof, that’s his family’s recipe. So we expanded that and we brought on Carlos Blas and the Vasquez family. Unfortunately, Natalio the father passed away a couple of years ago.
His daughters are now producing in the family’s tradition and we take whatever we can from them.
But what we do, that’s a little bit different is, we started out when it was just Jose, he was making the blend himself. Now we have them make the espadine and the cuishe separately.
All three families are part of the process. Sometimes we just get cuiche from Jose. Sometimes Carlos makes all the espadine, but Carlos is like a master blender.
We blend a cold style like Scotch does. Even though it’s not the most traditional way, all the distillation and process is as true as it can be.
But by blending post distillation allows us to keep consistency, which was a huge problem because every batch with your wild fermentation, your wild yeast and all these beautiful nuances, it’ll be inconsistent as you grow as a brand. It was hard for us to keep consistency.
But by blending multiple terroirs and three different families’ production, we can keep a consistent product that tastes the same as well as expanding and bringing on more families to help instead of just going to a large factory house and not making what I would call “traditional Mezcal.”
Joe Winger:So focusing on your background, you mentioned that you’ve been a bartender in the LA nightlife. Any memorable adventures or lessons you can share?
Ryan Fleming:
There are some stories I could tell that I probably don’t want to share publicly. But there are some amazing stories I can tell.
One of the oddest experiences I’ve ever had, I worked at Good Times at Davey Wayne’s, which is one of the most famous bars in the Hollywood nightlife in the past decade.
Paul McCartney showed up at our door.
But because our staff is younger and our door guys are a little bit younger, they thought it was an old weird British man that just showed up and they turned Paul McCartney away from the door.
‘Holy crap, is that Paul McCartney’?
He was like, do you know who I am? The guys [were like] ”We don’t care.” Like straight up, blowing Paul McCartney off. One of our managers came out and was like, ‘Holy crap, is that Paul McCartney’? And they’re like, wait, the guy from the Beatles?!
My manager ran out, “Please come back,” and Paul had a great time at the bar. We got him a special little area to sit down. It was a packed Saturday. It’s not a nightclub where we have gated off [areas]. Even if you reserve a table, people are inches away from you where you’re sitting at your table.
Justin Bieber showed up one time and everyone went nuts. He comes in, walks around, does a loop, comes out and goes, “I thought this was a hip hop club.” and just left.
It was a 1970s themed bar and we played nothing but 70s music.
The dichotomy between the two different generations and to see them all melt into one location was one of the coolest things about working at that bar.
Joe Winger:It’s so crowded because it’s so popular. The Houston Brothers always do such a good job.
Ryan Fleming:
Yeah. The cocktails are still really good too. For as much volume as we used to do there, the biggest thing is how can I make a really beautiful cocktail that’s still cost effective and doesn’t take 12 steps. We got really good at batching stuff and figuring out how to infuse things. Luckily our back of house was just the most amazing. Mariano is the best barback I’ve ever had in my whole life. He’s still there.
He is just a workhorse that got all the infusions. He would cook, he would infuse all of our products and he was just great. Even if we just did a jalapeno infusion on our tequila, if it got too spicy, he could break down the ratio and water it down with more products so that we could keep the spice level approachable.
Joe Winger:
What is the secret to high quantity yet high value cocktails?
Ryan Fleming:
Batching is definitely the way to do it. Any of your alcohols that are shelf stable, you want to put all of those in the proper ratios in a bottle.
Instead of grabbing a modifier and your base spirit and another modifier, you’re grabbing one bottle with a special tape at the bottom, so you know which cocktail it goes to and then all your fresh stuff.
You can’t batch the fresh stuff. It has to be separated because you put citrus in something and it goes bad in three days. Now the whole batch is bad. So keeping your fresh stuff separated.
Joe Winger: Back to Madre Mezcal. Obviously the bottles themselves are where all the power is. So let’s talk about labels and taste profiles.
Ryan Fleming:
People love our labels. Our branding is top notch. It’s one of the first compliments we always get. “Oh my God, I love your branding.”
Madre Mezcal Artesanal
Looked at Oaxacan culture and some other like medieval culture and combined the art from the two.
As far as the red label it’s the woman on the bull. It’s a really beautiful message of Mother Earth coming down and starting to share humanity and move across the world to plants and spread love. That’s why she’s on the bull. It’s the combination of animal, Mother Earth, and humans.
Madre Mezcal Espandin
The black label is a beautiful logo of a woman on the ground. She’s planting and spreading the seed of life that gives us agave and flowers and fruit and vegetables and everything else.
Madre Mezcal Ancestral
The ancestral is this beautiful clay bottle with old clay vessels from Greece that carried wine with the fluid coming out and it’s supposed to celebrate the ancestral way of making mezcal and clay pots and clay distillation.
I always love telling the story of people who say mezcal is not supposed to be aged, which is a true-ish statement in my opinion. But back in the day, everything got transferred in barrels. So Mezcal would accidentally get aged in barrels because it would travel from town to town on horseback after the product was made.
So the idea that Mezcal was never aged is it wasn’t aged on purpose.
Mezcal was accidentally aged in wood. The traditional way that people would age Mezcal is in glass and they would hide it underground.
I always tell people, if you have a beautiful bottle of Mezcal, you should open it and take it out and put a wine cork in it, or at least crack the bottle and get some air because it really lets alcohol open up and aerate.
Mezcal benefits from a resting period. Pouring it in a nice open glass, like a snifter or a wine glass, letting it sit for about 5-10 minutes will really open it up.
Madre Mezcal tasting notes
Madre is designed to be less smoky. I really hate the term smoky. I like the word roasted because what you’re tasting is like barbeque.
You’re tasting the roasting of the agave and the charcoaling and the burning of the outside agave which will affect the sugars, the caramelization.
Madre really was designed to be a more approachable mezcal. We call ourselves ”The gateway to the category.”
We want to bring people from tequila over to Mezcal so you can explore what agave spirits also have to offer.
It’s bright, clean, and smooth. I always compare it to a really nice, made tequila.
Our Espadine is actually a close cousin of [tequila’s] Blue Weber. It tastes really bright, clean and smooth. But you’re going to get some of that minerality and smoke in the end.
Like easy drinking with some earthy aromas.
Joe Winger:That night when I met you, what you handed me was my first taste of the night. I love that it was so pure and smooth. It didn’t clog up my mouth for the rest of the night.
Ryan Fleming:
I’m like you. I want to have 2-3 cocktails a night. Not just one and my palette’s done.
Our Espadine to me is a 2-3 second palette. It clears up and you get like a breath and it’s fading. Our Ensemble goes on for 10- 12 seconds. From sweet vanilla to chocolate to mineral and then to smoke. Then the smoke fades and you get just a really beautiful, crisp. It’s viscous. You can feel the oil in your mouth when you swirl it around and it makes the best Negroni.
Joe Winger:Let’s talk about food pairings.
Ryan Fleming:
I want to know if this caught you off guard, but it’s Italian food.
Very rich foods. These beautiful Mezcals are light and almost floral and fragrant, It cuts through the richness and creaminess of food.
That’s why mezcal and chocolate are consistently paired together, but that was just way too easy. There’s always mezcal chocolate pairings, but like a really nice Italian dish, something creamy and rich, like an Alfredo or a really well done piece of pizza, like a margarita or a white sauce pizza.
“…I want to know if this caught you off guard, but…”
We are working on doing some [pizza] pairings with some places in LA. Do a different slice of pizza with three different cocktails of Madre and then have a tasting at the end.
Chocolate has a big part of Oaxaca too. You can’t not have some chocolate and mezcal at the end of the night.
Espresso martinis are so hot again right now. Try making one with mezcal instead of vodka and just [see] how coffee helps open up the agave and the notes, and you’re going to get so much more going on in your cocktail.
If you pair a nice espresso martini with beautiful, dark chocolate from Oaxaca. That is your final cocktail at the end of the night, it won’t let you down.
Joe Winger:You mentioned replacing Mezcal with vodka in a martini, are there any traditional or more common cocktails we should also try replacing Mezcal in?
Ryan Fleming:
When I tell you this, it may blow your mind. Most gin cocktails are a little bit better with Mezcal.
There are certain times you need botanicals, but a lot of really good classic gin cocktails, if you sub them for Mezcal, are absolutely fantastic.
Joe Winger:I’m shocked because most gins have such unique aromatics.
Ryan Fleming:
Which Mezcal has so many of those same unique terpenes going on that it changes the cocktail, but it works.
So instead of having botanicals, you have all these beautiful vegetal and mineral notes that just come from agaves.
Joe Winger:What are the biggest misconceptions in the world of Mezcal?
Ryan Fleming:
A lot of people have a misconception, especially on the trade side, that we have grown exponentially. It’s been a lot of hard work. People think we have this massive team behind us. There’s less than 20 of us on the whole team. That includes our team down in Oaxaca, who watches over manufacturing and production for us down there.
We don’t have an office. We have a little tiny apartment in Venice for meetings.
A lot of people don’t understand the hard work that goes into creating a small brand. It’s just a lot of people working hard to create beautiful Mezcal, especially the families.
People [unfairly comparing it to] tequila. What do you mean, we can’t get more? Why is it so expensive? We have people going out hand collecting wild agaves and harvesting espadine. All of that is hand cut, hand chopped. I’ve hand cut agaves with the families.
None of this is industrialized or mechanized like tequila.
Appreciate every drop of mezcal you have, because someone put a lot of love and labor into it.
Joe Winger:Ryan, as we wrap up, let’s talk about where can learn more about Madre Mezcal?
Ryan Fleming:
We have a beautiful Instagram. Madremezcal.com is our website.
We also have this Instagram called mezcal. Learning and it’s a little short videos and little blurbs to talk about production, families, history, and culture. It is focused on Madre, but it’s not just Madre, it’s Mezcal as a whole.
If you want to know more about our families who produce, where it’s made, you can find all that information on madremezgal. com.
Our bottles are in most of your nicer bottle shops, liquor stores. In California, we’re lucky enough to be in Trader Joe’s for the Espadine and Whole Foods has our Ensemble.
If you can’t find it, go to madremezcal.com and we ship bottles to almost every state in the U S.
We’re in nine countries, too. Australia. All over Europe, Costa Rica. We’re working on Japan and South Korea as well. So I’m just excited to see the culture of mezcal just expand beyond just America and see how excited because I, when I talk to people that are in London or, people in Australia, and they’re so excited about the idea of being able to get mezcal.
Joe Winger: What is the future for Madre?
Ryan Fleming:I can’t tell you about the big one.
But, [exciting things for] our Ancestral, which is pretty new and every batch of that’s going to be hand numbered and labeled.
We’re going to start doing small batch productions that will be very limited. Then the desert waters, which we have ready for summer.
Chameleon Organic Coffee®, the original purveyors of handcrafted bottled cold-brew coffee, today announced the expansion of its ready-to-drink category with the debut of four ultra-convenient 8 oz. cold-brew cans.
Handcrafted with 100% organic beans, Chameleon’s new ready-to-enjoy canned cold-brew line features four distinct flavors with sweetened and unsweetened options.
Each delivers unparalleled convenience by offering sustainably sourced coffee in a shelf-stable format, providing optionality for retailers and customers alike.
“We recognized the growing demand for variety and ease of convenience in the RTD coffee segment without compromising on quality and flavor,”
Andy Fathollahi
CEO of SYSTM Foods
“Our new canned cold-brew line provides our loyal customers with another delicious, no-prep option to enjoy their daily coffee ritual on-the-go, anytime.”
Each 8 oz. can contains approximately 130mg of naturally occurring caffeine, providing the perfect boost on the move or at home.
Flavors include:
Nitro Black: Chameleon’s first nitro cold-brew offers a smooth, creamy experience in every sip.
Double Espresso: Bold and smooth organic cold-brew made with dark roast espresso beans delivers a flavorful kick.
Sweetened Black: Black cold-brew lightly sweetened with just the right amount of organic cane sugar.
Flat White: Black cold-brew blended with whole milk creates a traditional flat white experience with a creamy, velvety finish.
The upcoming line complements Chameleon’s existing portfolio of award-winning products, including a variety of organic ready-to-drink 10 oz. cold-brews and 32 oz. multi-serve concentrate cold-brews; each handcrafted to match every mood.
Launching just in time for summer, Chameleon’s Nitro Black, Double Espresso and Sweetened Black 8 oz. canned cold-brews will be available for purchase online at ChameleonCoffee.com and Amazon, as well as at select retailers nationwide starting June 2024 with Flat White availability to follow.
About Chameleon Organic Coffee® Founded in 2010, Chameleon Cold-Brew is Austin’s original purveyor of bottled cold-brew coffee. Providing a one-of-a-kind, completely customizable coffee experience, Chameleon uses certified organic, responsibly sourced coffee. Chameleon’s proprietary brewing process produces a super smooth, less acidic, highly caffeinated coffee that can be enjoyed hot or cold. The brand’s portfolio of organic coffee offerings includes ready-to-drink cold-brew varieties, cold-brew concentrates, and now whole bean and ground coffee.
