How to Drink Asian Rice Wines & Spirits with Marie Cheong-Thong - Part 2

Alexandre Le Grand could teach us all a lesson or two on brand awareness. Lesson 1: find a 300 year old recipe. Lesson 2: remake it for today’s palate, Lesson 3: Market the hell out of it. His first trick was copyrighting every aspect of Bénédictine - the recipe, the bottle, the label. He even created a Palais to go with his liqueur, producing it within a museum open to everyone to visit if they happened to be in Fécamp, France. A marketing genius and it all happened in the 1800s. I visited the Palais Benedictine to see for myself what Monsieur Le Grand had created. Today’s guest Yolande De Bueil, the Histoire de Maison, is here to give us a quick history lesson on the house that Monsieur Le Grand built. One thing wasn’t invented in the 1800s and that was mixology. Marc Jean, head bartender for Hotel Normandy Barriere and founder of the Bénédictine Mixology Workshop, is also on hand to reveal that Bénédictine is not just for sipping. Always remember the wise words of Oscar Wilde, “All things in moderation, including moderation,” and always drink responsibly!-----If you live for Lush Life would you consider supporting us by buying us a coffee…Just go to buymeacoffee.com/lushlife and you can donate once or monthly to make sure we are still here every Tuesday.Life Merchandise is here – we’re talking t-shirts, mugs, iPhone covers, duvet covers, iPad covers and more covers for everything, and more!Theme music for Lush Life is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission.Lush Life is always and will be forever produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media Productions.Until next time, BOTTOMS UP 🍸

26 Sep 201720min

He was always been one step ahead of the gin craze. Olivier Ward, our guest today, worked for the powerhouse Hendricks in its early days, wrote one of the first gin blogs, and ultimately founded the Home of Gin, aka the Gin Foundry.Gin Foundry has grown as fast as the gin industry! Just when you think everything that involves gin has been done, they come up with something exciting: the invention of the Ginvent, the Advent Calendar with a different gin for every day before Christmas, the creation of Junipalooza, the annual Gin Festival with over 50 gin distillers presenting, and the Ginsmith Awards, which are up and coming. Interested in all things gin - Olivier is your man!Always remember the wise words of Oscar Wilde, “All things in moderation, including moderation,” and always drink responsibly!-----If you live for Lush Life would you consider supporting us by buying us a coffee…Just go to buymeacoffee.com/lushlife and you can donate once or monthly to make sure we are still here every Tuesday.Life Merchandise is here – we’re talking t-shirts, mugs, iPhone covers, duvet covers, iPad covers and more covers for everything, and more!Theme music for Lush Life is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission.Lush Life is always and will be forever produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media Productions.Until next time, BOTTOMS UP 🍸

19 Sep 201731min

Where can you learn to live life one cocktail at a time? Here on the Lush Life Podcast discover why an old-fashioned is the drink of choice, who is making their own bitters and how ice, or lack there of, is transforming the cocktails you drink. Hosted by your favorite drinking companion, Susan L. Schwartz, the Lush Life Podcast introduces you to the movers and shakers of the cocktail world.

12 Sep 201757s

First study English Literature, then move to London and then visit Cuba - at least that’s what our guest today did before making me the Daiquiri of my dreams. Dave Miller, General Manager of Ray’s Bar (closed now) in London, reveals how one phone call changed the course of his life. ----Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and through – the same great guests, the same music, and the same me! -----From a tiny town in Scotland, Dave went from making Sex on the Beach to our cocktail of the week in one of London’s hippest bars. As an English Literature major, he had visions of writing that novel or working in publishing. After one glimpse into the Bonfire of Vanities’ lifestyle of wearing sneakers on the subway to being chained to a desk, he never doubted his life choice again. Check out my Cocktail of the Week at the end of the podcast to see how you can make Dave's Motor City Rum Ensemble!Always remember the wise words of Oscar Wilde, “All things in moderation, including moderation,” and always drink responsibly!-----If you live for Lush Life would you consider supporting us by buying us a coffee…Just go to buymeacoffee.com/lushlife and you can donate once or monthly to make sure we are still here every Tuesday.Life Merchandise is here – we’re talking t-shirts, mugs, iPhone covers, duvet covers, iPad covers and more covers for everything, and more!Theme music for Lush Life is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission.Lush Life is always and will be forever produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media Productions.Until next time, BOTTOMS UP 🍸

8 Aug 201726min

Some guests are super chatty and some take a little work to get going. Our guest today, Adrian Pudleschak, was definitely in the second camp, not that he didn’t have loads to say. I think he just wanted to see if I could get it all out of him. ----Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and through – the same great guests, the same music, and the same me! -----I did and it was as thrilling as I knew it would be. I don’t want to spoil the fun, but Adrian has worked on farms in England, Rome as an electrician, and bars in Edinburgh. Now he is off to the tiny island of Vaeroy in Norway to make alcohol from small flowers. I don’t think there is anything he can’t do.Check out my Cocktail of the Week at the end of the podcast to see how you can make yourself Adrian's Simply Clever! Always remember the wise words of Oscar Wilde, “All things in moderation, including moderation,” and always drink responsibly!-----If you live for Lush Life would you consider supporting us by buying us a coffee…Just go to buymeacoffee.com/lushlife and you can donate once or monthly to make sure we are still here every Tuesday.Life Merchandise is here – we’re talking t-shirts, mugs, iPhone covers, duvet covers, iPad covers and more covers for everything, and more!Theme music for Lush Life is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission.Lush Life is always and will be forever produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media Productions.Until next time, BOTTOMS UP 🍸

1 Aug 201718min

It sounds insane to us modern folk, but beer without hops was a favorite of some of the 280 breweries in Ghent during the Middle Ages. At least that’s what Annick De Splenter, our guest today, discovered while doing her degree in beer-making at university. (Yes! You can study beer-making at university in Belgium!) ----Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and through – the same great guests, the same music, and the same me! -----After her father sold the family brewery, Annick was on a mission to figure out how beer was actually made without hops and that it wasn’t all a medieval urban myth. Needless to say, she proved her naysayers wrong with her own brewery, Gruut, founded on four beers made with herbs: Wit, Blonde, Amber, and Brown made with nary a hop in sight. Always remember the wise words of Oscar Wilde, “All things in moderation, including moderation,” and always drink responsibly!-----If you live for Lush Life would you consider supporting us by buying us a coffee…Just go to buymeacoffee.com/lushlife and you can donate once or monthly to make sure we are still here every Tuesday.Life Merchandise is here – we’re talking t-shirts, mugs, iPhone covers, duvet covers, iPad covers and more covers for everything, and more!Theme music for Lush Life is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission.Lush Life is always and will be forever produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media Productions.Until next time, BOTTOMS UP 🍸 Download the audio

25 Juli 201716min

The political revolution in Romania may have gone down in 1989, but our guest today is quietly starting one of his own. Heading down to his bar, Fix Me A Drink, don’t expect a menu of 300 drinks. Each one of Alex Ciomârtan’s cocktails is a masterwork of ingenuity. ----Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and through – the same great guests, the same music, and the same me! -----Drawing not only on his studies in Western Herbal Medicine, Alex brings nostalgia, history and passion to each and every drink. After years of living in London studying, as well as drinking in the city’s greatest bars, Alex felt it was time to come home. He is one of very few mixologists, if not the only, in a city filled with bars that knows sometimes cinnamon is not just cinnamon. Depending on its terroir, even a small amount can make one cocktail taste completely different from another one. This attention to detail is making Fix Me a Drink, one of the hottest new bars not only in Bucharest, but the world.Always remember the wise words of Oscar Wilde, “All things in moderation, including moderation,” and always drink responsibly!-----If you live for Lush Life would you consider supporting us by buying us a coffee…Just go to buymeacoffee.com/lushlife and you can donate once or monthly to make sure we are still here every Tuesday.Life Merchandise is here – we’re talking t-shirts, mugs, iPhone covers, duvet covers, iPad covers and more covers for everything, and more!Theme music for Lush Life is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission.Lush Life is always and will be forever produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media Productions.Until next time, BOTTOMS UP 🍸

18 Juli 201730min

Just a few days in Four Seasons Fairways and you feel like you have been coming for years. Our guests today all have that special quality in a bartender - making you feel welcome even before you order your first cocktail. Rui Pereira, Victoria Murphy, and Nuno Fonseca found their way to Quinta do Lago and, thankfully for us, are set to stay! ----Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and through – the same great guests, the same music, and the same me! -----Rui’s face changed when talking about gin, Vicky couldn’t wait to make me her Caipirão and Nuno beamed when describing how he loved it so much here that, even when he left to try something else, he was drawn back. Still a homely place does not always equal great cocktails. A resort usually cranks out jugs of Harvey Wallbangers and Frozen Daiquiris with chasers like Sex on the Beach and Jager Bombs - which is not a bad thing! The care and attention all three of our guests take in making each and every drink is why Four Seasons Fairways is different. Gin Workshops led by Rui have been a hit ever since they started, the Sangria is made with Red, Rose or White, and their passion for what they do is contagious. I can’t wait to go back!Always remember the wise words of Oscar Wilde, “All things in moderation, including moderation,” and always drink responsibly!-----If you live for Lush Life would you consider supporting us by buying us a coffee…Just go to buymeacoffee.com/lushlife and you can donate once or monthly to make sure we are still here every Tuesday.Life Merchandise is here – we’re talking t-shirts, mugs, iPhone covers, duvet covers, iPad covers and more covers for everything, and more!Theme music for Lush Life is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission.Lush Life is always and will be forever produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media Productions.Until next time, BOTTOMS UP 🍸

11 Juli 201721min