Quench! Mark Spivak

Americans tend to have a schizophrenic attitude toward vodka. On one hand, we expect it to be virtually without identifying odors or flavors of any sort; on the other, we like it to taste like whipped cream, bacon, or peanut butter and jelly. In the middle of this dynamic are two unusual vodkas from Australia, […] The post Quench! – Bombora and Cooranbong appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Being a craft distiller is more than a matter of size: It’s a question of style, approach and mission. At Koval, Chicago’s first legal distillery within the city limits since Prohibition, Michael Birnecker and Sonat Birnecker Hart are carrying on a family tradition with passion. They source and mill all of their own grains, select […] The post Quench! – Koval Distillery: From The Heart appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Where do those magical wine ratings come from? Who are the experts, and what qualifies them to pass judgment on wine and recommend it to you (or not)? Mark surveys the history of wine criticism in America over the past three or four decades, describes the major players, and examines how the critical scene is […] The post Quench! – Everyone’s A Critic appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

A cicerone is a beer expert, the beer world’s equivalent of a sommelier. There are three levels to the program: Certified Beer Server, Certified Cicerone, and Master Cicerone. Mark speaks with Nicole Erny, one of only seven Master Cicerones in the country, who discusses her passion for beer in all its forms. Unlike a sommelier, […] The post Quench! – The World of the Cicerone appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

At one time, dry rosé from the South of France was one of the most popular wine categories in America. Then the dreaded White Zinfandel epidemic swept across the land: Like the plague during the Middle Ages, it destroyed everything in its path, obliterating good taste much as the plague wiped out human lives. After […] The post Quench! – Pink Wine: The Agony and the Ecstasy appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Until several decades ago, pairing wine with food was an exercise with its own set of sacred rules. In recent years those rules have been challenged and broken—partly because the nature of restaurant cooking has changed, but also because of consumer empowerment. Mark examines a few of the traditional and modern approaches, and exposes some […] The post Quench! – The Art of Food and Wine Pairing appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

German wine has certainly had its ups and downs. In the early 1970s, it was one of the most popular wine categories in America, the go-to drink for neophytes who were first getting acquainted with wine. Its market share began to slip toward the end of that decade, with the rise of California wine and […] The post Quench! – Riesling Uber Alles appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

We all do our best to decode the world of wine, but have you ever wondered what the subject looks like from an expert’s point of view? Mark speaks with Virginia Philip, Master Sommelier, winner of the competition for Best Sommelier in America, wine director at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, and owner of […] The post Quench! – Masterful Insights appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Once upon a time, executives in the upper echelons of the wine industry were alarmed because market research indicated people under 35 primarily drank beer or spirits rather than wine. What would happen, they wondered, in a decade or two? If these folks reached their peak earning years without learning to love the grape, the […] The post Quench! – The Millennial Wine Market appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Currently there are seven multinational beverage conglomerates that control two-thirds of the wine sold in the U.S. The result of this near-monopoly has been a tidal wave of quaff—roughly 200 million cases of wine that taste more or less the same from one producer to another. In the midst of this situation, wineries that are […] The post Quench! – The Treetops of Sequoia Grove appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Is it true that most people choose cheap wine over more expensive wine in a blind tasting? Do wineries that advertise in the Wine Spectator get high ratings than those that don’t? Why do certain wineries consistently wine gold medals in competitions and county fairs, while others get skunked? Mark explores these questions with Orley […] The post Quench! – The Economics of Wine appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Continuing his exploration of the craft beer universe, Mark speaks with Mitch Steele, brewmaster at the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California—once referred to by Beer Advocate magazine as the best brewery on planet earth. They discuss issues such as beer with food, why craft beer has become such a mania among certain segments of […] The post Quench! – Craft Beer, Part II appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

In the past decade, craft beer has exploded in popularity across the United States—even as the sales of mainstream brews such as Budweiser are declining drastically. This trend has been fueled by publications such as the Beer Advocate, and bears an eerie resemblance to the mania that occurred when wine first became part of the […] The post Quench! – Craft Beer, Part I appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Foodies often debate about which restaurant personnel to tip, and how much. Should you tip the sommelier? Should you tip on the cost of a bottle of wine? However, the real question—and a far more compelling one—is the issue of who is actually pocketing that money. Is your tip going to the person you intend […] The post Quench! – Who Gets the Tip? appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

What are the differences between someone who makes less than 40,000 cases of spirits each year and an operation such as Smirnoff, which cranked out over 26 million cases in 2012? Obviously the distinctions go way beyond numbers and relate to intangibles such as entrepreneurial spirit, vision, passion and commitment to quality. Mark speaks with […] The post Quench! – Anatomy of A Craft Distiller appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

How did a lemon liqueur produced in a small part of Italy’s Adriatic Coast become an international sensation? Mark speaks with Alan Kropf of Anchor Distilling, one of the marketing wizards behind Luxardo, the world’s oldest commercial producer of Limoncello. He then explores the subject further with Chris Chickerneo, a young entrepreneur from Chicago. Chickerneo […] The post Quench! – Limoncello: The Art of Citrus appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Why is it impossible to get a decent glass of wine in coach, during a period when airline cocktails are getting better than ever? Why can you drink better wine in Utah than you can at 30,000 feet? Mark gets a consultant’s point of view from Josh Wesson, who has helped choose inflight wine for […] The post Quench! – Is it Paint Thinner, Or Is It Airline Wine? appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Organic and sustainable products have become the rage over the past decade; the popularity of biodynamic farming is surging as well, although few people know much about it. Some practitioners embrace it with the fervor of converts to a new religion, while cynics criticize it as a far-fetched and marginal cult. The debate dates to […] The post Quench! – Biodynamics: Sensible Farming or Dangerous Cult? appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Sooner or later, you’ll be staring at a restaurant wine list with the realization that you’re about to pay $50 for a bottle of wine you saw selling on the supermarket shelf for $12. In this age of consumer empowerment, many customers are more aware of what wines actually cost, and they’re not happy with […] The post Quench! – Restaurant Wine Prices: Why So High? appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

What would Andrew Zimmern be drinking, if he were drinking instead of eating? Mark begins with a range of strange and unusual libations: chocolate donut beer and pizza beer; reptile-infused wine and scorpion vodka; isinglass, a substance derived from fish bladder, which is commonly used to clarify wine and beer. He then examines two of […] The post Quench! – Bizarre Beverages appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.