In their annual year end wrap-up show Greg, Sother and Damon sit down to talk about what the heck just happened. They unpack some of the leading trends of 2025, including Hi-Fi Lounges, High-Dives, Premiumization and the migration to the extremes of either luxury or ultra-discount experiences. Are we too used to curated experiences to accept risk in our bars and restaurants? Can a true high-end dive really exist? And why does Sother have such a fascination with the US Postal Service anyway? All that and more is answered in the final Speakeasy of 2025.

LINKS

• Become a Regular: patreon.com/SpeakeasyRegulars
• For resources on dealing with ICE agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
• The Speakeasy is now on YouTube! Tune in to “see” what we’re talking about at youtube.com/@Speakeasy.Podcast
• Check out Quiote Imports at quioteimports.com and use promo code “Speakeasy” to get free shipping at checkout.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this Boomerang! episode Greg travels to the Second City of Anaheim, where he meets with Strong Water’s “Fleet Commander” Ying Chang. They discuss how the bar was assembled almost entirely from estate sales, how the idea of elevated tropical bar with great rum cocktails came to fruition, their impending high dive concept, and what it’s like running a James Beard Award finalist bar in the “middle brother” of Los Angeles and San Diego

Follow Strong Water at @strongwateranaheim

LINKS

• Become a Regular: patreon.com/SpeakeasyRegulars
• For resources on dealing with ICE agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
• The Speakeasy is now on YouTube! Tune in to “see” what we’re talking about at youtube.com/@Speakeasy.Podcast

Check out Quiote Imports at quioteimports.com and use promo code “Speakeasy” to get free shipping at checkout.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Wondrich is one of the few people in the world of spirits and cocktails that truly needs no introduction. The James Beard and Spirited Award-winning author of Imbibe!, Punch, and The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails is back with a new book, The Comic Book History of the Cocktail. He sits down with the band to talk about breaking new ground in the world of cocktail history, picking the right collaborator for a work of this size and answering the age old question that eats at all of us: Cocktails… what are they for?

PLUS, Jimmy’s Corner, a hidden gem in Times Square, is in danger of closing. Greg, Sother and Damon discuss why it’s so hard to get a decent drink in that part of the world (for less than forty dollars) and what losing a storied institution like this would mean for the theatre district, and for New York City.

Follow David at @splificator

LINKS

• Become a Regular: patreon.com/SpeakeasyRegulars
• For resources on dealing with ICE agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
• The Speakeasy is now on YouTube! Tune in to “see” what we’re talking about at youtube.com/@Speakeasy.Podcast
• Check out Quiote Imports at quioteimports.com and use promo code “Speakeasy” to get free shipping at checkout.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.