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.

In this Boomerang! episode Greg sits down with Stephen Julander, Senior Ops Manager at Woody Creek Distillers to talk about his new gig, what it’s like to distill and age whiskey over a mile above sea level, and how needing more space to grow potatoes for vodka brought a movie star into the company.

Follow Woody Creek at @woodycreekdistillers

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.

How do you put a barrel inside a barrel? That’s the question Dixon Dedman looked to solve when he founded 2XO, a Kentucky Straight Bourbon brand that uses two times the oak on all of their whiskies. Dixon sits down with Greg and Sother to discuss his innovative solution to this problem (it involves a very fun prop) his long family history in Kentucky Bourbon, and how blenders might finally be getting the respect they deserve in the world of whiskey.

PLUS: Raccoons. They’re just like us. And as a recent news story makes clear, if you've been on a bit of a bender, those cool bathroom tiles feel mighty good, no matter what your species is.

Follow 2XO at @2xowhiskey

Follow Dixon at @dixon_dedman

Follow Til Death at @tildeathkc

LINKS

• Become a Regular: patreon.com/SpeakeasyRegulars
• Support Til Death’s fundraiser for Veteran’s Community Project: vcp.org
• For resources on dealing with ICE agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
• The Sauced Kickstarter: kickstarter.com/projects/timmckirdy/sauced-the-podcast
• 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 the second Boomerang episode from Kansas City Greg sits down with Phil Worden and Andrew Loos of Til Death, the famous speakeasy located below a fully operational funeral home. In a surprisingly deep and moving conversation the three of them chat about the relationship between alcohol, grief and celebration, the similarity between the job of a funeral director and a bartender, and the character of a city at a crossroads. Also, they talk about how a bar wound up in a mortician’s basement a half century ago, and the practical concerns of having a casket for a bar top.

Follow Til Death at @tildeathkc

Learn more about Veterans Community Project at vcp.org

LINKS

• Become a Regular: patreon.com/SpeakeasyRegulars
• For resources on dealing with ICE agents in your community visit nouswithoutyou.la/ and @thenycalliance
• The Sauced Kickstarter: kickstarter.com/projects/timmckirdy/sauced-the-podcast
• 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.

Greg travels to Kansas City to chat with Ryan Maybee, Co-Founder and keeper of history about rediscovering and re-founding KC's famous long-lost distillery. The two of them chat about the historic campus the new distillery sits on, what the Kansas City Whiskey style entails (hint: sherry is involved) and how the cocktail culture of Kansas City reflects its storied past.

Follow J. Rieger at @jriegerco

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

Think about some of the world's most iconic dishes: Beef Bourguignon, Coq au Vin, Penne alla Vodka. What do they all share in common? Not only do we love accompanying them with something delicious in the glass, they literally incorporate booze into the dish. That's the premise of “Sauced,” a new podcast that's been teased here on the Speakeasy feed before. Today, Greg and Sother are joined by Tim McKirdy, who’s co-hosting and launching Sauced with Sother. He sits down with the band to dig into what makes an ideal Sauced dish, whether it's ever appropriate to pair cocktails with classic cuisine, and what typical episodes will look like — all in the name of cooking with booze and drinking with food.

PLUS, stick around for an exclusive 3-minute clip from the Sauced pilot at the end of the episode to get a taste of what's coming.

Follow Sauced on Instagram: @sauced.pod

Sauced Kickstarter Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timmckirdy/sauced-the-podcast/

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