I think relaunch is the word of the moment. It is Spring, after all.  Not only will I be relaunching Season 8 of Lush Life, bringing you exciting episodes about sustainability, horse racing, the Beatles, absinthe, and so much more!  But the big news is I have just re-launched my cocktail tours in London’s Soho- Long story but I first started them in Nov 2019 and well we know what happened then.  Now, I am thrilled to say that they are up and running!  So next time you are planning a trip to...

Few people would have the courage to leave a very secure future in academia for a very uncertain life behind the bar.  Our guest did, and he has never looked back. Are you crazy for Thomas Shelby and also have a passion for Japanese Whisky? Do you have no clue who Thomas Shelby is but love your Japanese whisky? Or do you not know either about Thomas Shelby or Japanese Whisky but just want to meet one of the greatest guys in the spirit industry? Then this episode is for you! James Bowker is a...

You asked for it, and you got it - all of you kind people who filled out my survey asked for more interviews with more legends. Our guest is the world's most-awarded bartender & bar owner. If Mr Lyan isn’t a legend, I don’t know who is. If you call yourself a cocktail connoisseur, then you will have come upon the name Mr Lyan in your travels. Ryan Chetiyawardana, aka Mr Lyan opened White Lyan in London in 2013. It was a moment that will go down in cocktail history as the first cocktail...

Throughout history, artists and writers have been drawn to the Northern Italian hill town of Asolo; some say it’s because it’s the “city of a hundred horizons,” I think it’s because it’s the home of Asolo Prosecco! At one time, you might have caught a glimpse of poet Robert Browning, actress Elenora Duse, or writer Freya Stark sitting enjoying a glass of bubbly at one of the cafes in this Pearl of the Veneto; I can almost guarantee the liquid in their glass was Asolo prosecco!  In this...

School is back, and a new season of Lush Life commences! How exciting! I’m Susan Schwartz, your drinking companion, and this is the Lush Life Podcast, every week we are inspired to live life one cocktail at a time. Yes, next Tuesday, I bring you the first episode of Season 8 of Lush Life.  This season, we’ll have even more great conversations, enjoy more great cocktails, and visit a few more great places to enjoy a sip or two. We’ll be delving into prosecco, horse racing, and absinthe, plus...

Just when you thought my season was over, I’m surprising you with a little mid-summer episode dedicated to a place and spirit I love. If you’ve been listening to Lush Life for a while, you would probably know that I love Venice. If you are a first-timer to Lush Life, I'll say it again I love Venice!  So how excited am I to be joined by my friend Rudi Carraro, Global Brand Ambassador of the very Venetian Select Aperitivo?   I’ll let Rudi tell you how Select and Venice go hand-in-hand while I...

What a great way to start the summer by celebrating with a guest whose job it is to celebrate the best of the best. Mark Sansom has been Director of Content at The World’s 50 Best Bars, 50 Best Discovery, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and soon to be the World’s 50 Best Hotels for the past 5 very momentous years! Today he guides us through a bit about the history of World’s 50 Best, but mostly we get to what’s been happening since Covid and how the site and events have changed since Mark...

Join Christian Jensen, Founder of Jensen’s Gin on a journey to create a gin that harks back to the vintage gins he revered. Who would have thought that sitting in a bar in Tokyo you might sip a gin that reminded you why you fell in love with the spirit in the first place? Christian Jensen dreamt about gins gone by until the fateful sip….and upon returning to London he decide he needed to create a gin just for himself. That gin is Jensen’s and thank goodness he decided to share it with...

Are you ready to be comfortable with discomfort? Our guest was. Now  after nearly 25 years in the Guinness and beer space, he’s making a name for himself in the spirit world.  Jason Kidd, founder of Outcast Brands, spent most of his career trotting around the globe working with beer; now he’s home in Ireland making Blood Monkey gin and Two Shores Rum. Both prove that, in Jason’s words, “interesting drinks are always on the margins of the category that we work in.” Find out why his two liquids...

As if organizing the biggest cocktail week in the world isn’t enough, my two guests have created the Michelin guide for the drinks industry!  More than 10 years ago, Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne joined forces and made London Cocktail Week what it is today. Every cocktail lover’s favorite week of the year, including mine! It’s been running continuously every year since it began - they didn’t even let a small thing like a global pandemic get in the way. Now, in addition to that, they...

What cocktail combines three days of activities, collaborations, guest shifts, and seminars in Barcelona and bar industry legends from some of the most famous bars in the world with one serious message? That would be the Paradiso Sustainability Summit 2023. On 21, 22, and 23 March 2023, I was fortunate to attend the second edition of the Paradiso Sustainability Summit, organized by Giacomo Giannotti and his Team in partnership with Ketel One Vodka through their Garnished with Good...

How many of us can’t wait to leave home, but then circumstances involving a global pandemic sent us right back to where we began.   Joining on this episode, sponsored by Louisiana Tourism, is Olivia Stewart, President of Oxbow Rum Distillery. After a childhood surrounded by sugar cane, she thought her future was in the big city. Now she is helming her family’s rum distillery in Louisiana. How did she get there? You’ll have to hear it from her! Have you ever been to Louisiana? I love it for...

Do you remember Plato’s work, Symposium? Yep, that took place at a drinks party. Philosopher David Hume said that drinking was an antidote to philosophical depression, and Kierkegaard wrote an entire treatise on wine. Our guest today is another student of philosophy who found her calling in the drinks industry. I am so pleased to have my friend and fellow drinks journalist, Millie Milliken, on the program today.  Not does she have nearly 10 years of food, drink, and events writing experience...

You’ve finally done it - opened your bar, launched your spirit, won your first cocktail competition. So now what do you do? Time to call today’s guests! Since the moment I met them, Alex Chatwin and Alex Irving, Co-Founders of LX PR, have been Lush Life’s number-one fans, and it is such a privilege to have them on the program with me.  These women have grown their company to be one of the most respected drinks PRs not only in London but all over the world. Today, they share the story of how...

Our guest today introduced me to a job title I had never heard of before - the maltster.  She works for one of the very few distilleries that still floor malts its barley - thus the need for a maltster. In short, a maltster is a maker of malt for use in brewing or distilling, but Charlotte Coyle goes into way more detail about the maltster at Benriach Distillery.  Charlotte is the Brown-Forman UK Malt Whisky Ambassador and sat down to tell me all about the history and the Scotch Whisky that...

Before our guest launched his first non-alcoholic spirit, his mission was to make it easy to be a mindful drinker. Now six years later, thanks to his hard work, it is definitely getting easier to be a mindful drinker! Morten Lee Sørenson gave up drinking alcohol for 100 days. He found that it wasn't difficult not drinking alcohol, but it was quite difficult to find good alternatives. At that moment, he decided he was going to create products that made it a whole lot easier to be a mindful...

On February 4th, the world will be celebrating International Pisco Sour Day, and it’s a great cocktail. Our two guests reveal why Pisco should be enjoyed for more than just one day and in way more than just one cocktail. Suyo Pisco was truly meant to be. Alex Hildebrandt and Ian Leggett, co-founders of Suyo Pisco, happened upon each other while working in the same office. Both are half-Peruvian and half-American, and both had the vision it took to create something that bridged both worlds....

Behind the doors of Warehouse 1, up north in Scotland’s Speyside, there is something brewing that we are all going to want to sample. Especially after you’ve heard it all from my guest today!  Here to reveal the wonders of not only in Warehouse 1 but also the entire Glen Moray range is Iain Allan, Global Brand Ambassador and Visitor Center Manager for Glen Moray Distillery.  An Elgin local, who traveled all over the world but chose to settle in his hometown due to all the wonderful whisky...

Say his name in any bar around the world, and most bartenders will immediately whip out a well-worn copy of his eponymous bible of bartending. Today we meet the legend who not only authored that classic but so much more!  If you didn’t know it already, our guest today, Jim Meehan, is one of the most celebrated bartenders and bar operators, as well as the author of The PDT Cocktail Book and the one and only Meehan’s Bartender Manual. He has worked in nearly every capacity in the hospitality...

When making cocktails, do you ever feel like something’s missing? One of our guests today did, and he made it his mission to fill that void.  Chris Tanca, Founder of Cordusio, was that man. He was trying to make a cocktail and could find the spirit with the exact flavor profile he was looking for. So he created it, and now Cordusio, the world’s first red berry aperitif, is hot off the presses. In fact, I met Chris at Venice Cocktail Week at the end of September for the first official launch...

Did you ever look at a loaf of bread and see a bottle of vodka waiting to happen? Our guest today did, and now that bread has become the vodka that took Venice Cocktail Week by storm. Frank Grillo, the co-founder of Altamura Distilleries, wasn’t just looking at any old slice of bread when he saw a bottle of vodka, but one he had made with Altamura wheat.  If you haven't already heard of Pane di Altamura, as it's called in Italian, you have been missing something special. They’ve been talking...

How is it possible that you move to one of the chicest, if not the chicest, cities in the world and not find an even passible martini?  Today’s guest is living proof that anything is possible! Today joining me is the inimitable Forest Collins, founder of 52martinis.com, which chronicles her search for the best cocktail bars in Paris as well as loads of other cocktail news from all over France.  She is the creator of the iOS app Paris Cocktails and host of the radio show and podcast Paris...

Do you remember me talking about Venice Cocktail Week earlier this year?  If you are an avid fan of Lush Life, you might recall I was there for the launch of what has become one of my favorite weeks of the year.  The city of Venice has always had a special place in my heart.  The introduction of a week celebrating Venice’s drinking establishments was genius, and I am so thankful to Paola Mencarelli and Bianca Grisolia for including me again this year for the second annual edition of Venice...

Have you ever described the potato as lowly? Well, the heritage variety of potatoes that is at the centre of today’s episode is anything but. In fact, it’s regal. Today on Lush Life, Emma Hamilton, the co-founder of Edwards 1902 Vodka, will attest to the fact that the King Edward potato should be respected, not only for being a tasty tuber but for being at the heart of an award-winning vodka. She and her founders have gone on to create a coffee liqueur, a rhubarb vodka, and so much more from...