Peak springtime is upon us and Derby Day is right around the corner, so there’s no better time to mix up a Mint Julep. In this episode, we talk Juleps with Joe Stinchcomb, a veteran bartender and an owner of Bar Muse in Oxford, Mississippi.

When he opened Romeo’s in New York City’s East Village in December, Evan Hawkins combined his years of experience bartending in nightclubs with the skills he developed making craft cocktails at bars including Mother’s Ruin and Broken Shaker. For this episode, we talk about the vision and ideas behind Romeo’s, and about making great cocktails an approachable experience.

Our March/April issue dives deep into the world of vermouth. For this episode, we hear from several bartenders who share a particular love for the aperitif wine: Alf del Portillo and Marta Premoli, owners of Quattro Teste in Lisbon, Portugal, and Francesco Lafranconi, who recently helped establish the vermouth program at the Rosevale Cocktail Room in New York City.

For our March/April issue, we journey into the world of vermouth, and few people follow the category more closely than journalist, educator, and Imbibe contributor François Monti. For this episode, we explore vermouth’s rich history in cocktails, its culinary connection, and the future of this aperitif wine.

Victoria Eady Butler is the master blender for Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey and one of our Imbibe 75 People to Watch for 2021. In this episode, we catch up with her on her work at Uncle Nearest, the brand’s move into Cognac, and the Uncle Nearest HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge.

Tequila and mezcal are more popular than ever, and other Mexican spirits are also coming on strong. For this episode, we turn to this year’s Imbibe 75 for two perspectives on agave and other Mexican spirits: mezcal envoy and “Heritage Mezcal” podcast host Chava Peribán, and Nacho Jimenez, a partner and master of ceremonies at Superbueno in New York City.

San Francisco bartender, bar owner, and author Thad Vogler joins us for this episode to talk about the Single Village Fix, a cocktail he created in 2008, and the ways the drink went on to influence his life and career.

We continue our Imbibe 75 coverage for 2024 with two of this year’s People to Watch: cocktail journalist Robert Simonson, and veteran bartender Baylee Hopings.

Happy New Year! We’re welcoming 2024 with an introduction to one of this year’s Imbibe 75, Alex Jump, the co-founder and senior manager of operations for Focus on Health.

In celebration of the holiday season, we go all in on eggnog, featuring a conversation with a bartender who’s known for his signature eggnog recipe: Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Pacific Standard in Portland, Oregon.

No cocktail in modern history has made an impact quite like the Cosmopolitan. For this episode, we talk with the Cosmo’s creator, Toby Cecchini, about the drink’s origins, its popularity, its many revivals, and tips for making one today.

The Bay Area is in some ways the birthplace of craft beer in America. For this episode, we look at craft beer’s growth and current challenges through a Bay Area lens via a conversation with Dave McLean, co-founder of Admiral Maltings and founder of Magnolia Brewing, San Francisco Beer Week, and the Bay Area Brewers Guild.

Several years ago, Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver announced the launch of the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling, to support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color with scholarships for the brewing and distilling industries. For this episode, we talk with Oliver about the foundation’s mission and its progress, and some of the individuals who have benefited from its support.

With the 21st-century proliferation of global bar culture, navigating through the choices has become much more complicated. For this episode, we talk with the co-founders of the Pinnacle Guide, which aims to launch an international evaluation and scoring system for bars in early 2024.

Cocktail bars across the country (and in Canada, Mexico, and France) are celebrating Halloween this year by hosting the Black Lagoon Cocktail Pop-up. For this episode, we talk with Black Lagoon co-founders Erin Hayes and Kelsey Ramage about what to expect from this year’s experience, and how they put together a full menu of Halloween-inspired cocktails.

It’s Negroni Week! For this episode, we talk to veteran Seattle bartender Lindsay Matteson (The Walrus and The Carpenter, Barnacle, Amor y Amargo) about how to explore the wide world of Negroni variations.

Our September/October issue features a guide to making and mastering alcohol-free cocktails. For this episode, we’re joined by veteran bartender and “Mindful Mixology” author Derek Brown to talk about how to create great drinks without using alcohol.

The Mojito isn’t only an essential summer drink, it’s also one of the stars of Cuban cocktail culture. For this episode, we explore every aspect of this classic cocktail with Julio Cabrera, an owner of the award-winning Café La Trova in Miami.

Tales of the Cocktail has been an essential part of the cocktail world for more than two decades. With this year’s event scheduled to start July 23 in New Orleans, we check in with the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s CEO and board members to talk about how Tales has evolved over the years, the range of the foundation’s work today, and what to look forward to in New Orleans.

The Mai Tai is one of the most influential (and misunderstood) cocktails of the past century, and a touchstone tropical drink. For this episode, we dig into the Mai Tai’s history and character with drinks historian Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, owner of Latitude 29 in New Orleans.

The Chartreuse Swizzle is a modern classic, and one of the milestone drinks of the cocktail renaissance. We chat with San Francisco bartender Marco Dionysos about the genesis of the Chartreuse Swizzle, how the drink became a global favorite, and how to approach the recipe at a time when Chartreuse may be harder to find.

In our May/June issue, bartender and “Something & Tonic” author Nick Kokonas dives into the world of tonic water, a summer staple, and for this episode, we talk with him about all things tonic related.

In 2013, Imbibe contributing editor Joshua Bernstein published “The Complete Beer Course,” an overview of the beer world that went on to become a best seller. Ten years later, there’s a completely revised, updated, and repackaged version of the book, and Josh joins us to talk about the beer world’s many changes over the past decade and how that’s influenced how we drink and think about beer.

For the past four years, bartenders Caer Maiko (DrinkWell, Austin) and Sharon Yeung (The Walrus and the Carpenter, Seattle) have coordinated the traveling bar event called Daijoubu, which they describe as a “super-Asian cocktail pop-up.” For this episode, we check in with Caer and Sharon during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month to talk about the origins of Daijoubu, the events and drinks they’ve created over the years, and what Daijoubu means for the Asian American community.