"WhiskeyAnd DotDotDot‪"‬ ROBIN ROBINSON

What can we learn about creating and maintaining a brand from an ice cream shop?  Well, namely, Conrad's Ice Cream Parlor been around for 90+ years and its under the stewardship of its third generation, JJ Kraktus.  JJ picked 2 particular Scotch single malts, a Glenmorangie and a Glen Garioch, and after a few drinks in the midst of "all the glens", we discuss adapting and changing to the modern zeitgeist; what stays and what goes; an off-the-cuff remark that leads to an innovation; how Quality never goes out of style; and importantly, why love of what you do is the real driver of good business.

Just in time for the election of a lifetime, my drinking companion Dan Eckman is a whiskey guy and...a life-long Republican!  Who knew?  Dan picked a superb bottle - the discontinued Compass Box Eleuthera Blended Malt (ripe fruits wrapped in bacon smoke) - and we got down to it: From Ayn Rand (and her stinker namesake Rand Paul), to Nixon, Reagan, Gingrich, Bush and all the way to....well, that guy that's there now.  

It gets lively as we both joust, parry, feint and weave over what the GOP is; what makes a good Republican (hint: they're nasty and like war); why Democrats can't find their way out of the tent (hint: they're confused and too open); why Reagan is burning in hell; and just what does Lewis Black and David Mamet have to do with it?  In between there's solipsism, begging the question, appeals to emotion and enough strawmen to surround the children of the corn.  That bottle got crushed in the meantime and Dan laid the trap for Part II...

You thought this was just about Marx and Lenin?  Maybe Bernie Sanders too?  No, after we killed the last of the Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt 21 yr with two thousand miles between us, my guest Stephen Mathis and I dragged in Amazon, Ricky Crawford, Serge Valentin, the post office, French unionism, medicare and junkies.  And we expose the American "boogeyman" of Socialism to be...oh, wait, we're already here.  And your kid is being educated as a result of it.

Tune in, its an election year and there's something you should know....

Mikayla couldn't make up her mind on a hot July day, so she chose 2 whiskies perfect for summer highballs: Meyer's Blend Superier from France and Nikka Coffey Grain from Japan.  She breaks down "queer coding" for the straight guy and how to watch movie trailers for cues; short hair and dinosaur earrings, what all the letters in LGBTQ stand for and what's their proper order, and why "Rent" is the "White Christmas" of gay culture.  But the seriousness of gay oppression is underneath the lightness of the conversation, the bravery it takes to become one's real self in a culture that sends the opposite cues; and that in the end, why its really all about love.  

Whiskey and.... is happy to welcome Effie Panagopoulos, creator of Kleos Mastiha, the first Greek spirit brought to market by a Greek woman.  This episode is about what it takes to become, and endure, as a solo entrepreneur, the day-to-day grind of product creation, sourcing, bottling, sales and marketing.   Think you got what it takes?  After a few rounds of Effie's whisky choice, the delicate and fruity Iwai Tradition from Japan, Effie rips open the realities of her vision quest.  You ready to stare down your Chinese manufacturer then go out and rustle up investors and angels; and then hit the road, visiting bars, retailers and dealing with the slug of the distribution channels and reluctant salespeople?  Yeah, she's done it.   Open a nice Japanese whisky and join us for a facinating look into the "glamorous" life of the liquor brand.

Stratos Mandalakis is my guest this episode, sub-deacon, choir director and lead chanter in the Antiochian Orthodox Church in New Jersey. Together, we plunge into the depths of faith, religion, the "NONEs" (people who profess no specific religious affiliation), Protestants and Catholics, the concept of "sin" and how it relates to archery; and the recognition that just about everything we say has a Greek origin!  Stratos is not the biggest whiskey drinker ("I like wine") but he picks an elegant and rare limited release of High West's Midwinter Night's Dram rye from my shelf and...I think we killed the bottle before the show was over.