This week we’re continuing our Bartender Interview Series, The Master Blend – a collaboration with BERTOUX Brandy. This bi-weekly series of interviews will have each bartender discuss their distinct style, biggest inspirations, and how they’re making their mark on today’s cocktail culture. This week’s guest is Michael Kudra, head bartender at the three Michelin starred restaurant Quince in San Francisco. Kudra, formerly from Chicago’s famed Aviary, moved to California in 2017 to take over the fine dining bar program at Quince. We discussed how his move to California has helped to encourage his biggest inspirations behind the bar.
Seasons are funny in LA. They’re especially bewildering after having spent nearly two decades on the east coast where time is very much marked by the changing temperatures, and periodic closet rotations. I used to know what time of year it was based on my boot and puffy coat accessibility! During my first year here, […]
Sonoma wine country is a magical place and I’m still high from my visit last month. I capped off my trip with an interview with longtime Sonoma resident, Beth Costa – an expert on the region, Executive Director and host of Wine Road – a website and award-winning podcast devoted to the all things Northern Sonoma wine country. Get ready to plan your next trip, because we’ve mapped out your perfect day in Sonoma County.
Tomorrow is National Rosé Day, yes, it’s an actual day, and not just a lifestyle, thankyouverymuch. I thought we’d get into the spirit by diving into this pink summer fave on the podcast. The thousand years of history, the French Riviera glamour, the highs, and the lows lows (blush wine, anyone?) This wine is a […]
For this week’s Bit by a Fox Podcast episode I spoke with Kala Maxym, A professionally-trained opera singer and the Founder and Chief Event Composer of Five Senses Tastings, an LA-based event experience that pairs live music with a wine. Kala and I have recently joined forces to create a similar events company around cocktails and music called Song & […]
I love the whole idea of Spring being a time of rebirth and renewal. There’s no better time to shake off the winter cobwebs and refresh your whole jam. I always feel especially inspired this time of year. Those ideas that may be lying dormant during the winter months finally have a chance to come […]
Despite how it may appear on social media, the freelance life – writing about booze and such – is not all glamour and day drinking and sleeping until noon… As much as I’d LOVE to loll around in my velvet robe and sip on freshly squeezed OJ until I can muster the energy to face […]
Game, set…SMASH! It’s official, Spring has sprung, and with it all of the fresh fruits and blossoms and herbs are bursting at the seams here in California. And my severe seasonal allergies to it all can prove it! You know what I’m not allergic to? Sipping on delicious rum drinks whilst playing table tennis in […]
Being the first of anything is always a challenge. Blinking Owl Distillery co-owners, husband and wife, and longtime Santa Ana residents, Brian and Robin Christianson know that all too well. After setting aside their careers and devoting nearly four years to conceptualizing, researching and planning the business and build-out of the first craft distillery in Orange County, they’ve finally opened […]
A couple weekends back I was part of a phantasmagoric, technicolor dream deep in the Hills of Beverly… There were synchronized swimmers bedecked in the most adorable caps and suits… …photogenic poofs of cotton candy, brightly colored flower crowns, and allll of the beautiful people. So, what was the purpose of all of this California whimsy and multicolored […]
