In this spirited conversation with Maggie Campbell, CEO of American Cane, some of the topics we discuss include:

• Maggie’s road to rum, which winds through philosophy, spice shops, wineries, and legendary brandy houses before arriving at her break-out role as distiller (and later President) at Privateer Rum

• Why sales and distribution are the hardest part of the spirits industry and how her experience working in the sales trenches and partnering with distributors paved the way for a great adventure working as a project leader for Mt. Gay Rum in Barbados

• We touch on the functional aesthetics of both vineyards and cane fields - the ways in which soil health, drainage, and cane-specific indicators like, lodging, arrowing, and low MOC factors can contribute to a healthy and beautiful cane growing operation

• And we also discuss how to think about terroir in spirits - specifically how it’s derived not only from landscapes and climate conditions, but also from the perspectives taken and decisions made in these diverse locales over long periods of time.

• Along the way, we muse on why you can’t hide anything in a rum distillation, the multinomial nature of cane dogs, why only foreigners like the monkeys in Barbados, and much, much more.

Eric tastes through several rare and vintage Benedictine Liqueur expressions, alongside friends and colleagues from the spirits industry at the 2025 American Distilling Institute International Spirits Competition.

In this recording, he's joined by:

• Mr. David T. Smith (who generously provided the Benedictine samples from his personal collection) and who is the head steward at the ADI competition

• Joe Barber from Stargazy Spirits (who, for the first time, had a functional microphone for one of these recordings)

• Author and Spirits expert Eric Zandona, who runs the International Spirits Competition

• Reece Sims, founder of Flavor Camp, representing Canada

• Aaron Knoll, creator of The Gin is In, my favorite gin review website

• Sara Sargent of Alpine Distilling, one of the award-winning-est distillers I know

• And Vanessa Piromallo, the 2024 World Drinks Awards Icons of Gin Communicator of the Year

The Benedictine expressions we taste through in this sitting are:

• Your standard, straight-up, run-of-the-mill, but still ICONIC Benedictine

• Vintage Benedictine (likely from the 60s or 70s)

• Benedictine and Brandy (AKA B&B)

• Benedictine 1888 (a special, premium Blend)

• Benedictine Single Cask

In Part 2 of my high-flying conversation with Charles Joly, some of the topics we discuss include:

• The 2014 Diageo World Class win that elevated Charles to global bartending celebrity, and the story of the innovative cocktail that put him in the winner’s circle.

• The importance of timing in cocktail builds and presentation and how effective manipulation of timing can play on a guest’s anticipation, which Charles refers to as a “6th sense.”

• The genesis of Crafthouse Cocktails, a ready-to-drink cocktail brand that has its roots way back in 2013, at time when most people viewed the RTD category as either a non-sequiter or a complete heresy.

• We cover what the very early RTD landscape looked like, how Charles and his team went about designing canned beverage that actually taste like a real cocktail, the decision to partner with leading spirits brands, and even Crafthouse’s recent placement on United Airlines.

• We wrap the conversation by discussing some of Charles' other favorite projects, like Cayman Cookout with chef Eric Ripert, his own line of custom barware, and even his online vintage store side hustle.

• Along the way, we cover Charles’ most important tips for succeeding in a cocktail competition, why Crafthouse opted for a Paloma over a Margarita in their RTD portfolio, a maximalist itinerary for a full day of eating and drinking your way through Chicago’s culinary gems, and much, much more.