Launched this week, The Living Proof podcast is hosted by former radio presenter Nicole Haack (The Message Pod) and boutique bar owner Marcus “The Admiral” Motteram (Hains & Co).

Episode one of the eight-part series features renowned American bartender Dale DeGroff talking about everything from his favourite cocktail, the craft movement, how he lied his way into serving Rupert Murdoch as a young bartender and how years later Murdoch dubbed him the “hot-shit cocktail guy”.

Haack says The Living Proof aims to produce leading podcast content for bartenders, of which there are more than 700,000 in the United States and Australia alone, by keeping them up-to-date with the rapidly-evolving world of spirits and cocktails.

“We’ve mixed a podcast that will appeal to both industry professionals and the growing number of consumers who want to know more about the origins of what ends up in their glass,” says Haack, who also holds a Masters of Gastronomy.

Each Monday, the long-form interview format show will feature an international industry leader, mixologist or drink historian, as well as a lesser-known yet forward-thinking industry professional from around the globe.

“We want to reach out to all sides of the business and make sure we’re capturing what’s hot, what’s not and what we can expect next in the craft cocktail movement,” Haack says.

Besides DeGroff, the duo also quiz D Max Maxey from the Chestnut Club in Santa Monica in the first episode. They have also already recorded interviews with bartending mentor and visionary Gaz Regan, Irish spirit expert and Tales of the Cocktail content director Phillip Duff, New York Distilling Co’s Allen Katz, managing director of Australia’s Speakeasy Group Sven Almenning and Japanese bartending legend Hidetsugu Ueno.

“The response from the industry has been awesome – they’ve all been super keen to connect and come on the show as guests,” says Haack.

“We’re pretty proud of the product and can’t wait to get it out to the market because we’ve got plenty more stories to tell – there’s an endless supply of hugely talented people in this sector.”

The free-flowing first episode ranges from DeGroff speaking about how bartenders must now be able to taste like chefs, to Maxey on using an Old Fashioned to compare whiskeys. You can listen to it below (note – contains some swearing) and visit The Living Proof website here:

This article was first published on The Lead.