Hugging the Bar
Claim This Podcastby Courtney Iseman
Podcast Overview
<p>Welcome to the new and improved Hugging the Bar podcast!</p><p>Mix up your favorite cocktail or mocktail, pour your favorite beer, and pull up a stool. We're getting into the ins and outs of the beverage alcohol and hospitality industries. Each month, we'll sit down with a different expert—bar owners, beverage directors, mixologists, brewers, distillers, taproom managers, marketers, journalists, social media consultants, educators, and more—to tackle topics from PR, employee education, consumer education, and drink and ingredient trends, to consumer behavior, DEI efforts, production techniques, and more. These conversations are a fascinating peek behind the curtain for enthusiasts, and for the pros, they're helpful dives into some of the most important, challenging issues for businesses in this industry today. I promise valuable takeaways from these trusted sources, with the aim of helping you survive—and even thrive—in the current climate.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
8/6/2025
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Recent Episodes
December 18, 2025
5. Say "Hello Hello" to the High-Dive Concept and Serious Cocktails Made Fun with Luis Hernandez
<p>If you read about drinks at all, you may know the relatively new NYC bar Hello Hello for its famed, elevated riff on a vodka Red Bull. But there's so much more to unpack about this intriguing concept: Its day-to-night model as a café and bar, its three-pronged business approach as a coffee shop, bar, and distillery and how those prongs complement each other and are balanced to run smoothly; its overall high-dive design and atmosphere; and, of course, its creative cocktails. I chatted with Hello Hello's director of food and beverage Luis Hernandez about all of these factors and why they work especially well today.</p>
October 10, 2025
4. Reaching Final Gravity, Reaching Readers: The Craft of Beer Zines with David Nilsen
<p>David Nilsen is a writer, educator, consultant, event host, and podcaster focusing on beer and artisanal chocolate. There's more than enough to dig into with his prolific, insightful work for outlets including Wine Enthusiast, Pellicle Magazine, VinePair, Eater, Craft Beer & Brewing, and more, and with his engaging classes, tastings, and pairings he leads in Ohio and beyond, but just in time for its latest issue to hit preorder, we're really diving into the zine David created with his wife Melinda Guerra, Final Gravity. Final Gravity harnesses the community-building, DIY spirit of zines to bring poignant, fascinating, narrative-driven stories centering around beer to life, from some of the world's brightest writers. In this episode, we talk about why now is a perfect time for zines, what goes into bringing Final Gravity to life, and why these stories are so vital.</p><p>Check out David's work and event schedule at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://davidnilsenbeer.com/">davidnilsenbeer.com</a>. Preorder the latest Final Gravity as well as past issues and other zines (including my Beer Tarot zine!) under Bean to Barstool's publishing umbrella at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.beantobarstool.com/shop">BeanToBarstool.com</a>. Enjoy!</p>
September 11, 2025
3. How Brands Can More Effectively Engage Their Audiences with Stephanie Grant
<p>Stephanie Grant is an experienced, accomplished writer and consultant in the food and beverage space with razor-focused insight to offer brands and businesses on how to craft their own unique stories that will engage new audiences, keep those audiences compelled with more dynamic social media presences, and overall brand and market themselves effectively even in today's challenging industry. She also has some hard truths for brands, and we both have some strong opinions on brewery websites and beer descriptions on menus, cans, and websites—we get into all of it in this fun, educational...dare I say spicy? chat.</p><p>You can find Stephanie's writing as well as her consulting portfolio and services at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.shelovescraft.com/">SheLovesCraft.com</a>. And don't miss out on following her excellent Instagram account, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.shelovescraft.com/">@shelovescraft</a>, full of guidance-packed videos.</p>
5 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Hugging the Bar?
<p>Welcome to the new and improved Hugging the Bar podcast!</p><p>Mix up your favorite cocktail or mocktail, pour your favorite beer, and pull up a stool. We're getting into the ins and outs of the beverage alcohol and hospitality industries. Each month, we'll sit down with a different expert—bar owners, beverage directors, mixologists, brewers, distillers, taproom managers, marketers, journalists, social media consultants, educators, and more—to tackle topics from PR, employee education, consumer education, and drink and ingredient trends, to consumer behavior, DEI efforts, production techniques, and more. These conversations are a fascinating peek behind the curtain for enthusiasts, and for the pros, they're helpful dives into some of the most important, challenging issues for businesses in this industry today. I promise valuable takeaways from these trusted sources, with the aim of helping you survive—and even thrive—in the current climate.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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