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Podcast: The Drinking Buddy Show

Dr. Paul Dohrenwend decided to head back to school for his MBA after years as a physician in San Diego. During his time at Wharton, he started piecing together a sake brand based on his experiences skiing and drinking in Hokkaido.I chatted with him about his love for premium sake, how he connected with food and beverage broker Reina Watanabe, and their combined efforts to launch Safu Sake in the midst of the unrelenting pandemic. 
Professor Slingerland fell in love with Chinese philosophy and language at an early age. He eventually completed his studies at Stanford and Berkley in Northern California, and is currently a professor of philosophy at the university of British Columbia. His latest book Drunk delves into the world of intoxicants, exploring the origins, detriments, and benefits of our ancient dance with Dionysus. I spoke with Professor Slingerland to learn more about his fascinating research and the surprising results he uncovered.
Welcome to our the second part of our first Sips and Snacks episode! This is our last episode recorded during the pandemic shut down. We go over a few more sake and dream of visiting an izakaya.

Darren Nicholson joins me from iPourit, headquartered in Santa Ana, CA.

As breweries, restaurants, and now bars reopen in Long Beach and LA County, I wonder what permanent changes we’ll see to the food and beverage scene.

They started off as the garage project of founder Brett Jones in 2012 and were growing steadily through 2019. The pandemic created an opportunity for them to take the self-serve model even further and introduce a touchless tap system.

Welcome to our first Sips and Snacks episode! I’m sitting down with friend of the show Greg Beck to sip on sake and umeshu, snack on some potential pairings, and learn a thing a two.
Frank Rodgers chats with Billy Melnyk, co-founder, CEO, and visionary behind Soto Sake. They talk about Billy's lifelong love of beverages starting at an early age in Ottawa, Canada. Billy also shares his love for music, travel, fine dining, and what led him to leaving a dream career at Bacardi to launch a global saké brand. 
Brendan Megowan, Founder of Whale Face Beer in Long Beach, California, joins Frank on the podcast to talk about all things craft beer. Brendan shares his stories of personal and entrepreneurial struggle in Palo Verdes, Sacramento, and Long Beach, and gives insight into what it takes to run a successful craft brewery. 
Our founder Frank Rodgers sits down with Long Beach foodie Cassidy Liston to chat about how she fell in love with the culinary scenes of the many places she's lived. Cassidy talks about growing up in a small town in Illinois, spending some time in New York City, and ultimately settling in Long Beach, California. 
Frank brings back Greg Beck, the accidental sake expert (and shochu advisor) to provide some fun pairings with Paul Nakayama's Nankai Shochu, a few different types of sake, and our first snack offering: Rayu Senbei. How will our chili oil rice cracker pair with Greg's recommendations?
Frank chats with Paul Nakayama, the public face and co-founder of Nankai Shochu. Despite growing up in Los Angeles with a family-owned bar in Torrance, Paul wasn't originally planning to work in the beverage industry. 
In this info-packed episode, "accidental" sake expert Greg Beck takes us through the fascinating history and varieties of sake. We'll get into how sake is brewed, the regions of Japan that produce it, and why you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss Nihonshu because of a poor prior experience.
Our founder Frank Rodgers talks with Long Beach-based sake sommelier and shochu advisor Greg Beck about how he went from a high school student in Arizona taking German classes, to an "accidental" expert on the Japanese craft of sake making. 

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