The Wine Voyage

Table of Contents - What Makes Gin, Gin - The Major Gin Styles - How to Actually Taste Gin - The Language of Gin Tasting - Building a Gin Tasting Flight - Food Pairing for Gin Tasting - Running a Gin Tasting for Groups - Common Gin Tasting Mistakes to Avoid - How to Start Your Gin Education - Further Reading I came to gin late. For most of my twenties I associated it with a specific bad night and a specific bad decision involving a bottle of something that smelled like a pine tree fell into a swimming pool. It took a friend placing a proper glass of Hendrick's in front of me — ice, cucumber, tonic done right — to reset my relationship with the spirit entirely. What I discovered is that gin tasting is one of the most intellectually rich spirits experiences you can have. No two gins taste alike. The botanical complexity alone gives you more to analyze than most wines. And unlike whiskey, where age and wood drive much of the conversation, gin is about the blender's art — what they...

Table of Contents - What Makes Gin, Gin - The Major Gin Styles - How to Actually Taste Gin - The Language of Gin Tasting - Building a Gin Tasting Flight - Food Pairing for Gin Tasting - Running a Gin Tasting for Groups - Common Gin Tasting Mistakes to Avoid - How to Start Your Gin Education - Further Reading I came to gin late. For most of my twenties I associated it with a specific bad night and a specific bad decision involving a bottle of something that smelled like a pine tree fell into a swimming pool. It took a friend placing a proper glass of Hendrick's in front of me — ice, cucumber, tonic done right — to reset my relationship with the spirit entirely. What I discovered is that gin tasting is one of the most intellectually rich spirits experiences you can have. No two gins taste alike. The botanical complexity alone gives you more to analyze than most wines. And unlike whiskey, where age and wood drive much of the conversation, gin is about the blender's art — what they...

Table of Contents - How Rum Is Made - The Regional Styles of Rum - Regional Style Comparison - How to Read a Rum Label - How to Taste Rum - A Rum Tasting Flight for Groups - Rum Cocktails as a Learning Tool - Age and Maturation in Rum - Common Questions About Rum - Rum for Groups: The Wine Voyage Approach - Further Reading Rum might be the most misunderstood spirit in the world. Ask most people what they know about rum and you'll get one of three answers: pirates, coconut, or Cuba Libre. Which is a shame, because what's actually happening in rum — across the Caribbean and beyond — is as complex and regionally specific as anything in wine. I came to rum through the back door of cocktail culture, then got properly pulled in when a bartender in New Orleans poured me a 15-year Barbadian neat and told me to forget everything I thought I knew. I did. By the end of the glass, I was taking notes. This guide covers everything: how rum is made, the major regional styles, how to taste it ...

Table of Contents - How Rum Is Made - The Regional Styles of Rum - Regional Style Comparison - How to Read a Rum Label - How to Taste Rum - A Rum Tasting Flight for Groups - Rum Cocktails as a Learning Tool - Age and Maturation in Rum - Common Questions About Rum - Rum for Groups: The Wine Voyage Approach - Further Reading Rum might be the most misunderstood spirit in the world. Ask most people what they know about rum and you'll get one of three answers: pirates, coconut, or Cuba Libre. Which is a shame, because what's actually happening in rum — across the Caribbean and beyond — is as complex and regionally specific as anything in wine. I came to rum through the back door of cocktail culture, then got properly pulled in when a bartender in New Orleans poured me a 15-year Barbadian neat and told me to forget everything I thought I knew. I did. By the end of the glass, I was taking notes. This guide covers everything: how rum is made, the major regional styles, how to taste it ...

Table of Contents - The Core Challenge with Large Group Team Building - Formats That Scale Well - What Doesn't Work at Large Scale (And Why) - Practical Planning Considerations - The Best Large-Group Team Building I've Seen - Matching Activity to Group Composition - Making It Stick After the Event - Further Reading Running team building activities for large groups is a completely different problem than organizing something for a team of ten. When you've got 80, 150, or 300 people in a room, the dynamics change entirely. The activities that create genuine connection at small scale can fall flat or become logistically impossible at scale. And the activities designed for mass participation often sacrifice depth for throughput. I've planned corporate events at both ends of the spectrum, and the thing that separates a memorable large-group experience from a forgettable one is almost never the budget. It's the structure. Here's what I know works — and why. The Core Ch...

Table of Contents - The Core Challenge with Large Group Team Building - Formats That Scale Well - What Doesn't Work at Large Scale (And Why) - Practical Planning Considerations - The Best Large-Group Team Building I've Seen - Matching Activity to Group Composition - Making It Stick After the Event - Further Reading Running team building activities for large groups is a completely different problem than organizing something for a team of ten. When you've got 80, 150, or 300 people in a room, the dynamics change entirely. The activities that create genuine connection at small scale can fall flat or become logistically impossible at scale. And the activities designed for mass participation often sacrifice depth for throughput. I've planned corporate events at both ends of the spectrum, and the thing that separates a memorable large-group experience from a forgettable one is almost never the budget. It's the structure. Here's what I know works — and why. The Core Ch...