More Good Drinks - Industry Podcast

Look, there’s no two ways about it, the Negroni can be divisive. It’s blistering simple but paradoxically complex. It still has an air of “my friends told me this was cool” about it, when you see someone ordering for the first time.
So talking with Kira Mance Freire about serving a few dozen Negronis a night, the magical Negroni menu, the reactions and joy of the dining abuzz with Italian love letters.. well, you don’t get any closer to real life than that. You’ll fall in love with Kira’s love of service, Coco’s contagious and effervescent personality and mostly, be reminded of why the Negroni is a bittersweet icon. Stay tuned for more Negroni this week and head to Coco’s to celebrate.


Get full access to More Good Drinks at www.moregooddrinks.com/subscribe

About a year ago, I’d just finished up at a pretty serious whisky operation in Central Otago. But head out to the coast, you’ll find Victorian Oamaru and a pile of NZ whisky history, myth and legends. I’ll let you decide which is which. I just about fell over backwards to taste some remarkable liquid straight from the barrel, in a bondstore which has previously struggled to find it’s way, despite valiant efforts.
New Zealand whisky is getting rewritten in a cold warehouse in Oamaru, where it matures after being fermented (for a wildly long time) then distilled at Speights Brewery, and Michael Byers is the winemaker-turned-distiller behind some of the most exciting spirit coming out of the South Island. If you think you know what New Zealand whisky tastes like (especially NZ Whisky Collection whisky), this conversation will make you look again. Opening a bottle of the latest releases will go even further.
Michael joins Tash to unpack the unlikely path that took him from German wineries and Lincoln University to Helsinki, Dunedin, and Oamaru, where he now crafts whisky with a patience most distillers can’t dream of - stuck in a yield-driven mode of 72hr ferments. But Michael’s result is spirit with real grain character, depth, and a texture that surprises even at cask strength.
You’ll discover:
* Why Michael believes fermentation timing changes everything in whisky
* How he thinks moon phases, atmospheric pressure, and cold conditions can influence long ferments
* What long fermentation and slower distillation do for flavour and mouthfeel
* How soil provenance can show up in whisky, just like it does in wine
* Why 55-litre casks are changing the conversation around spirit-to-oak ratio
We break down the cask programme too, from ex-bourbon and ex-rye to ex-wheat, and why each one brings something distinct to the liquid. Michael explains how American oak, first-fill barrels, and the previous life of a cask can shape everything from tropical fruit and clover honey to linseed oil, spearmint, hazelnut, and that unmistakable wet-stone mineral edge.
Tash tastes through a standout 3-quarter ex-rye, 1-quarter ex-bourbon expression and makes the case for why this is one of the most compelling whiskies in New Zealand right now. Michael also shares why he’s obsessed with older barrels, why he won’t throw any cask away too quickly, and why New Zealand whisky should be bigger than just red wine finishes.
If you care about flavour, barrel strategy, provenance, and what makes a whisky feel genuinely alive, this is essential listening. A smart, candid, deeply sensory conversation for whisky lovers, spirit geeks, and anyone curious about where New Zealand whisky is heading next.*AI was used to transcribe sections of this podcast for notes. Opinions are strictly my own.
Thanks for engaging with More Good Drinks. We need more stories about what’s good so people drink better. Your support goes a long way to that.



Get full access to More Good Drinks at www.moregooddrinks.com/subscribe

I sit down with Alex Hudson of WonderHorse and Neat (ad so many more) to trace a career built on service, discovery, and a distinctly Hamilton point of view.
Alex’s style of service is bold, well-intentioned and he almost always has something to try for the first time. Perhaps it’s his own continual exploration of flavour. But he wants you to keep exploring and to drink better, including with better manners. Which is why he’ll make you say please, bringing the humanity back to the centre of every hospitality experience.
This conversation covers how Alex shaped his approach to hospitality, why he pushes guests toward better drinks, and how the Waikato’s food and drink culture has evolved around him.In this episode, Alex shares how early autonomy, strong bar experiences, and a love of service shaped his career, from Grand Central to Wonder Horse and beyond. We also discuss Hamilton’s hospitality identity, the role of Neat as a learning-driven venue, and how fatherhood changed Alex’s perspective on leadership and priorities.“You sometimes need to make them do something.”
“This is an interaction, not a dispensing robot.”
“Always hot never bothered.”
Key topics
* Alex’s path into hospitality, from university dropout to getting pulled into bar work and service
* The formative impact of late nights at Suite bar and the first time he encountered a truly serious back bar
* How working with the Phoenix Group at Grand Central gave him unusual autonomy and helped define his style
* Why Wonder Horse was born from a mix of youthful confidence, ambition, and a desire to build a bar he would want to drink in
* The evolution of his service style from blunt, directive, and “bully-ish” to more gentle, but still firm and opinionated
* Why Alex believes guests often need a push toward discovery rather than being given exactly what they already know
* How his approach to drinks is shaped by body language, conversation, and reading the room
* The cultural shift in Hamilton and the Waikato, including the move from a rougher night scene to a more connected, sophisticated hospitality ecosystem
* Why opening multiple venues became both a response to post-COVID pressures and a way to create more pathways for staff and guests
* How Neat came together as a more formal expression of his philosophy around education, tasting, retail, and drinking better
* The challenge of building a venue with broad knowledge, precision, and accessibility, without losing the fun
* How becoming a father sharpened his focus, changed his management style, and made trust and delegation more important
*AI was used to transcribe this interview and provide captions.
More Good Drinks is here to democratise drinks media in New Zealand, giving you real stories instead of just press releases. Help the cause by choosing to pay for a story.



Get full access to More Good Drinks at www.moregooddrinks.com/subscribe

Do you have one of the greatest jobs in whisky? This new series on the podcast will feature every few weeks, exploring some of the incredible people and unexpected jobs in the diverse whisky industry. And we start with Seamus Carroll runs the world’s biggest whisky club from a desk in Tasmania with a real flex of a cask sample collection behind him. Six years in as GM of The Whisky Club, I interviewed Seamus just before Tasmanian Whisky Week, home turf for the club, and doubles as a happy-birthday episode — The Whisky Club has just clocked thirteen months operating in New Zealand, on the way to more than 40,000 members across Australia and NZ.
If you’ve considered The Whisky Club and really wanted to understand how it works - or how deep the whisky rabbit hole goes - this is a great episode for you. Even if you’re not a whisky fan, but you love marketing and communication!
Tash and Seamus get into how a subscription model changes the conversation between distillery and drinker, why “brand-led marketing shorthand” (France likes bourbon casks, Taiwan likes sherry, you’ve heard it all before) undersells what members actually want. Plus Seamus shares some of his remarkable and unbeatable anecdotes from favourite distilleries, distillers and blenders - proving that you don’t have to make whisky to have one of the greatest jobs in the business.
Guest
Seamus Carroll — GM, The Whisky Club (Australia and New Zealand). Came into the industry working for GlenDronach, BenRiach and Glenglassaugh for Brown-Forman in this part of the world, then went to Tasmania and never left.
In this episode
* 00:37 — Who Seamus is behind the cask samples: the route in via GlenDronach, BenRiach and Glenglassaugh, and falling for Tasmania on a cellar door visit
* 02:10 — What The Whisky Club actually is: 40,000+ members, world’s biggest whisky club, AU and NZ only
* 03:52 — Breaking down the job past the glamour — the whisky team, the head of whisky creation in Scotland, ops, and why missing a delivery day is not an option
* 08:23 — Why The Whisky Club sits in a unique space between whisky geekery and commercial reality, and what that does that brand-led marketing can’t
* 09:52 — The three ways a whisky gets released: the undiscovered distillery, the reintroduction of an old favourite, or letting the maker do exactly what they want
* 12:09 — Rachel Barry’s office visit, the GlenDronach/BenRiach/Glenglassaugh five-year pipeline, and why she stopped taking cask-type requests
* 13:36 — The GlenGrant counter-example: showing off distillery character with zero dressing up
* 15:53 — Pouring Cù Bòcan 15 — heavily sherried, heavily peated, and very much not what you’d expect from the Highlands
* 17:55 — How the club actually tracks what members want: the panel, the 5–10 rating scale, virtual tastings, and staying out of a “settled palate”
* 20:49 — The 25-year-old whisky trends book, and why cask finishing was the number one trend then and now
* 24:06 — Seamus’s pour: BenRiach’s upcoming Golden Promise Whisky of the Month
* 26:02 — Golden Promise barley, properly nerded out — the 1950s/60s discovery, the viscosity, the fall from favour, and why BenRiach went looking for it
* 32:10 — Tasmania’s third wave, the Australian and New Zealand Scotch-drinking heritage, and the “for our Antipodean brethren” back label
* 36:04 — Bill Lark, the 1970s closures, and the founding moment of modern Australian whisky
* 37:12 — Pōkeno’s Middle-earth release, Waiheke’s use of native peat and Manuka, and making whisky “of our place” rather than in Scotland’s image
* 39:04 — Communal drinking cultures — the bourbon-bottle-on-the-table versus the cellar dram, and why gathering predates the category
* 48:01 — NZ versus Australia member behaviour: Irish whisky’s Australian following and the Tamdhu effect in under-served New Zealand
* 50:29 — The real distributor conversation right now: allocation and A&P, not advertising budgets
* 51:18 — Pōkeno’s reception in Australia, and what’s coming the other way
* 52:49 — This week’s favourite moment: four years of GlenDronach, BenRiach and Glenglassaugh cask samples with Rachel Barry
* 53:52 — The whisky Seamus can’t stop thinking about: a 1980s-style peated BenRiach cask sample with an “iron bark, metallic barbecue sauce” note
* 56:34 — The one thing left on the list: following a whisky from first fill to release, start to finish
* 57:29 — Sign-off — catching


Get full access to More Good Drinks at www.moregooddrinks.com/subscribe

I sat down with Vince Schiller for a thoughtful conversation about hospitality, creativity, and the power of community. Sure, Vince’s background in music and a life shaped by creative curiosity might have you believing you’ve got to be born ‘creative’ but we unpack how play is essential, everyone can practice creativity and the benefits for guests and industry. If you care about hospitality, community, or the art of making people feel included, this one is for you.Show Notes
In this episode, Vince and I explore how hospitality can become a space for creativity, community-building, and playful experimentation. Vince shares his journey from Chicago to New Zealand, how a background in music and creative problem-solving shaped his approach, and why he sees hospitality as more than a job — it’s a way to bring people together. We dig into the role of community in Auckland hospitality, the importance of creating third places where people can connect, and how events like Auckland Cocktail Week can make hospitality feel more inviting, collaborative, and fun. Vince also talks about how creativity thrives within boundaries, why play matters for adults just as much as it does for children, and how atmosphere, design, and storytelling can add real value for both guests and hospitality teams.The conversation closes with Vince’s thoughts on leadership, finding people’s strengths, and how small, intentional actions can help make hospitality more meaningful for everyone involved.
Key themes
* Creativity as a practice, not a personality trait
* Community-building through hospitality
* Playfulness and imagination in bars and events
* Creating value for guests through experience
* Leadership through facilitation and support
Notable moments
* Vince on how travel helped him reconnect with hospitality
* The story behind Auckland Cocktail Week’s energy and growth
* Why boundaries can actually make creativity easier
* The idea that hospitality spaces can feel like “third places”
* Vince’s belief that giving others space to shine builds stronger communities

Be sure to like, share and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform.


Get full access to More Good Drinks at www.moregooddrinks.com/subscribe