The Cottonmouth Club Presents

Cognac is a category of spirit that is steeped in history, and has been associated with quality in so many different ways for hundreds of years. To many modern drinkers, it has also been steeped in mystery, with governing bodies and definitions that many people, both bartenders and consumers, don’t always have the experience to understand.

To help us get to know the intricacies of Cognac, we reached out to ms. franky marshall. Not o...

This is a live-stream podcast, taken from our nightly “Virtual Bar” on Instagram @thecottonmouthclub. 

The threat of Covid-19 is existential, which is pretty clear, but the risk to the rest of society isn’t always. Here, we have a conversation that breaks down why this time is different. For the second time, we’ve been closed down, but this time, it’s just us.

This conversation was inspired by, of all people, Vice President Mike ...

To support what we’re doing, you can leave a contribution in our virtual tip jar on Venmo at theCottonmouthClub-staff, or at www.paypal.me/michaelneff. Thanks so much.

The city of Houston is the first major city in the United States to reopen its bars and restaurants. Despite the best intentions of many operators and many patrons, there are enough bad actors on both sides of the bar to create an environment that, we believe, is acti...

In Part Two of our conversation with Sly Augustin, we discuss the place his bar, Trailer Happiness in Notting Hill, has in the grand scheme of the Modern Tiki Revival. 

"Is the bar that sparked the Modern Tiki Revival in the UK allowed to be a tiki bar?” - Sly Augustin

“What’s more important for tiki: the drink and the philosophy, or the flotsam?” - Sly Augustin

In this episode, we talked about the history of Trailer Happiness, wh...

The current Covid-19 pandemic has hit the bar industry particularly hard. Bars are gathering places, and people gathering is the threat that necessitated quarantine and sequester orders all across the United States and around the world. This crisis is international, and we wanted to find out if the challenges facing bars in America were similar to those faced in other countries.

To do that, we spoke with Sly Augustin, owner of Trail...

This episode is one in a series of podcasts from our Live Stream Virtual Bar, in which we discuss how the bar industry is really the business of humanity, how that relates to the current social and economic unrest in America, and how bartenders should be trained to insist on the idea that we are all responsible for the lives of every person who comes into our bars.

#blacklivesmatter

Support the show (https://www.paypal.me/michaelneff...

Friday, May 22nd was the day the Governor of Texas declared that bars in the state could re-open after the mandated COVID-19 shutdown up to 25% capacity. We at The Cottonmouth Club thought long and hard about whether or not to do that, and ultimately decided we would, though the safety protocols we instituted were above what was recommended.

In this podcast, edited by our friend Blair Ault of Whiskey Women Podcast, you’ll hear the a...

The Cottonmouth Club Presents promotes bars, bar culture, cocktails and spirits. In this episode, we do a deep dive into American Single Malt Whiskey with Westland Distillery’s Chris Riesbeck.

Our discussion starts with Westland Whiskey, but we ended up talking about so many aspects of whiskey, how it’s produced, and the idea of provenance as it applies to distilled spirits. Some highlights include:

- What is American Single Malt?
- T...

If you would like to leave a virtual tip for the bar staff who helped produce this podcast, you can go to Venmo and contribute to TheCottonmouthClub-Staff. All proceeds go to the staff for food & essentials until we all have some clarity as to how this will all play out.

Training for Mastery takes years of work and dedication, and after a certain point there is no road map in any industry that helps the novice graduate to the jo...

If you would like to leave a virtual tip for the bar staff who helped produce this podcast, you can go to Venmo and contribute to TheCottonmouthClub-Staff. All proceeds go to the staff for food & essentials until we all have some clarity as to how this will all play out.

Training for Mastery takes years of work and dedication, and after a certain point there is no road map in any industry that helps the novice graduate to the jo...

Cowboy Story Time, in which The Cottonmouth Club’s own Danny Furness reads old western stories in his Texas twang and cowboy voice. 

Here you’ll find part ten of Gunman’s Bluff, a short story by Max Brand about a gunman who loses the ability to use his shooting hand. He must navigate a world full of enemies without the ability to fill his right hand with iron.

If you like what you’re hearing, leave a buck or two in our tip jar on Ven...

What is a bar for? How about a bartender? And now, in the interstitial space between what was and what will be, how can a person be a bartender when we can’t have people in our bars?

This episode does a few things: it gives a direct insight into our specific training style, we speculate on how to make a bar experience virtual, all of which culminates in two talented bartenders performing a classic comedy sketch. Some of the question...

Cowboy Story Time, in which The Cottonmouth Club’s own Danny Furness reads old western stories in his Texas twang and cowboy voice. 

Here you’ll find part nine of Gunman’s Bluff, a short story by Max Brand about a gunman who loses the ability to use his shooting hand. He must navigate a world full of enemies without the ability to fill his right hand with iron.

If you like what you’re hearing, leave a buck or two in our tip jar on Ve...

Cowboy Story Time, in which The Cottonmouth Club’s own Danny Furness reads old western stories in his Texas twang and cowboy voice. 

Here you’ll find part eight of Gunman’s Bluff, a short story by Max Brand about a gunman who loses the ability to use his shooting hand. He must navigate a world full of enemies without the ability to fill his right hand with iron.

If you like what you’re hearing, leave a buck or two in our tip jar on V...

Training for Mastery takes years of work and dedication, and after a certain point there is no road map in any industry that helps the novice graduate to the journeyman, and the journeyman transform into the master. 

Before we start, an ask for you. If you would like to leave a virtual tip for the bar staff who helped produce this podcast, you can go to Venmo and contribute to TheCottonmouthClub-Staff. All proceeds go to the staff f...

Training for Mastery takes years of work and dedication, and after a certain point there is no road map in any industry that helps the novice graduate to the journeyman, and the journeyman transform into the master. 

If you would like to leave a virtual tip for the bar staff who helped produce this podcast, you can go to Venmo and contribute to TheCottonmouthClub-Staff. All proceeds go to the staff for food & essentials until we...

Cowboy Story Time, in which The Cottonmouth Club’s own Danny Furness reads old western stories in his Texas twang and cowboy voice. 

Here you’ll find part seven of Gunman’s Bluff, a short story by Max Brand about a gunman who loses the ability to use his shooting hand. He must navigate a world full of enemies without the ability to fill his right hand with iron.

If you like what you’re hearing, leave a buck or two in our tip jar on V...

In 2011, The Cottonmouth Club’s own Michael J. Neff wrote an article for Serious Eats in which he described a blind date through the lens of the Vodka Soda. The reaction to it was strong, which was most evidenced by the back-and-forth conversations and flames in the comment thread. Those comments are definitely more entertaining than the article itself.

The multi-talented Cottonmouth Club crew have decided to present the article in ...