Special Interview Episodes Episodes

On this very special episode, we're joined by the one and only Melissa Jordan of B933 radio in Milwaukee! We didn't want to subject her to the horror of the Japanese Kit-Kat Taste Off, but we wanted to have a little food fun, so we had a Flavor Fantasy Friday and tried 8 flavors of Oreos! You'll have to listen to get our verdict on each of these flavors. None were as bad as macha Kit Kats, but that's a low bar. Here's the list of Oreo cookie flavors we tried: Carrot Cake Caramel Coconut ...

Hi podcast friends - you've probably heard us talk about how much we love Seipp Brewing's new Columba Bock beer, we've featured it as one of the things we're drinking. You may also remember us talking to Laurin Mack, the brand owner of the beer last year as she launched the brand. This year, she launched a second type of Seipp Beer - Columbia Bock - and we teamed up with her and Dave Desimone, site director of Black Point Estate & Gardens, to have a virtual launch party for the delicious new bee...

Long time listeners know that Bridget and Nick are huge proponents of Bubly sparkling water, and you can often see us drinking the water during the show (if you're watching on YouTube). We've gotten several requests to do a seltzer water taste off, pitting different brands of water against each other to see if we can tell the difference and to see which one we like best. For this taste off, we recruited our friend Mike Mason from Lake961 to be an impartial and inexperienced judge (he has never ...

"Barbecue is an opportunity for world peace" - that's the philosophy of Jon from Just North of Memphis BBQ and Catering. On this special interview episode, Jon and his wife Kristy, the owners of JNOM joined us to talk all things barbecue. Throughout the course of the interview, we talk about what exactly barbecue is, how the couple got involved in barbecue, stories from the road, and, of course, a few tips on how to make great barbecue at home. Whether you're a rib fanatic or not, this is an in...

On this special interview episode of the Dinner Plus Drinks podcast, we spoke with Laurin Mack, proprietor, owner, queen, and head of The Conrad Seipp Brewing Co! Laurin is a direct descendent of Conrad Seipp, a legendary brewer in Chicago history, and builder of Black Point Estate & Gardens on Geneva Lake. The brand disappeared with Prohibition, but Laurin is bringing it back, and the BEER IS DELICIOUS. In this interview we talk about: - Who Conrad Seipp was and what his brewery was all about...

Candles are serious business - especially when you're trying to raise money for charity! In this video episode (click here to watch on YouTube!) of the Dinner Plus Drinks podcast, Bridget and Nick entered mortal combat to determine who could design the most spring smelling candle. To accomplish task, we reached out to our friends Liz and Leigh Ann at Lake Geneva's Candle Mercantile and teamed up with Kisses from Keegan, a local charity that grants wishes and joyful experiences for local kids fig...

In our first ever video podcast episode, we hit the road to meet our friends at Greyspot Visuals and judge five different hard seltzers. We tried to guess the flavor, and then picked our favorites. The five seltzers we tried are: Bud Light Seltzer - Mango Cloudless Hard Seltzer (made by 3 Sheeps) - Clearly Citrus High Noon Seltzer - Pineapple Topsy Turvy Brewing - Dive - (experimental flavor from a almost open Lake Geneva Brewery) White Claw - Black Cherry You can watch this episode online...

As a millennial, I have a lot of anxiety. (Haha - everyone loves a good millennial joke!) One of the things I have anxiety about is trying new types of foods and not being "inauthentic" about "someone else's" cuisine or culture. I think a lot of other people feel this way as well, and I wanted to talk to a culinary expert about this dilemma. On this episode we're joined by Chef Nelly Buleje of Grand Geneva Resort and Spa to talk about this topic. In Chef's own words, "he's as Latino as Latino c...

Two years ago, when the podcast was named Reduce by Half, we had the opportunity to talk to Chef Joe Muench the renowned Chef / Owner at Maxie's restaurant in Milwaukee, part of the Black Shoe Hospitality Group. Chef Joe is an expert on the cuisines of Louisiana, and on this episode, he shared his expertise on Cajun and Creole cuisine. You'll learn some of the backstory of the cuisines, plus a few tips on how you can cook Louisiana at home. We have lots of new listeners, and this is a great int...

Lake Geneva Winterfest is almost here! In this episode, we hit the streets and interview 7 different people involved with the event to give you an overview of everything happening. If you don't want to listen to the entire episode, but know you want to learn more about a particular part of Winterfest, check out the chapter markers for easy skipping! If you're checking out the podcast for the first time, we appreciate you listening. We release weekly episodes every Sunday, and the audio quality ...

We wrap up our series of 2019 look backs and 2020 look aheads with this interview. This episode, we are joined by Travis Stockstill, who may be better known as @americanbutcher on Instagram. Travis is a talented butcher, who in addition to his day job, hosts The Meat Block podcast, and is a member of Team USA for the the 2020 World Butchers' Challenge. We discuss: Travis' journey to becoming a butcher. Cuts of meat, flavors, and other meat trends in 2019. What we're expecting to 2020, how we ...

In this Dinner Plus Drinks interview, we speak with Jeff Siegel, The Wine Curmudgeon, about wine trends in 2019, and look forward to 2020. Jeff writes and podcasts at winecurmudgeon.com where he shares his tips on how to find affordable wines for every day drinking, as well as news items, reviews, and much more. He's the perfect person to take a look at industry wide trends. In this episode: Jeff shares how he came to be "The Wine Curmudgeon." We discuss trends we saw in 2019 including:The tre...

We continue our exploration of what happened in 2019 and prognostication into 2020 with John Brewer, the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Excalibur Seasoning. During this episode, we discuss: How Excalibur Seasonings became one of the leading suppliers of flavor to meat processors. John's journey from graduating meat cutting school to becoming the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Excalibur Seasoning. Some of the major flavor trends in 2019, plus a look forward into 2020 from Joh...

Welcome to our newly relaunched podcast! For the first ever Dinner + Drinks Interview, we're talking craft beer with Nick Scofield, Sales Director at Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville, Illinois. This episode is the first of a series of 4 podcasts looking back at 2019, and taking a glimpse into 2020. In this episode: Nick gives us the background on Solemn Oath Brewery, a Great American Beer Festival award winning brewery located in Naperville, Illinois that produces about 7,000 barrels of beer a...