Ian shares how he created a career championing rum around the world, his philosophy of putting the category before individual brands, and some incredible stories from more than two decades in the industry.

The conversation covers the legendary 17-year-old Wray & Nephew behind The Merchant Hotel’s £750 Mai Tai, Ian’s candid account of creating and ultimately leaving Equiano Rum, and what he learned from the experience.

Ian also reveals what’s next, including Captain Shaddock, his new grapefruit rum liqueur with Foursquare, and Crossfire Hurricane, the Jamaican rum he helped create for The Rolling Stones.

• How Ian became the Global Rum Ambassador
• Why great brand ambassadors need to champion the wider category
• The story behind the rare Wray & Nephew and £750 Mai Tai
• What happened with Equiano Rum and why Ian walked away
• Creating rum with Foursquare and The Rolling Stones

Plus, Ian looks ahead to the 20th anniversary of UK RumFest and the next chapter in his mission to spread the word about rum.

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This week on The Cocktail Academy, two conversations from Tales of the Cocktail 2026 bring together very different perspectives on tequila, bartending, representation and the stories the drinks industry chooses to remember.

First, Damian sits down with Grace González, master distiller and part of the family behind El Mayor Tequila. Grace shares her family's nearly 150-year connection to tequila, what really goes into producing El Mayor, and what it took to establish herself in an industry that hasn't always made space for women.

She explains why Blanco is the expression she reaches for to understand the true character of tequila, the importance of agave, water and the family's multi-generational yeast strain, and offers a nuanced take on the industry's increasingly heated additives debate.

Grace also shares the brilliant story of an early experiment involving 87 Chardonnay barrels that went disastrously wrong — before ultimately becoming El Mayor's first limited-edition Chardonnay-finished tequila.

Then Damian is joined by acclaimed bartender, educator and author Tiffanie Barriere, aka The Drinking Coach.

From helping establish One Flew South as one of America's most celebrated airport bars to consultancy, education and being recognised among the industry's Living Legends, Tiffanie's career has taken her across the drinks world.

But the conversation goes deeper into representation and who gets remembered in cocktail history. Tiffanie discusses her experience as a Black woman in the industry, the Black and brown bartenders whose contributions were rarely documented, and why recovering those stories matters.

It's also part of the thinking behind her book Good Spirits — bringing different people, histories and experiences onto the pages of a modern cocktail book.

Two interviews. Two very different careers. One conversation about agave, family, failure, bartending, representation and who gets written into drinks history.

• The González family's nearly 150-year connection to tequila
• How El Mayor Tequila approaches agave, water, yeast and production
• Grace's perspective on the tequila additives debate
• Becoming a female master distiller in a traditionally male-dominated industry
• How 87 Chardonnay barrels went from expensive mistake to successful limited release
• Tiffanie's journey from bartender to One Flew South, educator and consultant
• What it means to be recognised as a Living Legend at Tales
• Why representation in the drinks industry still matters
• The Black and brown bartenders missing from traditional cocktail histories
• Why Tiffanie wrote Good Spirits
• The importance of documenting the people who helped build cocktail culture

Grace González is part of the multi-generational family behind El Mayor Tequila and works as master distiller on limited editions and innovation projects.

Tiffanie Barriere is an award-winning bartender, educator, consultant and author known as The Drinking Coach. Her career includes nearly a decade at Atlanta's acclaimed One Flew South, and her book Good Spirits explores cocktails through culture, history and representation.

🎙️ The Cocktail Academy explores the people, techniques, history and stories behind the bottle and the bar.

Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts, and if you enjoy the episode, leave a rating or review and share it with someone who'll enjoy it.

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What does it take to spend nearly four decades making spirits differently — and to be willing to risk what you've built when you believe something needs to change?

Recorded at Tales of the Cocktail 2026 in New Orleans, Damian sits down with Alexandre Gabriel, the master blender and driving force behind Maison Ferrand, Planteray Rum and Citadelle Gin, for a conversation about spirits, history, leadership and the enduring importance of bars.

Alexandre traces his philosophy back to growing up on a small farm in France, where work, community and responsibility were inseparable. It's an outlook that still shapes Maison Ferrand today: surround yourself with great people, reinvest in what you're creating, and don't make something unless you have something worthwhile to say.

He discusses the origins of Citadelle Gin, his journey from Cognac into rum, and how discovering Caribbean fermentation techniques challenged many of the ideas he'd grown up with in French wine country.

At the heart of the episode is the story of Plantation Rum becoming Planteray Rum.

Alexandre speaks candidly about recognising that a name he originally associated with farming carried a very different historical meaning for others. He explains the conversations in Barbados that helped drive the decision, disagreement within the team, the commercial risks involved, and why he ultimately believed changing the name was the right thing to do.

It's a revealing discussion about leadership, responsibility and what happens when doing what you believe in also means taking a significant business risk.

The conversation then moves beyond spirits altogether.

Alexandre believes bars and bartenders have an increasingly important social role in a world where people are spending more time behind screens and less time connecting face-to-face.

For him, the distiller makes the instrument. The bartender plays the music.

And sometimes the most important thing a drink can do is simply give people a reason to sit together.

• Alexandre Gabriel's 37-year journey through the spirits industry
• How growing up on a French farm shaped his approach to business and leadership
• Building the long-standing team behind Maison Ferrand
• The creation of Citadelle Gin
• Alexandre's journey from Cognac into Caribbean rum
• Fermentation, yeast and why rum challenged what he'd learned in wine country
• The origins of Planteray's approach to double ageing
• Using historical research and traditional techniques to inspire new spirits
• Why Plantation Rum became Planteray Rum
• The difficult conversations in Barbados behind the decision
• The commercial risk involved in changing an established global brand
• What the name Planteray represents today
• Restoring historic distilling equipment in Barbados
• Why agriculture remains at the heart of Alexandre's approach to spirits
• Why bars and bartenders matter in an increasingly disconnected world
• Alexandre's belief that distillers make the instruments — and bartenders play the music

Alexandre Gabriel is the master blender and driving force behind Maison Ferrand, home to Ferrand Cognac, Citadelle Gin and Planteray Rum.

Across nearly four decades, his work has combined traditional distillation and maturation with historical research, experimentation and an intense curiosity about how spirits were made in the past — and what those techniques can still teach us today.

Throughout the conversation, one philosophy repeatedly surfaces: great spirits ultimately begin with agriculture, people and community.

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