Episode 155: Keeping it Real With Arthur Black, Wine & Spirits Education Specialist, & Host of the Shift Drink Podcast
Wine and Spirits Education Specialist, and host of the Shift Drink Podcast, Arthur Black joins the ladies for an incredibly spirited discussion. Strap in, listeners, this episode is a straight, cask-strength pour with no chaser.
Arthur’s a dedicated educator, speaker, and is very generous with his time and advice for anyone seeking the gospel of gastronomy and the pure enjoyment of beverages that inspire.
A loose format show this week, it is explicit in terms of language; however, every once in a while it’s good to let our hair down. So strap in guys, we’re getting into stories, sugar gliders, vikings, tea, and everything in between.
[Recorded 15 March 2018]
About Arthur
Arthur Black is one of few young beverage industry educational leaders in the country, acquiring many titles and accreditations over 15 years of intense study. He is the Corporate Wine and Spirits Sales Manager for RNDC, a leading national wholesaler of fine wine and spirits.
Arthur is also a Certified Specialist of Wine & a Certified Specialist of Spirits through the Society of Wine Educator (which is how we all met). 
He’s also a:
Certified Spanish Wine Educator,
French Wine Educator,
Sake Specialist,
Advanced Sommelier,
Level 1 Cicerone,
Advanced Level III through the Wine and Spirits Education Trust,
He’s an active educator in the American sommelier community, as well as also the founder and President of the Indiana Craft Beverage Association.
There are few things in life he enjoys more than yoga and a glass of grower champagne (but not together).
Call us by our Names! (00:30)
Arthur has recently returned from a Yoga retreat in Guatemala, and interrupts his “Dry 2018” to imbibe and chatter with Steph and Val. This brings up topics later in the show regarding finding balance between the excesses of the alcohol industry, impressions people have of us, and health.
In this introductory segment we find out a little bit about Arthur’s work in developing a spirits academy – because he doesn’t have enough going on. About four minutes in, we do get into some boozy stories, so there’s no pulling punches in this episode.
In our Glasses (5:00)
Arthur: Arthur was sipping a spirit sample from a spirits academy he’s launching; it was 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% malted barley. He was also double fisting it with Amarone.
Val: Val was having ginger tea with some Korean citron honey mixed in.
St
eph: Steph had a 2012 Scacciadiavoli Montefalco Rosso from Italy that she opened a month ago. She was testing out a Repour Wine Saver, and was impressed by how well it worked.
Getting to Know Arthur, Master Sugar Glider Catcher (11:00)
Arthur is also the co-host of the Shift Drink Podcast with his buddy and restaurateur Ed Rudisell. Arthur’s professional life has been devoted to spreading the gospel of gastronomy to the remotely curious as well as those more intimately familiar with the playground of the human palate.
He also shares what the postnominals “MS” means to him at about 14:00 in. Don’t miss this story.
The Glamorous Life? (17:10)
It’s all fun and games until you overdo it. Discipline is a big factor in maintaining a long career in wine and spirits. Arthur gives us the straight up 411 on why it’s important to understand the impact of putting “beautiful but somewhat toxic” things into our bodies as often as we do.
As a beverage professional, he explains how easy it is to “get jaded when it comes to beverage, and it’s rare when we get genuinely amazed.” It was the brandy seminar we mentioned back in Episode 123.
At the end of the day, the beverage business is an industry that’s profit-driven, and we all have to remain cognizant of this.
The Fleas Come With the Downward Dog (22:35)
Balance and those things taking aim at our liver? We have to find ways to watch our waistlines and maintain our health. Arthur says, “it all comes down to discipline and being mindful of the things we put in our body.” As yogis, Steph and Val were totally picking up what Arthur was putting down here.
Whether we can still put our feet behind our heads, as a side note, is not the point here.
Shift Drink, Hey Babies, Bee Hugging, & Vikings? (24:44)
The Shift Drink Podcast is a joint project with restaurateur and “huge rum dude,” Ed Rudisell.
How it started? In South Beach, which apparently is lousy with “Hey babies.” Arthur explains how this environment was the genesis of a conversation that launched Shift Drink. It started with a food, beverage, and gastronomy focus that was focused not only on their home base of Indianapolis, but also up and coming food culture ventures.
And what about bees, mead, and vikings? Well, at 29:00 you’ll find out.
The Terpines Come With the Man Bun (31:00)
Arthur has a diverse depth and breadth of beverage knowledge. What most inspires his lectures and seminars are subjects with historical relevance like Sake and Mezcal. Culture, science, history, production, combined with the ability to invoke imagery, are important to conveying the substance and various aspects of a beverage.
You get a fun, irreverent personality with Arthur’s lessons, but you’re also getting serious knowledge and technical deets – and a ridiculous level of passion.
Minding your “Pees” and Qs: Lessons from “Tinkerbell” (36:30)
By the way, Arthur has a message for those young professionals inclined to catch everything with their iPhones and post it all to Facebook, “ya assholes.” (Val, agrees and raises her glass to this sentiment.)
He then proceeds to tell one of his embarrassing stories from his early wholesale days, quite a while back. Don’t try this at home (or in a hotel) kids! The point is, you have to check yourself in this industry, and there are far more tragic things that can happen than the fallout from peeing on some dude’s luggage.
We work hard, we play hard, and the beverage industry is rewarding. “Things can go south,” Arthur says. Wise words from someone who has seen, well, a lot. Please listen to all he has to offer on this topic.
Patreon Love (54:27) *Note this was recorded in mid-March, so we have some new patrons as of this episode’s release!
Thank you to our Patrons who support us on our Patreon crowdfunding platform!
“Riserva Superiore Supporter”
- Robin from Girls Gone Grape
“Riserva Supporter”
- Welcome to Antti in Georgia!
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“Tastemaker Listeners”
Welcome Karen & Chip Moore!
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- Chip & Karen in Pennsylvania – WELCOME!
- Danielle – WELCOME!
Speaking of Patreon Love (56:15)
The March winner is Renee! Congratulations, and we’ll be reaching out to you to hook you up with some W25 swag!
Connect: (57:32)
Between each weekly chat you can find us on the social spaces @WineTwoFive, and we encourage you to join our private FaceBook group called Wine Two Five Community!
Connect with Val on Twitter @WineGalUnboxed and as Vino With Val on Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest.
Connect with Steph on online as @TheWineHeroine.