AGE VERIFICATION

Originally from San Francisco, California, John ‘JC’ Cunningham moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to attend Marquette University for Journalism. JC is the Operations Manager at the Plum Lounge and Co-owner of Low Key Hospitality. Making regular appearances on Milwaukee’s industry “Best of” lists, JC has been featured in Info Magazine as well as being selected as a ‘Mixed Tape’ bartender by Copper & Kings at Tales of the Cocktail. JC is also a dance instructor and owns a dance company called Hype.

Fran Berger is a restaurateur and entrepreneur. More than two decades ago she opened The Farm, a quaint dining establishment in the heart of Beverly Hills, and quickly turned her restaurant into a local landmark. Fran is a fresh face on daytime TV and an expert in home entertaining and sophisticated living. Her credits include appearances on Hallmark’s Emmy-nominated lifestyle program, Home & Family, as well as publications including Beverly Hills Magazine, Inspirations & Celebrations, and many more.

Born and raised in Dallas, Ashley Meyer Garrett lives with her husband, Jordan, and precious pup, Lady, in East Dallas. Ashley works together with Jordan to run The Bar Cartist – their online shop for all things home-bar related. The Bar Cartist features a curated selection of bar products made by specialist designers and helps people to have the home-bar cocktail experiences that they’ve always wanted. Ashley loves all things champagne and travel related…and Tex-Mex cuisine.

When Chopin Vodka was first created there were very few choices of vodka available – although the bottles varied, the spirits inside them were much the same. The opinion of most people has been that vodka cannot be a premium spirit; over the past twenty-five years, Chopin Vodka has worked tirelessly to change this misconception.

Natalie Jacob is a bartender and blogger based in the NYC area. She has been in the hospitality industry for 15 years and has worked in various classic cocktail-focused bars – most notably, PKNY and Dutch Kills. She runs her own beverage and creative consulting business along with writing her own blog, Aresenic-Lace. Her drinks have been featured in Time Out New York, Business Insider, Wine Enthusiast and Refinery 29 (among many others). Natalie also contributes recipes to A Beautiful Mess and Palm Springs Style.

Chopin Vodka is committed to realising the vision of a world without breast cancer. Chopin Vodka began its commitment to the cause of breast cancer in 2011 with the launch of its first Pink Ribbon Campaign. Each year, Chopin Vodka releases a special edition of its award-winning potato vodka in a pink bottle in order to raise awareness for the cause and money for research.

Justin was born in Connecticut with family roots in both Boston and NYC. He is the founder of The Cup Bearer, a luxury mobile bar company that provides bar services for exclusive off-premise events from Boston to NYC. The Cup Bearer provides fully-portable, custom-built bars and a team of stylish and charismatic career mixologists able to create any combination of exotic libation.

Rob Franklin originally hails from the South but moved to California for school and New York for work. Today, he works in Audience & Strategy for art magazine, Artsy.net. Franklin also writes poetry and fiction. His work has been published in the Levinthal Anthology and in Fields Magazine.

Anya is a writer and editor who began her career working for Creators at VICE and helped run Dirt, a food magazine by Dig Inn. She now works at Healthyish, a vertical of Bon Appétit at Condé Nast. Anya studied Print Culture at NYU and is in the early process of starting her own magazine devoted to dance. Among her talents, Anya speaks English, French, Spanish and Russian.

Chopin Vodka has joined together with Losada Olives to pair our exceptional single-ingredient vodkas with craft-produced olives. Based in New York, Losada is a purveyor of artisan Spanish olives. In this article we share some of the complexities involved in pairing vodka with olives and discuss the journey of the olive from the grove to the martini glass.

Stephanie Nass is the founder of Chefanie Sheets – edible, customizable paper designs that elevate ordinary cakes into works of art in five minutes. Stephanie graduated from Columbia University, then attended culinary school at the International Culinary Center in SoHo. She also founded the Victory Club, a membership organization that brings people together over a shared passion for gastronomy and visual arts.

Hannah Harden began working as Chopin Vodka’s Northern California Regional Manager in 2013. She is also passionate about fashion, which she writes about on her website Vogue in Vines. Living in Napa Valley, surrounded by vineyards and people with a rich tradition of entertaining, has had a strong influence on Hannah’s personal style of hospitality.

Alessandra Garcia-Lorido is a Los Angeles born, New York City based model. She has worked with brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Siriano, Marina Rinaldi, Mango, H&M and Asos and her work has been featured in Italian Vogue, Glamour and French Elle. I grew up in a Cuban household where we were always entertaining guests. Throwing dinner parties is our family specialty and cocktails are always flowing. While I’m setting up for a party I like to play oldies, like The Shirelles, but once my friends arrive I love the Pandora station ‘Hip-Hop BBQ’, which is all old school hip hop. Trust me, it’s amazing!