{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"MAFFEO DRINKS: The Lab","title":"125 | Why Modern Classic Cocktails Stopped After 2012 and Why You Should Care Now with Robert Simonson","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1967,"description":"Robert Simonson, author of seven cocktail books including “A Proper Drink,” and \"Modern Classic Cocktails\", has spent twenty-five years documenting the modern cocktail era as it happened. Not reconstructed afterwards. Not filtered through brand mythology or oral history passed between generations of sales managers. He was in the room. He talked to the people making the decisions while the bars were still open and the drinks were still new. Seven books. His Substack newsletter The Mix. A primary source in an industry where almost everything gets retold until it resembles something useful to whoever is telling it.In this episode, we go back to the question that most people in commercial roles cannot answer precisely: why did the canon close, and what replaced it. We examine the intimidation factor preventing cocktail culture from scaling to mass audiences, the missing middle between 50 Best Bars theatrical experiences and basic dive bars, and why guest shifts evolved from knowledge-sharing mechanisms into publicity machines.The answer is mechanical. It has been running inside the industry for over a decade. And if your brand is not scaling at the pace you want, despite the distribution, the accounts, and the activations, it is likely the same dynamic is producing the same result at a different scale.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction and Welcome00:09 The Birth of Modern Cocktails00:41 Modern Classics and Their Impact03:06 Challenges in Creating New Cocktails08:30 The Role of Brands in Cocktail Evolution16:37 The Missing Middle in Cocktail Culture25:10 The Future of Cocktail Journalism30:54 Conclusion and Final Thoughts","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/EEVeqPnCSO50vcTEwCGi8EsKVAfckKW1Ma9V9k_f5cM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mNjQy/ZWFiZWJiOTRmMTBm/YmUxYWFmNTA2MjI4/M2ViNC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}