Proof of Concept

20 Episodes

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Chelsea Russell — Inside the Cardboard Jungle

2026-11-1014:59

Before a judge ever lifts a glass, thousands of bottles have to arrive, get unpacked, get checked, and land in exactly the right category. Chelsea Russell runs that operation. As Warehouse Operations and Volunteer Manager at The Tasting Alliance, she turns what she calls a very organized cardboard jungle into a competition that runs clean. In this episode, she talks about what it takes to classify a bottle correctly, why that decision matters more than most people realize, and the volunteers who make the whole thing move.

The Judges’ Roundtable — Inside the Minds Behind the Medals

2026-11-0301:13:43

Every medal starts with a judge, a glass, and no idea what’s in it. This special roundtable brings seven judges together to walk through what’s actually going through their heads at the table — how they approach a flight, what separates a good spirit from a Double Gold, where they disagree, and how they keep a decision honest when there’s no label to lean on. Joined by Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Chief Judge of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition; Colin Asare-Appiah, Community Advocacy Director at Bacardi; Gary Gruver, Global Director of Beverage Strategy at Marriott International; Bridget Albert of Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits; Bethne Stewart of The Portrait Bar; Molly Horn of Total Wine & More; and journalist Brad Japhe.

Brigid Green & Robbin Green Yeh — The Other Side of the Medal

2026-10-2716:03

Before they ever worked a competition, Brigid Green and Robbin Green Yeh were shoppers like everyone else — noticing the medals on bottles and taking them as a reasonable bet. Years of volunteering at The Tasting Alliance competitions changed what those stickers mean to them. In this episode, they talk about seeing the blind judging process up close, the expertise and care that goes into every award, and why a medal reads differently once you know what stands behind it.

Maddee McDowell, Executive VP - Carrying the Legacy Forward

2026-10-2015:34

Maddee McDowell, Executive Vice President of The Tasting Alliance, has spent years helping build what grew out of a single competition and keeps it running at a scale Anthony Dias Blue’s original San Francisco International Wine Competition could only hint at. In this episode, she talks about what it means to carry that legacy forward, what it actually takes to run competitions of this size, and the standards that have stayed the same no matter how much everything around them has grown.

Molly Horn, Total Wine & More — What Actually Sells

2026-10-1320:51

Molly Horn spends her days watching what people actually buy. As Head of Mixology, Spirits Education, and Celebrity Events at Total Wine & More, she knows what pulls someone toward one bottle over the twenty next to it — label, price, word of mouth, or something harder to name. In this episode, she gets into how that view from the retail floor shapes the way she judges at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and what the gap is between a spirit that wins a medal and one that uses that medal to win a customer.

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