BCB Brooklyn has brought back one of the most experienced bar experts in the world, Angus Winchester, to curate the education program along with a Seminar Selection Panel. The program provides you with the opportunity to keep a pulse on industry trends and innovative new processes that will help ignite new ideas and concepts for your business. Learn about our Seminar Selection Panel—their backgrounds, accomplishments and more!
Head of Education at Bar Convent Brooklyn and Bar Convent Berlin
Angus Winchester is the Head of Education at Bar Convent Brooklyn and Bar Convent Berlin. He is the former global ambassador for Tanqueray Gin and a spirits industry champion winning titles including Best International Brand Ambassador 2012, Golden Spirit Award 2014 and Best Bar Mentor 2016 at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards as well as Wine Enthusiast Best Mixologist 2012.
Co-founder of the New York Distilling Company in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Director of Mixology & Spirits Education for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits of New York
Allen Katz is one of the foremost spirits experts in the United States. He is the co-founder of the New York Distilling Company in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – one of the nation's premier craft distilleries - where he produces Dorothy Parker – American Gin, Perry’s Tot – Navy-Strength Gin, Chief Gowanus– New-Netherland Gin, Mister Katz’s Rock & Rye, and Ragtime Rye. He is also the Director of Mixology & Spirits Education for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits of New York, the nation’s largest wholesaler of wine and spirits. In addition to presenting food and beverage seminars for public and private groups, Allen has worked as a business consultant and in cocktail development for some of the most recognized brands in the beverage industry. He is a lecturer on spirits and mixology for the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) in New York City as well as for the Food Studies Program at New York University.
Bar owner Hunky Dory, in
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Co-founder of Tin Roof Drink Community
Claire Sprouse hails from Houston, Texas, where she helped establish the city's cocktail and restaurant culture before relocating to San Francisco in 2011. From there, she managed operations and menu development for Futurebars' Rickhouse and Tradition. During her time on the west coast, she was also able to carve out time behind some of the city's most well-known cocktail institutions -- bartending at Comstock Saloon, revamping Tosca Cafe, and helping open ABV, which won Tales of the Cocktail's 2015 "Best New American Cocktail Bar" and 2016 "Best American Bar Team". Together with Chad Arnholt, Sprouse formed the Tin Roof Drink Community, which is now based in New York City. Their goal is to create a culture of shared information and practices within the cocktail industry. Since 2014, they have committed their focus to what has become the industry’s utmost concern, sustainability, by spotlighting green bar initiatives through sustainable design projects, beverage programming, educational initiatives, individual consultations, and community outreach. Claire recently opened her first all-day restaurant and bar, Hunky Dory, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Co-owner of Exisiting Conditions
Director of Product Development at Cocktail Kingdom and Co-Founder of the Cocktail Apprentice Program
Don Lee is a Southern California expatriate now residing in New York City. A software engineer/systems administrator by trade and documentary photographer by schooling, he is now pursuing his true passion for food and cocktails as the co-owner of Exisiting Conditions, previously the Beverage Director of PDT (Please Don't tell). Lee is also the Director of Product Development at Cocktail Kingdom and Co-Founder of the Cocktail Apprentice Program.
Author, public speaker, and entrepreneur: founder of JackFromBrooklyn Inc.
and the creator of the award-winning Sorel Liqueur
Jackie Summers is an author, public speaker, and entrepreneur: founder of JackFromBrooklyn Inc. and the creator of the award-winning Sorel Liqueur. A native New Yorker, he served as an Executive Editor for The Good Men Project for six years.
Named one of the “50 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Food” by Brooklyn Magazine, his work has appeared in Edible Brooklyn, Plate Magazine, Wine Enthusiast, Salon, Brooklyn Magazine, BestLife, and Alcohol Professor. He was honored to serve as a judge for the 2018 James Beard Awards, and a judge for the 2017 & 2018 American Craft Spirits Association Awards.
Jack is a recognized hospitality industry expert, and an active voice in anti-oppression, inclusion, diversity, and marginalization, helping shape the conversation in hospitality around social justice, lifestyle, health, addiction, and sustainability.
Co-founder, Speed Rack, Bar Director Llama Inn and soon to open Llama San
Lynnette’s “spirited” career began in 2004 when she accepted a job at New York’s Flatiron Lounge alongside cocktail luminary Julie Reiner. She quickly realized that the spirits industry was her true calling, and proceeded to work at such top drinking venues as Freemans NYC, and Elettaria in Manhattan's West Village, where she worked closely with the chef to create an award-winning cocktail menu. This led her into the world of rum and opened up the opportunity for her work with lauded Guatemalan brand, Zacapa. After two years as Zacapa’s Rum Ambassador, Lynnette returned to creating bar programs via her consulting company Drinksat6 – cultivating a new generation of cocktail bartenders and elevating the bar programs at restaurants.
Lynnette is a founding member and current President of the New York City chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails). She helms the beverage programs for high-profile culinary events Taste of the Nation NYC and City Meals on Wheels, was honored by the James Beard Awards as one of America’s Leading Female Mixologists in 2009, and, in 2010, as Beverage Director at Rye House won Time Out Eat Out Awards for Best New Cocktail Bar, and Best Bar Restaurant Hybrid. Together with Ivy Mix, she co-founded, Speed Rack in 2011, a national cocktail competition featuring top female bartenders in key cocktail markets, putting them head to head in round robin style timed and judged challenges. It is the first competition to highlight the up and coming generation of strong women in the spirits industry with 100% of proceeds from the events go to breast cancer education, prevention and research
Author, Spirits Educator and Consultant, Beverage Director, Glady's Caribbean
Shannon Mustipher is a spirits educator, cocktail consultant, expert on the topic of rum and Beverage Director of Glady’s Caribbean.
In addition to working with a number of spirits brands across a range of categories, she is one of the founding members of Women Leading Rum, which provides education and professional development for trade Shannon's writing, cocktail recipes, and opinions have been featured in a number of publications, including Punch.com, GQ.com, Liquor.com, New York Magazine, and Eater. She was named one of Imbibe Magazine's 75 People to Watch for 2019 and her first book, Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails (Rizzoli/Universe), was released this Spring.