Allen Katz

Allen Katz is the Director of Mixology & Spirits Education for Southern Wine & Spirits of New York. He is also the host of The Cocktail Hour, a weekly program on Martha Stewart Living Radio (Sirius 112 and XM 157) on the joyous topic of cocktails. Yes, you can drink alcohol on satellite radio!

In addition to presenting food and beverage seminars to public and private groups, Allen has worked both as a business consultant and in cocktail development for some of the most recognized brands in the beverage industry. He has been a featured sommelier at wine festivals in Naples, Florida and Sun Valley, Idaho in recent years, and 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.

He has worked with Slow Food to develop programming that has garnered acclaim and recognition from foodservice and consumer media including America’s Great Regional Breweries (New York, 2001), Super Whites - A Celebration of the White Wines of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (New York, 2001 & 2002), The Brooklyn Pig Fest (Brooklyn, 2001 & 2002), The International Organic Wine Expo (New York, 2001), The Baum Forum on Food and The Future - A Growing Concern (New York, 2002), A Tribute to Jerry Thomas - Father of The Cocktail at The Plaza Hotel (New York, 2003), Cocktails: An American Art (Italy, 2004), Misery & Gin (Italy, 2005), Greenmarket Mixology (New York, 2006-2008), Vermouth & The American Cocktail (New York & Italy, 2006), Rye Whiskey, Rye Whiskey (New York & Portland, 2007), New York & The History of The Cocktail (London, 2008).

Most recently, Allen was the co-curator of the Jerry Thomas American Cocktail Bar at the inaugural Slow Food Nation (San Francisco, 2008) as well as the presenter of Slow Spirits - The Cocktail as Food Justice and the Universal Right of Pleasure.

Allen is a frequent presenter at trade shows and industry events. He is a regular speaker at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, the NASFT’s Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, and The National Restaurant Association’s annual convention in Chicago on topics of regional food and beverage heritage in America.

He also devotes time to serve as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Slow Food U.S.A.