Event Details

About the Instructors

Shelley Sackier is Reservoir Distillery’s Director of Distillery Education and the author of Make it a Double—From Wretched to Wonderous: Tales of one Woman’s Lifelong Discovery of Whisky. She pursued working within the world of whisky after completing a short course in Scotland’s Bruichladdich distillery. For the past twenty-five years she has devoted her efforts toward creating a plainspoken, easygoing, and humorous grasp on the subject for those new to brown spirits. Her work has led her to interview, apprentice, and create whisky with a wide variety of great talent within the industry. Her aim is to distill down this sophisticated spirit one simple sip at a time.

Beth Dixon has been in the restaurant industry since 2001. Her bar career began behind the stick at Can Can in Richmond’s historic Carytown. In her almost seven years at Can Can she honed her skills as a professional bartender. She credits a lot of her success to the things she learned from service manager Joao Neri & sommelier Bob Talcott in her tenure at the French brasserie.

She was on the opening team of the much beloved, now shuttered, Pasture. Michele Jones, owner and front of house manager, hired her on the word of former co-workers on their opening night. Working behind the bar at Pasture for almost seven years, she fine-tuned her style with Southern flair and hospitality and eventually became the bar manager. The teamwork that Jones and her partner Jason Alley encouraged between the kitchen and the front of house teams allowed Beth the freedom to make her own mixers and work with kitchen staff to do an incredibly low waste bar program.

Known for her shrubs and high acid cocktails Beth was put to the challenge in her role as Bar Manager at Perch, Mike Ledesma’s Pacific Rim inspired restaurant. This opened up a new creative window where the focus was on Polynesian style cocktails with tropical fruits and spices.

Beth is the sole proprietor of Salt and Acid, where she focuses on cocktail menu consulting, bar staff training and private events. She currently serves as President for the Richmond, VA chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild and occasionally tends bar at L’Opossum in Richmond, Virginia.