Finalist — James Wieland

@sentyun

Cocktail: Bonsoir to Cognac

James Wieland II is a bartender and amateur fermentor in his home town of Milwaukee Wisconsin. He graduated from UW- Milwaukee with a bachelors in Applied Linguistics and through the time since, he has also developed a deep appreciation for the technique and culture behind spirits and the preparation of them.

Through working in the food and beverage industry for half a decade, cultivating relationships and learning, he has grown fond of the knowledge, technique and relationship with the land spirits and fermentation play in concretizing culinary practices into culture. Just like language, there is a story to be told about a people and who they are in their relationship to the crops and botanicals of their environment, both in time and through time. Learning about and using spirits provides a lens into the past and present of a people’s palate and permaculture. The art of fermentation and its complex systems fascinate Justin in its role with humanity’s relationship to nature and our environment.