Beastie Boys’ Mike D takes job as a sommelier

Former Beastie Boy Mike D is swapping rap lyrics for wine lists, having landed a job as a sommelier at a new restaurant set to open in Los Angeles next month.

Beastie Boys: Mike D (far right)

Although don’t expect the rapper to be waiting tables if you make a reservation. The Beastie Boys’ Michael “Mike D” Diamond, who is known to be an avid wine collector, will work with sommelier Taylor Parsons to select the wines for Hearth & Hound, Bloomberg reports, helping to curate its wine list.

The restaurant is the new project from Spotted Pig owner Ken Friedman and its acclaimed chef April Bloomfield and is expected to open on 22 September.

“It’s going to be a fun list,” Diamond told Bloomberg. “We are putting together a wine program that will get customers tasting things they might not taste. If you like California Syrah, I might point you towards a wine from another part of the world that’s better value. We’re going to pour half-bottles, so you can try different things.”

One of Diamond’s priorities is that the list be accessible and approachable to those who know a lot, or a little, about wine.

“If you want a glass of wine, you shouldn’t have to spend an hour figuring out what that wine is, what you’re going to drink,” he said.

“The restaurant is in the middle of Hollywood. A lot of people will be using [Hearth & Hound] for work; a lot of people will use it to be social.”

The list will also include a list of rare vintages, but will not be title as the ‘reserve list’ – a term Diamond says he sounds “full of shit”.

“I’d rather say, it’s a ‘digging deeper in the crates’ list,” he said.

The Beastie Boys were founded out of New York in 1981 fronted by rappers Michael “Mike D” Diamond on drums, Adam “MCA” Yauch on bass and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz on guitar. Their biggest hits included Brass Monkey, No Sleep till Brooklyn, and Fight for your Right (to party).