New radio show will include beer tasting.

The Los Angeles radio personality Tom Leykis has launched a new weekly, syndicated show called "The Tasting Room."

Leykis is currently known for a weekday radio show aimed at a young male target audience that has been called tasteless. The new show will aim a notch higher.

It will be a two-hour program focused on appreciating wine, beer and spirits, initially broadcast live on Saturdays, from 3-5 p.m. on LA's KLSX-FM (beginning January 29), expanding nationally when Westwood One syndicates it for weekend slots in other major markets.

Leykis is a wine enthusiast, but also has an interest in beer and spirits. "It's clear in the last few years that a revolution is taking place in the wine industry similar to coffee," Leykis says. "Beer choices have exploded since the microbrew craze. Premium vodka, gin and spirits have flourished."

Leykis said "The Tasting Room" will be the only nationally syndicated radio program focused solely on wine, beer and spirits, and "will be accessible to a broad audience that might not know much about fine alcohol, but has a willingness to learn."

Leykis says he will interview brewers and vintners, and travel to alcohol-producing regions worldwide. He says it will be a serious show, and unlike his weekday offering, "there will be little in the way of tomfoolery."