The Philip Duff Show

Brian Maxwell, owner & beverage director, Vieux Carre, Pittsburgh

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 10:00:00 -0400

Brian is a peripatetic bartender who's slung drinks in his native Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, and, with the recently opened Vieux Carre, back to Pittsburgh. He's also been a fighter, starting with wrestling, then boxing and MMA, and fought the booze too, becoming and staying sober after going to just one too many "celebrations of life" for someone who left us too soon.

This is a great conversation, and fun too - enjoy!

Brian on IG: https://www.instagram.com/shakerofspirits/

Vieux Carre on IG: https://www.instagram.com/vieuxcarrepgh/

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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Retain Philip’s consulting firm, Liquid Solutions, specialised in on-trade engagement & education, liquor brand creation and repositioning: philip@liquidsolutions.org

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Aarón Díaz, founder, Carnaval (Lima), beverage director Super Group, chef & mixologist

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:00:00 -0400

I met Aarón in Europe when he was visiting, and I've wanted to sit down with him for ages. From a childhood in kitchens to teaching culinary arts around the world and falling sideways into mixology after a stint at Chicago's world-famous Aviary, his career path has been anything but straightforward. He's now moving on from Carnaval, the bar he founded that put Lima on the map for 50 Best Bars, so we caught up on his plans.

Aarón on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aarondiazolivos/?hl=en

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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Mike Paladini and Danny Polise, founders, Penelope Bourbon

Mon, 25 May 2026 11:00:00 -0400

I bumped into Mike at NY's legendary Irish bar Swift in 2020, when a mutual friend who'd been showing Mike around Manhattan bars introduced us. I'd heard a story or two about this new-to-the-market MGP-sourced bourbon named Penelope from a couple of New Jersey guys, and I took his business card and wished him well; the whiskey had only been available for a year or so at that stage. Mike sent me a nice email afterwards saying he enjoyed reading some of the articles I was writing for Imbibe magazine at the time.

Fast forward to May 2023, and MGP bought the brand for $105m in cash, and potentially a further $110.8m if they hit some targets.

So it was high time for Mike and his co-founder and childhood friend Danny Polise to come on The Philip Duff Show and tell us how they did it!

This is a great episode, covering Mike's origins in the worlds of showbiz and tech, Danny's background as a bar owner and engineer, and how they built Penelope by ignoring a lot of received industry wisdom, working from first principles, and trusting in themselves. Danny also taught himself to be a true master blender, never having done it a day in his life before.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to LaForce PR for hosting us (great cookies!) and Mike and Danny for bringing some tasty whiskey for us to try, plus their banging bottled cocktails.

Mike on IG: https://www.instagram.com/michaelpaladini/

Danny on IG: https://www.instagram.com/dpolise/

Penelope Bourbon: https://www.instagram.com/penelopebourbon/

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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Rakshay Dhariwal, founder, Maya Pistola Agavepura Indian agave spirit, co-founder Passcode Hospitality and India Cocktail Week

Wed, 20 May 2026 12:00:00 -0400

I met Rakshay a few years back on one of the legendary Blueblazer press tours of bars in Italy, and he let me taste the agave spirit he produces in India, Maya Pistola Agavepura. Its distilled with traditional tequila methods from an Indian-grown species of agave usually used in Mexico for mezcal, then aged on the tropical Indian island of Goa before bottling. Pistola was born during Covid and after being on the market for just a couple of years, Diageo's Indian subsidiary, United Spirits, became minority investors.

Its the best non-Mexican agave spirit I've ever had.

We got together to talk about Pistola , Rakshay's background in hospitality and the group he co-founded with his sister, India Cocktail Week and a lot more - enjoy!

Rakshay on IG: https://www.instagram.com/rakshay/

Maya Pistola Agavepura on IG: https://www.instagram.com/pistola.agave/

Passcode Hospitality: https://www.instagram.com/passcode.hospitality/

India Cocktail Week on IG: https://www.instagram.com/indiacocktailweek/

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#158, Drew Schenck, owner, Dram & Draught bar group,(North Carolina), founder, Moonbird Gin & GOATz Rum

Mon, 04 May 2026 21:00:00 -0400

Drew has been a friend for half a decade, and as well as being a lauded bar owner, we created Moonbird Gin (double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Awards) and GOATz Spiced Rum together - and he's a hilarious, fascinating guy.

Drew on IG: https://www.instagram.com/drewbarman/

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#157, Eric van Beek, co-founder, Handshake Bar (Mexico City, #1 W50BB ‘24) & Shakerato (Amsterdam)

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:00:00 -0400

I met Eric in Amsterdam in 2019 just before he moved to Mexico City to open his first bar there, and our paths have crossed a good bit since then, most recently at the Maybe Cocktail Festival in Sydney, where we got to hang out for almost a week.

Eric started off in the world of basketball, training and playing in the US, switched to hospitality after returning to the Netherlands, and rapidly learned his craft, winning the global finals of Bacardi Legacy in 2018 and moving to Mexico City in 2019 to open a bar there.

His second bar in CDMX, speakeasy Handshake, opened in 2021 and within just six months was on the 50 Best Bars list, winding up as #1 in 2024 and maintaining the top spot for 50 Best Americas in both 2024 and 2025.

In late 2025 he finally opened the European cafe-style Shakerato in his native Amsterdam.

This is a great episode, as Eric speaks with typical Dutch honesty on some of the tougher challenges he had on the road to opening a W50BB #1 bar.

Eric on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ericvanbeek.carino/

Handshake Bar: https://www.instagram.com/handshake_bar/

Shakerato Bar: https://www.instagram.com/shakerato_bar/

Ahorita Bar: https://www.instagram.com/ahoritacantina/

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#156, Sven Almenning, founder, Behind Bars agency (Australia), and Australian cocktail bars Eau de Vie, Nick & Nora’s, The Roosevelt, The Sanderson, Pearl Diver & Mjolner Viking steakhouses, 13 April 2026

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 06:00:00 -0400

What can you say about the extravagantly-bearded Norwegian Sven Almenning, who at one stage owned the world's largest bar agency, based in Sydney, running best-in-class bartender engagement programs at scale, and has since morphed into a tycoon of the Australian cocktail bar scene, with 8 or so top-notch venues in Sydney, Melbourne and the like?

Well, quite a lot it seems!

We talked about savant vibes master Max Greco (quite a bit, in fact), what it takes to create a great bar now in Australia vs 16 years ago, banter becoming an endangered species, the death of staff-hugging, what changed with bartender contests, and how he bribed his kids with screen time if they did exercise, only to see them regulate their own screen time as they began to enjoy exercising more and more, while the IG they created (link below) to share family High Intensity workouts exploded to 644, 000 followers, with another 260, 000 on Facebook (link also below).

It's a great chat with an old friend, recorded while we were both in the same time zone, thank God.

Sven's Speakeasy Group: https://speakeasygroup.com.au/

Family HIIT workouts on IG: https://www.instagram.com/fam_hiit_squad/

Family HIIT workouts on FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheRealFamHIITSquad/

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#155, Tobin Ellis, veteran bartender, author of “Bar Design Essentials", champion flair bartender, principal of Barmagic design studios (Las Vegas & New York) 30 March 2026

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0400

God help me, I've known Tobin for thirty years now, having met when we both competed in flair bartending contests, starting with the legendary Quest for the Best in Orlando many moons ago. Tobin went on to co-found the Flair Bartenders Association (FBA) and later moved to Las Vegas, where he still (mostly) hangs his hat.

He went all-in on bar design decades ago, and has completed a book, "Bar Design Essentials" that he started writing in 2007, and which is as seminal and definitive for bar design as "Roundbuilding" is for making rounds of cocktails, and as "The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails" is for, well, spirits and cocktails.

If we design bars better, so bartenders can work faster, better and injury-free, we're setting those bartenders up to be true hospitalitarians - so why don't we?

We down all the rabbit holes we could find, and then invented a few more, from the complexity of modern cocktails to cotton candy machines, his favorite bar shape, the redheaded stepchild of hospo, the state of training these days and his many, many injuries - enjoy!

Buy "Bar Design Essentials": https://www.amazon.com/Bar-Design-Essentials-Bars-Everyone/dp/1732648255/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3C0RU5C7EQITE&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wCArtZBcOpz-miH-Y7KqWRgbb0njE3tMWljJBB7TxcUccMb9qb2TxdLoiUq4ZCfjzyemQLFQz-S1aHy3DYykR1QPkyI0m0nshOeKlgSmx-Mt27wsBAkV7b01g7W3GkbJ.7-ENn58hVESjGOMFLpJwszH7mpptAujNNUioZHWxd5E&dib_tag=se&keywords=tobin+ellis&qid=1774708898&sprefix=tobin+ell%2Caps%2C229&sr=8-1

Follow Tobin on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tobinellisdesign/

Check out Studio Barmagic: https://www.barmagic.com/

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#154, Andrew Merinoff, Co-founder & Investor Chinola Liqueur, Coconut Cartel, Empirical Spirits, Matchbook Distilling, Seven Rooms, & more

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0400

I met Andrew several years ago when he came to hang out at an Old Duff Genever evening I was hosting at Berlin’s marvellous Zyankali Bar, and the good people of Rachel Harrison Communications recently recommended I get him on, which struck me as an excellent idea.

Turns out he’s fourth-generation American liquor royalty, with a mother from the Hiram Walker family, a great-grandfather who bootlegged during Prohibition, a grandfather who legalised the business, and his father, who built US liquor distribution juggernaut Breakthru Beverage Group.

As well as a lifelong love of hospitality that started with a teenage stage at the three-Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park, Andrew was very successful as an investor, in startups that included Seven Rooms reservations & CRM software, which had a lucrative exit.

We chat Chinola, Empirical, Great Jones Distilling, his time at Proximo , the liquor and hospitality biz and a lot more - enjoy!

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#153, TJ Lynch, co-founder Mother’s Ruin (NY, Austin, Nashville, Chicago), Lowlife Bar and Lost Isle restaurant (South Carolina)

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0400

TJ Lynch is one of the most genuinely hilarious people I know, but the success he and business partner Richard Knapp have had with cocktail dive bar Mother's Ruin - four branches, a fifth and sixth on the way, plus separate concepts in Folly Beach and Johns Island South Carolina - is no joke.

And it all started with a little bar on Spring Street in Manhattan that they opened in 2011 for the princely sum of $185, 000.

We talk about his switch into bartending from cooking, then into management, then ownership, what's changed since the first Mother's in 2011, his and Richard's philosophies for running a bar, reinventing the slushie, and how they deal with investors.

It's terrible audio quality because TJ was on location helping some of his staff revamp yet another bar, but it really rewards a listen - enjoy!

TJ on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tjismyhero/

Mother's Ruin NY: https://www.instagram.com/mothersruinnyc/

Lowlife Bar: https://www.instagram.com/lowlifebar/

Lost Isle restaurant: https://www.instagram.com/lostislejohnsisland/

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#152, David Vogel, founder, Badger Bevs premium mixers, 9 March

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0400

David’s a great guy I met through Jillian Vose, ex-supremo of mixology at Dead Rabbit and all-round bar goddess. Badger Bevs is a gorgeous range of premium mixers, and David IS ALL IN on the on-premise, so I badly wanted to sit down and hear his story, and it did not disappoint - enjoy!

Badger Bevs on IG: https://www.instagram.com/badgerbevs?igsh=cTMzYjlrZndteDg2

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#151, Stephan Berg & Alexander Hauck, founders, The Bitter Truth cocktail bitters, liqueurs & spirits

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0500

The Bitter Truth cocktail bitters launched in 2006, after German bartenders Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck visited London Bar Show, had a drink in Sketch bar, and decided to go for it.

This year TBT celebrates 20 years, so it was time to sit down with Stephan and Alexander to talk about how a couple of bartenders making extinct bitters in their garage entered a centuries-old category and carved out a thriving business that's expanded to include rare liqueurs, Tiki Lovers rum and Pink Gin, exported all around the world and proudly served in the world's best bars.

I've been following their journey since day 1, have known the guys since they were still bartending back in the day, and what they've done is really impressive - enjoy!

The Bitter Truth on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thebittertruthcompany/

The Bitter Truth: https://the-bitter-truth.com/bitters/

The Bitter Truth on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebittertruthcompany

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#150, Jeff Bell, owner-partner PDT, Crif Dogs, Tacos 1986, Mixteca and Kees, New York City

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500

Jeff's best-known for being a mainstay of New York's world-famous speakeasy-behind-a-phone-booth Please Don't Tell (PDT), where he was hired by Jim Meehan and has worked since 2010, and which post-pandemic he bought from its founder Brian Shebairo along with the hotdog stand it's housed inside, Crif Dogs.

In a city where bartenders hop around jobs willy-nilly, Jeff credits his tenure at a single bar with helping him gain the trust of investors (Apres Cru Hospitality) and become an owner.

I've known Jeff since 2011, when he was a world finalist in the G'Vine Gin Connoisseur Program, a contest I created and executed for several years; we had a lot of fun that Finals week in Cognac, France!

This is a really great episode: we talked about starting his career in Seattle, his break into NY bartending, working at PDT, how he became an owner, his new businesses Tacos 1986, Cocteleria Mixteca (with fellow longtime PDT bartender Victor Lopez) and elegant speakeasy Kees (where we recorded), how he scaled back his travel to spend more time with his wife and children, helping Hilton reopen the Waldorf-Astoria's historic Peacock Alley bar and Lex Yard restaurant, keeping Jet Blue airline supplied with cocktails, and a bunch more of really thoughtful, insightful stuff.

Classic Jeff.

Enjoy!

Jeff on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffreymbell/

Apres Cru Hospitality: https://www.aprescru.com/

PDT: https://www.instagram.com/pdtnyc/

Crif Dogs: https://www.instagram.com/crifdogs/

Mixteca: https://www.instagram.com/cocteleriamixteca/

Kees: https://www.instagram.com/seekkeesnyc/

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#149, Marcio Silva, founder, Eximia bar Sao Paolo, 16 February 2026

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0500

Marcio is very much Our Man In Brazil, an old friend and (during Bar Convent Brazil) I’ve visited his previous, much-vaunted bar Guilhotina.

Marcio was in NY to do a MasterCard-backed pop-up of his Sao Paolo bar, Eximia, at New York’s Dante, so we carved out a few hours to hang out and catch up.

Enjoy!

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#148, Tom Dyer & Marco Canova, flair champions and authors of “The Flair Bartending Book”

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 07:00:00 -0500

Tom and Marco are legendary flair competitors, multiple-times world champions, teachers, contest judges - and now, authors of the 501-page (!) “The Flair Bartending Book”.

Its unquestionably the most definitive tome ever written on this chapter in bartending, from flair’s origins in the 1600s to Jerry Thomas & co.’s flamboyant 1800s mixology to TGI Friday’s Bartender Olympics in 1984, THAT movie in 1988, the rise of well-run contests, the emergence of a professional contest circuit, and the state of play nowadays.

If you have any interest in bartending at all, you have to own this book.

We talked about all things flair, Marco and Tom’s own routes into bartending, the oft-forgotten speed and freepouring elements of major contests, and a whole bunch more - enjoy!

Buy the book (USA): https://barproducts.com/products/flair-bartending-by-marco-canova-tom-dyer?variant=42885994479705&fbclid=PAVERFWAP2sjxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAaebEZGlsHDF7Oa7V2JzE8DjHsZbMTF6WMwUeVebgYyKcMcrBOs8BA0JDavgCA_aem_e3c9RQ0XQHt3urXf5Y09yw

Buy the book (rest of world): https://www.flairbartendingbook.com/

The book on IG: https://www.instagram.com/theflairbartendingbook?igsh=ZGV1d2I1b2lhNnp0

Tom on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tomdyerflairbartender?igsh=MTVxa2p3aGJubHJjaQ==

Marco on IG: https://www.instagram.com/marcocanova_83?igsh=cDJkbDc3bXI2OGpk

Shaken And Stirred - The Flair Bartending Movie: https://www.shakenandstirredthemovie.com/dash#:~:text=Flair%20Bartending%20Documentary%20%7C%20Shaken%20and%20Stirred%20The%20Movie

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#147, Paul Mathew, founder, Everleaf non-alcoholic aperitifs 02 February 2026

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 11:00:00 -0500

Paul's been a a friend for ages; he's former London bartender and bar owner, taught seminars for the WSET and Diageo, has lived all over the world* as a conservation biologist - and founded Everleaf.

*And is currently wrapping up several years living in Iceland!

We chatted about his many careers, the bar biz, learning Chinese, being part of Diageo's Distill Ventures brand incubator program, the state of non-alc, and a whole lot more.

Enjoy!

Paul on IG: https://www.instagram.com/everleaf_paul/?hl=en

Everleaf on IG: https://www.instagram.com/everleafdrinks/?hl=en

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#146, Ruben Maduro, founder, Spirited Union Rum Distillery (Amsterdam), Pineapple Drinks Club distribution (Netherlands)

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 07:00:00 -0500

Ruben’s an old friend from Amsterdam, a native Aruban who bartended in Amsterdam and London, and whose life was changed by a Diplomatico rum training he attended while working as a flair bartender at London’s famed Roadhouse.

(That training was given by none other than Declan McGurk, himself a former flair bartender, who went on to become Director of Bars at The Savoy, leading them to a #1 spot on W50BB, and is now Commercial Director for Boatyard Gin)

Ruben went back to Amsterdam with rum in his heart and started Spirited Union rum, inventing “botanical rum”as a category in the process, delivering orders in person, on his bicycle, for the first few years.

He then crowdfunded (!) buying the former Our/Vodka distillery & bar from Pernod-Ricard, whose bar, cocktail classes and rum blending workshops have made it the #1 activity in the Netherlands on TripAdvisor.

(Last week’s episode was with Brendan Bartley, btw, who bought the Our/Vodka NY bar & distillery and reopened it as Hello Hello Cafe & Bar and Silent Alibi distillery, making 11th Hour Coffee liqueur and more).

Ruben’s gone from strength to strength with Spirited Union rum, exporting across Europe, to the UK, and to five states in the US (where their first customer was Whole Foods!) and recently started Pineapple Drinks Club to import & distribute founder-led brands in the Netherlands.

Enjoy!

Ruben on IG: https://www.instagram.com/the_rubenmaduro?igsh=MWJtaTFwYnB5d2ljbA==

Ruben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruben-maduro

Spirited Union on IG: https://www.instagram.com/spirited_union_rum?igsh=MWFxbGxxYTJvZ3E5bg==

Pineapple Drinks Club on IG: https://www.instagram.com/pineappledrinksclub?igsh=bDg5NXNvZjRmOGN5

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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Brendan Bartley, GM Bathtub Gin, co-owner Hello Hello, co-founder Silent Alibi Distillery, all NYC

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 06:00:00 -0500

Brendan's a hell of a cool guy: Australian, learned distilling in parallel with his university medical and science studies back home, got a Phd from NYU, GM of New York's hugely fun Bathtub Gin, and in late 2025 he opened Hello Hello Bar and Silent Alibi distillery, both of which are in the West 26th Street space in Manhattan formerly occupied by the New York branch of Pernod-Ricard's epically failed Our/Vodka distillery program.

This is a proper long Philip-Duff-Show episode, so settle in!

We kick off talking neuroscience and Ozempic (because of course) and it quickly morphs into Brendan's career path, immigration advice, bartender training, how they got hold of a distillery smack dab in the middle of Manhattan, what they do at the distillery, and his consulting work formulating liquids for clients as well as running two bars and a distillery, and we taste their first brand, the amazing 11th Hour Coffee Liqueur, as well as a rum brand from a consulting project he's working on and a million other things besides.

Enjoy!

Brendan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/b.is.somewhere?igsh=MWI0MzEzdGJjajBiag==

11th Hour Coffee Liqueur: https://www.instagram.com/drink11thhour/

Hello Hello bar: https://www.instagram.com/hellohellobar/?hl=en

Bathtub Gin: https://www.instagram.com/bathtubginnyc/?hl=en

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

And our AI automatically deletes pitch emails that are clearly written using AI.

#144, Tony Sachs, Manhattan drinks writer and man-about-town

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 06:00:00 -0500

It's never dull when I drop round Tony's, even during Dry January, and this session was no exception.

After chowing down on sushi and sashimi, fancy fellows that we are, we got down to serious discussions encompassing Fraggle Rock, 1980s "wrestling" in the UK, the new American health directives on alcohol, how I happened into a random Miracle Christmas pop-up bar in the wilds of New Jersey, and then (because, as a drinks writer, Tony gets sent unholy amounts of stuff), we created an infinity bottle from all the many samples of a particular bottled-in-bond whiskey Tony had been sent over the years, and tasted a hoo-mama really-out-there rum, the news and tasting of which is a Philip Duff world exclusive! (Unless you read Food and Wine magazine online last Friday, that is).

Enjoy!

Tony on IG: https://www.instagram.com/retromannyc/

Tony's website: https://www.tonysachsdrinks.com/

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#143, Kurt Schlechter, Our Man In Africa, owner, Cause + Effect Cocktail Kitchen Cape Town

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 06:00:00 -0500

,Kurt's back!

His last appearance on the 'pod was November 2023, so we sat down to catch up on everything that's been going on since then in Africa, South Africa, and further afield, over martinis, delicious SA brandy and a spot of Brooklyn whiskey - enjoy!

Kurt on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kurtschlechter/?hl=en

Cause + Effect on IG: https://www.instagram.com/causeeffectcpt/?hl=en

Order The Flair Bartending Book: https://barproducts.com/products/flair-bartending-by-marco-canova-tom-dyer?srsltid=AfmBOoq3_Nh9XBn3XIki60wKQyQzis1K_AGRoGHHdUomqsnSQ-5lbEjL

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#142, 2025 Year’s End Round Up - with Philip!

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 18:00:00 -0500

Well, what a year it's been!

I added Kazakhstan to my "list of countries I got drunk in", hit all the usual suspects on the global bar show circuit and added the inaugural Gulf Bar Show in Dubai as well, and spent my usual eight weeks living in Europe to boot, sucking down €9 (instead of $36) martinis and plate after plate of delicious boquerones.

2025 was also the Year of Tariffs, the launch of Hard Cut Vodka, the downfall of Uncle Nearest, the rise of the GLP-1 agonists (better known as Ozempic, et al, to you and I), the launch of several new cocktail weeks, bar awards, and training programs, and a lot more besides - enjoy!

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#141, Gareth Howells, North American Single Malt Whisky Ambassador, Bacardi

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Gareth's been a mate and fellow expat-in-New-York for a longish time, but I ran into him again recently when he hosted a mega-fancy private dinner in the already-mega-fancy members' area of private club Casa Tua, a dinner which I gatecrashed in a genteel manner, as my apartment was unexpectedly full of women playing mahjong.

Gareth was the consummate host, introducing the 2025 special edition of Aberfeldy single malt, the rather delicious 18-Year-Old Bolgheri Tuscan Finish, and it occurred to me - after more than a few drams - that he'd be a fun guest on the show.

We caught up* on all things expat, his origin story in Guildford, differences in bartending in the UK vs NY, how his milk punch is better than both Nico de Soto's and Eamon Rockey's, modern bartender education, why ICE are about to arrest him for smuggling explosives (and Christmas pudding) into the USA, his go-to order in a bar, and a whole lot more, tasted our way through three Aberfeldy releases including the aforementioned Super Tuscan finish, then we went for pints at the Dead Rabbit's holiday pop-up, Jingle Jangle, and then a couple more at the excellent Lucky Tiger.

*At Bacardi’s PR firm’s NY office: shout-out to Nike Communications!

Enjoy!

Gareth's IG: https://www.instagram.com/smokeymcgowan/

Aberfeldy's IG: https://www.instagram.com/aberfeldy/

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#140, Daniyel Jones, global brand ambassador, Angostura

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:00:00 -0500

Daniyel is, in my opinion, the most naturally gifted brand ambassador I've ever met, but the reason he's been nominated for so many awards and other accolades is that since I met him many years ago, he has always been on a never-ending journey of self-improvement. I don't think I've ever seen him without a broad grin on his face, and if you spend ten seconds in his company, you'll have one, too.

We caught up to talk about his origin story in Trinidad, working in fine dining and TGI Friday's, leaving mobile cocktail-bar catering entrepreneurship behind for full-time brand ambassadorship for the House of Angostura, and the power of gratitude, among a lot more.

This is a very wholesome episode - enjoy!

Daniyel on IG: https://www.instagram.com/daniyeljones/

Daniyel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniyeljones

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#139, Michael Neff, bar owner, consultant, podcaster and bartender’s bartender

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 11:00:00 -0500

Michael Neff, like so many of us, fell sideways into hospitality and now 27-odd years later, he's still in it, opening bars across the USA, consulting, podcasting and just plain bartending.

He's a real bartender's bartender, and you can see that DNA in all the places he's opened or consulted on or worked at: Ward III, Rum House, Holiday Cocktail Lounge (NY), Cottonmouth Club (Houston), Inkwell (Omaha) and other bars - more than fifty of them - that he's opened, spanning seven US states.

His approach to hospitality is thoughtful, insightful and empathetic; he can sling drinks with the best of them, but he also thinks carefully about why every guest is walking through the door.

I really enjoyed catching up with Michael for this episode, and I think you will, too.

Michael on IG: https://www.instagram.com/cocktailwhisperer/

Michael's website: https://michaeljneff.com/

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#138, Robert "RFR" Furniss-Roe, co-founder of Samson & Surrey, board member at Filthy Foods, OG liquor baron

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 12:00:00 -0500

Robert's a swashbuckling figure even by liquor biz standards: son of a fighter pilot, he grew up in England, set up a chain of radio stations across Europe in his youth, ran an agency, then slipped sideways into the liquor biz (armed only with a degree in languages) and climbed the greasy pole at Bacardi for 26 years, ending up as CEO of North America, after stints running the business in Moscow and Asia, among others.

In 2015, with another Bacardi refugee, Juan Rovira, RFR founded Samson & Surrey, a craft brand incubator which acquired Tequila Ocho, Mezcal Vago, Bluecoat Gin, Widow Jane whiskey, FEW whiskey and Brenne whisky and then applied RFR & Juan's expertise to grow the brands, before Samson & Surrey was itself acquired by Heaven Hill in 2022.

(Full disclosure: RFR & Juan were both still running Samson & Surrey in May 2023, when they hired Mrs Duff to be their head of advocacy).

We've had a quick drink together here and there but I've wanted to have a longer chat for ages, and we finally managed to plan it in - not easily, as, by his own admission, RFR sucks at being retired and is working harder than ever, helping (among other things) Filthy Foods grow.

We chatted about marketing, NPDs, what's changed in the liquor biz, the fallacy of research, Dick Bradsell's branding genius, why packaging rules, and a whole lot more. Enjoy!

RFR on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-furniss-roe-418136

RFR's email: robert_furnissroe@hotmail.com

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#137, Angus Winchester, legendary spirits educator, brand ambassador, emeritus Director of Education for BCB, Director of Bars, raconteur

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Angus is so old a friend that we can't remember exactly where we met but we're 99% sure it was at a bar show or get-together of some kind, probably in London, where he, a bartender from Oxford, was in on the ground floor of what we can now look back - after thirty years - to confirm was the birth of the Second Golden Age of cocktails.

He and I were the two first people from the bar biz to have "Global Brand Ambassador" on our business cards (he for Tanqueray, me for Bols), and our careers have had significant parallels and overlaps ever since.

He's written numerous articles, taught at every bar show in the world and hasn't written a book. (Yet). He also just stepped down from being BCB (global)'s first-ever Director of Education, having taken the already-stellar BCB seminar program to new heights.

He's a terrific public speaker, a deep thinker, funny and self-deprecating as only an Englishman can be - and he loves all things liquor and bars to distraction.

In a move we can all get behind, this living legend is back running bars, as Director of Bars for the Capella luxury resort in Taipei, and as we were both in Athens for the Bar Show (he to give a great seminar on Talking In Bars, me to carry my wife Elayne's bags), I decided we had to sit down and catch up.

Enjoy!

Angus on IG: https://www.instagram.com/anguswinchester/?hl=en

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#136, Ben Schott, multi-million-copy best-selling author, (Schott’s Significa), journalist, consultant, designer and photographer

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 06:00:00 -0500

I've been a fan of Ben's since his first book, Schott's Original Miscellany came out in 2002, a collection of quirky facts and insights into subcultures; his 13 (!) subsequent books expanded on the theme and have sold more than 2.5 million copies, in multiple languages, to date.

Ben also wrote two of the best "homage" books in the style of PG Wodehouse, which, if you're a Wodehouse fan, I urge you to read.

His newest book, Schott's Significa, delves into the worlds of hidden languages and subcultures: open-outcry stock trading hand signals, the unspoken languages of the servers of Eleven Madison Park, and the very-much-spoken insider slang of everyone from the diamond dealers of midtown Manhattan to world-famous cocktail bars like Tres Monos and Overstory.

We had a very pleasant and - as you might expect - wide-ranging chat about everything, enjoy!

Ben on IG: https://www.instagram.com/benschott/

Ben on X / Twitter: https://x.com/benschott?s=21&t=kTsTPMPK0kgHLvK8ldrFXQ

Ben's website: https://www.benschott.com/

Buy Ben's books (and support independent bookshops): https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=ben+schott

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#135, Eddie Rudzinskas, founder, @cocktails_for_you & Old Baile Irish whiskey, global advocacy lead for Thomas Henry mixers

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 12:00:00 -0500

The irrepressible Edvinas "Eddie" Rudzinskas is a fixture at just about every bar show and party, and the Instagram he created, @cocktails_for_you, boasts 565, 000 followers.

We sat down during BCBerlin to talk about how he went from working in his native Lithuania to bartending in a small town in Ireland, falling deep down the rabbit hole of mixology, and founding Cocktails for You, initially as a Facebook page sharing all the seminars and events he'd attend, first in Ireland and then - often representing the Bartender's Association of Ireland, BAI - abroad.

He's also recently been named Global Advocacy Lead for Thomas Henry mixers, and co-founded his own (delicious) Irish whiskey, Old Baile.

We grabbed a spare hour (and some champagne) to talk about how he became a social media influencer, the state of the bar world, and building brands in the onpremise, as well as a whole bunch more.

Enjoy!

Eddie's personal IG: https://www.instagram.com/eddie_this_is_my_life/?hl=en

Cocktails For You IG: https://www.instagram.com/cocktails_for_you/?hl=en

Old Baile Whiskey IG: https://www.instagram.com/oldbailewhiskey/?hl=en

Thomas Henry mixers: https://www.instagram.com/thomashenry_borninbars/?hl=en

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#134, Jenna Hemsworth (l) & Alexandra Hooker (r), co-founders, Sorry Not Sorry Collective

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 06:00:00 -0400

I've always followed the industry in Australia closely, as in my opinion it is, pound-for-pound, the best mixology nation on Earth; I've visited often, for teaching and consulting, and wrote a column in Australian Bartender magazine for some years.

Last year the Sydney Morning Herald broke a story (sadly, only the first of many) uncovering alleged wide-ranging abuse at the renowned Australian hospitality group Swillhouse, with allegations ranging from management ignoring complaints right up to sexual harassment and rape by former and current staff.

Several former Swillhouse employees who were victims, including Jenna and Alexandra, bravely waived their right to anonymity, started a lawsuit against their former employer, and formed the Sorry Not Sorry Collective, which is currently touring with guest bartending and other events to raise awareness about these heinous issues, and to raise actual cash to fund their lawsuit.

We caught up during Bar Convent Berlin; I've known Jenna for quite a while and travelled through Japan with her as part of a group learning about shochu.

Because of that, and because both her and Alexandra are also Australians - automatically gregarious and affable people - and bartenders to boot, we had what could be described as a deceptively light-hearted sounding conversation that, as well as learning about their routes into bartending and the Australian scene, deals with some very deep topics indeed, ranging from the alleged abuses to the definition of sex work, consent, and a lot more.

We couldn't go into every detail of the alleged abuses, because their lawsuit is ongoing, however we discussed some comparable cases in other countries, of which there are a depressing amount.

This is very much worth a listen.

Sydney Morning Herald article exposing abuse: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sex-sleaze-and-swillhouse-the-sinister-side-of-the-glitzy-hospitality-scene-20240820-p5k3r0.html

Jenna on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jrhemsworth/?hl=en

Alexandra on IG: https://www.instagram.com/alexandr4hooker?igsh=NGpjeG80anl5enIw

Jenna's events & hospitality consulting firm on IG: https://www.instagram.com/realgooddrinks/?hl=en

Alexandra on IG: https://www.instagram.com/alexandr4hooker/?hl=en

Sorry Not Sorry Collective on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sorrynotsorry.collective/?hl=en

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#133, Andrea Marseglia, slow drinks advocate, mixologist, IG influencer, founder of New Zealand Bar Convention, Staffies card game, and Agnes vermouth

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 06:00:00 -0400

I met Andrea in the End Times, even though we didn't know it, then; he made several delicious cocktails with Old Duff Genever for me, in New Zealand, in mid-March 2020, before the world closed down.

Andrea is a remarkably cool guy who came from Italy to, first, Australia, and then NZ, to perfect his craft, knowing that first he had to perfect his language skills.

He then worked months - even after winning national and international cocktail contests! - washing glasses, before being promoted to bartender.

He's a great guy. This is a great listen.

Andrea on IG: https://www.instagram.com/captainspaghetti92/?hl=en

Staffies Card Game: https://www.instagram.com/staffiescardgame/?hl=en

New Zealand Bar Convention: https://www.instagram.com/nzbarcon/?hl=en

Agnes Vermouth: https://www.instagram.com/agnesevermouth/?hl=en

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#132, Edmund Weil, co-founder, Nightjar, Oriole and Swift bars, London

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Edmund co-founded Nightjar, a speakeasy cocktail bar with live music, in London with his life and business partner, Roisin Stimpson, in 2010, with its first head bartender being Marian Beke.

Nightjar quickly stormed the lists of nominations, Best Bars, and more, and a lot of that success was due to Marian's incredible cocktail presentations, in bespoke vessels, using skill and flavour combinations that upped London's game significantly, and have since been copied widely.

Hand-in-hand with that was Edmund and Rosie's laserlike focus on music, vibes and guest experience.

Nightjar expanded to a second venue, then a third; they opened a larger version, named Oriole, then partnered with lauded operators Bobby Hiddleston and Mia Johansson to open Swift, an all-day, two-level bar concept that now has three branches in London.

Me and Edmund sat down in a quiet moment during Bar Convent Berlin to catch up; I really enjoyed this, and I hope you do, too.

Edmund on IG: https://www.instagram.com/edmundweil/?hl=en

Nightjar bars on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nightjar/?hl=en

Oriole bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/theoriolebar/?hl=en

Swift bars on IG: https://www.instagram.com/swiftbars/?hl=en

Shaken, a book on James Bond's cocktails co-authored by Edmund, himself a relative of Bond creator Ian Fleming: https://www.amazon.com/Shaken-Drinking-Fleming-Official-Cocktail/dp/0062896253/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.iVdqZa9NfDKKPUrxzWQbXVsUHoHeOji1AX4uLOuu5HuNiTu_Ge32Gvilj4xx6VEK.GUVrOCrMbhmQNB3gX5CZe6oMFWWdwKhAdP88A_y_rqU&dib_tag=se&keywords=shaken+bond+cocktail&qid=1760309343&sr=8-1

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#131, Steven Yeng, co-founder, Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 06:00:00 -0400

I met Steve at Cologne Bar Symposium earlier this year, which also hosted the first-ever launch of Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey outside the USA.

We chatted a bit and I attended his seminar; to say Steve's life is fascinating is like saying Elon Musk is a decent engineer.

From a childhood of wealth in Cambodia with servants and bodyguards, to contracting polio and losing the use of one of his legs, to years of barely subsisting in a Thai refugee camp, being sponsored to come to the US as child, graduating high school and college despite severe ADHD, founding a string of successful bars despite not knowing how to bartend or cook, bars, which led to him creating Skrewball, the world's first peanut-butter flavoured whiskey with his wife (and childhood sweetheart) Brittany in 2018 and selling it to Pernod-Ricard for a rumoured 9-figure sum in 2023 after it boomed to over 600, 000 cases by 2022, his life has not been dull.

He's one of the most truly inspiring people I've ever met, relentlessly upbeat and happy, despite having had more than a lifetime's worth of slings and arrows shot his way before he was even in his teens.

Enjoy!

Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey on IG: https://www.instagram.com/skrewballwhiskey?igsh=MXVkOGF5a3FyMWZveQ==

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#130, Ken Aufiero, Director of Spirits, United States Beverage and NY liquor-biz legend

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0400

Our mutual friend (and PR guru) Laura Peet suggested I have liquor biz lifer Ken on, and he was a great guest!

We chatted about the liquor industry, recent developments like GLP-1 inhibitors, the effects of phone-based gambling on drinks sales in bars, the Seagrams curse, and a whole bunch more, while I was drinking a Fre Damm Tostada a non-alc beer whose parent brand, Damm coincidentally is imported to the US by United States Beverage, where Ken's been brought in to bolster the liquor division.

Ken on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenaufiero

United States Beverage on IG: https://www.instagram.com/unitedstatesbeverage/?hl=es

Laura Peet on IG: https://www.instagram.com/peetcom7/

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#129, Sarah Morrissey, award-winning NYC mixologist, bar manager and Substack author

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Sarah Morrissey is a little bundle of joy on the NY bar circuit, but also a skilled mixologist who's had her bar programs reviewed in the likes of the New York Times on multiple occasions, shepherded bar programs to James Beard and Tales of the Cocktail nominations (and wins) and is rightly respected by all who know her. She's done stints at Le Veau d'Or, Frenchette, Ernesto's, Dutch Kills, and many more.

She recently also started a Substack with some highly controversial posts, and that's all it took to convince me to track her down for a chat, Philip Duff Show-style. Took us several weeks to coordinate it, but here it is!

Everything from her suburban God-bothering childhood to evangelical college, her Damascene conversion to bartending, trailing a Hillstone shift manager, the problem with reviewers, the breaking news she's opening her own place, and a lot more.

I loved this - you can tell - and even if Sarah's audio fell out for a few seconds now and then, it's still one of my favorite ever episodes.

Sarah on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mozzy_sticks_87/?hl=es

Sarah's Substack: https://substack.com/@mozzysticks

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#128, Robin Robinson, liquor brand Sherpa, consultant, spirits expert and author of “The History of Whiskey in 100 Bottles, Barrels and More”

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Return guest and one of my favorite people, Robin Robinson is back! He's a sales & marketing guru, a brand sherpa, a truly gifted storyteller and spirits expert - and he's just written another book, so back on The Philip Duff Show he comes.

We talked storytelling, Star Wars, some of the mindbending facts he's unearthed for the new book (First use of a sherry barrel for whiskey aging? 1854. Most important whiskey dynasty? The Haig / Stein / Jameson clan, and their Dutch connection. Molson brewing's whiskey history. Etc) the rise and stutter of Uncle Nearest, Powers inventing the nip bottle, three-chamber stills and a whole bunch more - enjoy!

Robin on IG: http://www.instagram.com/robinrobinsonllc

Robin's website: https://www.robinrobinsonllc.com/

Pre-order “The History of Whiskey in 100 Bottles, Barrels and More”: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-history-of-whiskey-in-100-stills-barrels-and-bottles/3ee0355d8118abcf?ean=9781682689103&next=t

Order Robin's other book, "The Complete Whiskey Course": https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-complete-whiskey-course-a-comprehensive-tasting-school-in-ten-classes-robin-robinson/12350951?ean=9781454921226&next=t

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#127, Miguel Lancha, global beverage consultant, former head of beverage for Jose Andres Group

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Miguel became a mainstay of the burgeoning Spanish cocktail scene in the early 2000s, and we met in 2008, when he brought a crew of Spanish bartenders to the Bols Bartender Academy, which I had founded in Amsterdam. We stayed friends and soon after he moved to the USA, where we reconnected after I moved to NY in 2012.

Miguel had a wild ride, from his native Spain to his parents' Venezuela, back to Spain and then on to the Dominican Republic, and finally the US, where he crushed his biggest challenge: opening 50 (!) bars restaurants and clubs for the Jose Andres Group in less than 9 years, all of which made mega revenue, both independently and in hotel groups, and on four continents, before opening his own shop, CORE Consulting.

Miguel is a weapon, and if you can hire his firm, you should, and if you want to know how good he is...give this a listen!

Miguel on IG: https://www.instagram.com/miguel.f.lancha_drinks/

Miguel's firm, CORE Consulting: https://www.corebarconsulting.com/

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#126, Christian Balke, founder, SIP Advocacy Program (Pernod-Ricard worldwide), Team Leader, Advocacy & Education, Pernod-Ricard Deutschland

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Me and Christian met almost twenty years ago; when I was still living in the Netherlands, my friend Robin Weiss asked me to help judge the Havana Club Germany bartender contests, and Christian was involved even back then.

In the next few years we hung out at Havana Club contests in Sylt, Dusseldorf, Havana itself and several other cities I can't recall, plus of course Bar Convent Berlin, and Christian always impressed me with his ability to both hang with even the newest and most junior of competing bartenders, and still be up and supervising things at 8am the next day.

We had a chat recently at the Cologne Bar Symposium in Germany and I learned that Christian had actually created the new global advocacy program for Pernod-Ricard, SIP, so that was it: I wanted him on the podcast, to catch up with an old friend and professional colleague, and share the tea on how to get a global advocacy program off the ground.

This one is GOLD - if you work in advocacy, it's a must-listen.

Christian on IG: https://www.instagram.com/herr_balke/

SIP on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sip_global?igsh=MWRleDRnczZ0cTdncg==

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#125, BONUS, Amir Babayoff, beverage director, Ophelia Lounge, NYC (collab dual-cast with The Speakeasy podcast)

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 06:00:00 -0400

This is the last of our Tales-recorded episodes, and our final collab with The Speakeasy!

Amir, originally from Tel Aviv, runs the cocktail program at one of Manhattan's hidden gems, the amazing Ophelia Lounge on top of the Beekman Tower, one of NY's last remaining true Art Deco skyscrapers, overlooking the UN.

He was down at Tales helping us at The Australian Embassy, so myself and Greg dragged him out from behind the bar and into our makeshift podcast studio for a quick martini and a chat - enjoy!

Amir on IG: https://www.instagram.com/amirbabayoff/

Ophelia Lounge on IG: https://www.instagram.com/opheliany/

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#124, Francois Monti, author, drinks writer, vermouth fanatic

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Francois escaped growing up in Belgium and, God help us, working in banking, to become a drinks writer, relocating to his beloved Spain and becoming an in-demand consultant to brands and bars, a World's 50 Best Bars Academy Chair, a drinks writer, drinks book author, and one of the two or three most expert and authoritative voices in the industry on vermouth.

We've been friends for a long time, and this was a joy to tape and catch up on - enjoy!

Francois on IG: https://www.instagram.com/francoismonti/?hl=en

Francois's consulting firm: https://www.amargueria.com/a

Subscribe to Francois' Substack: https://substack.com/@jaibol

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#123, BONUS, Sahil Beri, master blender (and interim CEO), The Australian Bitters Co. (collab dual-cast with The Speakeasy podcast)

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Sahil was down in New Orleans to re-launch Australian Bitters Co. in the US, and also because Australian Bitters Co scored both gold and silver medals in the New Orleans Spirits Competition, so me and Greg Benson of The Speakeasy lured him into our makeshift podcast studio and talked about the benefits of having royal family license plates, taking on the Goliath of cocktail bitters companies, and how he sees the bitters market as a whole.

Enjoy!

(Pic credit: The Cocktail Lovers, link: https://thecocktaillovers.com/meet-the-maker-sahil-beri-the-man-on-a-mission-to-put-australian-bitters-on-the-global-map/

Sahil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahil-beri-19691b141

Australian Bitters Co on IG: https://www.instagram.com/australianbitters?igsh=NWlpbXZuYXFtYXd6

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#122, Jake Burger, mixologist, London bar owner, Portobello Road gin distiller, raconteur

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Jake's one of the OG's of the UK bar scene, first making waves by winning multiple cocktail and bartending contests (including one where he won a £10, 000 diamond) when based out of his native Leeds, working in Leeds' top bars and then opening one of his own, then moving to London and opening beloved industry hangout The Portobello Star bar, co-founding the Alternative Bar Awards in the Star, and then upgrading both the Star and its in-house gin still to much larger premises, the Ginstitute, where the brand he co-founded Portobello Road Gin, is produced.

Jake's a hilarious man, concealing a deep knowledge of spirits and mixology behind an affable, self-deprecating Northern exterior.

The Star, after a period of non-existence, is now back and thriving, as is Portobello Road Gin, and Jake is, God help us, an elder statesman of the UK bar world.

Jake was in New Orleans at the same time as me, so we pre-gamed Tales of the Cocktail by meeting up for a martini and some beers, and we shot the shit for an epic three hours one afternoon, enjoy!

Jake on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jakefburger/

The Portobello Star on IG: https://www.instagram.com/portobello_star/

Portobello Road Distillery: https://www.instagram.com/spiritofportobelloroad/?hl=en

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#121, BONUS, Alan Murungi & Guy Brennan, Founders of Procera Gin (collab dual-cast with The Speakeasy podcast)

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Down in New Orleans during the Tales of the Cocktail festival, I helped Procera, a luxury gin from Kenya, to run a private hospitality House, which came complete with a pool, so myself and Greg Benson of The Speakeasy had the bright idea to interview the Procera founders, Guy and Alan, while drinking martinis on the rocks, in the pool.

Yep, we invented poolcasting!

Alan, born and raised in Nairobi, is one of Kenya's most celebrated chefs, a restaurateur, trained brewer (he founded Kenya's first craft brewery) and as well as co-founding Procera, is raising Africa's first herd of cattle for wagyu beef!

Guy, who is from Australia, got his MBA in France and spent almost his entire career in microfinance throughout Africa, helping small entrepreneurs gain access to capital to start and grow their businesses, before moving to Nairobi and co-founding Procera.

I loved this taping, and, oh yes, HERE the link if you'd like to WATCH this - yep, we recorded video! Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko1RWuYfYWE

This episode is a dual-cast collab with The Speakeasy, the longest-running spirits / bar / cocktail podcast around, to which you should certainly subscribe, link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4MPPFrIDI1sDVjurk9UIGy?si=7kAeza_pS0i6UgtP0oOvXg

Greg Benson on IG: https://www.instagram.com/100proofgreg/?hl=en

The Speakeasy on IG: https://www.instagram.com/speakeasypodcast/?hl=en

Alan Murungi on IG: https://www.instagram.com/alanmurungi/?hl=en

Guy Brennan on IG: https://www.instagram.com/guybrennos?igsh=MXU1d2hzNHE4amp0Nw==

Procera Gin on IG: https://www.instagram.com/proceragin?igsh=ZWViYXJyNWJlcmhn

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#120, Alexandre Gabriel & Matt Pietrek, authors of “The Rum Never Sets”, a history of naval rum (collab dual-cast with The Speakeasy podcast) 28 July 2025

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Myself and The Speakeasy Podcast co-host Greg Benson were both in New Orleans last week at the Tales of the Cocktail festival, and so were Alexandre Gabriel, master distiller and blender at Maison Ferrand & Planteray rum, plus Matt Pietrek, spirits author & publisher, who lives in the Crescent City.

AND Alexandre and Matt had just published (with Matt's WonkPress company) "The Rum Never Sets: A History of Naval Rum", so we all decided to get in the pool (where else to tape a podcast about naval rum?!) and talk about Mr Fogg, Alexandre's journey from being a cognac distiller to a rum blender, naval rum, historical research, and a whole lot more - enjoy!

Oh, and we drank Mr Fogg Navy Rum, the latest Planteray rum that pays homage to Michael Fogg, who you will learn about in the podcast, and the book, and HERE: https://planterayrum.com/limited-edition/mister-fogg-navy-rum/

Oh, and HERE the link if you'd like to WATCH this - yep, we recorded video! Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI975RFZXxI

This episode is a dual-cast collab with The Speakeasy, the longest-running spirits / bar / cocktail podcast around, to which you should certainly subscribe, link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3K545VNuOTdTSICk7D2jvB?si=1jQuzjaiTFuZtZM4qjHlGA

Buy The Rum Never Sets: https://www.wonkpress.com/products/the-rum-never-sets?srsltid=AfmBOooimTmyM_c6CZ6aiSmWIAXTX0OdkGo1XM5w6Mylq3wt8Be6HetE

Greg Benson on IG: https://www.instagram.com/100proofgreg/?hl=en

The Speakeasy on IG: https://www.instagram.com/speakeasypodcast/?hl=en

Alexandre Gabriel on IG: https://www.instagram.com/alexandregabriel.masterblender/?hl=en

Planteray on IG: https://www.instagram.com/planterayrum/?hl=en

Matt Pietrek on IG: https://www.instagram.com/cocktailwonk/?hl=en

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#119, Christian Delpech, 19 x world champion flair bartending, bar director Presidente Miami, bar consultant

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0400

I first met Christian, who is Argentinian, in 2000, at the Quest for the Best world bartending championships in Orlando.

I'd competed in Quest and Roadhouse and other contests like those quite a few times, but when many of us saw Christian that year - who competed in the Rookie division - a lot of us just decided to retire from competition and become judges!

He was that good; next-level, Michael Jordan-good.

And he was just getting started: Christian went on to utterly dominate flair bartending contests, becoming practically unbeatable, not just in exhibition and working flair, but also in pourtesting and speed rounds.

Headhunted to bartend and perform in Las Vegas, he spent 14 years there before relocating to Miami almost a decade ago, working at the Fontainebleau, Sweet Liberty and Sexy Fish.

He's just opened Presidente Miami, the third branch of an Argentinian group of cocktail bar-restaurants and their first American opening, and that was as good an excuse as any for us to sit down and catch up on old times.

Enjoy!

Christian on IG: https://www.instagram.com/christiandelpechofficial/?hl=en

Presidente on IG: https://www.instagram.com/presidentebar.miami/

Christian's Freepouring Masterclass:

Shaken And Stirred, documentary about flair: https://www.shakenandstirredthemovie.com/

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#118, Ian Burrell, global rum ambassador, author, “Rum: A Tasting Course”, founder, UK RumFest, co-founder Equiano Rum, EduTainer

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0400

I've judged many a cocktail contest with Ian, and he's got a new book out AND just been awarded the Lifetime Achievement award by Tales of the Cocktail, so it was time for us to catch up over a rum or two.

Having played basketball in his native UK, and rapped - he still gets royalties from a song of his featured on the soundtrack of "Space Jam" - Ian built a career as the self-styled Global Rum Ambassador, evangelising the whole category at a time when there was very little education about, or even respect for, rum.

That led to Ian founding the world's first (and now longest-running) rum festival, UK RumFest, travelling the world to teach about rum, co-founding the Equiano Rum brand, and writing his books, "Rum: A Tasting Course".

Enjoy!

Ian on IG: https://www.instagram.com/therumambassador/

Buy Ian's book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/rum-a-tasting-course-ian-burrell/21335716

UK RumFest on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ukrumfest/

Equiano Rum on IG: https://www.instagram.com/equianorum/guides/

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#117, Timo Janse: opening bar manager, door 74 bar; owner, Dutch Courage bar, Perfect Serve Barshow and RevolutionCherry; co-founder, Flying Dutchmen Cocktails bar, Belly of the Beast bar, Amsterdam Cocktail Week; VP, the NBC (Dutch national bartender as

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Timo has been a friend for almost two decades now: first he was the bartender who served me, then my employee, then my bar's manager, and then a bar owner in his own right, before founding a bar show, and several other excellent bars.

We could have gone for four hours. We've known each other through multiple marriages, got to know each other before my Dutch was good enough to switch from English, worked together, collaborated together...and always had a drink.

(Although his new skull tattoos are straight up fucking insane, WTF Timo)

He is a genuine lifer. Bars for life. He's crazy in the best way. I love you, man.

Timo's website: https://www.timojanse.com/

Timo on IG: https://www.instagram.com/timo.janse/

Dutch Courage genever cocktail bar: https://www.instagram.com/dutchcouragecocktails/

Perfect Serve Barshow: https://www.perfectserve-barshow.com/

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#116, Kristiane Westray, UK-based drinks writer and LGBTQIA+ proponent, who also runs FAR too much

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Krissy is a hilarious person that I got to know judging spirits contests together, and an accomplished drinks writer as well as being an outspoken proponent of the LGBTQIA+ community, so I wanted to catch up with her just as we round out Pride Month.

We had a great chat, not even that much about that community, because we both had a lot to catch up on, and she had a hard stop as she had to go do some heavy drinking in Bristol, which is entirely understandable.

But this was super fun!

I feel we should do another ep soon and go over everything we had no time for - what do you think?.

In the meantime, enjoy!

Kristiane's website: https://www.kristianewestray.com/

Kristiane on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kristianewestray/

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#115, DNN - Duff News Network

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 11:00:00 -0400

It's been a minute since we went over the news, and I've been rocketing around the world doing interesting things, so here's a DNN episode!

We cover bar shows like BCBrooklyn, the Gulf Bar Show, the upcoming BCB London, the risers and fallers in the annual Millionaires List of million-case-selling liquor brands, Pernod's restructuring, the tiny cocktail trend, how I found the best cocktail bar at Disney Paris, and much more - enjoy.

Oh, and if you're doing something cool at Tales of the Cocktail, or if you want to be invited to the top-secret invite-only stuff that I'M organising - DM me...

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#114, Lorenzo Antinori, founder, Bar Leone (HK), #2 W50BB 2024, #1 Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 06:00:00 -0400

I've known Lorenzo since his days bartending at The Savoy in London, and have also had the pleasure of his drinks during his stint at Argo Bar (HK).

Now he's opened Bar Leone, which is the fastest-ever to get to #1 in Asia's 50 Best Bars and #2 in World's 50 Best, after opening in June 2023.

He's also about to open Montana bar in HK together with his fellow Italian, Simone Caporale.

We got together to catch up after a dizzying array of guest shifts and pop-ups on his part, and talked bars, competitions, London, Hong Kong, Dandelyan, Korea, the ethos of Leone and a lot more - enjoy!

Lorenzo on IG: https://www.instagram.com/lorenzoantinori_/?hl=en

Bar Leone on IG: https://www.instagram.com/barleonehk/

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#113, Hayden “Woody” Wood, cocktail entrepreneur, world champion, author of 10 cocktail books (and Guy Fieri’s tour buddy)

Mon, 26 May 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Woody, a New Zealander, has been a fixture in Australian bartending for as long as I've been in the business, and he built his flair bartending and cocktail catering firm into a massive business there, wrote ten best-selling cocktail books, toured with Guy Fieri, burned out, came back, and has now founded a new solution to revolutionise the import-distribution of liquor in Australia, Drinks Network.

Clearly, we were overdue - enjoy!

Hayden on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mrliquidkitchen/?hl=de

Hayden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haydenwood639

Drinks Network on IG: https://www.instagram.com/drinks_network

Buy Hayden's books: https://www.amazon.com/Woodys-Liquid-Kitchen-Delicious-Recipes/dp/0975212397/ref=sr_1_2?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.52_NKdp9nuEABSwqKVec1kGMwmlKVWWB0kpsfr-XwCt7-zAsV4wibhBcAJuJ91FXIseUDUSiLp_zzjMhmPg_P583sJIFJ1ekyaGiZ-nb1GuyW6lqkgEyaZNNUqwkNE5cqGyRjXSUoYKAIA7Bq5ScGeNdjYJDNn30Y640FX6RolY32cMqC_6wzDJyjCyyDPZ7ZSHxpR3rlUtRN2toB_jpbVUmJdZbZ30VR6lq3KIDW4Q.RfvFQUrxPwFvFzcoR88XakGfy1FM4LPM2Iuv7cjpSQg&dib_tag=se&qid=1748226980&refinements=p_27%3AHayden+Wood&s=books&sr=1-2&text=Hayden+Wood

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#112, Josh Harris, founder, Trick Dog (San Francisco), Pig & Punch, and forthcoming Quik Dog

Mon, 19 May 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Me, Josh and a bunch of other people (including Julio Bermejo and Mauro Mahjoub) were together in Yerevan for Yerevan Cocktail Week (YCW), so I took the chance to tape an episode with Josh, who I always run into at Tales of the Cocktail, but never get to sit down and chat with.

Josh is best known for Trick Dog cocktail bar in SF, a perennial award winner and two-time World's Best Cocktail Menu winner at Tales; in fact, Josh taught a class at YCW on cocktail menus.

It was a special trip for Josh, whose grandparents fled Armenia for America; he is the very first member of the entire family to return to Armenia, ever.

Over some remarkably pungent Armenian string cheese, and a beer on my part and possibly some Mount Ararat brandy, we talked bars, menus, awards, travel, the industry, his new bar and a lot more. Enjoy!

Josh on IG: https://www.instagram.com/josh_the_bon_vivants/?hl=en

Trick Dog: https://www.instagram.com/trickdogbar/?hl=en

The forthcoming Quik Dog: https://www.instagram.com/quik_dog/?hl=en

Pig 'n' Punch: https://www.instagram.com/pig_n_punch/?hl=en

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#111, Patrick Pistolesi, owner Drink Kong and Nite Kong, Rome, co-founder NIO Cocktails

Mon, 05 May 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Taped live in an annoyingly child-ridden park on a lovely day in NYC, myself and the rock 'n' roll Irish-Italian Rome-based cocktail bar owner Patrick Pistolesi cracked some all-American tariff-free beers, washed 'em down with mezcal and 'Murican single malt whiskey, and talked about Japan, billionaires, awards, his adventurous Irish mum, bars, cocktails, and the profusion of guest bartending, plus looots more stuff - enjoy!

Patrick on IG: https://www.instagram.com/_thepisto_?igsh=aDhxczI2YXJyOGU=

Drink Kong bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/drinkkongbar?igsh=MXN1N29sdDRiYjVzdQ==

Nite Kong bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nitekong?igsh=MXNsdG03c2o2bGszeg==

NIO Cocktails on IG (we forgot to talk about them, but they're awesome): https://www.instagram.com/niococktails/

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#110, Ektoras Binikos, founder, Sugar Monk, Bitter Monk and Atheras Spirits

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 11:00:00 -0400

Ektoras Binikos opened Sugar Monk cocktail bar in Harlem just 9 months before the COVID lockdowns kicked off, after a career in both art and mixology, having emigrated to Manhattan from his native Greece. While weathering the storm of the lockdown, he and his team started making and selling amaros and liqueurs, and this venture has blossomed into a company, Atheras Spirits, which has a distillery and a cocktail bar/tasting room, Bitter Monk, in Industry City, Brooklyn.

We sat down on a gorgeous day and talked about his career, opening a bar, trying to keep the wheels turning during a lockdown, the delights of gin/aquavit martinis, and the frankly wild inspirations of each of his amaros and liqueurs which, of course, we tasted our way through.

Enjoy!

(And shout-out to Helen Baldus, Sugar Monk's publicist, who suggested this - thanks Helen!)

Ektoras on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ektorasb/

Sugar Monk on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sugarmonknyc/

Bitter Monk on IG: https://www.instagram.com/bittermonkbrooklyn/

Atheras Spirits on IG: https://www.instagram.com/atherasspirits/

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#109, Tony Sachs, Philip Duff Show regular, drinks writer, bon vivant

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Regular listeners will know New York drinks writer Tony Sachs, who occupies a place in The Philip Duff Show universe somewhere between "henchman" and "drinking buddy".

It's been a while since we convened to drink our way through the literal lakes of booze Tony is sent on a daily basis, and because he was off to drink Direct Martinis from the hand of Alessandro Palazzi that evening, we started out with a nice run of tasting no- and low-alc drinks, including new low-alcohol gin Second Sip from Leo Robitschek & Nick Strangeway, St Agrestis' Phony Negroni, Three Cents' superior grapefruit soda for Palomas, and Jillian Vose's Badger Bevs tonic (for mixing with the Second Sip), as well as bottled Second Sip cocktails from both Leo and Clemente Bar head bartender Nicole Giampino.

But then, predictably, the wheels came off as Tony started dragging out bottles of booze potent enough to run a small car on.

This is a fun one, and there's some breaking news about tequila master Carlos Camarena right at the start, too - enjoy!

Tony on IG: https://www.instagram.com/retromannyc/

Tony's writing: https://www.tonysachsdrinks.com/what-im-writing

Second Sip 20% abv gin: https://www.instagram.com/drink.secondsip/

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#108, Warren Bobrow, creator KLAUS THC beverages, cocktail book author, cannabis advocate

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Warren has written six cocktail books - including on cannabis cocktails, as well as more conventional cocktail tomes - and he was way ahead of what is now a trend of quitting alcohol, back in 2018, during Tales of the Cocktail, which is like quitting skydiving mid-jump.

He's recently created a range of delicious cocktail-inspired THC beverages named KLAUS, so it was high* time we sat down, guzzled a little Klaus, and caught up on the state of the world and the long, strange journey that took him from being a trained chef, a pasta entrepreneur, a private banker and then a rum judge, cocktail man-about-town and on to the wonderful world of THC.

Enjoy!

*See what I did there?

Warren on IG: https://www.instagram.com/warrenbobrow/

Klaus on IG: https://www.instagram.com/drinkklaus/

Buy Warren's books: https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=warren+bobrow

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#107, Rob Husted, flair bartender, competitor & judge, co-creator “Shaken & Stirred” flair documentary

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Me and Rob have known each other since the early early days, back when I was still a competitive flair bartender in the 1990s, and together with fellow OGs Dean Serneels and Deborah Richards, he's just created and premiered the world's first documentary about flair, "Shaken & Stirred", so it was high time we had a chat.

We talked about the wild network that was flair, before this Second Golden Age of mixology was properly underway: travelling the world, yard days, why - and how - flair makes you humble in a way mixology does not, why revolutions start with sledgehammers and end with scalpels, the USBG & IBA, speed contests anno 2025, freepouring and a whole bunch more, including of course the making of the documentary and how Deborah is actually an old mate of mine!

Download or stream "Shaken & Stirred" here: https://www.shakenandstirredthemovie.com/

Rob on IG: https://www.instagram.com/theflairambassador/

Rob’s website: http://bartendbetternow.com/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR5C9RrOaKGY4UNXdZCqIV4LwxlSU_QWaLZxQyJ4gsxPYB53HSFgDUORTQU51Q_aem_bHsvfis_mbeqj9GMjPiFqg

Rob on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flairbar?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr

Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theflairambassador

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#106, Hayden Lambert, owner, Above Board (Melbourne), jet-set bartender

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 12:00:00 -0400

Hayden's been a mate for ages, and his bar, a gorgeous, tiny, stripped-back speakeasy-type Mecca in Melbourne, is almost ten years old and has been winning awards and getting on lists quite a lot, so it was time we got together and shot the shit. This tiny little bar in Australia's second city got #100 on the overall World's 50 Best Bars list - not bad, eh?

I had no idea about Hayden's Euro ski-resort Flugel-drinking past, as he'd only popped up on my radar after his rather more seemly stint at the Merchant Hotel in Belfast, and then promptly dropped off until he opened Above Board, and we even got to hang a little when I was in Australia last, around 2019/early 2020, as I recall...

This was a really fun chat (more for me than him, because it was evening time in NY so I could have a drink or two, as you'll be able to hear, but it was morning time the next day in Melbourne, so all Hayden had was coffee, poor bastard) and we went nice and long.

Enjoy!

Hayden on IG: https://www.instagram.com/travlinboy/

Above Board on IG: https://www.instagram.com/aboveboardbarmelb/

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#105, Jonathan Downey, cocktail bar empire builder and hospitality entrepreneur

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 11:00:00 -0400

Without Jonathan and the London-based international Match Bar Group he built, spanning 40+ venues at one time or another, cocktails in the UK would look very different today.

Jonathan, a cheerful Mancunian former lawyer, invested heavily in bartending expertise when building his group: his first head bartender for Match bar was the legendary, late Dick Bradsell, he hired Dale de Groff to be a training consultant and partnered with the much-missed Sasha Petraske to open only the second-ever Milk & Honey, in London. Match Bars opened in Ibiza, Chamonix and as far afield as Melbourne, shaping the careers of literally hundreds of bartenders including Kevin Armstrong, Tim Phillips and Sam Jeveons.

His second act was pop-up street festivals, and last time we had lunch he was referring to himself as semi-retired - but now he's getting back in the game, opening two big new places in London soon.

I love chatting with Jonathan, and this one - uncharacteristically short, as he had to go to his Pilates class at 730pm on a Friday(!) - was pure gold, as ever.

Apply for a job with Jonathan: jd@londonunion.com

Jonathan on X/Twitter: https://x.com/DowneyJD?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Jonathan on IG: https://www.instagram.com/downeyjd/?hl=en

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#104, Nico de Soto, co-owner Mace (NY), Danico (Paris) Kota Pandan Liqueur, globetrotting bartender & consultant

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 09:00:00 -0500

I've known Nico since his time at Experimental Cocktail Club Paris around 2008, and he's very much the mixologist's mixologist; most people would say - I agree - that he's one of the two or three best mixologists working today.

He just launched Kota Pandan liqueur with a banging party in Mace NY, so the next day we sat down to talk bars, pandan, awards, the state of the business, how he almost opened a place in Singapore, the importance of hiring, burning out on cocktails, his guest bartending odysseys, and our love of arrack - plus a whole lot more!

Nico's website: https://nicodesoto.com/

Nico on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nico2soto/?hl=fr

Kota Pandan Liqueur: https://www.instagram.com/kota.pandan/

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#103, Salvatore Calabrese, bar maestro, The Donovan Bar, Velvet by Salvatore (London), Igiea Terrazza (Palermo), Stravinsky (Rome), author, public speaker

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Few people in the cocktail world are as well known as Salvatore; you don't even have to say his surname before people begin talking about his many achievements in bartending, dating back forty years to his youth on the sun-kissed shores of the Amalfi Coast. He really is the Maestro, and it's been a privilege to call him a friend for several decades now.

From inventing the Direct Martini (while at Dukes Hotel, for guest Stanton Delaplane, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who himself invented/popularised the Irish Coffee, depending on who you ask), to running celebrated bar programs at The Lanesborough Hotel, Salvatore at Fifty, the Playboy Club and (currently) The Donovan Bar at Browns Hotel, Velvet by Salvatore at The Corinthia London, and several projects in his native Italy.

He created modern classic cocktails including The Breakfast Martini and Spicy 50, has written many cocktail books (including one that sold a million copies), an award-winning book on cognac, and is a former President of the UK Bartending Guild.

And he's a lot of fun.

We sat down over coffee to talk about his career, what's changed, how he used to sell five-pound Mai Tais containing 17-year-old Wray & Nephew rum, his womanising bar mentor, advice he'd give a young bartender, the art of hosting and a whole lot more.

Enjoy!

Salvatore's website: https://salvatore-calabrese.co.uk/

Salvatore on IG: https://www.instagram.com/cocktailmaestro/

The Donovan Bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thedonovanbar/?hl=en

Velvet Bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/velvetbysalvatorecalabrese/?hl=en

Salvatore's books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=salvatore+calabrese&crid=2L1S4BQCUS0IP&sprefix=salvatore+calabrese%2Caps%2C82&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

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#102, Maxwell Britten, award-winning NY beverage director, cocktail book author & documentary producer

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 14:00:00 -0500

Maxwell is an old friend who came to prominence with the drinks program he curated at Brooklyn's amazing Maison Premiere, winning James Beard awards, World's 50 Best Bars listing, and Tales of the Cocktail awards, to name but a few. (It is also, and to this day, a magnificent place for dinner or a cocktail). He's also co-authored a cocktail book and created one of the first modern-era cocktail recipe apps.

Maxwell recently finished working on a great project - more below - plus we'll take any opportunity for a chat and a drink here at the Philip Duff Show, so we got together in Brooklyn at the Ace Hotel.

Maxwell's always been drawn to music and movies as well as mixology, and he's just helped produce "BAR" a documentary about the Beverage Alcohol Resource five-day residential spirits education course, originally created by a murderer's row of American liquor- and cocktail luminaries including F. Paul Pacult, Dave Wondrich, Doug Frost and Dale de Groff, to name but a few. The documentary, from KTF Films, follows several of the students preparing studying and being tested at what is one of the world's toughest spirits courses

The trailer is out now, and the documentary premiere at Cinequest Film Festival in March, hopefully followed by a tour that includes Bar Convent Brooklyn, Aspen Food & Wine and Tales of the Cocktail as well as the Tribeca Film Festival and others.

Brands! There are some limited opportunities to sponsor screenings of BAR - get in touch with Maxwell: mb@maxwellbritten.com

Maxwell on IG: http://instagram.com/maxwellbritten

Maxwell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwell-britten-25306930

Buy Maxwell's book, co-authored with rapper T-Pain: https://bookshop.org/p/books/can-i-mix-you-a-drink-a-cocktail-book-of-50-drink-recipes-inspired-by-t-pain-s-music-t-pain/17156993?ean=9781954220003&next=t&next=t

Maxwell's app, The Liquor Cabinet: https://apps.apple.com/bh/app/the-liquor-cabinet/id1073493589

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#101, Dolph Lundgren, MA (Chem. Eng.), karate champion, vodka entrepreneur, Hollywood movie star

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 17:00:00 -0500

It's nomination season!

If you enjoy The Philip Duff Show, take a minute to throw our hat in the ring for an award that is guaranteed to annoy everyone - link to nominate us for "Best Broadcast, Podcast Or Online Video" here: https://spiritedawards.secure-platform.com/a

(Nominations deadline is February 13th, at 1159pm New Orleans time!)

Dolph's been a legend in Hollywood for almost forty years, from his first role in Bond movie "A View To a Kill", to his breakthrough as Ivan Drago in "Rocky IV", and more recently in "The Expendables", "Creed II" and as King Nereus in the "Aquaman" movies.

But he also graduated #1 in his class in the masters' degree program in Chemical Engineering, won scholarships in that subject all over the world (including a Fulbright Scholarship to MIT), was a European and Australian karate champion, and - as we hear - almost became a boxer when he first moved to New York.

After two long days of me teaching Dolph mixology, we sat down in West Hollywood over a couple of glasses of the new vodka brand that Dolph and his wife Emma are launching in a month or so (and that I'm helping with), and talked about how he got into acting, why it's no fun to spend your weekends punching Australians, and how he still does a kata every morning, among a whole lot more.

This was a lot of fun and we're going to tape a muuuch longer episode next month, after the vodka launch. Enjoy!

Dolph on IG: https://www.instagram.com/dolphlundgren/?hl=en

Dolph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dolph-lundgren-68983432a

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#100 David Gluckman, creator of Baileys, Tanqueray TEN, The Singleton, etc., author of “That Shit Will Never Sell” (2nd edition)

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Nominate The Philip Duff Show for the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards - “Best Broadcast, Podcast, or Online Video Series” category: https://spiritedawards.secure-platform.com/a

David’s a legend in the liquor business, ever since he and his business partner came up with the idea for Baileys Irish Cream, easily the most succesful liquor brand created in the last half-century or so.

He followed up with brands like Tanqueray TEN, The Singleton, Smirnoff Black and many more, and wrote about them all - including his failures - in his brilliant and funny book “That Shit Will Never Sell”, of which he just released an updated and expanded second edition.

We chatted about non-alcoholic “spirits”, the vodka market, Archer’s and Peachtree, the new temperance movement, what Smirnoff Black, Tanqueray TEN and Absolut Elyx all had in common, and why he’s giving away a genius brand idea to anyone who has the cojones to give it a try.

David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/englishauthor?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Buy “That Shit Will Never Sell” 2nd edition: https://www.amazon.com/That-Will-Never-Sell-Person-ebook/dp/B0BDGDPB2J

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#99, Adam Montgomerie, former bar manager, Hawksmoor New York

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 14:00:00 -0500

Adam, a native Scot, spent a decade working for the Hawksmoor group, including a five-year stint opening and running the bar at their first-ever US branch here in New York, and he's just moved back to London, so I thought we'd have a chat.
It was a lot of fun and we got into a ton of different stuff, including US tipping culture, the "Sopranos"-esque nature of doing deals with American liquor brands, what it was like moving to first, London, and then, NY, plus a bunch more.
Enjoy!

Adam on IG: https://www.instagram.com/adammontgomerie/
Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-montgomerie-a0661192

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#98, Caitlin Bartlemay, Master Distiller at Clear Creek Distillery and McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Caitlin makes some of America’s best eaux-des-vie, as well as America’s first-ever single malt whiskey, McCarthy’s.
(American Single Malt was only recognized by the US government’s TTB as a legal category about a month ago, but McCarthy’s started distilling in 1985. )

This is a nerdy one.
It was a great chat, though, discussing Caitlin’s unconventional path to being a master distiller, who’s drinking eau-de-vie, and wr had a tasting of some of the Clear Creek distillates and a six-year-old McCarthy’s that knocked me on my ass. Enjoy!

Caitlin on IG: https://www.instagram.com/the_bartlemay/
Clear Creek Distillery on IG: https://www.instagram.com/clearcreekdistillery/
McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt Whiskey on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mccarthyswhiskey/

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#97, Oisin Davis, owner, Great Irish Beverages (Ireland), ex-bartender, drinks writer, brand consultant

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 06:00:00 -0500

I'm not sure exactly where me and Oisin met, but we definitely had a drink to hand!

Born in New Jersey, he moved to Ireland when he was just 10, so he's lived there for far longer than I have - in fact he moved there more or less precisely as I left - and has done far more cool stuff there than I ever did, from running great Dublin bars and music venues, to writing an award-winning cocktail book, to promoting Irish spirits (especially whiskey) around the world as a consultant and ambassador and, latterly, within Ireland itself (the locals are a TOUGH sell - why do you think I emigrated?!) with a series of festivals, events and education.

We had a grand chat over a beer or whiskey or three*, and got onto some interesting topics, like growing up in Sopranos territory, the history of Irish whiskey marketing, how the housing and inflation crisis in Ireland affects hospitality, being a dad, and a bunch more.
It was great craic, enjoy - and happy New Year!
*Four. Well, five really.

Oisin on IG: https://www.instagram.com/oisindavis/?hl=en
Oisin's firm, Great Irish Beverages on IG: https://www.instagram.com/greatirishbeverages/?hl=en
Buy Oisin's book Irish Kitchen Cocktails: https://www.amazon.com/Book-9781739210526-Ois%C3%ADn-Davis/dp/1739210522?gQT=1
Oisin's podcast about Irish food & drink: https://open.spotify.com/show/6AC00zRL749PcV2X6HXZTc?si=d5a3efb400d9488c&nd=1&dlsi=a515fd3fc1dc4427

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96, Steve Schneider, co-owner Sip & Guzzle (NY), Elysian Cafe (Hoboken), Employees Only (Singapore) & The Odd Couple (Shanghai)

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 -0500

Ever wondered what'd happen if I sat down with Steve Schneider for three hours over half a bottle of whisky and numerous beers?
Wonder no more!
Steve's been a friend since his time bartending (and later managing) Employees Only NY, and I've had the pleasure of drinking with him in EO Singapore, which he co-founded.
His newest place, Sip + Guzzle in Manhattan, is a second project with Shingo Gokan after they opened The Odd Couple in Shanghai.
We go into detail of how Steve got into bartending, how he made the step to bar ownership, and why he's happiest now standing behind his own bar, commanding the room and raising the next generation of New York City bartenders.
Plus, we catch up and talk a ton of shit about everyone.
Happy Holidays, everyone!

Steve on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mightyschneidey/?hl=en
Sip & Guzzle on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sipandguzzlenyc/?hl=en
Elysian Cafe on IG: https://www.instagram.com/elysiancafehoboken/?hl=en
EO Singapore on IG: https://www.instagram.com/employeesonlysg/?hl=en
The Odd Couple on IG: https://www.instagram.com/theoddcoupleshanghai/?hl=en

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#95, Giuseppe Gallo, ex-London bartender, founder of the Italicus rosolio and Savoia vino aperitivo brands AND Roma Bar Show

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0500

Giuseppe's an old friend, so when I heard he'd be in NY we made time to sit down and catch up over a negroni or two.
Yet another Italian bartender transplanted to London, Giuseppe worked at some of the OG cocktail bars back in the day, was the global ambassador for Martini & Rossi, founded onpremise agency Italspirits, created Italicus and Savoia and, more recently, the hugely successful Roma Bar Show.
And we talked about aaaaaaaall of that...and then went to Sip and Guzzle for some more beverages.

Giuseppe on IG: https://www.instagram.com/peppegallo1/?hl=en
Italicus on IG: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/1590818544545761/italicus-rosolio-di-bergamotto/?hl=en
Savoia on IG: https://www.instagram.com/casa.savoia?igsh=MXV6dGxtZmVvYzJ2eg==
Italspirits on IG: https://www.instagram.com/italspirits/?hl=en
Roma Bar Show on IG: https://www.instagram.com/romabarshow/?hl=en

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#94, Alex Kammerling, London cocktail OG, author, liquor entrepreneur and training consultant

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 13:00:00 -0500

Simon Difford once described Alex as being an even better mixologist than his mentor Dick Bradsell, and it was in the pages of Simon's print magazine CLASS than I first came across Alex, first being written about, and then as a writer for CLASS himself.

After bartending at the birth of mixology's Second Golden Age in 1990s London, Alex went on to work at one of the world's first cocktail consultancies, IP Bartenders, wrote cocktail book "Blend Me, Shake Me" in 2004, worked as a Grey Goose ambassador and founded his own British amaro brand, Kammerlings, which changed its name to Kamm & Sons.
He's now a training manager for the liquor biz as well as operations director at Well & Being, a wellness firm specialising in the hospitality sector.

Most importantly, Alex is the true creator of a phrase often attributed to me that involves Campari - listen to the episode for the full story!

Buy "Blend Me, Shake Me": https://www.amazon.com/Blend-Me-Shake-101-Cocktails/dp/056348795X
Alex on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kammtheman/
Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-kammerling-0aa2225?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BHNZKH%2FNkR6y73KPhsIVrsA%3D%3D
Well & Being on IG: https://www.instagram.com/wellandbeinglondon/

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#93, Mark Reynier, talking about Waterford Whisky and Renegade Rum entering (and hopefully exiting) receivership

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 12:00:00 -0500

Mark, founder of the ground-breaking terroir-driven Waterford Whisky in Ireland and Renegade Rum in Grenada, is going through the grinder of both being in receivership*, and made time for a chat with me.

Mark is very open on the 'pod about the factors that led to the current situation, and there are some real nuggets in here, such as Waterford being French powerhouse distributor La Maison du Whisky's 5th best-selling whisky, why Waterford never did private casks, why you need to go deep, not wide (especially in the USA) and why whisky before the OPEC crisis of 1973 was better.

We're all hoping Mark - who is assembling an investment syndicate to bid for the assets - can regain control of the companies when the assets are auctioned in January, as I don't think anyone can realise the promise of Waterford and Renegade that isn't named Mark Reynier.

*Ireland, where Waterford Whisky is based, doesn't have similar options to the USA's Chapter 11 "protection from creditors"-type of insolvency laws.

Contact Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-reynier-86913344
Contact Mark on X/Twitter: https://x.com/markreynier?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#92, Rob Cullins, liquor industry titan, current CEO of Disaronno and former CEO of Stoli Group

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 21:00:00 -0500

I've known Rob for several decades now; we met in Korea when he was MD for global liquor distributor Maxxium, and I was doing cocktail seminars there for bartenders.
We've had personal and professional intersections - not to mention more than a few martinis here and there - ever since, as he racked up a truly stellar resume in the liquor biz: Diageo, Shaw-Ross, Maxxium, Gruppo Montenegro (where he was also MD), and Disaronno, where he's currently CEO.
But, as he's a former Stoli CEO, I thought I'd have him on this week, as Stoli USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy just last week, which came as a bit of a shock to one and all.
So sit down - like me and Rob did - with a nice large vodka martini to hand, and listen to us dive into the Stoli saga, the current state of play in liquor, the role of private equity, what Rob thinks of what's in the trade news these days, and why he'll absolutely hire someone without a college degree...

Rob on X/Twitter: https://x.com/rbc1964?s=11&t=kTsTPMPK0kgHLvK8ldrFXQ
Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-cullins-1419346?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_mweb&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile

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#91, Se Busca Barmaid Week (Barcelona) with organisers Bianca Grisolia, Laura Alonso and Meritxell Coll

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0500

An unusual one!
My friend, and top-rank bar PR guru Bianca Grisolia organised the first-ever Se Busca* Barmaid Week recently in Barcelona, and I thought it was a great opportunity to have a discussion about mezcal, ladies in bartending, and bar weeks in general, with Bianca (of PR firm BG Communications), Laura Alonso (Global Agave Director for SE Busca mezcal and Villa One tequila) and Meritxell Coll, brand manager for Se Busca at Spanish distributor General Goods.
This is a little Frankenstein's Monster - it's two chats stitched together - but I think it's great, and I had fun taping it.
Enjoy!
*Great brand of mezcal.

Bianca on IG: https://www.instagram.com/biancagrisolia/
Laura on IG: https://www.instagram.com/lau.taggart/
Meritxell on IG: https://www.instagram.com/txell_lexington?igsh=dWp5a3ZpdTZsbXZh
Se Busca Barmaid Week on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sebuscabw/

The Bars & Ladies of Se Busca Barmaid Week 2024
(Probably awesome barmaids &* bars, all year-round)

Bar Sauvage - Giulia Falluzz
Dr. Stravinsky - Tillea Bruce
Especiarium - Jennifer Opderbeck
La Whiskeria - Liv Rosengren
Magma Bar - Emily Cova y Soline Rousseau
Marlowe Bar - Nathalie Giacomuzzi
Paradiso TimeOut Market - Angeles Rodriguez
Piñata Cantina - Olga Villuendas
Solange Cocktails - Amanda Kenner
Vesou - Ana Michel Alves

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#90, Dr. Nicola Nice, sociologist, entrepreneur and author of “The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought The Cocktail Home”

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0500

I met Dr. Nicola, an English expat, just a couple of weeks ago, but I'd been hearing about her - and her groundbreaking book detailing the forgotten history of women's involvement in the cocktail's evolution, especially in the home - for quite a while, since before the book came out, in fact.

We say down for a nice long chat about what it's like for expats like us to have American kids, how university is mostly about networking now and not education, how women cleverly got themselves a seat at the table by recreating the amenities of a men's club for their husbands, including cocktails, why clients abuse research and then create stupid liquor brands, how English sarcasm falls flat in America, running focus groups, the birth of singles bars, the art of assembling good guests for a party, the future of hosting, why introverts will always check out your photos or bookshelves first if you invite them round for a party, and a whoooole lot more.

Enjoy!

Dr. Nice on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nicola.nice
Dr. Nice's website: https://www.nicolanice.com/
Dr. Nice's new project The Hostess Diaries: https://www.thehostessdiaries.com/
Buy The Cocktail Parlor online from an independent bookstore: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-cocktail-parlor-how-women-brought-the-cocktail-home-nicola-nice/20073879?ean=9781682688717

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#89, Ambre van de Berg, founder of Lala Tequila, wellness consultant & yoga instructor (but definitely not woo)

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 11:00:00 -0500

I met Ambre at the infamous pre-Bar Convent Berlin networking hosted by Thorsten Husmann a couple of years ago, and learned she had just founded the first woman-owned tequila brand in the Netherlands, Lala.
Ambre is fascinating: a wellness guru but not woo-woo (very likely due to her no-nonsense Dutch upbringing) who came to love great tequila after living and teaching fancy yoga classes in Williamsburg (of course!) Brooklyn, she got the idea for Lala after avocado toast brunch and many a glass of good tequila, and she now lives and runs the company from Amsterdam.
We had a great chat, covering the CRT controversy around tequila additive labelling, Uncle Nearest whiskey founder Fawn Weaver's baffling Instagram posts on the same topic, grappling with the realities of establishing an all-female supply chain, why I should become a full-time transatlantic Casamigos smuggler, the role of assholes in the workplace, the poverty tourism of trade visitors to mezcal and tequila distilleries, and how to decompress after Athens Bar Show!

Enjoy!

Ambre on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ambrevandeberg/?hl=en
Ambre's website: https://www.ambrevandeberg.com/
Lala Tequila on IG: https://www.instagram.com/drinkelala?igsh=MWNkaGJwb2d6aXI5cw==
Lala Tequila website: https://www.lalatequila.com/

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#88, Robin Robinson, author, whiskey guru & brand sherpa for craft liquor brands, NYC

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:00:00 -0500

Robin's been a fixture of the spirits education world for as long as I can remember - I think we first met when he was still shepherding Compass Box Whisky for the US, at a bar show in Paris.
He's a remarkable raconteur - like a lot of the ex-actors littering the spirits industry - and a true expert across the broad world of spirits, but what really sets him apart is his structured, masterful approach to actually selling, a skill he learned in Silicon Valley and took with him to the liquor industry.
Unlike most people who've been terrified of selling due to watching movies like "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Tin Men", Robin respects sales people - and helps create great ones as part of his consulting services.
As he says "If you have something in your hand, a sales person put it there".

We had a great chat about his origin story, about truly honing your own brand, his move into the liquor biz, and the state of the industry.
We didn't even talk about his excellent book "The Complete Whiskey Course", so for sure we'll have to have him back on to catch up.
Enjoy!

Buy Robin's book from independent bookstores: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-complete-whiskey-course-a-comprehensive-tasting-school-in-ten-classes-robin-robinson/12350951?ean=9781454921226

Robin's website: https://www.robinrobinsonllc.com/

Robin on Facebook: http://facebook.com/robin.robinson1
Robin on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/robinrobinsonllc
Robin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robinrobinsonllc

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#87, Emily LaRuffa, New York hospitality veteran and founder of Oracle Hospitality Consultants

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Emily LaRuffa has scaled the dizzy heights of Manhattan hospitality business, from bartending to managing and being a GM at every kind of NY joint from rock 'n' roll bars in Hell's Kitchen to the five-star luxury of Loews Hotel, The Baccarat, Major Food Group (and cheerful pirate Brian Miller)'s The Polynesian, and Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group's Manhatta bar-restaurant.
She's now founded an innovative consultancy, Oracle Hospitality Consultants, to share her knowledge with owners and managers who lack the time or experience to stop working in their business so they can work on their business, so it was time for us to catch up.
We had a great chat about everything, the state of the industry, why bar owner GoFundMe pages make our blood boil, the joy of managing union staff, why owners will drop $50k on a bar system but $0 on buying in far more lucrative knowledge, and a bunch more.
Enjoy!

Emily's Favorite Books (click to buy from independent bookstores)
Trust & Inspire - Stephen Covey. Buy: https://bookshop.org/p/books/trust-and-inspire-how-truly-great-leaders-unleash-greatness-in-others-stephen-m-r-covey/17380308?ean=9781982143756

Unreasonable Hospitality - Will Guidara. Buy: https://bookshop.org/p/books/unreasonable-hospitality-the-remarkable-power-of-giving-people-more-than-they-expect-will-guidara/17927785?ean=9780593418574

Traction - Gino Wickman. Buy: https://bookshop.org/p/books/traction-get-a-grip-on-your-business-gino-wickman/8408027?ean=9781936661831

Fierce Conversations - Susan Scott. Buy: https://bookshop.org/p/books/fierce-conversations-revised-and-updated-achieving-success-at-work-and-in-life-one-conversation-at-a-time-susan-scott/7706050?ean=9780425193372

Oracle Hospitality Consultants website: https://www.oraclehospitalityconsultants.com/

Oracle on IG: https://www.instagram.com/oraclehospitalityconsultants/

Emily on IG: https://www.instagram.com/emily_laruffa/

Emily on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-laruffa-a11b7783

(Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#86, Alice Lascelles, award-winning drinks writer and author of “The Martini: The Ultimate Guide To A Cocktail Icon”

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Alice, an old friend from way back when, is one of the best drinks writers based in the UK, has won multiple awards for her writing about spirits, wine, beer, cocktails and bars, is often to be found on UK radio & TV, and just published her new book "The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon", so we sat down over a martini (or in my case, some fine rum drunk out of a martini glass - beggars can't be choosers when you're staying in an AirBnB!) to talk all things martini....

Alice on IG: https://www.instagram.com/alicelascelles/
Alice's website: https://www.alicelascelles.com/
Buy "The Martini" book: https://geni.us/themartini

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#85, Kara Newman, award-winning drinks writer & author, New York City

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:00:00 -0400

Kara defected to writing about spirits, cocktails and bars after starting out writing about matters financial, and finance's loss is cocktail's gain!
A New York native and friend, Kara has written seven spirits- and cocktail-related books as well as her newest venture, The Cocktail Cabinet, decks of beautiful playing cards themed around a particular spirit - the first two, Gin and Whiskey, are already out in the wild - with cocktail recipes curated and in some cases created by Kara on each card.

We sat down to talk about Kara's 14 years (and counting!) run as the spirits person at Wine Enthusiast magazine, got nerdy about nerdiness in relation to coffee and martinis, then talked about martinis, the business of writing, why we're not on TikTok, and why she's looking for new vodkas to review, among a whole bunch more things - enjoy!

Kara on IG: https://www.instagram.com/newman_kara/?hl=en
Kara's books (and the Decks) on Bookshop.org, supporting local independent bookstores: https://bookshop.org/search?keywords=kara+newman
Kara's website: https://www.karanewman.com/

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#84, Chris Cardone, sober advocate, founder Continuous Beverage Solutions, Diageo World Class USA winner, NYC (flair) bartender & mixologist

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 18:00:00 -0400

I've known New York (well, Long Island) native Chris for over two decades, since we met at a flair bartending contest in the Cayman Islands, and he's maintained his rep as a flair bartender while becoming an accomplished mixologist as well, getting sober, winning Diageo World Class USA in 2017, crafting the Via Carota range of bottled cocktails and - just now - founding Continuous Beverage Solutions AND all this while still holding down regular bar shifts at i Sodi here in Manhattan.

We sat down - over a St. Agrestis Phony Espresso Negroni, in my case, 'cos it's Sober October - to talk about the old flair days, making the switch from flair to mixology, getting on the Bar Rescue train early, why cocktails should have abv % on menus, and his new firm Continuous Beverage Solutions which helps bars, companies and individuals ensure everyone - whether drinking full-fat, low-alc or zero-proof - has a seat at the bar.
Oh, and a looot more, enjoy...

Chris on IG: https://www.instagram.com/chriscard0ne/?hl=en
Continuous Beverage Solutions on IG: http://instagram.com/continuousbev
Continuous Beverage Solutions on FB: https://www.facebook.com/continuousbev/

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#83, Iain McPherson, owner, Panda & Sons, Hoot the Redeemer, Nauticus, Edinburgh.

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0400

The Cocktail Panda himself comes on The Philip Duff Show!
I've known Iain for years - he entered the G'Vin Gin Connoisseur Program which I used to run - and he's built a mini bar empire in Edinburgh so it was time to catch up on his adventures guest bartending for his uncle in Korea, celeb liquor, how he got his start in the bar business and what he'd do differently now, plus how he got famous for inventing new ways to create flavour.

(We also drank some seriously odd stuff; I had a gin martini followed by the only liquor left in our Spanish apartment the night before flying back to NY, which turned out to be Tom Zyankali (of Zyankali Bar in Berlin)'s Zyankali Falernum, which was 50% abv(!). Iain countered with a Metaxa brandy with sweet vermouth. )

Iain on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecocktailpanda/

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#82, Marshall Minaya, beverage director Valerie, Madame George and Lolita, New York City.

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Marshall - and the three top-notch places he runs the beverage programs for, Valerie, Lolita and Madame George - is one of Manhattan's best-kept secrets.
If you come to New York, I'll take you to one of these places (or all three, as they're conveniently located right next door to one another), and I guarantee you'll be blown away by the quality of the cocktails and the hospitality his team emanates in Midtown.

Despite me being insanely congested, we made time to sit down and chat about why it's always rum's year, the politics of selling agave spirits, why ladies are looking for more of an ROI on a night out than gentlemen, and a whole bunch more - enjoy!

Marshall on IG: https://www.instagram.com/marshallvincent/
Valerie, gin cocktail bar & restaurant: https://www.instagram.com/valerienewyorkcity/
Lolita, additive-free agave spirits and sugarcane spirits cocktail bar & restaurant: https://www.instagram.com/lolitanewyorkcity/
Madame George, sexy subterranean cocktail bar: https://www.instagram.com/madamegeorgenyc/

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#81, Tim McKirdy, managing editor, VinePair, recovering chef, host of the Cocktail College podcast

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Myself and Tim have been threatening each other with a podcast taping for over a year, and we finally found time to sit down, beverages to hand, and make it happen!
(This is a satisfyingly lengthy episode, clocking in at over 2.5 hours, and we'll do more of such chat fests in the future, too).
We talk about Tim's path into the industry as a cook and chef in some very high-profile restaurants in his native UK and then in Argentina, moving into drinks writing, the rise of spirits designed to be mixed, the delusions we must all buy in to that make hospitality pleasant, changing tides of kitchen culture, why we don't have (but probably need) reviews of bars and spirits that are critical where deserved, the sparkling repartee that legendary restaurant AA Gill exchanged with Gordon Ramsay one evening in a restaurant where Tim worked, the anonymity dilemma of modern bars, our respective roles spreading COVID in early 2020 and our shared experience of the deli-counter / conveyor-belt marriages at Manhattan City Hall.
Enjoy!
(Oh, and the place Tim couldn't remember the name of, when I asked him for a place outside the US that had impressed him recently?
It's Radici in Italy: https://www.instagram.com/____radici____?igsh=eW45YnpteTNsaDAy )

Tim on IG: https://www.instagram.com/timmckirdy/?hl=en

Tim on X/Twitter: https://x.com/timmckirdy?s=11&t=kTsTPMPK0kgHLvK8ldrFXQ

Cocktail College on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5MLIRt8RnvTdfp1vFtVtI7

VinePair on IG: https://www.instagram.com/vinepair/?hl=en

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#80 Simone Caporale, co-owner Sips & Sips Esencia (#1, W50BB 2023), Amaro Santoni, Canaima Gin, MUYU Liqueurs & The Art of Shaking

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Simone has come a long way since his Italian childhood in Como: while part of a legendary double-act with Alex Kratena, he led London's Artesian Bar to an unprecedented four #1 listings in World's 50 Best Bars.
Simone's post-Artesian career is even more impressive: Sips, his Barcelona bar together with business partner Marc Alvarez, was crowned #1 in 2023, he bought the revered classic Barcelona bar Boadas, the spirits brands he has co-founded, Canaima Gin, Amaro Santoni and MUYU liqueurs, go from strength to strength, and the online training portal he created, The Art of Shaking, reaches thousands of aspiring bartenders daily, teaching them techniques and mentalities that simply can't be communicated in noisy bar shows.
We sat down in Sips while it was being renovated - Simone's hands were coated with silicone residue and dried paint - and chatted about the before, the now and the future.
Enjoy!

Simone on IG: https://www.instagram.com/simonecaporale_/
Sips on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sips.drinkeryhouse/
Boadas on IG: https://www.instagram.com/boadascocktails/
Canaima Gin on IG: https://www.instagram.com/canaimagin/
MUYU liqueurs on IG: https://www.instagram.com/muyu_liqueurs/
The Art of Shaking: https://www.instagram.com/theartofshaking/

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#79, Mark Pascal & Francis Schott, hosts of The Restaurant Guys podcast, owners of Stage Left Steak and Catherine Lombardi restaurants, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Francis, and, later Mark, have been friends of mine for a long time; we must have bumped into one another in Manhattan or at a Tales of the Cocktail event in New Orleans, but it was our mutual friend Dale de Groff who persuaded me to make the trek out to NJ to see their restaurants, which are incredibly successful and a mainstay of their community.
Their two places were also some of the first fine-dining restaurants in America to take craft cocktails seriously; they hosted literally the first cocktail-pairing dinner anywhere on the planet outside Manhattan at Stage Left, which was maybe only the second cocktail-pairing dinner ever, with Dale, back in the late 1990s.
Mark & Francis have also just rebooted their podcast, The Restaurant Guys, which originally ran 2005 - 2013 and was just about the first restaurant podcast there was, welcoming guests like Anthony Bourdain (yep!), Thomas Keller, Dale, Danny Meyer, Dan Barber and Jacques Pepin, among many others.
They're now putting out one new episode per week and one archived episode per week, and there's a Regulars option where you slide them a few bucks a month and get extra episodes and invites to IRL events.
(also, shop the TRG merch, it's hilarious!)
We sat down to chat about what's really important in the restaurant business (clue: it's not the actual business itself), what places have impressed Mark and Francis lately, and what advice they'd give a young ambitious bartender from their lofty vantage point. Enjoy!

The Restaurant Guys podcast website: https://www.restaurantguyspodcast.com/podcasthome, with links to all episodes, both new and archived. Also on Spotify & Apple podcasts, obvs.
The Restaurant Guys on IG: https://www.instagram.com/restaurantguyspodcast/
Become a Restaurant Guys Regular: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2390435/subscribe
Stage Left Steak on IG: https://www.instagram.com/stagelefteats/
Catherine Lombardi on IG: https://www.instagram.com/catherinelombardirestaurant/

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#78 Erik Lorincz, owner Kwānt (London), Antique American Bar (Bratislava), BIRDY by Erik Lorincz bar tools, ex-head bartender The Savoy, former Diageo World Class global champion.

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Me and Erik go waaaaaay back, to when I taught a class on the IBA's elite John Whyte residential training course in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, before Erik moved to London to start his stratospheric ascent to the top of the bartending world.

We sat down during Tales of the Cocktail to talk about all that: awards, scalpels vs. hammers, how cities like Mexico can suddenly appear on the cocktail map, bartenders telling bullshit stories during cocktail contests, creating the world's best bar tools by emailing with Google Translate, some of the madness of guest shifts and takeovers, and a lot more - enjoy!

Erik on IG: https://www.instagram.com/eriklorincz/?hl=es
Kwānt on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kwantmayfair/?hl=es
Antique American Bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/antiqueamericanbar_bratislava?igsh=MTEycmlpZXpsc3A4dQ==
Buy BIRDY bar tools: https://www.birdy-erik.com/shoplist.html

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#77 Simon Difford, founder Diffordsguide.com, creator Difford's Easy Jigger, chronicler of the Second Cocktail Golden Age

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Simon's been a mate since the late 1990s, when he created CLASS (standing for Cocktail Liqueur And Speciality Spirit) magazine, the print forerunner of Difford's Guide and, in a pre-Internet world, just about the only way to learn about the revolution in cocktails that began sweeping London in the mid-1990s, which we both agree dates to the opening of the Atlantic Bar & Grill there in 1994.

Without CLASS and Diffordsguide, the latter of which later moved online and is bigger and better now than ever, the only way to learn about the dawning of the Second Cocktail Golden Age was to hop on a plane to London, so it's no exaggeration to say that Simon and his publications were (and are) critical in helping grow this Second Cocktail Golden Age, first outside London, and then across the world.
Before the Internet spawned the Drinkboy messageboard, then morphed into social media and YouTube, you learned about cocktails and this new bar culture from Simon's publications.

A serial entrepreneur, Simon's a hilarious person to have a drink with and we caught up over breakfast during Tales of the Cocktail to tape this one, chatting about selling liquor minis from the back of a van, the culinary art of punch, getting a bit too obsessed with cocktails, tax-deductible cocktail bills, and of course the rather amazing Difford's Easy Jigger he's created.
Have a listen and enjoy!

Diffordsguide on IG: https://www.instagram.com/diffordsguide
Diffordsguide on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diffordsguide
Diffordsguide.com: https://www.diffordsguide.com/
Buy the Easy Jigger: https://www.diffordsguide.com/bar-equipment-and-barware/201/easy-jigger

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#76, Natasha Bahrami, The Gin Girl, The Gin Room (St. Louis, Missouri), Gin World festivals (everywhere), member The Gin Guild

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

I've known Natasha for ages and it's no exaggeration to say she's changed the landscape of gin consumption in her native Missouri, and indeed in the wider USA as well.
Much as Julio Bermejo built a dedicated band of fanatics drinking 100% Blue Agave tequila at Tommy's, a suburb of San Francisco, Natasha did the same with gin, in her family's restaurant in St. Louis.
Today, the Gin Room is a must-stop for every serious gin distiller in the USA, and her Gin World festivals have entranced people around the US and as far afield as Mexico.
We sat down for a breakfast session early during Tales of the Cocktail - enjoy!

Natasha on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thegingirl/
The Gin Room on IG: https://www.instagram.com/natashasginroom/

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#75 Zev Glesta, spirits specialist Sotheby's New York, ex-bartender at The Modern, The Fat Duck/Dinner

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Zev's had one of the most interesting career arcs of any bartender I know, but when we finally sat down to tape an episode, it turned out to have even more twists and turns than I thought!
From Brooklyn to Melbourne to Montreal and back to NY, and from bartending for Heston Blumenthal Down Under to manning the shakers in the Meyerverse* that is Union Square Hospitality Group at it's Michelin-starred The Modern, to a COVID-era swerve into working as one of less than half a dozen spirits specialists worldwide at Sotheby's (who had just auctioned off a $44m T-rex skeleton the day before we met up) where he values whisky and other liquor that sells for five-figure sums, Zev has tales to tell and kindly supplied vintage whiskey to fuel the storytelling as well.
(I still think he's actually a spy, tho).
Many thanks to Sotheby's New York for hosting us, and the whiskey book Zev recommends in this episode is "Collecting Scotch Whisky" by Emmanuel Dron.
*Danny Meyer, that is. #IYKYK

Zev on IG: https://www.instagram.com/raisezbar/

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#74, Anna Sebastian, UK-based hospitality consultant, founder of #CelebrateHer, ending homelessness with @underonesky

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Anna is brilliant and this episode - taped partly in a hotel lobby in London, and then on Zoom - is just like having a drink with her, which is always great.
She's not afraid to say the things others won't, and her goal is to elevate anyone she works with, and especially to make bars better and get more women to embrace hospitality as a career option.
Enjoy!

Anna on IG: https://www.instagram.com/annasebastian3/?hl=en
Anna at Tales of the Cocktail:
- "The Evolution of the Modern Hotel Bar", Monday 22 July, 245pm, seminar at The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans
- "Upliftment in Action: Finding Meaningful Ways to Elevate and Empower Your Community", Tuesday 23 July, 10am seminar at the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans
Celebrate Her on IG: https://www.instagram.com/celebrate___her/?hl=en
Under One Sky on IG: https://www.instagram.com/underonesky_london/?hl=en
The film I'm Still Here: https://www.instagram.com/imstillherethefilm/?hl=en

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#73, Ago Perrone, Director of Mixology, The Connaught, co-author, The Connaught Bar book

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Well, I've know Agostino since he was a fresh-faced young buck at Montgomery Place, one of London's best cocktail bars back in the day.
I remember when he moved to take the reins at the Connaught when it reopened, and the dream opening duo that was him and Erik Lorincz.
In the sixteen years since, Ago built a core around him with stunning professionals like Maura Milia and Giorgio Bargiani, presented at every bar show in the world and won every single accolade, too, as well as personally creating The Connaught Bar Gin.
Phaidon recently brought out The Connaught Bar book, only their second-ever beverage title, and I was in London, so it was high time to sit down with an old friend and shoot the breeze.
Naturally, Ago being Ago, we started only after some very good lunch and a wee tasting of a few things.
Enjoy!

Ago on IG: https://www.instagram.com/agodragos/?hl=en
The Connaught on IG: https://www.instagram.com/theconnaught/?hl=en
The Connaught Bar book: https://www.phaidon.com/store/cookbooks-food-and-drink/the-connaught-bar-cocktail-recipes-and-iconic-creations-9781838668105/
The Connaught Bar Gin: https://shop.the-connaught.co.uk/products/hand-crafted-connaught-bar-gin

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#72 Benji Cavagna, partner, Farmily Bars Group (Milan), co-founder, Bitter Fusetti

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Benji (whose actual name is Fabio), is a friend, and a tremendous host even among his fellow Italian bartenders, which is really saying something.
After studing philosophy and being a professional soccer player (!), Benji went into bartending and is now a partner in the Farmily hospitality group that includes 1930 Bar, MAG Cafe and Tripstillery, all in Milan, as well as Bitter Fusetti, a bittersweet Turin-style bitter which has fast become a cult favorite throughout Italy, and the group makes gins, amaros and other products, too.
Benji was in NY to do two guest shifts, at Caffe Dante and Sueno, on behalf of the excellent Amaretto Adriatico, so we sat down in the CitizenM Bowery hotel to talk amaretto, Fusetti, bartending, taste, the state of play in Italy and a lot more.
Enjoy!

Benji on IG: https://www.instagram.com/benjicavagna/
Farmily Group on IG: https://www.instagram.com/farmilygroup/
Bitter Fusetti on IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitterfusetti/
Amaretto Adriatico on IG: https://www.instagram.com/amarettoadriatico/

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#71, David Thomas Tao, Kentuckian, whisky writer, fitness commentator (!), voiceover actor, theatre investor

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 15:00:00 -0400

I kept bumping into David at events (like Philip Duff Show stalwart Tony Sach's regular get-togethers for writers and other waifs and strays) and he was always good fun to chat with, so me and him sat down in a shady spot inside Central Park* on a hot-as-balls day, on camp chairs, with a nearby wheelie cooler bag full of ice cold Negra Modelo beers and some 1960s IW Harper Whiskey (him) and some special releases from Widow Jane whiskey & FEW whiskey (me).
He's hilarious, as you'll learn, and seems to have lived a dozen lives, from personally applying to boarding school at the ripe old age of 13, to being a commentator at the CrossFit games, to exiting successful businesses he created, becoming a writer, narrowly avoiding becoming an immigration lawyer, and a whole bunch more.
We didn't get around to the half of it, so me and him are going to do this all over again as soon as both find a window.
For now, enjoy!

DTT on IG: https://www.instagram.com/davidthomastao/?hl=en

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#70, Gegam Kazarian, founder Yerevan Cocktail Week, Magika Cordials, champion bartender, renaisssance man

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0400

What to say about my old mate Gegam Kazarian?
In his native Armenia, he studied biochemistry, then floral design, then silversmithing, started bartending, followed his passion for Spanish classical guitar by emigrating to Spain, started several bars and a mixology lab, won the Havana Club Rum European championships, the G'Vine Gin Connoisseur Program world championships, then moved back to Armenia after COVID, and started Yerevan Cocktail Week in 2023, and is launching Magika, a range of very high quality cordials.

In short, an annoyingly well-rounded man. And a great human.

I just returned from teaching at Yerevan Cocktail Week 2024, so we sat down to chat about his career, his Indian bar mentor in Armenia and his German one in Spain, why everyone should approach bartending like kung-fu, and what it's like to organise a cocktail week for the first time, and for the second, in a smaller country, and what Yerevan Cocktail Week 2025 will look like.
Oh, and looooooooots more.
Enjoy!

Gegam on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kazaris/
Yerevan Cocktail Week on IG: https://www.instagram.com/yerevancocktailweekofficial/?hl=en
Yerevan Cocktail Week website: https://yerevancocktailweek.com/

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#69 (nice!), Shannon Mustipher, tropical drinks guru, bartender, author, consultant

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Shannon, a Charleston native, is a powerhouse: an artist who left art due to its restrictions, a New York City bartender who championed rum when no-one cared about it (spoiler: a lot of people still don't care), the award-winning author of "Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails" and a consultant and ambassador for brands including Denizen Rum, Privateer Rum and Myrtle Bank rum.
We sat down in the back room of Porchlight bar in NYC over quite a few rums to talk brand creation, just how crucial the Myrtle Bank hotel was in building "Brand Jamaica", her role in creating their rum brand, drinking the excellent Privateer Rum, and the whole coming-to-NYC-and-winding-up-bartending experience for someone who wanted to be an artist (and who, if you ask me, still is).

Enjoy!

Shannon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/shannonmustipher/
Shannon's website: https://www.shannonmustipher.com/
Myrtle Bank Rum: https://www.myrtlebankrum.com/

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#68 Jim Meehan, award-winning mixologist, bartender, author and consultant

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Me and Jim met in 2006, when he entered the Bols 200 contest I organised, and I dropped by Pegu Club to see him next time I was in New York (I was living in Holland at the time).
He went on to open PDT (Please Don't Tell) in 2007, which almost immediately became the most famous cocktail bar in the world (and also served the best hot dogs to be had in any cocktail bar, too!) authored The PDT Cocktail Book, Meehan's Bartender's Manual (which I think is the best single volume all-round book about bartending) and, as you read this, his new book The Bartender's Pantry is available now for pre-orders (link below) and is dropping on June 11th.

Jim, and PDT have won every award conceivable.

Oh, and did I mention he helped create Banks Rum, the Cocktail Kingdom Mixology Spoons, the Moore & Giles Meehan bag, the PDT Cocktail App AND all the American Express Centurion Lounges' beverage programs?

(Jim's doing an event at Porchlight Bar in NY on 10 June, btw, and a signing at Kitchen Arts & Letters bookstore on June 11th, if you're in NYC).

After I read We sat down for a good old catch-up - Jim moved to Portland some time ago - and naturally discussed the new book ( a collaboration with Emma Janzen, herself an award-winning author, and Bert Sasso, designer extraordinaire), why chicken should be expensive, why successful cocktails usually only have one weird ingredient, kola wine, culinary cocktails, the ethics of prep, ultra-processed foods, being curious not judgmental (a la Ted Lasso), shed a tear for demise of Australian icon bar Bulletin Place, agreed that cocktails are more like dessert than salad, and a whole bunch more.
Enjoy!

Pre-order The Bartender's Pantry (and support small bookshops): https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-bartender-s-pantry-a-beverage-handbook-for-the-universal-bar-bart-sasso/20411265?ean=9781984858672
Pre-order The Bartender's Pantry because you're not evil but the Kindle IS very convenient: https://www.amazon.com/Bartenders-Pantry-Beverage-Handbook-Universal-ebook/dp/B0CFPS4DG5

Reserve a spot at the launch party, at Porchlight NYC, June 10th, 730pm - 10pm, includes a copy of the book and meet with all 3 authors: https://www.sevenrooms.com/events/ahNzfnNldmVucm9vbXMtc2VjdXJlchwLEg9uaWdodGxvb3BfVmVudWUYgIDsutmL8AsM?event_id=ahNzfnNldmVucm9vbXMtc2VjdXJlcjkLEg9uaWdodGxvb3BfVmVudWUYgIDsutmL8AsMCxIQc3JfR2VuVmVudWVFdmVudBiAgPaAzfHVCgw

Jim on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mixography/?hl=en
Jim's website with contact details and where to buy all his stuff: https://www.mixographyinc.com/

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#67, Robb Jones, owner, Meteor bar, Minneapolis

Mon, 27 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Robb's been a mate for a long time - I think we met when he was a Tales of the Cocktail Cocktail Apprentice (CAP) - and the first event we ever did after I launched Old Duff Genever in Minnesota was at his bar, Meteor, which he opened in late 2019.
Timing, eh!
Robb and his business partners and staff weathered the madness of the 'rona, and recently garnered not just nominations from Tales of the Cocktail and the World's 50 Best Bars Discovery list, but also a Pin in the first worldwide release of Pinnacle Guide pins.
Reason enough to sit down - over excellent sandwiches from Marty's Deli ("# 1 Notary Public in Minneapolis, #34 in Sandwiches") and shoot the shit about the hedonic treadmill, awards, smaller markets, diverse staffing, the creeping management shortage in hospitality, previous incarnations of the bars in the Meteor's space, the superiority of smaller hotdog rollers, and as much more as we could cram into an hour.
Enjoy!

Robb on IG: https://www.instagram.com/rjrobots/?hl=en
Meteor Bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/meteor_mpls/?hl=en

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#66, Negotiation Book Club with Bianca Grisolia, BG Communication, Barcelona

Sun, 19 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Another first for the Philip Duff Show!
Bianca, a Barcelona-based PR maestra, is a good friend and we were chatting about all sorts of things during the recent Paradiso Sustainability Summit* in Barcelona, and it turned out we both were interested in the practice and study of negotiation.
So, we agreed she’d read a book on the topic that I recommended - “Getting More” by Stuart Diamond - and I’d read a book she recommended - “Never Split The Difference” by Chris Voss - and we’d meet up at Roma Bar Show in her native Italy to tape a podcast on the topic, interviewing each other about the other person’s book.
And here we are!
It was a great relaxed chat about the whole topic, so sit back, chill, and don’t forget to read the books, too.
(Getting More is the best one tho 😉)

*Bianca’s firm BG Communication represents Paradiso bar in Barcelona (among other clients), and played a big role in helping Paradiso ascend to #1 in the World’s 50 Best Bars List.

Bianca on IG: https://www.instagram.com/biancagrisolia?igsh=MXFzMnJ1c2FpMGJl

Bianca’s PR firm BG Communication on IG: https://www.instagram.com/biancagrisolia?igsh=MXFzMnJ1c2FpMGJl

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#65, Linden Pride, co-owner Caffe Dante, Dante West Village & Dante Beverly Hills

Mon, 13 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

What to say about my mate Linden?
He built Caffe Dante, already a decades-old fixture in New York, into the #1 rated on the World's 50 Best Bars list, then opened Dante West Village in the teeth of the COVID pandemic, and recently opened Dante in the Maybourne Hotel in Beverly Hills.
We talk about his origin story in Australia - I didn't know he was the son of a food critic - his forthcoming partnership with Neil Perry, where the fourth Dante will be located (spoiler alert: it's NY!) and a bunch more, all over a civilised martini to toast absent friends.
Cheers!

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#64, Mark Reynier, founder of Waterford Whisky, Renegade Rum and former owner of Bruichladdich

Mon, 06 May 2024 10:00:00 -0400

Mark is one of the most interesting people you could meet in the liquor business; drawing on his and his father's experiences importing and selling fine wines in his native England, he applied the logic of terroir to spirits, starting back in 2000 when he led a consortium of investors who bought the mothballed Bruichladdich distillery.
Mark and the team he assembled built Bruichladdich back into one of the most respected single malt distilleries in the world.
After Remy acquired the distillery and its brands (including Botanist gin) in 2012, Mark started looking around for his next project, which became starting the hyper-transparent Waterford Whisky distillery in 2016 because "the south west of Ireland produces the best barley in the world".
Never a man to sit still, he founded Renegade Rum in Grenada in 2020, re-starting sugarcane production on the island and building a state-of-the-art distillery.
This is a short (for us) episode, but Mark packs in a whole ton of information, so sit back, relax and listen to me interview a terroirist!

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#63, Ciaran Smith, founder, The Bottle Cocktail Shop (London), former award-winning cocktail bar owner & hotel executive

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 15:00:00 -0400

He was a bit knackered because he just got back from consulting on a banqueting event in the Middle East, but London-based Tallaght* bowsie Ciaran Smith brought the heat in this episode, from supplying me with one of his Bottle Cocktail Shop spicy margaritas all the way from London (plus a bottled negroni, and very tasty they both were too), to giving surprisingly insightful** opinions on red & green flags when hiring, why you should take job applicants out for a coffee, reinforcing quality messaging around bottled cocktails by having a bricks-and-mortar location, why your first bar will be done on the cheap decor-wise, and the cut-throat nature of American capitalism and New York hospitality unions (didn't see that one coming, eh!).
A great chat with a young entrepreneur who's currently in the third, successful iteration of his career: you'll enjoy this.

*Dublin
**For a Tallaght lad.

Bottle Cocktail Shop on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thebottlecocktailshop/
Ciaran on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ciaran_bcs?igsh=MnAyMWV1cnhocmRo

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#62, Nick Papanicolaou, founder No Sleep Beverage liquor incubator, former mergers & acquisitions at Pernod-Ricard USA

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 11:00:00 -0400

UPDATE SUNDAY 28 April - fixed the audio, which cut out at 15mins on Friday & Saturday.
The full 1 hour 45min session is now live!

Nick Papanicolaou just founded No Sleep Beverage, an innovative incubator taking minority investments in liquor brands in order to add value by combining his own entrepreneurial experience with big-company expertise, in a unique, nimble company.
Their initial portfolio includes Barr Hill Gin, Solento organic tequila and Nine Banded American whiskey.
Nick previously headed up M&A at Pernod USA in the period when they acquired Del Maguey mezcal, Smooth Ambler whiskey, Castle Brands (including Gosling's rum and Jefferson's whiskey) and Monkey 47 gin, among others.
We sat down to talk about if MBAs are worth it, if Big Liquor can actually innovate, if niche spirits have a shot, the role of compliance in US liquor firms, what happens after a brand gets bought, and a bunch more - enjoy!

No Sleep Beverage: https://www.nosleepbeverage.com/
No Sleep Beverage on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/no-sleep-beverage/
Contact No Sleep Beverage: eyesopen@nosleepbeverage.com

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#61, Amir Babayoff, Mixologist, Actor & Teacher

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 13:00:00 -0400

I was introduced to Amir a few years back by our mutual friend Oron Lerner, of Imperial Group in Tel Aviv. Amir came to New York decades ago to try his hand at acting, and began working in hospitality as a side hustle. Along the way he also worked as a special-education teacher, but he's now, in my opinion, one of the best mixologists in Manhattan, running the beverage program at Ophelia Lounge on top of the art deco Beekman Tower near the UN, as well as at other properties in the group in DC, Miami and elsewhere.
He relocated to his native Israel a few years back, but is in NY regularly to supervise the beverage program, and also because he fucking loves New York.
We sat down in Ophelia on a Friday morning to have a chat....

Amir on IG: https://www.instagram.com/amirbabayoff/

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#60, Phil & Tony Sachs Eclipse Special!

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 09:00:00 -0400

I sat down yesterday with Philip Duff Show stalwart and drinks writer Tony Sachs to catch up, drink some of the colossal amount of booze he has in his apartment, and pre-game an event yesterday evening which saw New York bartending legend Brian Miller step back behind the bar. There's a celebrity rum-off, some tobala mezcal in a plastic water bottle, a mystery vodka that won't come out until September, and an old bottle of French rum. Enjoy!

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#59, Jillian Vose, Hazel and Apple (Charleston), Outwalker Whiskey

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Jillian's an old friend from her acclaimed days heading up storied New York cocktail bars such as Dead Rabbit, Death & Co, and Maison Premiere, to name but a few.
She relocated to Charleston, South Carolina a while back to open her next project with Sean Muldoon, Hazel and Apple, so it was great to make time to meet up when we were both judging a bartending contest in Folly Beach, which is just outside Charleston.

We talk about what it's like to go from bartending to advising on liquor brands to creating them, what it was like creating Outwalker Whiskey, the new Irish whiskey she founded along with Sean, Northern Ireland hotelier Adrian McLaughlin and former NI rugby international Darren Cave, and a good bit more.

There's a tasting, a cameo appearance by former NY bartender Lulu Martinez, and, even though it was freezing, lots of gnats.
Enjoy!

(Shout-out to Lowlife Bar (http://instagram.com/lowlifebar) and TJ Lynch (https://www.instagram.com/tjismyhero/?hl=en) for having us down to judge the Folly Beach Classic, and providing a porch to chat on!)

Jillian on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jillianvose/
Hazel and Apple on IG: https://www.instagram.com/hazelandapple_charleston/?hl=en
Ouwalker Whiskey on IG: https://www.instagram.com/outwalkerwhiskey/
Buy Outwalker Whiskey (EU & UK only): https://outwalkerwhiskey.com/find/

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#58, Margarita Sader (Paradiso, Barcelona), Bianca Grisolia (BG Communications), Kaitlyn Stewart (Likeable Bartender)

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Well, I couldn't pass up this opportunity!

I was at the third and largest edition of the Paradiso Sustainability Summit in Barcelona recently, organised by #1 W50BB 2022 bar Paradiso, which brought together speakers and bars from around the planet to share best practises on sustainability for bars, and have a bit of fun into the bargain.

Margarita Sader, co-founder of Paradiso and Summit, was there of course, as was Bianca Grisolia, the Italian-born Barcelona-based PR guru who helps make her clients like Paradiso famous, as well as Kaitlyn Stewart, Canada's first-ever global Diageo World Class winner, also its first female global champion, and proud owner of nigh-on 1, 000, 000 social media followers on her Likeable Bartender accounts.
So I had to grab 'em each for a chat.

Hope you enjoy this experimental format; you'll hear, among lots more, that Paradiso is opening a second branch, how Bianca approaches bar PR, and that Kaitlyn is writing a cocktail book!

Margarita IG: https://www.instagram.com/margarita_sader/?hl=en
Atelier MS Bartrends IG: https://www.instagram.com/msbartrends/?hl=en
Paradiso IG: https://www.instagram.com/paradiso_barcelona/?hl=en
Paradiso Sustainability Summit IG: https://www.instagram.com/paradisosummit/

Bianca IG: https://www.instagram.com/biancagrisolia/
Bianca Communications IG: https://www.instagram.com/bg.communication/

Kaitlyn IG: https://www.instagram.com/k8os/?hl=en
Likeable Cocktails IG: https://www.instagram.com/likeablecocktails/?hl=en
Likeable Cocktails TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@likeablecocktaills

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#57 Agave Series 3 of 3: Sophie Decobecq, Agave Spirits Production Consultant & Founder, Calle 23 Tequila

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400

(In my voiceover I say this is episode 2 of 3 for the Agave Series, but we swapped it with last week's episode, to coordinate with the release of The Tequila Ambassador V.O. book, so this - episode 2 - is now coming out 3rd in the series.)

Sophie Decobecq is a force of nature: from Lille, France, she moved to South Africa to work on agave research after a university background playing rugby and studying biological engineering.
Having never had a cocktail, a chance encounter with Julio Bermejo (creator of the Tommy's Margarita) made her fall in love with tequila, cocktails, and Mexico, and she moved to Mexico in 1999.
Sophie runs a consultancy there helping agave distilleries optimise their fermenting, distilling and aging, and started creating her own tequila brand, Calle 23, in 2003.
We talked about her unusual route to being an agave spirits fanatic and expert distiller, how its hard to be a one-man band with a small brand, non-Mexican agave spirits and a lot more.
Enjoy!

Sophie on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sophiedecobecq/?hl=en
Sophie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiedecobecq/about

Calle 23 on IG: https://www.instagram.com/agaveyoumyheart/?hl=en
Calle 23 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Calle-23-Tequila-Drinkers/137330322947383?fref=ts
Calle 23 on XS/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Calle23tequila
Calle 23 website: https://www.tequilacalle23.com/

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#56 Agave Series 2 of 3: The Tequila Ambassador V.O., with Jesse Estes, Phil Bayly and Mitch Wilson.

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400

I first met Tomas Estes, a West Coast American (who opened Europe’s first-ever Mexican restaurants starting in Amsterdam in 1976, and co-founded Tequila Ocho in 2008) almost twenty years ago.
We last had dinner and drinks in Athens in December 2020.
The Tequila Ambassador V.O.(link to preorder below) is the "director's cut" of Tomas' book The Tequila Ambassador, first published in 2012.
Five years ago Tomas started working on an update with his son Jesse, his business partner Phil Bayly, and Mitch Wilson, who had edited Phil's own book, Agave Love.
Tomas passed away in 2021, and the guys finished the book.
The book is a beauty, twice the length of the original, incalculably more photos, recipes, agave spirit rules & regulations, essays about Tomas, about Cafe Pacifico, about Tequila Ocho, about tequila personalities and lots, lots, lots more, all in a gorgeous high-quality WonkPress book.

Me, Phil, Mitch and Jesse had a 3-continent 4-timezone chat about Tomas, the book, Cafe Pacifico, Tequila Ocho, the agave spirits business, Pacifico's lemon juice margaritas, grinding corn for tortillas in the basement of an Amsterdam townhouse and a loooot more.
Enjoy, and raise a glass of good tequila to my mate Tomas; he's raising one in the big cantina in the sky, right now.

(Many thanks to Rachel Harrison Communications in NYC for suggesting this episode, and for getting me a pre-publication proof to read).

Pre-order The Tequila Ambassador V.O.: https://www.wonkpress.com/products/the-tequila-ambassador-vo
(UK & EU pre-orders coming soon)
The Tequila Ambassador V.O. on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tequilaambassadorvo/?hl=en
Jesse Estes on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jesseocho/
Phil Bayly on IG: https://www.instagram.com/philbayly/?hl=en
Mitch Wilson on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mitchsaidthis/?hl=en
Tequila Ocho on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tequilaocho/

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#55 Agave Series 1 of 3: Danielle Tatarin, founder Mezcal Gotagorda, mixologist & entrepreneur.

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0500

This is the first in a mini-series of three about agave spirits and the people who make them.
(The WiFi wasn’t great, so sound quality is a little echoey at times and there’s the occasional pause in dialogue when Zoom froze, but that’s how it goes when you’re a 4-hour drive from Oaxaca!)

It was great to catch up with Dani, who I first met when she was bartending in Vancouver, part of the first wave of mixology in Canada back around 2008.
She moved down to start ecolodge Acre in Cabo San Lucas, and when my wife Elayne and I were invited down to Cabo to give some seminars, I suggested she and her professional colleague Osvaldo Vasquez at the Chileno Bay resort start a cocktail festival, and she and Osvaldo went on to found CCF (Cabo Cocktail Festival).
When I was down there next year at CCF, Dani was already selecting mezcals to have a house brand at Acre, and five or six years ago she left Acre and CCF and moved to Zipolite, near Oaxaca, to found Mezcal Gotagorda and a mezcaleria.
Dani seeks out small batches of unusual mezcals and "destilado de agave" (unregistered mezcal, basically) in runs of as little as 42 liters , bottles them under the brand name Gotagorda and sells them, from her mezcaleria, locally, also shipping throughout Mexico and (soon) abroad.
Over a wee mezcal we chatted about how brands can work sustainably with mezcal producers, what you should pay for a bottle of mezcal, the regulations for glass-aged madurado mezcal, harvesting agave at night on her birthday and what it's like working in rural Mexico and educating her customers.
Enjoy!

Danielle on IG: https://www.instagram.com/danifish/?hl=en
Gotagorda on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mezcalgotagorda/?hl=es
Mezcal and Destilados Gotagorda info & shop: https://destiladosgotagorda.myshopify.com/

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#54, Damon Boelte, owner Grand Army Bar, founder The Speakeasy podcast, bartender

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0500

I sat down with the extravagantly-hatted Damon Boelte himself, founder of the longest-running bars & cocktails podcast The Speakeasy as well as owner of Grand Army bar in Brooklyn, musician, and bartender of decades standing.
We talked about him going from never having worked in hospitality to being the bar manager in four weeks, did a Where Are They Now for the OG bartending crew of Prime Meats in Brooklyn, learn the origin story of the Hard Start cocktail (and who named it), and why we don't need umbrellas in hotel rooms for them to be luxury any more than we need sleeve gaiters and twirly moustaches to be mixologists nowadays, and a whole bunch more.
Enjoy!

Damon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/damonboelte/?hl=en
Grand Army bar: https://www.instagram.com/grandarmybar/?hl=en
The Speakeasy podcast: https://www.instagram.com/speakeasypodcast/?hl=en

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#53 DNN Duff News Network!

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 19:00:00 -0500

Well, we did it all.
Awards? 50 Best? Alternative agave?
We got it all, and this was fun - plus discounts for awesome gin and the world's best spiced rum!

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#52, Sid Patel, founder of Beverage Trade Network and a TON of spirits contests worldwide

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0500

Sid's a fascinating chap; coming from a family background of East Coast (USA) liquor stores, he created Beverage Trade Network to operate spirits, wine and beer contests just about everywhere, as well as advise brands, all with the goal of helping brands market themselves and succeed in the marketplace.
There's a lot of cold hard truth truth in this episode about building brands, and we do a little crystal-ball gazing to guesstimate what'll happen where & when in some liquor categories in the future. Enjoy!
(Oh, and it's nomination time - if you enjoy The Philip Duff Show, give us a bit of motivation to keep going by nominating us for an award, such as here: https://spiritedawards.secure-platform.com/a )

Sid on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/sidpatelbtn
Sid & Beverage Trade Network on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeverageTradeNetwork
Sid on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sidpatelbtn/
Beverage Trade Network: https://beveragetradenetwork.com

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#51 Greg Benson, podcast co-host (The Speakeasy), co-founder Ancestral Agave Syrup

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 09:00:00 -0500

Greg's a top chap and I first met him years ago when he had a brief stint as GM at one of my local bars here in NY.
A hospitality refugee, Greg dove deep into the beer world before coming to the dark side of spirits and cocktails, and is now the third leg of the sturdy stool that is the award-winning The Speakeasy podcast, together with its founder Damon Boelte and Sother Teague.
Greg is possibly the oldest person on TikTok and as well as that he recently brought real agave syrup to the world (and it is DELICIOUS), so it was high time we sat down in the back room on Porchlight (which was a bit noisy - sorry!) and shot the breeze.
Enjoy!

Greg on IG: https://www.instagram.com/100proofgreg/
Order Ancestral Agave Syrup: https://www.ancestralagave.com/
The Speakeasy on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iM1x2yL8rbqMXTZlMOmId

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#50, Nick Vrielink, IBA World Cocktail Championships 2023 Gold Medal Winner, bar manager Fitz's Bar (Amsterdam), Best New Cocktail Bar 2023

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0500

The champ is here!
Dutchman Nick Vrielink is definitely on a roll: Fitz's Bar, which he set up in Amsterdam's Pillows Hotel, won Best New Cocktail Bar at the Entree (Dutch hospitality) Awards last year, and the day after the Awards Nick boarded a plane to Rome to compete on behalf of the Netherlands Bartender Club (NBC) in the International Bartenders Association (IBA) World Cocktail Championships (WCC), where he won gold in the Pre-Dinner category with his Garden of Dreams cocktail (recipe below)!
We talk about building teams, the rising cost of accommodation in Amsterdam versus what bartenders earn, why luxury hotels open with the chef already in place but not the bar manager, the first cocktail book Nick read, his goals when opening Fitz's, how he communicates with his staff, what it's like to compete at the world finals, why he's having another crack at the WCC this year, what Dutch people think of genever versus whiskey, and lots more - enjoy!

Garden of Dreams, Nick Vrielink, 2023.
20ml Grappa Nonino Moscato
20ml Campari, rapid-infused with basil & white jasmine pearls
20ml Vermouth Bianco Del Professore
5ml Montelobos mezcal
Stir with ice
Strain over fresh ice in a double old-fashioned glass.
Top with prosecco
Garnish with a basil leaf and a zalotti blossom

Nick on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nick.vr/
Fitz's Bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/fitzsbaramsterdam/
Pillows Hotel on IG: https://www.instagram.com/pillows.mauritsatthepark/

Pic Credit: Albert van Beeck Calkoen, aka Mister Cocktail: https://www.instagram.com/mister.cocktail/

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#49, Chris Tunstall, co-founder A Bar Above, superior barware, online mixology training & education

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Chris and www.abarabove.com which he founded with his wife Julia, is a bit of a legend. They've been cranking out top-notch online education centered around spirits, cocktails and mixology since 2013, with 661 (!) videos on YouTube and over 200 podcast episodes (including one with me, about gin & genever - link below!), all building on Chris' decade-plus career bartending in San Francisco's Bay Area and his desire to give young bartenders the education and tools he didn't have when he was coming up.
Today the company produces sought-after high-quality barware and has launched a number of in-depth online mixology training courses on their website.

Chris is an enormously affable chap, and we kick it about the next steps after bartending, doing the future you a solid, finding factories on Alibaba, the nerdy details of jigger construction, the even nerdier details of shaker construction and (I couldn't stop him by this stage) the staggeringly nerdy details of Lewis bag construction, why only one of your tins should be weighted for shaking with eggwhites, building your 'rizz, making your life easier by actively cultivating regulars, serving your listeners, and much, much more.

A Bar Above: https://abarabove.com/ (Check out their Shop for barware, and the online courses!)
A Bar Above on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Abarabove/featured
Episode on Gin & Genever with ME! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TFglHZhEi0
A Bar Above podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qQSbJ4neKg1Q8XrsHHGcG
A Bar Above on IG: https://www.instagram.com/abarabove/
A Bar Above on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABarAboveMixology

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#48, Tim Etherington-Judge, Founder Healthy Hospo, co-founder Avallen Calvados, recovered brand ambassador

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Tim's company Healthy Hospo is at the forefront of bartender health, both mental and physical, but it took a crisis in his career to put him on that path. After bartending in the UK and New Zealand, he became a liquor brand ambassador, first regionally in India and Africa, then globally for Bulleit whiskey, before one day hitting a wall - almost literally.

We talk about avoiding being kidnapped, adjusting your sleep cycles, strategies for day 1 of not drinking, doing things purposely, drawing cocks with your Strava runs, the madness of cycling in general and Alpine cycling in particular, why what we used to call bartender contests are now called "engagement programs", why brands lose their souls when they outsource such programs to agencies, how we're at the extreme end of the drinking spectrum, why he's breathing new life into the Appletini with his brand Avallen Calvados, and a whole bunch more.

Healthy Hospo: https://healthyhospo.com/ (Tons of free resources to improve your mental and physical health & happiness, all tailor-made for hospitality industry people)
Avallen Calvados: https://avallenspirits.com/
Tim on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/timetheringtonjudge
Tim on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gingerbitters/?hl=en

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#47 2023 In Review with Tony Sachs (and some live distilling)

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0500

Always fun to sit down with Philip Duff Show stalwart Tony Sachs and go over all the happenings of the year!
We covered AI, ChatGPT's cocktail skillz, Skrewball whiskey, gonzo "collabs" like Absolut's vodka sauce made with Heinz and Empirical's Doritos flavour, and discussed the deafening silence around Jason Momoa's Meili vodka, the dastardly abv-lowering deeds of Beefeater Gin, and the likeability of Keanu Reeves.
Along the way we had some fancy Tequila Ocho bottlings, the delicious El Viaje raicilla, Charbay's surprisingly tasty R5 hopped whisky, Ryan Maybee's fine J Rieger Rye whiskey, some 1980s Ancient Age bourbon, and (after judicious application of a hammer) some Chartreuse Elixir Vegetal.
But, the big news was we fired up the mini copper still I brought Tony back from Lisbon, and distilled a can of Stella Artois into something that wasn't half-bad!
Duff-Sachs Distilling is now open for business.
Enjoy!

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#46, Colin Field, former head bartender (for 3 decades!), The Hemingway Bar at the Ritz, Paris.

Mon, 25 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0500

Colin is a legend, an English native who doggedly pursued his dream of being head bartender at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, a position he achieved and dominated for thirty years, creating the Hemingway Bar along the way, serving & befriending celebrities, heads of states, and run-of-the-mill billionaires as well.
Now retired from the Ritz, he's busier than ever, running incredible drinks events around the world with his new agency Colin Field Bar Concept, and bartending a gruelling one shift a week at Paris' Maison Proust.
This was a great chat with an old mate, and we covered everything from the origins of the negroni to why a code of omerta must exist between bartender and guest, bartending in business class on Air France 380s vs the Emirates configuration (and why Colin prefers Boeing 777s), how he created a true nationally-accredited degree in bartending in France, the politics of five-star hotels, and a whole bunch more.
Enjoy!

Email Colin: colinpeterfield@gmail.com
Colin on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/colin-field-14960a43
Colin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colinpfield/?hl=en

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#45, Forest Collins, French cocktail blogger and author, "Drink Like A Local In Paris"

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0500

Forest is the O.G. cocktail blogger in France, since she moved there from the US in 2001 and started the 52 Martinis blog, adding a podcast a decade ago. She's also the author of several books including the new "Drink Like A Local In Paris", Academy Chair for France for World's 50 Best Bars, creator of the 52 Martini iPhone app, and a constant champion of all good bars throughout France. We caught up over a cocktail or two and went through the French scene, French spirits, lists like 50 Best and awards in general, and a bunch more, including what being a local or a regular really entails and why Parisians love that cafe life.

The 52 Martinis blog: https://52martinis.com/
The 52 Martinis app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/paris-cocktails/id1261249803
The 52 Martinis podcast: https://52martinis.com/podcast/
52 Martinis on IG: https://www.instagram.com/52martinis/

Buy "Drink Like A Local In Paris": https://www.amazon.com/Drink-Like-Local-Paris-Pariss/dp/1646434579

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#44, Rachel Harrison, New York City PR powerhouse for bars, hotels and liquor brands

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 09:00:00 -0500

I fucking love Rachel Harrison.
We caught up over drinks and went for three hours straight!
Her firm Rachel Harrison Communications is a serious mover and shaker for dozens of hotels, resorts, liquor brands and bars across the US and around the world, with offices in the UK, Mexico and elsewhere.
There's a lot of PR wisdom in here (my favorite: "Hiring a PR agency means you have to work HARDER, not less!") but we also cover vibrators, hiring diverse candidates, gift giving, Breville toasters, lists and awards, her fitness journey and how she has 4 other Rachels working for her.
Give it a listen!

Rachel on IG: https://www.instagram.com/fwaychel/?hl=en
Rachel Harrison Communications on IG: https://www.instagram.com/wearerhc/?hl=en
Rachel Harrison Communications: https://wearerhc.com/

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#43, Derek Brown, author of "Mindful Mixology", wellness coach, and bartender

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:00:00 -0500

Derek is a hospitality lifer who, after decades of being a bartender, sommelier and founding groundbreaking cocktail bars like The Colombia Room in Washington DC, transitioned in 2018 to being an advocate for no- and low-alcohol cocktails and wellness in general, training as an NASM coach, founding Positive Damage, Inc., and co-founding the Mindful Drinking Fest. Derek's an old friend and it was a joy to shoot the shit for several hours, especially as Dry January looms. We cover everything from Ozempic, beer goggles, the secret sorrow of your kid taking up soccer, Derek's viciously competitive streak that emerges playing Uno, non-alc beers, polishing your shoes if you're wearing a suit, how to get through Day 1 on the wagon, and there's a heartwarmingly wholesome story about Derek's teenage encounter with the late Shane McGowan. Come onboard!

Derek's brand-new NASM course on Mindful Drinking: https://www.nasm.org/continuing-education/mindful-drinking

Derek's company Positive Damage, Inc.'s website: http://www.positivedamageinc.com

Derek on IG: https://www.instagram.com/positivedamageinc/

Derek on X / Twitter: https://twitter.com/PositiveDMG

Buy Derek's book "Mindful Mixology": https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Mixology-Comprehensive-Low-Alcohol-Cocktails/dp/0847871274/

Buy Derek's other book, "Spirit Sugar Water Bitters": https://bookshop.org/p/books/spirits-sugar-water-bitters-how-the-cocktail-conquered-the-world-derek-brown/12299980?ean=9780847861460

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#42, Kevin Armstrong, Owner Satan's Whiskers (London), co-author "Roundbuilding", and bar consultant

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0500

It was great to finally catch up with Kevin; I’ve been chasing him to come on the podcast since earlier this year, when I read “Roundbuilding” a book he co-wrote with Daniel Waddy on the technique of making rounds of cocktails as quickly and efficiently as possible, so they can all be served at the same time and to the same quality (link to buy below). Kevin opened London bartender’s bar Satan’s Whiskers a decade ago after a stratospheric career at Jonathan Downey’s Match Bar / Rushmore Group that saw him become Group Bars Director, presiding over the bars and training staff alongside luminaries like Dick Bradsell, Dale de Groff and Sasha Petraske. We talk about what’s happened to speed and efficiency, modern bar trends like the “Scandi’ no-garnish trend you see a lot in London, why jiggers aren't magical, and a whole bunch more. Give it a listen - and make sure you get the book!

Satan's Whiskers IG: https://www.instagram.com/satans_whiskers/?hl=en

Buy Roundbuilding: https://www.amazon.com/Roundbuilding-Daniel-Waddy/dp/139993693X

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#41, Kurt Schlechter, owner Cause + Effect (Cape Town) and bar trainer throughout Africa

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 06:00:00 -0500

Great chat with my old friend Kurt Schlechter, who has trained bartenders in every country on his continent from Cape Town to Cairo, and splits his time between the three branches of his award-winning cocktail bar Cause + Effect, and training bartenders throughout Africa.

Kurt on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kurtschlechter/
Cause + Effect on IG: https://www.instagram.com/causeeffectbar/

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#40, Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, Tiki Historian, Author and Bar Owner

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 23:00:00 -0500

Well, this was a pure delight!
Jeff is an old friend and we sat down to talk about Sippin' Santa's Surf Shack, rum ,tiki cocktails, bar ownership and a whole bunch more - give it a listen!

All Jeff’s links: https://beachbumberry.com/
Jeff on IG: https://instagram.com/official_beachbumberry?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Jeff on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealbeachbumberry

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#39, Kimberly Fisher, Travel Writer, Journalist, Spokesmodel, Brand Ambassador

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 06:00:00 -0500

I've been bumping into the glamourous Kimberly Fisher at cocktail events here in New York for years now so it was high time we sat down together. An Alaskan native and resident of NY for over a decade, she's been an actress and spokesmodel, is a widely published journalist, qualified yoga teacher, licensed real estate agent, on-camera host and bonafide travel fiend, having clocked up 67 countries and every American state except the Dakotas, for some reason. She also represents Casa del Sol tequila, owned by Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria, and indeed we drank a good bit of it during the taping and very nice it was too. We caught up on topics and wide as bumping Bill Gates off a flight, the Jennifer Lawrence movie "No Hard Feelings", reading 100 books a year, the drinks biz and lots more. And yes, she really did take off her Uggs and put on sky-high Louboutins to record this episode. Enjoy!

Kimberly's website: https://kimberlyfisher.com/
Kimberly on IG: http://www.instagram.com/itskimberlyfisher
Kimberly on X/Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kimberlyfisher1
Kimberly on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimberlyfisherboone

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#38, Robert Simonson, Award-Winning Drinks Writer & Author

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Robert might just be the best-known drinks writer in our whole industry; his articles on spirits, bars and cocktails appear frequently in grown-up newspapers like The New York Times as well as trade publications like PUNCH, Imbibe and Vinepair. He's written more than half a dozen books on bars, spirits and cocktails, co-authored two cocktail apps and has his own signature Old Fashioned kit from Cocktail Kingdom as well as "The Mix", his extremely popular Substack newsletter. His newest book, "The Encyclopedia of Cocktails", just came out.

As you might imagine, he's a great person to sit with for a drink and a chat, and that's what went down here, covering everything from how he switched to drinks writing from being a theater critic, why he's not afraid of the threat of AI to writers, if you can earn a living writing in 2023, and his new book, The Encyclopedia of Cocktails. Along the way we also cover awards and lists, anonymity in bars, which types of books sell better and much more - give it a listen!

Buy Robert's books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Robert-Simonson/author/B001K8HFEA?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Buy Robert's books on Indiebound: https://bookshop.org/search?affiliate=287&source=IndieBound&ref=IndieBoundSearch&keywords=robert+simonson

Subscribe to The Mix, Robert's Substack: https://robertsimonson.substack.com/

Buy The Simonson Old Fashioned Set: https://cocktailkingdom.com/products/robert-simonson-old-fashioned-set

Robert on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/RobertOSimonson/
Robert on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.simonson.9?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Robert's website: https://robertsimonson.net/
Email Robert: rbrtsimonson@gmail.com

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#37, Oron Lerner, Group Bars Manager, Imperial Group, Tel Aviv

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0400

No way this wasn't going to be unusual, but I wanted to talk with Oron, a friend, and see how he was doing. It's a good talk - not as light-hearted as the first time Oron was on the podcast, understandably. We'd normally have done it face-to-face, like we did the first time he was on, and in fact I had flights and a Tel Aviv apartment all booked, planning to arrive on 14 October and do events and tastings for genever and vermouth, some of them at Oron's group's bars. That didn't happen, of course. We agreed beforehand we aren't experts on the region or its history; Oron himself said he wasn't entirely sure about the origins of the conflicts, and if he isn't, I certainly am not. This is a conversation between friends, checking in.

Oron on Instagram: www.instagram.com/lerneroron

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#36: DNN (Duff News Network)

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 17:00:00 -0400

Well, it's been a minute!

This is a solo Duff ep, where I catch up on a whole bunch of stuff, including:

- Launching Old Duff Genever in Riga, Latvia
- Working Bar Convent Berlin, the world's largest bar show
- Maison Villevert's charity auction memorial to Gaz Regan
- Why I didn't continue my planned trip to Tel Aviv
- The informed genius of the Coca-Cola company partnering with Absolut for a...canned Absolut + Sprite?
- The Nolet family (Ketel One) buying Bols
- The Irish Exit, a fast-service Dead Rabbit in a train station
- Patent Pending (NY)'s SharkNado night!
- Robert Simonson's book launch, and the impossibly cool Agency of Record bar launch

(Get in touch with Duff!

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#35, Guy Brennan, CEO & Co-Founder of Procera Gin

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 05:00:00 -0400

Guy and some friends started Procera gin after discovering Juniperus procera trees in Kenya, where he lives. Native to Africa, these trees tower 80 feet high, bearing very large, juicy juniper berries that differ greatly from juniperus communis, the usual juniper type used in gin that grows on a 30-foot shrub around the Adriatic and Eastern Europe. We sat downstairs in the Ivory Peacock, a great new bar-restaurant with 850 gins (!), and over a couple of martinis - Procera, obvs - we talked about how (very expensive) gin could be a stealth project to change the way people think about Africa as a whole, how he stays compliant with EU law although he's using a non-approved form of juniper, how an Aussie with the world's most expensive MBA wound up making gin in Africa, and a ton more. Mostly, I remember we laughed a lot - those martinis really kick in when you're making them with 51% abv gin!

Guy on IG: https://instagram.com/guybrennos
Procera Gin on IG: https://instagram.com/proceragin
Website: https://www.proceragin.com/

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#34, Kimi Winkler, New York City Liquor Salesperson Supreme

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Kimi's one of the best salespeople in the city, and has been since she kicked off her careerin liquor back in 2011. She's been an educator, a portfolio manager, an on-premise specialist and a state manager, working for brands as diverse as Stoli, Jagermeister, Novo Fogo cachaca and Copalli rum, and Pinhook whiskey, where she just started as the new New York state market manager. What's common to all those roles is selling, something that a lot of bartenders and ambassadors are terrified of, but that Kimi relishes. (She should, she's good at it). Over a drink of two we chatted about her career started, how to get listings and menu placements, coming into the business without a bartending background, bringing value to the relationship with a buyer, and why you should chat with the bartenders before you even know who the buyer is. Enjoy!

Kimi on IG: https://instagram.com/kimi.winkler

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#33, Mark Maynard: 30-Year New York City Hospitality Veteran turned Consultant & Coach

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Mark's the best!
He walked into Union Square Cafe more than 30 years ago and only left what became the Danny Meyer-founded Union Square Hospitality Group group recently, having scaled the dizzy heights of a restaurant group that was as iconic and successful as it was disruptive, creating a whole new perspective on how to serve guests and manage the staff that do so, all of which Mark played a large part in.

I got to know him better at his last big project at USHG, the ass-kicking Porchlight bar in NY, and we sat down to shoot the shit about just about everything, from being part of Jose Andres' World Kitchen serving people fleeing the war in Ukraine, to diversity 2023-style in restaurant hiring, to the tip controversy (spicy!), to his biggest mistake as a manager, and how he distills that 30 years of expertise to help his consulting clients turbo-charge their business with his new firm, Maynard Consulting.

Special thanks to the Institute of Culinary Education in NY for loaning us a location to record in, and to the one and only Tony Sachs for donating a 50-odd-years-old mini of fine bourbon whisky for us to crack open to get the ball rolling!

Maynard Consulting: https://www.maynardconsulting.net
Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-maynard-b8a2976

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#32, Kirsten Holm, Matriarch of Copenhagen's cocktail scene, owner K Bar (founded 2002!)

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 06:00:00 -0400

I caught up with the magnificent Kirsten Holm, who I've known for decades, in Amsterdam recently, when we were both in town for the Perfect Serve Barshow.
We sat down in the stunning Luminair rooftop bar on top of the Doubletree hotel next to the central train station, and whoa, did we talk about a lot in just 90 minutes or so - powered only by coffee!
Everything from what the Copenhagen cocktail scene was like pre-K Bar's opening, to why you have to have top chat skills if you work in a bar that batches its drinks, to fragile mixology vs modern classics, why toilets (and coffee, and bread) are so important, finding your DNA, finding your inner warrior, Brexit, Trump, anti-immigrant sentiments and social media, phew!
Kirsten's one of my favorite people, and later the same day we taped she went on to teach a killer seminar, about surviving a bartending & bar-owning career, at Perfect Serve (after she had recovered her notes).

K Bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kbarcocktails
K Bar on FB: https://www.facebook.com/K-bar-146770942042896
Kirsten on FB: https://www.facebook.com/kirsten.holm.92?mibextid=LQQJ4d
K Bar website: https://k-bar.dk

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#31 Chris LeBeau, Mixologist & Podcaster, St. Louis, Missouri

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Chris LeBeau is a St. Louis-based mixologist whose workshops are primarily aimed at cocktail-curious home bartenders and corporate events.
He also runs the immaculately slick "Decoding Cocktails" podcast, and just launched a second one, "So this one shift" which he describes as "Storycorps meets the beverage industry".
He's had me on his podcast before, and we didn't really get to hang at Tales of the Cocktail, so it was time to switch on the mikes and kick back with an adult beverage.
We cover the amazingness that is the Michter's Fort Nelson distillery, visitor center and bar in Louisville; the media's relationship to cocktails; what spirits can learn from craft beer; living in an old money town like St. Louis; why vermouth deserves more love; the current state of celebrity bartenders and a whole bunch more.

Give it a listen, Like, Subscribe, Rate and share this podcast with any of your friends who might be into it - and don't forget to subscribe to Chris' podcasts, too.

Decoding Cocktails on IG: https://www.instagram.com/decodingcocktails/
Decoding Cocktails on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFGgHkGrzkz5X6Hzas-rNWA

Email Chris: Chris@DecodingCocktails.com
Website: www.DecodingCocktails.com

Decoding Cocktails Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoding-cocktails/id1595377352
So this one shift... Podcast: StoryCorps meets the beverage and hospitality industry

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#30, Ivan Villegas, Spanish Bartender in London (now Mountain, ex-NoMad London, ex-Davies & Brook, ex-Swift) & CAP

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 06:00:00 -0400

I've known Ivan since 2013, when, still a fulltime photojournalist, he moonlighted bartending at the seminal O'Clock bar in Madrid (90 gins & 7 tonic waters - in 2013!) and became a finalist in the G'Vine Gin Connoisseur Program contest which I organised, so we got to hang out for a week at the world finals in Cognac, France.

Ivan then moved to London to be a full-time bartender (and I moved to New York), so we don't get to hang out as much as I'd like, therefore this was a sprawling three-hour catch-up over mezcal and whiskey, touching on, among other topics:

- All the fun of the Feria in Spain
- Pros and cons of guest bartending and takeovers
- Why people hiring bartenders should check references
- Being a CAP (Cocktail APprentice) at the Tales of the Cocktail festival
- Striving for excellence in bar programs and restaurants
- Why some of the best bars really only sparkle 1 night out of 30

...and a whole bunch more!

(PS, Mountain, where Ivan works, is the new place from chef Tomos Parry (of restaurant Brat), and it's getting rave reviews - so next time you're in London.....)

Ivan on IG: https://instagram.com/ivanivan?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Ivan on FB: facebook.com

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#29, St. John Frizell, owner of Fort Defiance and Gage & Tollner, Brooklyn, NY

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 15:00:00 -0400

I sat down with St. John Frizell, who founded Fort Defiance bar in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighbourhood back in 2009, and brought Gage & Tollner, long the most vaunted fine-dining restaurant in Brooklyn since it opened in 1879, back to life in 2021 (yep, 2021!) after it lay dormant and closed for almost two decades.

I met St. John when he taught a seminar I attended on the subject of playboy travel and food & drinks writer Charles H. Baker, Jr., at Tales of the Cocktail, around 2006 or 2007; in fact, his seminar inspired the first-ever cocktail menu at door 74 (which I opened in Amsterdam in 2008), which was all Charles H. Baker, Jr., cocktails.

We kicked it for several hours and it's all here: laundry tips for white shirts, why martinis now cost $21, St. John's exciting new side hustle as a liquor smuggler, why he'll open more Sunken Harbor Clubs but not more Gage & Tollners, world premiere of the Sunken Harbor Club Membership Scheme, serving Hearsts, the old Pegu Club, having to relearn the art of concentration, and a whole bunch more.
We were fuelled solely by coffee, so me and St. John should really do this again some time with a drink in hand!

St. John on IG: St John Frizell (@stjohnfrizell) • Instagram photos and videos
Gage & Tollner on IG: Gage & Tollner (@gage.and.tollner) • Instagram photos and videos
Fort Defiance on IG: Fort Defiance (@fortdefiance) • Instagram photos and videos

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#28 Matt Pietrek, author of "Modern Caribbean Rum" Tales Spirited Awards "Best New Book On Spirits"

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 01:00:00 -0400

The champ is here!
It was a delight chatting to Matt Pietrek, the Rumwonk himself; Matt's responsible for some of the deepest and most illuminating dives into rum history in recent years on what is now his Substack (link below).
His magnum opus, "Modern Caribbean Rum", which he wrote, photographed and self-published together with his wife Carrie Smith, just won "Best New Book On Spirits" at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, despite being only available at www.wonkpress.com and costing $100 plus shipping.
(It's worth far, far more, by the way - 833 pages long and weighing in at around 9lbs!)

Rum in hand (I was drinking Copalli blanco with a dash of Angostura Aromatic bitters, salty seadog that I am), we got into Matt's journey from being a tech dude living in Seattle to a hairy rum wonk living in New Orleans, his first book Minimalist Tiki, the history and legacies of both rum and tiki drinks & bars, why he gravitated towards rum, 19th century aristocrats as the first influencers, his work as Community Envoy for the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA), why and how he began self-publishing, why the US government is giving the Captain Morgan brand alone a whopping $2.7bn, how US taxes on non-US rum and US subsidies to US rum firms means non-US rums selling in the US are forced to subsidise their US competitors via the taxes they pay to the US, the third rail of the rum world that is spiced rum, and how a Modern Caribbean Rum audiobook might be awesome to fall asleep to.

Matt's main website Rumwonk: https://www.rumwonk.com
Other website Cocktailwonk: https://cocktailwonk.com
Wonk Press, to order his books: https://www.wonkpress.com/

Matt on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cocktailwonk and https://www.instagram.com/rumwonk
Matt on X/Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/cocktailwonk and https://www.twitter.com/rumwonk

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#27 What Phil Did On His Summer Holidays

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 21:00:00 -0400

The eagle-eyed among you will see I didn't post any episodes in July, and that's because I was based in Lisbon, but also flying around Europe like a demon, then getting back to the US a day or two before Tales, and then shooting down to Alabama to help my step-daughter move into college.

So this is the catch-up! Lisbon! London! Italy! Amsterdam! New York! New Orleans (and a bit of bitching about the Tales awards)! Alabama!

Tune in and enjoy, and let me know what you'd like to hear more - or less - of in the comments.

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#26, Tales of the Cocktail 2023 roundup with Australian drinks & bars writer Sam Bygrave

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 11:00:00 -0400

We both - barely - just survived Tales 2023, and as he lives in Sydney we don't get to sit down to share a drink often, so on his NY stopover I grabbed Sam Bygrave, founder of independent news hub for the Australian bar industry Boothby Drinks and formerly one of the longest serving editors of Australian Bartender Magazine.
(In fact, Sam was my editor when I wrote a column for AB).

Shout-out to Samantha and Ben at Porchlight in New York for letting us record in their legendary back room!

Over some beers, some Old Duff genever and some Mezcal Vago Pechuga from the most adorable little mini-oilcan flask you ever did see, we recap Tales and dive into a whole bunch of other stuff too, from health insurance in America to why caviar bumps make sense, William Grants flying over 10 entire bar teams from Australia to work their portfolio party at Tales, why great cocktail bars should serve excellent Guinness, and the horrors of not being able to drink off-grid without Resy hunting you down.

(That all-French spirits bar with the amazing sound system that I mentioned was A La Francaise, opened in Paris by Stephen Martin in 2015.

Cheers everyone!

Sam's details:

Twitter
@sambygrave
@boothbydrinks

Instagram
- Sam Bygrave (@sambygrave) • Instagram photos and videos ,
- Boothby: Drinks, bartenders, recipes & bars

Website: https://www.boothby.com.au
Sign up for the newsletter: https://www.boothby.com.au/#/portal/signup

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#25 Crafting Success: Inside the World of January Spirits with Co-founders Lucky Preksto & Jon Langley

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 12:00:00 -0400

Ever wondered about the nitty-gritty of running a craft spirits company? Join us in this eye-opening episode as we chat with John and Lucky, co-founders of January Spirits, who share their inspiring journey from working together in different bars and restaurants to creating their very own spirit brand. You'll learn about crafting unique liqueurs, navigating complex US legislation, and their mascot - Janus, the Roman God of the past, present, and future.

Dive into the fascinating world of crafting liqueurs as John and Lucky discuss the intricate process of perfecting their recipes, blending ingredients, and the importance of trusting oneself. We explore the history of coffee grinders and their impact on the American Civil War, as well as different drinking occasions for Amaro - a complex but enjoyable beverage. You'll also discover the challenges of competing with well-known brands in the world of craft gin production and pricing strategies.

In this absorbing conversation, John and Lucky share their gin tasting experiences, the rise of martini culture in New York City, and the importance of balancing bitter and sweet elements in cocktails. We also discuss selling alcohol in America, hotspots for their craft spirits, and the incredible journey of January Spirits. Don't miss this opportunity to gain insights into the world of craft spirits and learn from the experiences of these passionate entrepreneurs!

January Spirits on IG: https://instagram.com/januaryspirits?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

January Spirits WWW: January Spirits januaryspirits.com |

Lucky Preksto: https://instagram.com/luckypreksto?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Jon Langley: https://instagram.com/redneck_narnia?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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#24 Spirits, Sustainability, and Personal Growth: The Journey of Stephanie Jordan and Avallen Calvados

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 09:00:00 -0400

Are you ready to embark on an incredible journey through the world of spirits, sustainability, and personal growth? Join us for a captivating conversation with Stephanie Jordan Balmforth, co-founder of Avallen Calvados, as we explore her diverse background, passions, and the making of a sustainable spirits brand. Over a delightful Dempsey cocktail, Stephanie shares her upbringing in London as the daughter of a British mother and Colombian father, her love for yoga and running, and how mindfulness shapes her daily life.

[NON-AI TEXT:
The Dempsey Cocktail, 1922, Robert Vermeire

1.33oz. / 50ml Avallen Calvados
5/6oz. / 25ml Bluecoat Gin
5ml grenadine
2 dashes (from a bitters bottle) Kubler absinthe
Shake with ice
Strain into cocktail coupe]

Discover how Stephanie's unique perspective led her to a successful career as a global brand ambassador, meeting her business partner Tim and creating the premium Avallen Calvados. Together, they tackled the challenges of modern agriculture, environmental impact, and the world of spirits distribution. We also dive into the fascinating history of Dutch settlers in Argentina, the prevalence of brandy in Asia, and the origin of the word 'sin'.

From Stephanie's passion for creating meaningful connections with consumers through storytelling to her experiences living in New York and Europe, this episode is packed with intriguing insights. We wrap up with a discussion on the founding of Avallen Spirits and the importance of finding the perfect balance between tradition and modernity. Tune in to this exhilarating episode to hear all about Stephanie Jordan Balmforth and the remarkable world of Avallen !

Stephanie:
- Stephanie Jordan (@drinkingoutloud) • Instagram photos and videos
- twitter.com
- Log into Facebook
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniejordan87

Avallen Spirits:

https://www.avallenspirits.com
- avallen spirits (@avallenspirits) • Instagram photos and videos
- Avallen Spirits (@AvallenSpirits) / Twitter
- https://www.facebook.com/AvallenSpirits?mibextid=LQQJ4d

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#23 Sother Teague, bartender, beverage director, reformed chef, author and bitters tycoon

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

This was so much fun we forget we were recording!
After fuelling up a starving Sother with one of Will Wyatt's preposterously good Electric Burritos, Sother kicks off by spilling the tea on Trap Cocktails, Maxwell Britten, and his firm's soon-to-open African diaspora restaurant, Ubuntu.
We discuss the joys of vegan food both at the DIG fast-casual chain and at Eleven Madison Park, Sother invents the word "proteinaceous", Phil Barlow and Coconut Cartel rum's copper ice plate gets a look in, we learn about bidding for vintage rye whiskey at Sotheby’s , why modern corks are way better, and if you can even get regular Michelob any more.
Just to show off, Sother becomes the first guest on the show ever to use the word "nomenclature", we explore why flair is hard but mixology is easy, rap about the joy of yummy drinks a la Leo Robitschek, why there are only a few really outstanding people in any field, how millionaires can get tax rebates in Sweden, taste some genepi, then some gin, and announce the world exclusive of Sother’s forthcoming pineapple habanero mezcal hot sauce.
(By the way, that quote I mentioned was in Sebastian Faulks' James Bond book "Devil May Care", not one of Anthony Horowitz's Bond books, and here it is:

"The waiters in their short white coats were all Romans of a certain age who had spent a lifetime in their chosen profession. They were swift and precise in their movements, polite without being deferential." )

Love that.

Sother IG: https://instagram.com/creativedrunk?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Sother on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreativeDrunk

Buy signed, personalised copies of Sother’s books and bitters: https://creativedrunk.bigcartel.com/products

Come see Sother, Lucky, Bruce and crew at Amor y Amargo in NYC: https://instagram.com/amoryamargo?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org

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#22 Unlocking the Benefits of Alcohol: Creativity, Bonding, and Cultural Connections with Dr. Edward Slingerland

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Ever wondered how alcohol can actually be beneficial in fostering creativity, bonding, and even lie detection? Join our intriguing conversation with award-winning Sinologist and philosophy professor Dr. Edward Slingerland, as we discuss his recent captivating book, "Drunk", and shed light on the often-misunderstood spirits industry.

Together, we dive into the role of alcohol in society, its stress-reducing effects, and how it can be used alongside cultural tools like religion to build trust. Dr. Slingerland also shares his experiences as a bartender in San Francisco and as a professor at the University of British Columbia. We tackle the challenges of integrating drinkers and non-drinkers, the power dynamics within the service industry, and the potential effects of banning spirits from college campuses.

Lastly, we explore the differences between northern and southern drinking cultures, the role of bartenders in regulating drinking, and the impact of social media on our drinking habits. Get ready for an insightful and fascinating discussion that will have you rethinking your relationship with alcohol!

Dr Slingerland on Twitter: https://twitter.com/slingerland20?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Buy "Drunk": https://bookshop.org/p/books/drunk-how-we-sipped-danced-and-stumbled-our-way-to-civilization-edward-slingerland/17290207?ean=9780316453387

Website for Dr Slingerland: www.edwardslingerland.com

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#21, Giacomo Giannotti, From Gelateria to Global Acclaim: The Journey Behind Paradiso, the World's Best Bar and the Future of Bartending

Mon, 29 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

How did growing up in an Italian ice cream shop lead to owning the world's best bar?
Join us as we chat with Giacomo Giannotti about his incredible journey from humble beginnings to achieving international acclaim with his Barcelona-based bar, Paradiso, current #1 on the World's 50 Best Bars list. Listen in as we explore the lessons he learned along the way, how his experiences in London at places like B@1 shaped his hospitality expertise, and the inspiration behind his world-renowned establishment.

But that's not all! We also dive into the fascinating world of truffle-infused spirits, taste Paradiso's experimentaL new white truffle amaro, and hear my stories of creating a cognac that complements the flavor of truffle. We discuss the process, the challenges faced, and the impact of Paradiso's prestigious title on the spirits industry.

From speakeasies to post-pandemic customer attitudes, we'll touch on the evolution of the bar scene and the future of bartending, including Paradiso's bar training program. We'll also explore the influence of iconic venues like Rum Trader in Berlin and Milk and Honey in New York, and discuss the importance of investing in quality drinks and service to meet the needs of the new generation of drinkers. So, grab your favorite cocktail and join us for this captivating conversation that takes you behind the scenes of the world's number one bar, Paradiso!

Giacomo
IG: https://instagram.com/giacomoloris_?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

FB: https://www.facebook.com/giacomo.giannotti?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Co-founder & wife Margarita Sader:
IG: https://instagram.com/margarita_sader?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Margarita’s incredible Atelier for custom and off-the-rack aprons, accessories, tuxedo jackets and more: https://instagram.com/msbartrends?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Paradiso: https://instagram.com/paradiso_barcelona?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The Paradiso Lab, the future of bar sustainability: https://instagram.com/paradiso_lab?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Sister establishments Galileo…https://instagram.com/galileobarcelona?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

…and Monk: https://instagram.com/monkbcn?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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#20 Chris Maffeo, On Trade Sales Strategist & Founder of Maffeo Drinks

Mon, 22 May 2023 06:00:00 -0400

This one's for the industry people!
I first came across Chris on LinkedIn, where he posts short, GOLD pieces of advice almost every day for small brands looking to grow and scale sustainably in bars and restaurants, building on his decades-long experience of doing just that across Europe, from his native Italy to the Czech Republic, where he now lives.

Over a Pilsner Urquell or two we covered a bunch of topics, including:
- Why a beer mentality can help sell spirits
- Why decanters on TV only mean they couldn't find a liquor sponsor
- How brands need to move from their historical consumption occasion to a new one via cocktails
- Why your first job is to turn your brand proposition into a commercial proposition
- Why its better to sell 3 bottles with a staff tasting as opposed to 10 cases without one
- Why JRR Tolkien did occasionally phone it in.

Chris has a great newsletter you can sign up for at his website below, his podcast is well worth a follow and so is he, especially on LinkedIn.

Chris on LinkedIn: linkedin.com
Chris on Twitter: https://twitter.com/maffeodrinks
Chris on Instagram: https://instagram.com/maffeodrinks?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Chris' website & newsletter Winning With Drinks: https://www.winningwithdrinks.com/

The Maffeo Drinks Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/the-maffeo-drinks-podcast/id1670614849?ref=winningwithdrinks.com

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#19 Julio Bermejo, Creator of the Tommy's Margarita, Bartender, Agave God

Sun, 14 May 2023 20:00:00 -0400

I nabbed Julio Bermejo while he was in town for the launch of Campari's new luxury (and tasty) tequila, named Mayenda, and Campari generously let us borrow one of their conference rooms* loftily overlooking New York's Bryant Park from the 19th floor, to record an episode.
Equipped with a dram or two of tequila, we covered vital topics, including:

- Why "fresh" is like "pregnant" - when it comes to juice
- How important it is to support owner-operated tequila brands
- Why Mexican distillers don't think there are any additives in tequila that need to be disclosed
- The joy of synthetic corks
- The greater joys of ripe agave
- The American (kind-of) celebrity who owns a tequila brand and has never been to Mexico
- Julio's mobile phone number (he read it out on-air! Just don't call him when he's sleeping, right?)

Always great to hang with Julio!

Now, don't forget to Like, Share and review The Philip Duff Show on whichever platform you listen to it on - oh, and tell a friend about us, if you think they'd like the show.

Julio is, in his own words, not the greatest social media user, but check him out:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/julio.bermejo.718?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Instagram: @julio.bermejo.718)
Tommy's Mexican Restaurant, San Francisco: www.tommysmexican.com
Instagram: @tommysmexican

*It was the Old Fashioned Conference Room, in case you're wondering; they're all named after cocktails. It's right next to the Sidecar conference room.

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#18, Dale de Groff, King Cocktail, Maker of Bitters, Amaro & Aperitivo, and Author

Tue, 09 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

The King is here!
Me and Dale de Groff taste the delicious new De Groff Amaro and De Groff Aperitivo he's made with Ted Breaux (who won't let Dale say what's in them), we talk about history's first-ever cocktail party with "gin and bitters", our biggest ever failings as bartenders and managers, why Freddy Heineken bought several former horse stables around Amsterdam, the importance of yumminess in cocktails, and the story of how Dale once had a fabulously wealthy six-foot-six regular who had to go home at 7pm each evening because he was already hammered by then.
And lots more.
Enjoy!

Dale on Twitter and Instagram: @kingcocktl

Buy Dale's amaro and aperitivo: https://midwaywines.com/shop?ch-query=degroff

De Groff Spirits website: https://degroffspirits.com

Buy "The New Craft of the Cocktail" : https://www.amazon.com/New-Craft-Cocktail-Everything-Mixologist/dp/1984823574/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JQ3KGVDRATX1&keywords=dale+de+groff&qid=1683643740&sprefix=dale+de+groff%2Caps%2C61&sr=8-1

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#17, Erick Castro, Bartender, Bar Owner (Raised by Wolves, SD), & podcaster (Bartender at Large)

Tue, 02 May 2023 19:00:00 -0400

Whoa this was great!
Who knew Erick was a journalism graduate?
I always assumed bartending for him was a work placement after jail (;-)!
He made his bones in mega legit Cali bars like Rickhouse in San Francisco (where I met him) then relocated to San Diego and opened his own places, Polite Provisions (T-shirt slogan: "Polite As Fuck") and the award-winning Raised by Wolves.
Along the way he worked as a gin ambassador, started (and continues - you should subscribe) the Bartender at Large podcast, as well as co-founding the Bartenders Weekend event in SD and making (check it out on YouTube) the Bartender At Large movie!

This was a whole lot of fun and, full disclosure, towards the end I was a little hammered, because I had to rush home to tape this after dropping by (my old head bartender at door 74 in Amsterdam) Timo's guest shift in Bar Goto.
Just like the Danny Ronen episode inadvertently became a Quentin Tarantino episode, this one had a lot of talk about journalism, media, the Mean World Syndrome, as well as pondering if rich people are real people too, why Erick's next bar may well be in CDMX, the joy of Empirical, and Erick's tale of some chap who connected Chat GPT to his Tinder, which I guess is the modern remake of Cyrano de Bergerac.
Enjoy!

Erick: IG @hungrybartender, @raisedbywolvesspirits , @bartendersweekend
Twitter: @hungrybartender
YouTube: Bartender At Large
Podcast: Bartender at Large

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#16, Salvador "Chava" Periban, Agave Expert, 24 April 2023

Sun, 23 Apr 2023 13:00:00 -0400

Agave all day! (Although we were drinking rye whiskey, as it goes).
Had a blast sitting down with the one and only Salvador "Chava" Periban, a Michoacan friend, combustion engineer, former head distiller, agave devotee (& expert), Mexico City resident and another of my fellow judges at the ADI awards.
You may have heard him on The Speakeasy or Agave Road Trip podcasts but trust me, it's a lot more fun to sit down with the man himself, not least because he ALWAYS has some fine-ass mezcal on his person, somewhere!

Catch Chava on IG at @chavaperiban and www.salvadorperiban.com

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#15 Danny Ronen, Mixologist and Man About Town

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 21:00:00 -0400

Managed to carve out some time old friend, bar supremo, longtime West Coaster, and dude who sends out thousands of cocktail kits every month with Shaker & Spoon, Danny Ronen!
We were both sequestered in a hotel in ritzy Tiburon, California, judging the American Distilling Institute's Craft Spirits Awards, so we took a break from judging spirits to......sit down and drink some and fix the world. Enjoy!

Danny is @dronen on IG, and his firms @shakerandspoon and www.dannyronen.com

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#14 Tony Sachs, Debonair Drinks Writer, 10 April 2023

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Well THIS really was a Springsteen-in-his-prime length episode, a whopping three-and-a-half hour opus chez Sachs where we drink a selection of cocktails from the stunning new Wanderlust menu at London's Pine Bar in the Biltmore Mayfair hotel, confirm that both Khoosh and Dr. Hostetter's bitters taste delish with champagne or genever, drink some genever that - shock! horror! - isn't Old Duff but is pretty damn good, and in between talk about everything from Percocet-and-whisky boilermakers, Bud Light and an unnamed but sure to be wildly overpriced rye whiskey thats about to come out. Enjoy!
Tony Sachs: @retromannyc
Pine Bar at the Biltmore Mayfair: @thepinebar
Khoosh Bitters: @khooshbitter
Dr. Hostetters Bitters: @drhostetters
Phoenyx Spirits: @phoenyxspirits

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#13, Dushan Zaric, Co-founder of Employees Only, author & consultant

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 19:00:00 -0400

This is a MAMMOTH episode with the legendary co-founder of the Employees Only bar empire, co-founder of The 86 Co (famous for Ford's Gin and recently acquired by Brown Forman), author of "Speakeasy" and certified good time, Dushan Zaric, a friend of mine for going on twenty years now. It's so hilariously amateurishly edited (we did two recording sessions) that after about an hour it almost sounds like we've finished, but we didn't; we went on to do another 2.5 hours or so after that! It's everything you ever wanted to hear: teaching young folk nowadays, opening a bar without sewage because you're broke, AI, Dr. Hostetter's bitters, Khoosh bitters, a toast to Trans Day of Visibility (we recorded it on that day, y'see), Dushan officiating at my wedding, a couple of brand-new genever cocktails, and much, much, much more.

Dushan's great new YouTube show is 4am Chicken Soup, and his IG handle is @4amchickensoup. EO is @employeesonlyny and Macao Trading Company (where we recorded the second half) is @macaonyc

Khoosh bitters is @khooshbitter on IG, and Dr. Hostetter's is @drhostetters, both from the fine chaps at @phoenyxspirits

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The Philip Duff Show #12 News Roundup 2 March 2023

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 20:00:00 -0500

What a few weeks! Time to talk our way through what's been happening.
Shitty Serena Williams ad for Superbowl for Remy Martin? Check!
Controversy about the technical files for Irish single pot still whiskey? cHECK!
Jack Daniels? Ago Perrone? Salvatore Calabrese? Simon Ford? Matsuhisa Nobu? Bob de Niro?
Check, check, check, check?.
Wild times - ENJOY THE LISTEN!

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The Philip Duff Show #11, Sake and Shochu Mixology with Japanese bar owner and mixologist Kenta Goto

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0500

Here I cover the history and production techniques of sake and shochu at a 101 (basic) level, and then Kenta Goto of the acclaimed New York bars Bar Goto and Bar Goto Niban takes over and unveils a whole new template for creating cocktails using sake or shochu as the base, as opposed to whisky or gin. We tried to make this seminar podcast-friendly but the visuals mean that watching this with video on The Philip Duff Show on YouTube is probably better. This started life as a talk we both gave on on Instagram during COVID, then evolved into a standing-room-only seminar at Bar Convent Berlin in 2022, so we thought we'd put it out for anyone who wasn't able to make it last year. Kenta's one of the best operators around, both when it comes to cocktails and to running bars, and his new template for cocktails with shochu and sake is ground-breaking. Kenta is on Instagram as @kenta_san , and his bars are @bargoto_nyc in Manhattan and @bargoto_niban in Brooklyn.

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The Philip Duff Show Series 2, Episode #3 The Great Non Alcoholic "Spirits" Debate with David Gluckman

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 10:00:00 -0500

David Gluckman is a drinks industry legend, and he reeaalllly doesn't like the concept of the new non-alcoholic "spirits".
This from the man who invented Baileys Irish cream liqueur, Tanqueray TEN gin, The Singleton whisky, and many more liquor brands.
(You can read, watch and listen all about it, with links to old ads, videos and music jingles, by buying his book "That Will Never Sell" here: https://tinyurl.com/bdzx2anc, and read his views on non-alc "spirits" for free both here: https://tinyurl.com/ysrnyfpd and here: https://tinyurl.com/33sh9ux9)
So, I thought I'd have a chat with him about this barely-eight-years-old category that's forecast to sell $10bn per year within a few years: the good, the bad, the ugly and what David would do to upgrade non-alcoholic drinking options without taking the mickey.
Have a listen, this was fun!
Best bet of catching David is on LinkedIn.

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Series 2 Episode #2 - 2022 News Roundup (Double length episode)

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Back with a bang after a few months off, I thought I'd do a roundup of all the news of 2022: world news, bar & cocktail news, spirits business news and what I was up to myself. Damn thing ran to almost two hours and I still forgot to mention that Netflix show "Drink Masters". Get yourself a large beverage to hand, make sure you're sitting comfortably and hit play...

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Podcast Series 2 Episode #1 - Seminar - Say It Ain't So: The Disputed Histories of Genever and Gin

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 19:00:00 -0400

There's been a lot of debate recently as to whether gin (which was definitely first created in England) descended from Dutch genever - or from somewhere else. In this seminar I add a lot of information only available from Dutch-language sources, and try to explain why, although gin didn't have a single ancestor from a single country, the most influential distillate that led to the creation of gin was genever.

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S1 E7 Oron Lerner, beverage director for Imperial Group, live from Tel Aviv! (Recorded May 18th)

Thu, 26 May 2022 14:00:00 -0400

I sat down last week with my old friend Oron Lerner in Tel Aviv , where he's beverage director for the World's 50 Best Bars-listed Imperial Craft bar, as well as their other excellent outlets La Otra and Bushwick. Over a few martinis and quite a bit of genever, we chat about life in a war zone, perceived happiness, the one kind of diversity people don't want to get behind and why you should turn your phone off and kick back with a glass of liquor in each hand from time to time, as well as a whole bunch more stuff.
Follow Oron on Twitter and Instagram: @LernerOron
Follow meeeee: @philipduff on Twitter and @philipsduff on Instagram
And if you like this podcast, please rate, subscribe, share and tell a friend.

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Podcast #6 - Kummel, Tequila & Fifty Year Old Daiquiris with drinks writer Tony Sachs

Tue, 17 May 2022 03:00:00 -0400

I had huge fun taping this epic two-hour episode with the hilarious noted drinks writer and music fiend Tony Sachs, wherein we drink Silver Bullet cocktails with hundred-year-old kummel, Improved Holland Gin Cock-tails with hundred-year-old angostura bitters, ponder if you should lisp when you say Jerez, what a Katy Perry cocktail would taste like and have a celebrity basketball players' tequila taste-off. Also, Tony drinks a fifty-year-old bottled daiquiri. Don't forget to Like, Subscribe and Follow the podcast, leave a review, tell a friend, and follow me on Instagram at @philipsduff and Tony at @retromannyc.

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Podcast #5 - Drinkin' With Dan Dunn, drinks writer, author, and wild man!

Fri, 29 Apr 2022 15:00:00 -0400

FINALLY an episode that's just me hanging out with someone, slurping down drinks and shooting the shit! Me and Dan solve all the world's problems, from his troubling lack of Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards to how everyone can crash at my place in Portugal this summer, to what it was like to fly maskless on a plane, how Ray Charles loved genever and how Ted Haigh got it onscreen, all while we're inhaling Old Duff Genever and Fresh Victor cocktail mixes. This was a fun one.

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Podcast #4 - Seminar - The Prehistory & Evolution of Gin 2022

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 18:00:00 -0400

An OG seminar I first gave way back in 2010, on behalf of the French grape-based G'Vine Gin. It's been really popular and I'm usually asked to teach it again every couple of years, most recently at Cabo Cocktail Festival in Mexico in 2017. It's a mini- Genever 101 and a mini-Gin 101, but mostly it traces the origins of gin from when distilling knowledge first came to Europe, through genever to the birth of what we would recognise as gin in England, which was complete when the column still was first patented in 1830. Hope you like it, and if you'd like a deeper dive into genever, check out some of the other seminars here on the podcast, and as ever, Like, Subscribe and tell a friend!

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Podcast #3 - Seminar - The Joy of Citrus 2022

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0400

This is a rebooted version of a seminar named The Science of Citrus that I debuted at the much-missed Manhattan Cocktail Classic in, well, Manhattan waaaay back in 2011 (I say 2015 on the recording, oops). Because it's now online and we can't nose the liquid samples we had back then of decanal, limonene etc., and because I've also edited out the organic chemistry portion that explained what those nosing samples were, I've renamed this The Joy of Citrus. This one has it all - goats in general, dead French writers, Volkswagens, specific Caribbean goats, Coca-Cola and Ramos Gin Fizzes, plus more knowledge about citrus and its twisted family tree than you can shake a stick at. Let me know in the comments if you like it? I have at least two more citrus-related seminars I can re-record, one on curacao, and one on Italian lemons and limoncello. Oh, and Like, Subscribe, etc and catch me on Twitter as @philipduff and Instagram as @philipsduff, toodle-ooo!

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Podcast #2 - Seminar - How The Global Drinks Business Works

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 12:00:00 -0400

This podcast episode started life as a seminar at the Tales of the Cocktail festival many years ago, and the Powerpoint deck on my Slideshare.net account (www.slideshare.net/philipduff )was the most-viewed of all the decks I uploaded, so this is the audio narration for that deck, updated for 2022. You can see the deck and hear this audio over on my YouTube channel, and there are a few amusing visuals there too. Strap in to hear about DCL, Irish dairy farms, P Diddy, David Gluckman and Unicorn Tears Gin Liqueur, among many others!

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Podcast #1 - Seminar - Genever History & Mixology

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 11:00:00 -0400

OK, not every episode will be like this, but we gotta start somewhere! This is the audio for a webinar you can see on my YouTube channel, and its a great place to start if you don't know much about genever (or mixology) - there are more in-depth seminars on my YouTube too, by the way. If you're a pro, you'll like the second bit of this podcast, when I showcase some of the more impressive and innovative cocktails being made with genever, by some of the best bartenders working all around the world. I read out the recipes on this episode but check the YouTube video (its me narrating a PowerPoint) if you'd like to transcribe them. This seminar premiered in real life in late 2021 at the awesome A Bar Called Gemma in Stockholm, Sweden, and I'm kinda stoked about it.

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