The Philip Duff Show – Details, episodes & analysis

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

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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
• 
  

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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/  

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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/

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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/ 

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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/

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...

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/

Get in touch with Duff!

Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if they can talk for a couple of hours about OTHER things besides their prepared speaking points or their new thing, whatever that is.
They need to be able to hang.
Oh, plus we don't edit, and we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, or listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview or Zoom.)

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

Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/
Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff
Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter
Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos
Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com
Old Duff Genever on X/Twitter: ...