Explore every episode of the podcast The Philip Duff Show
Dive into the complete episode list for The Philip Duff Show. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Title
Pub. Date
Duration
#92, Rob Cullins, liquor industry titan, current CEO of Disaronno and former CEO of Stoli Group
03 Dec 2024
01:07:07
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...
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
#91, Se Busca Barmaid Week (Barcelona) with organisers Bianca Grisolia, Laura Alonso and Meritxell Coll
25 Nov 2024
01:43:02
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.
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
#82, Marshall Minaya, beverage director Valerie, Madame George and Lolita, New York City.
09 Sep 2024
01:49:15
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!
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
#81, Tim McKirdy, managing editor, VinePair, recovering chef, host of the Cocktail College podcast
02 Sep 2024
02:33:23
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 )
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
#80 Simone Caporale, co-owner Sips & Sips Esencia (#1, W50BB 2023), Amaro Santoni, Canaima Gin, MUYU Liqueurs & The Art of Shaking
26 Aug 2024
01:15:10
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!
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
#79, Mark Pascal & Francis Schott, hosts of The Restaurant Guys podcast, owners of Stage Left Steak and Catherine Lombardi restaurants, New Brunswick, New Jersey
19 Aug 2024
01:37:07
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!
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
#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.
12 Aug 2024
01:42:01
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!
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
#77 Simon Difford, founder Diffordsguide.com, creator Difford's Easy Jigger, chronicler of the Second Cocktail Golden Age
05 Aug 2024
01:42:21
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!
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
#76, Natasha Bahrami, The Gin Girl, The Gin Room (St. Louis, Missouri), Gin World festivals (everywhere), member The Gin Guild
29 Jul 2024
01:19:14
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!
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
#75 Zev Glesta, spirits specialist Sotheby's New York, ex-bartender at The Modern, The Fat Duck/Dinner
22 Jul 2024
01:47:20
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
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
#74, Anna Sebastian, UK-based hospitality consultant, founder of #CelebrateHer, ending homelessness with @underonesky
15 Jul 2024
02:06:58
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!
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
#73, Ago Perrone, Director of Mixology, The Connaught, co-author, The Connaught Bar book
08 Jul 2024
01:20:23
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!
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
#90, Dr. Nicola Nice, sociologist, entrepreneur and author of “The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought The Cocktail Home”
18 Nov 2024
02:03:53
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.
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
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!
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
#71, David Thomas Tao, Kentuckian, whisky writer, fitness commentator (!), voiceover actor, theatre investor
26 Jun 2024
02:26:31
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!
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
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!
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
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).
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
#68 Jim Meehan, award-winning mixologist, bartender, author and consultant
03 Jun 2024
02:06:11
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!
Reserve a spot at the launch party, at Porchlight NYC, Ju
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
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!
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
#66, Negotiation Book Club with Bianca Grisolia, BG Communication, Barcelona
19 May 2024
01:30:05
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.
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
#65, Linden Pride, co-owner Caffe Dante, Dante West Village & Dante Beverly Hills
13 May 2024
01:20:57
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!
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
#64, Mark Reynier, founder of Waterford Whisky, Renegade Rum and former owner of Bruichladdich
06 May 2024
01:47:12
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!
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
#63, Ciaran Smith, founder, The Bottle Cocktail Shop (London), former award-winning cocktail bar owner & hotel executive
29 Apr 2024
02:04:31
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.
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
#89, Ambre van de Berg, founder of Lala Tequila, wellness consultant & yoga instructor (but definitely not woo)
13 Nov 2024
01:41:33
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!
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
#62, Nick Papanicolaou, founder No Sleep Beverage liquor incubator, former mergers & acquisitions at Pernod-Ricard USA
26 Apr 2024
01:45:51
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!
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
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/
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
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!
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
#59, Jillian Vose, Hazel and Apple (Charleston), Outwalker Whiskey
01 Apr 2024
00:55:48
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!
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
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!
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
#57 Agave Series 3 of 3: Sophie Decobecq, Agave Spirits Production Consultant & Founder, Calle 23 Tequila
18 Mar 2024
01:27:41
(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!
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
#56 Agave Series 2 of 3: The Tequila Ambassador V.O., with Jesse Estes, Phil Bayly and Mitch Wilson.
11 Mar 2024
02:02:34
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).
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
#55 Agave Series 1 of 3: Danielle Tatarin, founder Mezcal Gotagorda, mixologist & entrepreneur.
04 Mar 2024
01:36:41
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!
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
#54, Damon Boelte, owner Grand Army Bar, founder The Speakeasy podcast, bartender
27 Feb 2024
02:07:32
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!
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
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!
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
#88, Robin Robinson, author, whiskey guru & brand sherpa for craft liquor brands, NYC
04 Nov 2024
02:53:02
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!
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
#52, Sid Patel, founder of Beverage Trade Network and a TON of spirits contests worldwide
12 Feb 2024
01:37:33
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 )
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
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!
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
#50, Nick Vrielink, IBA World Cocktail Championships 2023 Gold Medal Winner, bar manager Fitz's Bar (Amsterdam), Best New Cocktail Bar 2023
22 Jan 2024
01:53:41
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
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
#49, Chris Tunstall, co-founder A Bar Above, superior barware, online mixology training & education
15 Jan 2024
01:40:16
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.
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
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.
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
#47 2023 In Review with Tony Sachs (and some live distilling)
01 Jan 2024
02:08:50
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!
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
#46, Colin Field, former head bartender (for 3 decades!), The Hemingway Bar at the Ritz, Paris.
25 Dec 2023
01:26:23
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!
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
#45, Forest Collins, French cocktail blogger and author, "Drink Like A Local In Paris"
21 Dec 2023
02:32:19
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.
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
#44, Rachel Harrison, New York City PR powerhouse for bars, hotels and liquor brands
18 Dec 2023
03:11:18
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!
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
#43, Derek Brown, author of "Mindful Mixology", wellness coach, and bartender
13 Dec 2023
02:28:22
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!
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
#87, Emily LaRuffa, New York hospitality veteran and founder of Oracle Hospitality Consultants
28 Oct 2024
02:34:50
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!
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
#42, Kevin Armstrong, Owner Satan's Whiskers (London), co-author "Roundbuilding", and bar consultant
04 Dec 2023
01:25:38
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!
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
#41, Kurt Schlechter, owner Cause + Effect (Cape Town) and bar trainer throughout Africa
20 Nov 2023
01:21:06
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.
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
#40, Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, Tiki Historian, Author and Bar Owner
15 Nov 2023
01:51:15
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!
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
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!
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