

#17, Erick Castro, Bartender, Bar Owner (Raised by Wolves, SD), & podcaster (Bartender at Large)
Whoa this was great!
Who knew Erick was a journalism graduate?
I always assumed bartending for him was a work placement after jail (;-)!
He made his bones in mega legit Cali bars like Rickhouse in San Francisco (where I met him) then relocated to San Diego and opened his own places, Polite Provisions (T-shirt slogan: "Polite As Fuck") and the award-winning Raised by Wolves.
Along the way he worked as a gin ambassador, started (and continues - you should subscribe) the Bartender at Large podcast, as well as co-founding the Bartenders Weekend event in SD and making (check it out on YouTube) the Bartender At Large movie!
This was a whole lot of fun and, full disclosure, towards the end I was a little hammered, because I had to rush home to tape this after dropping by (my old head bartender at door 74 in Amsterdam) Timo's guest shift in Bar Goto.
Just like the Danny Ronen episode inadvertently became a Quentin Tarantino episode, this one had a lot of talk about journalism, media, the Mean World Syndrome, as well as pondering if rich people are real people too, why Erick's next bar may well be in CDMX, the joy of Empirical, and Erick's tale of some chap who connected Chat GPT to his Tinder, which I guess is the modern remake of Cyrano de Bergerac.
Enjoy!
Erick: IG @hungrybartender, @raisedbywolvesspirits , @bartendersweekend
Twitter: @hungrybartender
YouTube: Bartender At Large
Podcast: Bartender at Large
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
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