The Philip Duff Show

(In my voiceover I say this is episode 2 of 3 for the Agave Series, but we swapped it with last week's episode, to coordinate with the release of The Tequila Ambassador V.O. book, so this - episode 2 - is now coming out 3rd in the series.) Sophie Decobecq is a force of nature: from Lille,  France, she moved to South Africa to work on agave research after a university background playing rugby and studying biological engineering. Having never had a cocktail, a chance encounter with Julio Bermejo (creator of the Tommy's Margarita) made her fall in love with tequila, cocktails, and Mexico, and she moved to Mexico in 1999. Sophie runs a consultancy there helping agave distilleries optimise their fermenting, distilling and aging, and started creating her own tequila brand, Calle 23, in 2003. We talked about her unusual route to being an agave spirits fanatic and expert distiller, how its hard to be a one-man band with a small brand, non-Mexican agave spirits and a lot more. Enjoy!Sophie on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sophiedecobecq/?hl=enSophie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiedecobecq/aboutCalle 23 on IG: https://www.instagram.com/agaveyoumyheart/?hl=enCalle 23 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Calle-23-Tequila-Drinkers/137330322947383?fref=tsCalle 23 on XS/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Calle23tequilaCalle 23 website: https://www.tequilacalle23.com/ 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.orgPhilip 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 first met Tomas Estes, a  West Coast American (who opened Europe’s first-ever Mexican restaurants starting in Amsterdam in 1976, and  co-founded Tequila Ocho in 2008) almost twenty years ago. We last had dinner and drinks in Athens in December 2020.The Tequila Ambassador V.O.(link to preorder below) is the "director's cut" of Tomas' book The Tequila Ambassador, first published in 2012.  Five years ago Tomas started working on an update with his son Jesse, his business partner Phil Bayly, and Mitch Wilson, who had edited Phil's own book, Agave Love. Tomas passed away in 2021, and the guys finished the book. The book is a beauty, twice the length of the original, incalculably more photos, recipes, agave spirit rules & regulations, essays about Tomas, about Cafe Pacifico, about Tequila Ocho, about tequila personalities and lots, lots, lots more, all in a gorgeous high-quality WonkPress book. Me, Phil, Mitch and Jesse had a 3-continent 4-timezone chat about Tomas, the book, Cafe Pacifico, Tequila Ocho, the agave spirits business, Pacifico's lemon juice margaritas, grinding corn for tortillas in the basement of an Amsterdam townhouse and a loooot more. Enjoy, and raise a glass of good tequila to my mate Tomas; he's raising one in the big cantina in the sky, right now. (Many thanks to Rachel Harrison Communications in NYC for suggesting this episode, and for getting me a pre-publication proof to read).  Pre-order The Tequila Ambassador V.O.: https://www.wonkpress.com/products/the-tequila-ambassador-vo(UK & EU pre-orders coming soon)The Tequila Ambassador V.O. on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tequilaambassadorvo/?hl=enJesse Estes on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jesseocho/Phil Bayly on IG: https://www.instagram.com/philbayly/?hl=enMitch Wilson on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mitchsaidthis/?hl=enTequila Ocho on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tequilaocho/ 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.orgPhilip 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: ...

This is the first in a mini-series of three about agave spirits and the people who make them.(The WiFi wasn’t great, so sound quality is a little echoey at times and there’s the occasional pause in dialogue when Zoom froze, but that’s how it goes when you’re a 4-hour drive from Oaxaca!)It was great to catch up with Dani, who I first met when she was bartending in Vancouver, part of the first wave of mixology in Canada back around 2008. She moved down to start ecolodge Acre in Cabo San Lucas, and when my wife Elayne and I were invited down to Cabo to give some seminars,  I suggested she and her professional colleague Osvaldo Vasquez at the Chileno Bay resort start a cocktail festival, and she and Osvaldo went on to found CCF (Cabo Cocktail Festival). When I was down there next year at CCF, Dani was already selecting mezcals to have a house brand at Acre, and five or six years ago she left Acre and CCF and moved to Zipolite, near Oaxaca, to found Mezcal Gotagorda and a mezcaleria. Dani seeks out small batches of unusual mezcals and "destilado de agave" (unregistered mezcal, basically)  in runs of as little as 42 liters , bottles them under the brand name Gotagorda and sells them, from her mezcaleria, locally, also shipping throughout Mexico and (soon) abroad. Over a wee mezcal we chatted about how brands can work sustainably with mezcal producers, what you should pay for a bottle of mezcal, the regulations for glass-aged madurado mezcal, harvesting agave at night on her birthday and what it's like working in rural Mexico and educating her customers. Enjoy! Danielle on IG: https://www.instagram.com/danifish/?hl=enGotagorda on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mezcalgotagorda/?hl=esMezcal and Destilados Gotagorda info & shop: https://destiladosgotagorda.myshopify.com/ 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.orgPhilip 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 sat down with the extravagantly-hatted Damon Boelte himself, founder of the longest-running bars & cocktails podcast The Speakeasy as well as owner of Grand Army bar in Brooklyn, musician, and bartender of decades standing. We talked about him going from never having worked in hospitality to being the bar manager in four weeks, did a Where Are They Now for the OG bartending crew of Prime Meats in Brooklyn, learn the origin story of the Hard Start cocktail (and who named it), and why we don't need umbrellas in hotel rooms for them to be luxury any more than we need sleeve gaiters and twirly moustaches to be mixologists nowadays, and a whole bunch more. Enjoy!Damon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/damonboelte/?hl=enGrand Army bar: https://www.instagram.com/grandarmybar/?hl=enThe Speakeasy podcast: https://www.instagram.com/speakeasypodcast/?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.orgPhilip 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: ...

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.orgPhilip 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: ...

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

Greg's a top chap and I first met him years ago when he had a brief stint as GM at one of my local bars here in NY. A hospitality refugee, Greg dove deep into the beer world before coming to the dark side of spirits and cocktails, and is now the third leg of the sturdy stool that is the award-winning The Speakeasy podcast, together with its founder Damon Boelte and Sother Teague. Greg is possibly the oldest person on TikTok and as well as that he recently brought real agave syrup to the world (and it is DELICIOUS), so it was high time we sat down in the back room on Porchlight (which was a bit noisy - sorry!) and shot the breeze. Enjoy!Greg on IG: https://www.instagram.com/100proofgreg/Order Ancestral Agave Syrup: https://www.ancestralagave.com/The Speakeasy on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iM1x2yL8rbqMXTZlMOmId 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.orgPhilip 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: ...

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 Moscato20ml Campari, rapid-infused with basil & white jasmine pearls20ml Vermouth Bianco Del Professore5ml Montelobos mezcalStir with iceStrain over fresh ice in a double old-fashioned glass. Top with prosecco Garnish with a basil leaf and a zalotti blossomNick on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nick.vr/Fitz's Bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/fitzsbaramsterdam/Pillows Hotel on IG: https://www.instagram.com/pillows.mauritsatthepark/Pic Credit: Albert van Beeck Calkoen, aka Mister Cocktail: https://www.instagram.com/mister.cocktail/ 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.orgPhilip 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: ...

Chris and www.abarabove.com which he founded with his wife Julia, is a bit of a legend. They've been cranking out top-notch online education centered around spirits, cocktails and mixology since 2013, with 661 (!) videos on YouTube and over 200 podcast episodes (including one with me, about gin & genever - link below!), all building on Chris' decade-plus career bartending in San Francisco's Bay Area and his desire to give young bartenders the education and tools he didn't have when he was coming up. Today the company produces sought-after high-quality barware and has launched a number of in-depth online mixology training courses on their website. Chris is an enormously affable chap, and we kick it about the next steps after bartending, doing the future you a solid, finding factories on Alibaba, the nerdy details of jigger construction, the even nerdier details of shaker construction and (I couldn't stop him by this stage) the staggeringly nerdy details of Lewis bag construction, why only one of your tins should be weighted for shaking with eggwhites, building your 'rizz, making your life easier by actively cultivating regulars, serving your listeners, and much, much more. A Bar Above: https://abarabove.com/ (Check out their Shop for barware, and the online courses!)A Bar Above on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Abarabove/featuredEpisode on Gin & Genever with ME! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TFglHZhEi0A Bar Above podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qQSbJ4neKg1Q8XrsHHGcGA Bar Above on IG: https://www.instagram.com/abarabove/A Bar Above on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABarAboveMixology 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.orgPhilip 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: ...

Tim's company Healthy Hospo is at the forefront of bartender health, both mental and physical, but it took a crisis in his career to put him on that path. After bartending in the UK and New Zealand, he became a liquor brand ambassador, first regionally in India and Africa, then globally for Bulleit whiskey, before one day hitting a wall - almost literally. We talk about avoiding being kidnapped, adjusting your sleep cycles, strategies for day 1 of not drinking, doing things purposely, drawing cocks with your Strava runs, the madness of cycling in general and Alpine cycling in particular, why what we used to call bartender contests are now called "engagement programs", why brands lose their souls when they outsource such programs to agencies,  how we're at the extreme end of the drinking spectrum, why he's breathing new life into the Appletini with his brand Avallen Calvados, and a whole bunch more. Healthy Hospo: https://healthyhospo.com/ (Tons of free resources to improve your mental and physical health & happiness, all tailor-made for hospitality industry people) Avallen Calvados: https://avallenspirits.com/Tim on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/timetheringtonjudgeTim on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gingerbitters/?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.orgPhilip 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: ...