The Philip Duff Show

No way this wasn't going to be unusual, but I wanted to talk with Oron, a friend, and see how he was doing. It's a good talk - not as light-hearted as the first time Oron was on the podcast, understandably. We'd normally have done it face-to-face, like we did the first time he was on, and in fact I had flights and a Tel Aviv apartment all booked, planning to arrive on 14 October and do events and tastings for genever and vermouth, some of them at Oron's group's bars. That didn't happen, of course. We agreed beforehand we aren't experts on the region or its history; Oron himself said he wasn't entirely sure about the origins of the conflicts, and if he isn't, I certainly am not. This is a conversation between friends, checking in. Oron on Instagram: www.instagram.com/lerneroron 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, it's been a minute!This is a solo Duff ep, where I catch up on  a whole bunch of stuff, including: - Launching Old Duff Genever in Riga, Latvia - Working Bar Convent Berlin, the world's largest bar show - Maison Villevert's charity auction memorial to Gaz Regan - Why I didn't continue my planned trip to Tel Aviv - The informed genius of the Coca-Cola company partnering with Absolut for a...canned Absolut + Sprite? - The Nolet family (Ketel One) buying Bols - The Irish Exit, a fast-service Dead Rabbit in a train station - Patent Pending (NY)'s SharkNado night! - Robert Simonson's book launch, and the impossibly cool Agency of Record bar launch Get in touch with Duff!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: ...

Guy and some friends started Procera gin after discovering  Juniperus procera trees  in Kenya, where he lives. Native to Africa, these trees tower 80 feet high, bearing very large, juicy juniper berries that differ greatly from juniperus communis, the usual juniper type used in gin that grows on a 30-foot shrub around the Adriatic and Eastern Europe. We sat downstairs in the Ivory Peacock, a great new bar-restaurant with 850 gins (!), and over a couple of martinis - Procera, obvs - we talked about how (very expensive) gin could be a stealth project to change the way people think about Africa as a whole, how he stays compliant with EU law although he's using a non-approved form of juniper, how an Aussie with the world's most expensive MBA wound up making gin in Africa, and a ton more. Mostly, I remember we laughed a lot - those martinis really kick in when you're making them with 51% abv gin!Guy on IG: https://instagram.com/guybrennosProcera Gin on IG: https://instagram.com/proceraginWebsite:  https://www.proceragin.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: ...

Kimi's one of the best salespeople in the city, and has been since she kicked off her careerin liquor back in 2011. She's been an educator, a portfolio manager, an on-premise specialist and a state manager, working for brands as diverse as Stoli, Jagermeister, Novo Fogo cachaca and Copalli rum, and Pinhook whiskey, where she just started as the new New York state market manager. What's common to all those roles is selling, something that a lot of bartenders and ambassadors are terrified of, but that Kimi relishes. (She should, she's good at it). Over a drink of two we chatted about her career started, how to get listings and menu placements, coming into the business without a bartending background, bringing value to the relationship with a buyer, and why you should chat with the bartenders before you even know who the buyer is. Enjoy!Kimi on IG: https://instagram.com/kimi.winkler  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: ...

Mark's the best! He walked into Union Square Cafe more than 30 years ago and only left what became the Danny Meyer-founded Union Square Hospitality Group group recently, having scaled the dizzy heights of a restaurant group that was as iconic and successful as it was disruptive, creating a whole new perspective on how to serve guests and manage the staff that do so, all of which Mark played a large part in. I got to know him better at his last big project at USHG, the ass-kicking Porchlight bar in NY, and we sat down to shoot the shit about just about everything, from being part of Jose Andres' World Kitchen serving people fleeing the war in Ukraine, to diversity 2023-style in restaurant hiring, to the tip controversy (spicy!), to his biggest mistake as a manager, and how he distills that 30 years of expertise to help his consulting clients turbo-charge their business with his new firm, Maynard Consulting. Special thanks to the Institute of Culinary Education in NY  for loaning us a location to record in, and to the one and only Tony Sachs for donating a 50-odd-years-old mini of fine bourbon whisky for us to crack open to get the ball rolling!Maynard Consulting: https://www.maynardconsulting.net  Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-maynard-b8a2976  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 caught up with the magnificent Kirsten Holm, who I've known for decades, in Amsterdam recently, when we were both in town for the Perfect Serve Barshow. We sat down in the stunning Luminair rooftop bar on top of the Doubletree hotel next to the central train station, and whoa, did we talk about a lot in just 90 minutes or so - powered only by coffee!Everything from what the Copenhagen cocktail scene was like pre-K Bar's opening, to why you have to have top chat skills if you work in a bar that batches its drinks, to fragile mixology vs modern classics, why toilets (and coffee, and bread) are so important, finding your DNA, finding your inner warrior, Brexit, Trump, anti-immigrant sentiments and social media, phew!Kirsten's one of my favorite people, and later the same day we taped she went on to teach a killer seminar, about surviving a bartending & bar-owning career, at Perfect Serve (after she had recovered her notes). K Bar on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kbarcocktails K Bar on FB: https://www.facebook.com/K-bar-146770942042896 Kirsten on FB: https://www.facebook.com/kirsten.holm.92?mibextid=LQQJ4d K Bar website: https://k-bar.dk  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 LeBeau is a St. Louis-based mixologist whose workshops are primarily aimed at cocktail-curious home bartenders and corporate events. He also runs the immaculately slick "Decoding Cocktails" podcast, and just launched a second one,  "So this one shift" which he describes as "Storycorps meets the beverage industry". He's had me on his podcast before, and we didn't really get to hang at Tales of the Cocktail, so it was time to switch on the mikes and kick back with an adult beverage.We cover the amazingness that is the Michter's Fort Nelson distillery, visitor center and bar in Louisville; the media's relationship to cocktails; what spirits can learn from craft beer; living in an old money town like St. Louis; why vermouth deserves more love; the current state of celebrity bartenders and a whole bunch more. Give it a listen, Like, Subscribe, Rate and share this podcast with any of your friends who might be into it -  and don't forget to subscribe to Chris' podcasts, too. Decoding Cocktails on IG: https://www.instagram.com/decodingcocktails/ Decoding Cocktails on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFGgHkGrzkz5X6Hzas-rNWAEmail Chris: Chris@DecodingCocktails.com Website: www.DecodingCocktails.com Decoding Cocktails Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoding-cocktails/id1595377352 So this one shift... Podcast: StoryCorps meets the beverage and hospitality industry  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've known Ivan since 2013, when, still a fulltime photojournalist, he moonlighted bartending at the seminal O'Clock bar in Madrid (90 gins & 7 tonic waters - in 2013!) and became a finalist in the G'Vine Gin Connoisseur Program contest which I organised, so we got to hang out for a week at the world finals in Cognac, France.Ivan then moved to London to be a full-time bartender (and I moved to New York), so we don't get to hang out as much as I'd like, therefore this was a sprawling three-hour catch-up over mezcal and whiskey, touching on, among other topics: - All the fun of the Feria in Spain - Pros and cons of guest bartending and takeovers - Why people hiring bartenders should check references - Being a CAP (Cocktail APprentice) at the Tales of the Cocktail festival - Striving for excellence in bar programs and restaurants - Why some of the best bars really only sparkle 1 night out of 30...and a whole bunch more!(PS, Mountain, where Ivan works, is the new place from chef Tomos Parry (of restaurant Brat), and it's getting rave reviews - so next time you're in London.....)Ivan on IG: https://instagram.com/ivanivan?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Ivan on FB: facebook.com  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 St. John Frizell, who founded Fort Defiance bar in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighbourhood back in 2009, and brought Gage & Tollner, long the most vaunted fine-dining restaurant in Brooklyn since it opened in 1879, back to life in 2021 (yep, 2021!) after it lay dormant and closed for almost two decades. I met St. John when he taught a seminar I attended on the subject of playboy travel and food & drinks writer  Charles H. Baker, Jr., at Tales of the Cocktail, around 2006 or 2007; in fact, his seminar inspired the first-ever cocktail menu at door 74 (which I opened in Amsterdam in 2008), which was all Charles H. Baker, Jr., cocktails. We kicked it for several hours and it's all here: laundry tips for white shirts, why martinis now cost $21, St. John's exciting new side hustle as a liquor smuggler, why he'll open more Sunken Harbor Clubs but not more Gage & Tollners, world premiere of the Sunken Harbor Club Membership Scheme, serving Hearsts, the old Pegu Club,  having to relearn the art of concentration, and a whole bunch more. We were fuelled solely by coffee, so me and St. John should really do this again some time with a drink in hand!St. John on IG: St John Frizell (@stjohnfrizell) • Instagram photos and videos Gage & Tollner on IG: Gage & Tollner (@gage.and.tollner) • Instagram photos and videos Fort Defiance on IG: Fort Defiance (@fortdefiance) • Instagram photos and videos  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! It was a delight chatting to Matt Pietrek, the Rumwonk himself; Matt's responsible for some of the deepest and most illuminating dives into rum history in recent years on what is now his Substack (link below).His magnum opus, "Modern Caribbean Rum", which he wrote, photographed and self-published together with his wife Carrie Smith, just won "Best New Book On Spirits" at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, despite being only available at www.wonkpress.com and costing $100 plus shipping. (It's worth far, far more, by the way - 833 pages long and weighing in at around 9lbs!)Rum in hand (I was drinking Copalli blanco with a dash of Angostura Aromatic bitters, salty seadog that I am), we got into Matt's journey from being a tech dude living in Seattle to a hairy rum wonk living in New Orleans, his first book Minimalist Tiki, the history and legacies of both rum and tiki drinks & bars, why he gravitated towards rum, 19th century aristocrats as the first influencers, his work as Community Envoy for the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA), why and how he began self-publishing, why the US government is giving the Captain Morgan brand alone a whopping $2.7bn, how US taxes on non-US rum and US subsidies to US rum firms means non-US rums selling in the US are forced to subsidise their US competitors via the taxes they pay to the US, the third rail of the rum world that is spiced rum, and how a Modern Caribbean Rum audiobook might be awesome to fall asleep to. Matt's main website Rumwonk: https://www.rumwonk.com Other website Cocktailwonk: https://cocktailwonk.com Wonk Press, to order his books: https://www.wonkpress.com/Matt on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cocktailwonk and  https://www.instagram.com/rumwonk Matt on X/Twitter:  https://www.twitter.com/cocktailwonk and  https://www.twitter.com/rumwonk  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: ...