The Philip Duff Show

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. Kurt on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kurtschlechter/ Cause + Effect on IG: https://www.instagram.com/causeeffectbar/ ( Get in...

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! All Jeff’s links: https://beachbumberry.com/ Jeff on IG: https://instagram.com/official_beachbumberry?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA== Jeff on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealbeachbumberry ( Get in to...

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...

Robert might just be the best-known drinks writer in our whole industry; his articles on spirits, bars and cocktails appear frequently in grown-up newspapers like The New York Times as well as trade publications like PUNCH, Imbibe and Vinepair. He's written more than half a dozen books on bars, spirits and cocktails, co-authored two cocktail apps and has his own signature Old Fashioned kit fr...

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...

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 partner...

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...

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&apo...

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...

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 cock...

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 d...

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...

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...

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...

The eagle-eyed among you will see I didn't post any episodes in July, and that's because I was based in Lisbon, but also flying around Europe like a demon, then getting back to the US a day or two before Tales, and then shooting down to Alabama to help my step-daughter move into college.  So this is the catch-up! Lisbon! London! Italy! Amsterdam! New York! New Orleans (and a bit of bitch...

We both - barely - just survived Tales 2023, and as he lives in Sydney we don't get to sit down to share a drink often, so on his NY stopover I grabbed Sam Bygrave, founder of independent news hub for the Australian bar industry Boothby Drinks and formerly one of the longest serving editors of Australian Bartender Magazine. (In fact, Sam was my editor when I wrote a column for AB). Shout-out...

Ever wondered about the nitty-gritty of running a craft spirits company? Join us in this eye-opening episode as we chat with John and Lucky, co-founders of January Spirits, who share their inspiring journey from working together in different bars and restaurants to creating their very own spirit brand. You'll learn about crafting unique liqueurs, navigating complex US legislation, and their m...

Are you ready to embark on an incredible journey through the world of spirits, sustainability, and personal growth? Join us for a captivating conversation with Stephanie Jordan Balmforth, co-founder of Avallen Calvados, as we explore her diverse background, passions, and the making of a sustainable spirits brand. Over a delightful Dempsey cocktail, Stephanie shares her upbringing in London as the...

This was so much fun we forget we were recording!  After fuelling up a starving Sother with one of Will Wyatt's preposterously good Electric Burritos, Sother kicks off by spilling the tea on Trap Cocktails, Maxwell Britten, and  his firm's soon-to-open African diaspora restaurant, Ubuntu.  We discuss the joys of vegan food both at the DIG fast-casual chain and at Eleven Madison Park, Sot...

Ever wondered how alcohol can actually be beneficial in fostering creativity, bonding, and even lie detection? Join our intriguing conversation with award-winning Sinologist and philosophy professor Dr. Edward Slingerland, as we discuss his recent captivating book, "Drunk", and shed light on the often-misunderstood spirits industry. Together, we dive into the role of alcohol in society,...

How did growing up in an Italian ice cream shop lead to owning the world's best bar? Join us as we chat with Giacomo Giannotti about his incredible journey from humble beginnings to achieving international acclaim with his Barcelona-based bar, Paradiso, current #1 on the World's 50 Best Bars list. Listen in as we explore the lessons he learned along the way, how his experiences in London...

This one's for the industry people! I first came across Chris on LinkedIn, where he posts short, GOLD pieces of advice almost every day for small brands looking to grow and scale sustainably in bars and restaurants, building on his decades-long experience of doing just that across Europe, from his native Italy to the Czech Republic, where he now lives. Over a Pilsner  Urquell or two we covere...

I nabbed Julio Bermejo while he was in town for the launch of Campari's new luxury (and tasty) tequila, named Mayenda, and Campari generously let us borrow one of their conference rooms* loftily overlooking New York's Bryant Park from the 19th floor, to record an episode. Equipped with a dram or two of tequila, we covered vital topics, including:  - Why "fresh" is like "pr...

The King is here! Me and Dale de Groff taste the delicious new De Groff Amaro and De Groff Aperitivo he's made with Ted Breaux (who won't let Dale say what's in them), we talk about history's first-ever cocktail party with "gin and bitters", our biggest ever failings as bartenders and managers, why Freddy Heineken bought several former horse stables around Amsterdam,...

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 wa...