The Philip Duff Show
Liquor, bars, cocktails: the people and companies who make them, sell them and drink them, plus everything & everyone in-between, with your host, globetrotting spirits guy and escaped bartender, Philip Duff.
#153, TJ Lynch, co-founder Mother’s Ruin (NY, Austin, Nashville, Chicago), Lowlife Bar and Lost Isle restaurant (South Carolina)
TJ Lynch is one of the most genuinely hilarious people I know, but the success he and business partner Richard Knapp have had with cocktail dive bar Mother's Ruin - four branches, a fifth and sixth on the way, plus separate concepts in Folly Beach and Johns Island South Carolina - is no joke.
And it all started with a little bar on Spring Street in Manhattan that they opened in 2011 for the princely sum of $185, 000.
We talk about his switch into bartending from cooking, then into management, then ownership, what's changed since the first Mo...
#152, David Vogel, founder, Badger Bevs premium mixers, 9 March
David’s a great guy I met through Jillian Vose, ex-supremo of mixology at Dead Rabbit and all-round bar goddess. Badger Bevs is a gorgeous range of premium mixers, and David IS ALL IN on the on-premise, so I badly wanted to sit down and hear his story, and it did not disappoint - enjoy!
Badger Bevs on IG: https://www.instagram.com/badgerbevs?igsh=cTMzYjlrZndteDg2
(Get in touch with Duff!
Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.org
(PR friends: we’re only interested in having your client on if th...
#151, Stephan Berg & Alexander Hauck, founders, The Bitter Truth cocktail bitters, liqueurs & spirits
The Bitter Truth cocktail bitters launched in 2006, after German bartenders Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck visited London Bar Show, had a drink in Sketch bar, and decided to go for it.
This year TBT celebrates 20 years, so it was time to sit down with Stephan and Alexander to talk about how a couple of bartenders making extinct bitters in their garage entered a centuries-old category and carved out a thriving business that's expanded to include rare liqueurs, Tiki Lovers rum and Pink Gin, exported all around the world and proudly served in the world's best bars.
...
#150, Jeff Bell, owner-partner PDT, Crif Dogs, Tacos 1986, Mixteca and Kees, New York City
Jeff's best-known for being a mainstay of New York's world-famous speakeasy-behind-a-phone-booth Please Don't Tell (PDT), where he was hired by Jim Meehan and has worked since 2010, and which post-pandemic he bought from its founder Brian Shebairo along with the hotdog stand it's housed inside, Crif Dogs.
In a city where bartenders hop around jobs willy-nilly, Jeff credits his tenure at a single bar with helping him gain the trust of investors (Apres Cru Hospitality) and become an owner.
I've known Jeff since 2011, when he was a world finalist in the G'Vine Gin Connoisseur Program, a co...
#149, Marcio Silva, founder, Eximia bar Sao Paolo, 16 February 2026
Marcio is very much Our Man In Brazil, an old friend and (during Bar Convent Brazil) I’ve visited his previous, much-vaunted bar Guilhotina.
Marcio was in NY to do a MasterCard-backed pop-up of his Sao Paolo bar, Eximia, at New York’s Dante, so we carved out a few hours to hang out and catch up.
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...
#148, Tom Dyer & Marco Canova, flair champions and authors of “The Flair Bartending Book”
Tom and Marco are legendary flair competitors, multiple-times world champions, teachers, contest judges - and now, authors of the 501-page (!) “The Flair Bartending Book”.
Its unquestionably the most definitive tome ever written on this chapter in bartending, from flair’s origins in the 1600s to Jerry Thomas & co.’s flamboyant 1800s mixology to TGI Friday’s Bartender Olympics in 1984, THAT movie in 1988, the rise of well-run contests, the emergence of a professional contest circuit, and the state of play nowadays.
If you have any interest in bartending at all, you have to own this book.
We talk...
#147, Paul Mathew, founder, Everleaf non-alcoholic aperitifs 02 February 2026
Paul's been a a friend for ages; he's former London bartender and bar owner, taught seminars for the WSET and Diageo, has lived all over the world* as a conservation biologist - and founded Everleaf.
*And is currently wrapping up several years living in Iceland!
We chatted about his many careers, the bar biz, learning Chinese, being part of Diageo's Distill Ventures brand incubator program, the state of non-alc, and a whole lot more.
Enjoy!
Paul on IG: https://www.instagram.com/everleaf_paul/?hl=en
Everleaf on IG: http...
#146, Ruben Maduro, founder, Spirited Union Rum Distillery (Amsterdam), Pineapple Drinks Club distribution (Netherlands)
Ruben’s an old friend from Amsterdam, a native Aruban who bartended in Amsterdam and London, and whose life was changed by a Diplomatico rum training he attended while working as a flair bartender at London’s famed Roadhouse.
(That training was given by none other than Declan McGurk, himself a former flair bartender, who went on to become Director of Bars at The Savoy, leading them to a #1 spot on W50BB, and is now Commercial Director for Boatyard Gin)
Ruben went back to Amsterdam with rum in his heart and started Spirited Union rum, in...
Brendan Bartley, GM Bathtub Gin, co-owner Hello Hello, co-founder Silent Alibi Distillery, all NYC
Brendan's a hell of a cool guy: Australian, learned distilling in parallel with his university medical and science studies back home, got a Phd from NYU, GM of New York's hugely fun Bathtub Gin, and in late 2025 he opened Hello Hello Bar and Silent Alibi distillery, both of which are in the West 26th Street space in Manhattan formerly occupied by the New York branch of Pernod-Ricard's epically failed Our/Vodka distillery program.
This is a proper long Philip-Duff-Show episode, so settle in!
We kick off talking neuroscience and Ozempic (because of course) and...
#144, Tony Sachs, Manhattan drinks writer and man-about-town
It's never dull when I drop round Tony's, even during Dry January, and this session was no exception.
After chowing down on sushi and sashimi, fancy fellows that we are, we got down to serious discussions encompassing Fraggle Rock, 1980s "wrestling" in the UK, the new American health directives on alcohol, how I happened into a random Miracle Christmas pop-up bar in the wilds of New Jersey, and then (because, as a drinks writer, Tony gets sent unholy amounts of stuff), we created an infinity bottle from all the many samples of a particular bottled-in-bond whiskey Tony h...
#143, Kurt Schlechter, Our Man In Africa, owner, Cause + Effect Cocktail Kitchen Cape Town
,Kurt's back!
His last appearance on the 'pod was November 2023, so we sat down to catch up on everything that's been going on since then in Africa, South Africa, and further afield, over martinis, delicious SA brandy and a spot of Brooklyn whiskey - enjoy!
Kurt on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kurtschlechter/?hl=en
Cause + Effect on IG: https://www.instagram.com/causeeffectcpt/?hl=en
Order The Flair Bartending Book: https://barproducts.com/products/flair-bartending-by-marco-canova-tom-dyer?srsltid=AfmBOoq3_Nh9XBn3XIki60wKQyQzis1K_AGRoGHHdUomqsnSQ-5lbEjL
(Get in touch wi...
#142, 2025 Year’s End Round Up - with Philip!
Well, what a year it's been!
I added Kazakhstan to my "list of countries I got drunk in", hit all the usual suspects on the global bar show circuit and added the inaugural Gulf Bar Show in Dubai as well, and spent my usual eight weeks living in Europe to boot, sucking down €9 (instead of $36) martinis and plate after plate of delicious boquerones.
2025 was also the Year of Tariffs, the launch of Hard Cut Vodka, the downfall of Uncle Nearest, the rise of the GLP-1 agonists (better known as Ozempic, et al, to you and I...
#141, Gareth Howells, North American Single Malt Whisky Ambassador, Bacardi
Gareth's been a mate and fellow expat-in-New-York for a longish time, but I ran into him again recently when he hosted a mega-fancy private dinner in the already-mega-fancy members' area of private club Casa Tua, a dinner which I gatecrashed in a genteel manner, as my apartment was unexpectedly full of women playing mahjong.
Gareth was the consummate host, introducing the 2025 special edition of Aberfeldy single malt, the rather delicious 18-Year-Old Bolgheri Tuscan Finish, and it occurred to me - after more than a few drams - that he'd be a fun guest on the show.
...
#140, Daniyel Jones, global brand ambassador, Angostura
Daniyel is, in my opinion, the most naturally gifted brand ambassador I've ever met, but the reason he's been nominated for so many awards and other accolades is that since I met him many years ago, he has always been on a never-ending journey of self-improvement. I don't think I've ever seen him without a broad grin on his face, and if you spend ten seconds in his company, you'll have one, too.
We caught up to talk about his origin story in Trinidad, working in fine dining and TGI Friday's, leaving mobile cocktail-bar catering entrepreneurship behind f...
#139, Michael Neff, bar owner, consultant, podcaster and bartender’s bartender
Michael Neff, like so many of us, fell sideways into hospitality and now 27-odd years later, he's still in it, opening bars across the USA, consulting, podcasting and just plain bartending.
He's a real bartender's bartender, and you can see that DNA in all the places he's opened or consulted on or worked at: Ward III, Rum House, Holiday Cocktail Lounge (NY), Cottonmouth Club (Houston), Inkwell (Omaha) and other bars - more than fifty of them - that he's opened, spanning seven US states.
His approach to hospitality is thoughtful, insightful and empathetic; he can sl...
#138, Robert "RFR" Furniss-Roe, co-founder of Samson & Surrey, board member at Filthy Foods, OG liquor baron
Robert's a swashbuckling figure even by liquor biz standards: son of a fighter pilot, he grew up in England, set up a chain of radio stations across Europe in his youth, ran an agency, then slipped sideways into the liquor biz (armed only with a degree in languages) and climbed the greasy pole at Bacardi for 26 years, ending up as CEO of North America, after stints running the business in Moscow and Asia, among others.
In 2015, with another Bacardi refugee, Juan Rovira, RFR founded Samson & Surrey, a craft brand incubator which acquired Tequila Ocho, Mezcal Vago, Bluecoat G...
#137, Angus Winchester, legendary spirits educator, brand ambassador, emeritus Director of Education for BCB, Director of Bars, raconteur
Angus is so old a friend that we can't remember exactly where we met but we're 99% sure it was at a bar show or get-together of some kind, probably in London, where he, a bartender from Oxford, was in on the ground floor of what we can now look back - after thirty years - to confirm was the birth of the Second Golden Age of cocktails.
He and I were the two first people from the bar biz to have "Global Brand Ambassador" on our business cards (he for Tanqueray, me for Bols), and our careers h...
#136, Ben Schott, multi-million-copy best-selling author, (Schott’s Significa), journalist, consultant, designer and photographer
I've been a fan of Ben's since his first book, Schott's Original Miscellany came out in 2002, a collection of quirky facts and insights into subcultures; his 13 (!) subsequent books expanded on the theme and have sold more than 2.5 million copies, in multiple languages, to date.
Ben also wrote two of the best "homage" books in the style of PG Wodehouse, which, if you're a Wodehouse fan, I urge you to read.
His newest book, Schott's Significa, delves into the worlds of hidden languages and subcultures: open-outcry stock trading hand signals, the unspoken languages of the servers of...
#135, Eddie Rudzinskas, founder, @cocktails_for_you & Old Baile Irish whiskey, global advocacy lead for Thomas Henry mixers
The irrepressible Edvinas "Eddie" Rudzinskas is a fixture at just about every bar show and party, and the Instagram he created, @cocktails_for_you, boasts 565, 000 followers.
We sat down during BCBerlin to talk about how he went from working in his native Lithuania to bartending in a small town in Ireland, falling deep down the rabbit hole of mixology, and founding Cocktails for You, initially as a Facebook page sharing all the seminars and events he'd attend, first in Ireland and then - often representing the Bartender's Association of Ireland, BAI - abroad.
He's also re...
#134, Jenna Hemsworth (l) & Alexandra Hooker (r), co-founders, Sorry Not Sorry Collective
I've always followed the industry in Australia closely, as in my opinion it is, pound-for-pound, the best mixology nation on Earth; I've visited often, for teaching and consulting, and wrote a column in Australian Bartender magazine for some years.
Last year the Sydney Morning Herald broke a story (sadly, only the first of many) uncovering alleged wide-ranging abuse at the renowned Australian hospitality group Swillhouse, with allegations ranging from management ignoring complaints right up to sexual harassment and rape by former and current staff.
Several former Swillhouse employees who were victims, including Jenna and Alexandra, br...
#133, Andrea Marseglia, slow drinks advocate, mixologist, IG influencer, founder of New Zealand Bar Convention, Staffies card game, and Agnes vermouth
I met Andrea in the End Times, even though we didn't know it, then; he made several delicious cocktails with Old Duff Genever for me, in New Zealand, in mid-March 2020, before the world closed down.
Andrea is a remarkably cool guy who came from Italy to, first, Australia, and then NZ, to perfect his craft, knowing that first he had to perfect his language skills.
He then worked months - even after winning national and international cocktail contests! - washing glasses, before being promoted to bartender.
He's a great guy. This is a gre...
#132, Edmund Weil, co-founder, Nightjar, Oriole and Swift bars, London
Edmund co-founded Nightjar, a speakeasy cocktail bar with live music, in London with his life and business partner, Roisin Stimpson, in 2010, with its first head bartender being Marian Beke.
Nightjar quickly stormed the lists of nominations, Best Bars, and more, and a lot of that success was due to Marian's incredible cocktail presentations, in bespoke vessels, using skill and flavour combinations that upped London's game significantly, and have since been copied widely.
Hand-in-hand with that was Edmund and Rosie's laserlike focus on music, vibes and guest experience.
Nightjar expanded to a second venue, the...
#131, Steven Yeng, co-founder, Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey
I met Steve at Cologne Bar Symposium earlier this year, which also hosted the first-ever launch of Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey outside the USA.
We chatted a bit and I attended his seminar; to say Steve's life is fascinating is like saying Elon Musk is a decent engineer.
From a childhood of wealth in Cambodia with servants and bodyguards, to contracting polio and losing the use of one of his legs, to years of barely subsisting in a Thai refugee camp, being sponsored to come to the US as child, graduating high school and college de...
#130, Ken Aufiero, Director of Spirits, United States Beverage and NY liquor-biz legend
Our mutual friend (and PR guru) Laura Peet suggested I have liquor biz lifer Ken on, and he was a great guest!
We chatted about the liquor industry, recent developments like GLP-1 inhibitors, the effects of phone-based gambling on drinks sales in bars, the Seagrams curse, and a whole bunch more, while I was drinking a Fre Damm Tostada a non-alc beer whose parent brand, Damm coincidentally is imported to the US by United States Beverage, where Ken's been brought in to bolster the liquor division.
Ken on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenaufiero
#129, Sarah Morrissey, award-winning NYC mixologist, bar manager and Substack author
Sarah Morrissey is a little bundle of joy on the NY bar circuit, but also a skilled mixologist who's had her bar programs reviewed in the likes of the New York Times on multiple occasions, shepherded bar programs to James Beard and Tales of the Cocktail nominations (and wins) and is rightly respected by all who know her. She's done stints at Le Veau d'Or, Frenchette, Ernesto's, Dutch Kills, and many more.
She recently also started a Substack with some highly controversial posts, and that's all it took to convince me to track her down for a c...
#128, Robin Robinson, liquor brand Sherpa, consultant, spirits expert and author of “The History of Whiskey in 100 Bottles, Barrels and More”
Return guest and one of my favorite people, Robin Robinson is back! He's a sales & marketing guru, a brand sherpa, a truly gifted storyteller and spirits expert - and he's just written another book, so back on The Philip Duff Show he comes.
We talked storytelling, Star Wars, some of the mindbending facts he's unearthed for the new book (First use of a sherry barrel for whiskey aging? 1854. Most important whiskey dynasty? The Haig / Stein / Jameson clan, and their Dutch connection. Molson brewing's whiskey history. Etc) the rise and stutter of Uncle Nearest, Powers inventing the nip...
#127, Miguel Lancha, global beverage consultant, former head of beverage for Jose Andres Group
Miguel became a mainstay of the burgeoning Spanish cocktail scene in the early 2000s, and we met in 2008, when he brought a crew of Spanish bartenders to the Bols Bartender Academy, which I had founded in Amsterdam. We stayed friends and soon after he moved to the USA, where we reconnected after I moved to NY in 2012.
Miguel had a wild ride, from his native Spain to his parents' Venezuela, back to Spain and then on to the Dominican Republic, and finally the US, where he crushed his biggest challenge: opening 50 (!) bars restaurants and clubs for the J...
#126, Christian Balke, founder, SIP Advocacy Program (Pernod-Ricard worldwide), Team Leader, Advocacy & Education, Pernod-Ricard Deutschland
Me and Christian met almost twenty years ago; when I was still living in the Netherlands, my friend Robin Weiss asked me to help judge the Havana Club Germany bartender contests, and Christian was involved even back then.
In the next few years we hung out at Havana Club contests in Sylt, Dusseldorf, Havana itself and several other cities I can't recall, plus of course Bar Convent Berlin, and Christian always impressed me with his ability to both hang with even the newest and most junior of competing bartenders, and still be up and supervising t...
#125, BONUS, Amir Babayoff, beverage director, Ophelia Lounge, NYC (collab dual-cast with The Speakeasy podcast)
This is the last of our Tales-recorded episodes, and our final collab with The Speakeasy!
Amir, originally from Tel Aviv, runs the cocktail program at one of Manhattan's hidden gems, the amazing Ophelia Lounge on top of the Beekman Tower, one of NY's last remaining true Art Deco skyscrapers, overlooking the UN.
He was down at Tales helping us at The Australian Embassy, so myself and Greg dragged him out from behind the bar and into our makeshift podcast studio for a quick martini and a chat - enjoy!
Amir on IG: https://ww...
#124, Francois Monti, author, drinks writer, vermouth fanatic
Francois escaped growing up in Belgium and, God help us, working in banking, to become a drinks writer, relocating to his beloved Spain and becoming an in-demand consultant to brands and bars, a World's 50 Best Bars Academy Chair, a drinks writer, drinks book author, and one of the two or three most expert and authoritative voices in the industry on vermouth.
We've been friends for a long time, and this was a joy to tape and catch up on - enjoy!
Francois on IG: https://www.instagram.com/francoismonti/?hl=en
Francois's consulting f...
#123, BONUS, Sahil Beri, master blender (and interim CEO), The Australian Bitters Co. (collab dual-cast with The Speakeasy podcast)
Sahil was down in New Orleans to re-launch Australian Bitters Co. in the US, and also because Australian Bitters Co scored both gold and silver medals in the New Orleans Spirits Competition, so me and Greg Benson of The Speakeasy lured him into our makeshift podcast studio and talked about the benefits of having royal family license plates, taking on the Goliath of cocktail bitters companies, and how he sees the bitters market as a whole.
Enjoy!
(Pic credit: The Cocktail Lovers, link: https://thecocktaillovers.com/meet-the-maker-sahil-beri-the-man-on-a-mission-to-put-australian-bitters-on-the-global-map/
Sahil on LinkedIn: https://w...
#122, Jake Burger, mixologist, London bar owner, Portobello Road gin distiller, raconteur
Jake's one of the OG's of the UK bar scene, first making waves by winning multiple cocktail and bartending contests (including one where he won a £10, 000 diamond) when based out of his native Leeds, working in Leeds' top bars and then opening one of his own, then moving to London and opening beloved industry hangout The Portobello Star bar, co-founding the Alternative Bar Awards in the Star, and then upgrading both the Star and its in-house gin still to much larger premises, the Ginstitute, where the brand he co-founded Portobello Road Gin, is produced.
Jake's a hilarious ma...
#121, BONUS, Alan Murungi & Guy Brennan, Founders of Procera Gin (collab dual-cast with The Speakeasy podcast)
Down in New Orleans during the Tales of the Cocktail festival, I helped Procera, a luxury gin from Kenya, to run a private hospitality House, which came complete with a pool, so myself and Greg Benson of The Speakeasy had the bright idea to interview the Procera founders, Guy and Alan, while drinking martinis on the rocks, in the pool.
Yep, we invented poolcasting!
Alan, born and raised in Nairobi, is one of Kenya's most celebrated chefs, a restaurateur, trained brewer (he founded Kenya's first craft brewery) and as well as co-founding Procera, is raising...
#120, Alexandre Gabriel & Matt Pietrek, authors of “The Rum Never Sets”, a history of naval rum (collab dual-cast with The Speakeasy podcast) 28 July 2025
Myself and The Speakeasy Podcast co-host Greg Benson were both in New Orleans last week at the Tales of the Cocktail festival, and so were Alexandre Gabriel, master distiller and blender at Maison Ferrand & Planteray rum, plus Matt Pietrek, spirits author & publisher, who lives in the Crescent City.
AND Alexandre and Matt had just published (with Matt's WonkPress company) "The Rum Never Sets: A History of Naval Rum", so we all decided to get in the pool (where else to tape a podcast about naval rum?!) and talk about Mr Fogg, Alexandre's journey from being a cognac d...
#119, Christian Delpech, 19 x world champion flair bartending, bar director Presidente Miami, bar consultant
I first met Christian, who is Argentinian, in 2000, at the Quest for the Best world bartending championships in Orlando.
I'd competed in Quest and Roadhouse and other contests like those quite a few times, but when many of us saw Christian that year - who competed in the Rookie division - a lot of us just decided to retire from competition and become judges!
He was that good; next-level, Michael Jordan-good.
And he was just getting started: Christian went on to utterly dominate flair bartending contests, becoming practically unbeatable, not just in exhibition and...
#118, Ian Burrell, global rum ambassador, author, “Rum: A Tasting Course”, founder, UK RumFest, co-founder Equiano Rum, EduTainer
I've judged many a cocktail contest with Ian, and he's got a new book out AND just been awarded the Lifetime Achievement award by Tales of the Cocktail, so it was time for us to catch up over a rum or two.
Having played basketball in his native UK, and rapped - he still gets royalties from a song of his featured on the soundtrack of "Space Jam" - Ian built a career as the self-styled Global Rum Ambassador, evangelising the whole category at a time when there was very little education about, or even respect for, r...
#117, Timo Janse: opening bar manager, door 74 bar; owner, Dutch Courage bar, Perfect Serve Barshow and RevolutionCherry; co-founder, Flying Dutchmen Cocktails bar, Belly of the Beast bar, Amsterdam Cocktail Week; VP, the NBC (Dutch national bartender as
Timo has been a friend for almost two decades now: first he was the bartender who served me, then my employee, then my bar's manager, and then a bar owner in his own right, before founding a bar show, and several other excellent bars.
We could have gone for four hours. We've known each other through multiple marriages, got to know each other before my Dutch was good enough to switch from English, worked together, collaborated together...and always had a drink.
(Although his new skull tattoos are straight up fucking insane, WTF Timo)
...
#116, Kristiane Westray, UK-based drinks writer and LGBTQIA+ proponent, who also runs FAR too much
Krissy is a hilarious person that I got to know judging spirits contests together, and an accomplished drinks writer as well as being an outspoken proponent of the LGBTQIA+ community, so I wanted to catch up with her just as we round out Pride Month.
We had a great chat, not even that much about that community, because we both had a lot to catch up on, and she had a hard stop as she had to go do some heavy drinking in Bristol, which is entirely understandable.
But this was super fun!
I f...
#115, DNN - Duff News Network
It's been a minute since we went over the news, and I've been rocketing around the world doing interesting things, so here's a DNN episode!
We cover bar shows like BCBrooklyn, the Gulf Bar Show, the upcoming BCB London, the risers and fallers in the annual Millionaires List of million-case-selling liquor brands, Pernod's restructuring, the tiny cocktail trend, how I found the best cocktail bar at Disney Paris, and much more - enjoy.
Oh, and if you're doing something cool at Tales of the Cocktail, or if you want to be invited to the top-secret i...
#114, Lorenzo Antinori, founder, Bar Leone (HK), #2 W50BB 2024, #1 Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024
I've known Lorenzo since his days bartending at The Savoy in London, and have also had the pleasure of his drinks during his stint at Argo Bar (HK).
Now he's opened Bar Leone, which is the fastest-ever to get to #1 in Asia's 50 Best Bars and #2 in World's 50 Best, after opening in June 2023.
He's also about to open Montana bar in HK together with his fellow Italian, Simone Caporale.
We got together to catch up after a dizzying array of guest shifts and pop-ups on his part, and talked bars, competitions, London, Hong Kong, Da...
