Episode 270

Philip Duff on Scaling Bar Brands

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Philip Duff on Scaling Bar Brands

Episode 270

What’s shakin, cocktail fans? Welcome to Episode 270 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!

This time around, I’m joined by bar consultant and spirits judge Philip Duff, who has a whole laundry list of credentials too long to go into here, including his own line of spirits (Old Duff Genever), an impressive string of bars that he’s propelled to success, and, of course, a partnership with our past guest, Elayne Duff.

In this conversation with bar consultant and spirits expert Philip Duff, some of the topics we discuss include:

How a small Irish town of 5,000 people played host to the busiest pub in all of Ireland thanks, in part, to a trip to Texas, some stained glass, and knack for documenting its drink recipes
The shift in consumer consciousness from fun, flair-driven pours to more complex and serious cocktails with the opening of the Atlantic Bar and Grill in London in 1995.
How real estate moguls, hotel chains, and venture capitalists radically transformed the rules of the game and opened the doors for mid- and high-end bar and restaurant chains in the 90s and 2000s.
And what it takes to train and retain a high-quality bar staff in the wake of a pandemic that decimated the talent pool available to our industry..
Along the way, we cover the design similarities between Air Force One and certain bar programs, the heavy-hitting Spillstop 28550 Pour Spout, how to say “hamburger” in Italian, and much, much more.

Featured Cocktail: The Enzoni

This episode’s featured cocktail is the Enzoni. Selected based on a passing reference to Match Bar in London, you’ll need the following ingredients to make it:

1 oz London Dry Gin
1 oz Bitter Italian Red Aperitivo
⅔ oz of Fresh Lemon Juice
½ oz Rich Simple Syrup
5 Fresh green seedless grapes

Muddle the grapes in the bottom of a cocktail shaker, then add ice, the liquid ingredients, and shake until well chilled and properly diluted. Strain the drink into a rocks glass over ice and enjoy.

Developed in 2002 at the aforementioned Match Bar in London by bartender Vincenzo Errico, this cocktail is a logical riff on a classic that solidly identifies itself as a “riff,” rather than a thinly veiled facsimile. I mean, think about it. Most of us have had a negroni and realized a sip or two in that we were craving a bit of acidity…that we leaned to eagerly on our instincts and ordered a drink we didn’t actually want. Well…the Enzoni has a solution. Let’s swap out that pesky vermouth for a bit of lemon, dope in some extra sugar to make it sing, and oh, by the way, were you missing the grape character of the vermouth? No problem. Here’s your grapes right at the bottom of the shaker.

It’s a charming drink that makes deep, meaningful eye contact with the original negroni, while gleefully muddling a fistful of green grapes, and probably reaching into the ice bin with the other hand to grab a few cubes for your date’s glass of red wine. But hey. Sometimes that’s what you need, and thank goodness the Enzoni is here to provide it.

Philip Duff on Scaling Bar Brands

Featured Cocktail: The Enzoni

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