#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. We caught up* on all things expat, his origin story in Guildford, differences in bartending in the UK vs NY, how his milk punch is better than both Nico de Soto's and Eamon Rockey's, modern bartender education, why ICE are about to arrest him for smuggling explosives (and Christmas pudding) into the USA, his go-to order in a bar, and a whole lot more, tasted our way through three Aberfeldy releases including the aforementioned Super Tuscan finish, then we went for pints at the Dead Rabbit's holiday pop-up, Jingle Jangle, and then a couple more at the excellent Lucky Tiger. *At Bacardi’s PR firm’s NY office: shout-out to Nike Communications! Enjoy!Gareth's IG: https://www.instagram.com/smokeymcgowan/Aberfeldy's IG: https://www.instagram.com/aberfeldy/ (Get in touch with Duff!Podcast business enquiries:  [email protected] (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, we won’t supply prepared or sample questions, nor listener or “reach” stats, either, and no, you can't sit in on the interview (or lurk on the Zoom.)  And our AI automatically deletes pitch emails that are clearly written using AI. Retain Philip’s consulting firm, Liquid Solutions, specialised in on-trade engagement & education, liquor brand creation and repositioning: [email protected] 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 Faceboo...