#171, Allen Katz, spirits & cocktail educator and founder of New York Distilling Company

I met Allen in an Amsterdam bar in 2008, and everyone in the US scene already knew him; I assumed he'd been a bartender and transitioned into education & consulting, as so many of us did in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But the truth is much cooler! From growing up in Baltimore, living in NY as an aspiring musician, running a cooking school in Italy to becoming part of the Slow Food organisation, hosting a tribute to Jerry Thomas at the Plaza Hotel, being central to cocktail & spirits education for America's largest distributor and then founding NY Distilling Co and creating Dorothy Parker gin and - now - Jaywalk Rye, as well as making "Empire State Rye" a protected category, Allen really has done it all. We recorded at NYDC's gorgeous new home in Bushwick, which you really should visit Allen on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nydistilleryman?igsh=MXN1bTVlYXpzeWc5YQ==NYDC on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nydistilling?igsh=c2pqMjdyMTFmcnFyNYDC: https://www.nydistilling.com/ (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...