Dale DeGroff: The King of Cocktails Changes the Game Again

The Banter

The Guys recall a very special cocktail they made prior to bartending…and they didn’t use a punch bowl. 

The Conversation

The Restaurant Guys host world-changing cocktailian Dale DeGroff who walks us through the history of the cocktail in America.   The episode ends  with suggestions for cocktails using Dale’s amaro and a toast with old friends.  

The Inside Track

The Guys met Dale at an informal lunch group called The Red Meat Club back in 1993 where Dale claimed that cocktails can be just as complex and interesting as wine. Not convinced, The Guys went to The Rainbow Room, where they were schooled by the King of Cocktails himself. They left convinced. 

Dale helped them create New Jersey's first craft-cocktail program at Stage Left Steak and inaugurated it with a Degroff Cocktail Dinner there in 1994! The cocktail program there is now the oldest craft-cocktail program in America. The King and The Guys have remained fast friends and collaborators all these decades!  All hail The King!

Bio

Dale DeGroff is the author of best-selling cocktail books: The Essential Cocktail, winner of the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Award for Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book, and The Craft of the Cocktail and its revision The New Craft of the Cocktail Book which is the best-selling cocktail book of all time! 

He is the founding president of the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans, founded in 2005. He is also a partner and consultant in the Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR) group. 

The James Beard Foundation awarded DeGroff the 2009 Wine & Spirits Professional Award, and in 2015 inducted him into the Who's Who in Food & Beverage in America. He received the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from Nightclub & Bar Magazine, the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Spirited Award from Tales of the Cocktail Foundation. He continues to teach, lead and tell the story of the cocktail. 

He is the co-creator of DeGroff Bitter Aperitivo and DeGroff New World Amaro. 

Info

Dale DeGroff bitters, aperitivo and amaro

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/websearch_results.html?kw=dale+degroff

Dale DeGroff’s books https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dale+degroff&crid=3UQ9BF5KAGSJ6&sprefix=dale+degrof%2Caps%2C420&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

The NJ Wine & Food Festival @ Crystal Springs May 1-3

The Restaurant Guys will be podcasting from there May 2. Come see us!

https://shop.crystalgolfresort.com/collections/14th-annual-new-jersey-wine-food-festival

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com