I’m talking to Jordan Bushell, the global brand ambassador for Hennessy — perhaps you’ve heard of this plucky, young upstart cognac brand that has only been around for — oh, 259 years? Hennessy of course is a well-known brand, one that for many people is synonymous with cognac, and for some people that’s all they know of the spirit. Obviously I think I know a fair bit more about cognac than that, but in talking to Jordan, I got to understand that there is so, so much more to learn about cognac than I realised. I really enjoyed this chat. --- A quick note too: this episode is sponsored by He ..read more

We are living in some interesting times for hospitality, with what seems like a conflicting narrative out there at the moment. On the one hand, it seems like every week there’s a notable venue closing. On the other hand, there's been a bar opening boom in the last few months ..read more

The Rooster Rojo Rumble is looking for six bartenders to fly to Sydney — and one to Greece. Abbie Weir is a memorable, compelling human. The agave specialist for Amber Beverages Australia is a big personality in an industry where there that’s a prerequisite. “This industry is all about personality,” Abbie says in this week’s episode of Drinks At Work. “A bartender can make or break your experience.” I’m talking to Abbie this week because she’s also the ambassador for Rooster Rojo, and together we’re hosting The Rooster Rojo Rumble — entries open Friday 1 March. The Rooster Rojo Rumble is a coc ..read more

I’ve got a different episode of Drinks At Work this week — I’m calling it Drinks At Work — The List. It’s about how Jay Gray’s Singapore bar, Sago House, got onto the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2023. It’s a bit of a different format for Drinks At Work, one I’m hoping to roll out from time to time; it’s more of a narrative piece than the conversational episodes that I usually make on Drinks At Work. It’s all to answer this big question: what does it take to get a bar onto a globally recognised list of the best, like The World’s 50 Best Bars list?  ..read more

I met Stu at the Four Pillars Lab on Crown Street in Surry Hills to chat about his experience with Four Pillars, how and why spirits competitions like this new one from the RAS matter, the state of the Australian distilled spirits industry right now, storytelling, and whether, knowing just how many distilleries are out there right now, he would start Four Pillars today if it didn’t exist. If you’ve met him, you’ll know that Stu is a quote-generating machine, and I could fill a weeks’ worth of stories from the hour-long chat we had (although, and I’m sure he’d agree, that would be a little too ..read more

The Drink of the Year Awards is my favourite event of the Boothby events we do each year, and it’ll be back again in November 2024 for the third year. For this episode of Drinks At Work, however, I’m talking to the bartender behind the drink that took the number one spot on the top 50 last year. That is of course Samuel Thornhill, he’s the head bartender at Melbourne cocktail bar Byrdi, and we talk about how he developed the drink, Bad Apple, why it took over a year to get right, and why he almost walked away from the idea altogether — it’s a drink that’s all about fermentation and makes ferme ..read more

It’s a new year, which means that the next instalment of World Class Australia is about to get underway. I think it’s fair to call it the most influential cocktail competition going around at the moment, and the experience of entering, and potentially make the Top 100, can help grow one’s career behind the bar and in hospitality.  So I’m talking today to Diageo Trade Advocacy Manager and Australian World Class Ambassador Kate McGraw, along with Eduardo Conde who is last year’s World Class Australia winner and the guy running El Primo Sanchez in Sydney. We talk about the experience of goi ..read more

If the new bar opening boom of late 2023 is anything to go by, 2024 is going to be a very interesting year for the bar and drinks world. And so for the first episode for Drinks At Work in 2024, I wanted to discuss some of the trends that came out of 2023 and what we might see in the year ahead, and to do that I spoke to the ever thoughtful and creative Ross Blainey. Ross is the brand ambassador and creative collaborations lead for Glenfiddich and The Balvenie in Australia, and a good friend not just of mine but of the Drinks At Work podcast as well — I first spoke to him for the show back ..read more

My guest on this episode is Garth Foster. For the last 15 years garth has worked at luxury drinks group Moet Hennessy, in both brand ambassador and business development on a range of brands, among them Ardbeg, Belvedere vodka and Hennessy. But he recently left Moet Hennessy to launch a new Australian rum brand with his longtime friend David Fesq. They’re a company of two, and Red Mill Rum Co. is the product — So I talk to Garth to see how he’s adjusting to small start up drinks brand life after more than a decade on some of the world’s most luxurious brands. He talks about the lessons he learn ..read more

Welcome to Drinks At Work from Boothby with Sam Bygrave, that is me. We’ve had some time off the podcast over the last month or so, as we were gearing up for the second annual Boothby Drink of the Year Awards — what a great night that was. The number one drink on the night was from Sam Thornhill at Byrdi in Melbourne with his drink Bad Apple, Rob Libecans took out the Bartender of the Year title — if you haven’t seen the full 50 yet, head over to boothby.com.au/drinkoftheyear —it’s all there. Now, if I’m honest, I was going to have another week off the podcast until I heard last week that The ..read more