Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast

What do pot washing at one of London's finest hotels, promoting underground raves, building an iconic Shoreditch bar, a cease-and-desist from Bruce Springsteen and launching an international spirits brand have in common?They're all chapters in the extraordinary career of Gerry Calabrese, founder of Hoxton.In this episode of The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, Alex sits down with Gerry to explore more than two decades at the sharp end of London's bar, hospitality and drinks scene and the lessons he's learned from the successes, failures and occasional chaos along the way.Gerry was born into one of the most famous families in the bartending world. His father, Salvatore Calabrese, is an internationally renowned bartender whose career has included the legendary Dukes Hotel, The Lanesborough and Fifty St James.But Gerry was determined to forge his own path.From pot washer to front-of-house hospitality, Gerry's career then took another unexpected turn after discovering London's dance music scene. He quit his job, became a club promoter and started organising parties and raves, eventually returning to hospitality and training as a bartender at the legendary LAB Bar in Soho.Then came entrepreneurship.Gerry developed his reputation creating and turning around hospitality concepts before spotting an opportunity in East London.He believed Shoreditch needed somewhere that combined the area's creativity and energy with genuinely high-end drinks and hospitality.The result was The Hoxton Pony.Even that nearly started under a different name.Originally intended to be called The Stoned Pony, Gerry received a cease-and-desist from Bruce Springsteen just two weeks before opening because of the trademark surrounding New Jersey's Stone Pony. The hurried replacement name proved rather successful.The Hoxton Pony became one of London's defining venues of the era, attracting everyone from bartenders and creatives to DJs and musicians, with the likes of Calvin Harris appearing behind the decks and Professor Green using the venue to film a music video.Gerry speaks candidly about businesses that worked, those that didn't, the lessons that came from failure and how experience has changed the way he approaches entrepreneurship today.That journey ultimately led to Hoxton, Gerry's portfolio of premium, naturally flavoured spirits built around a belief that the rapidly growing flavoured category can offer something better than overly sweet, synthetic products.In this episode, Gerry and Alex explore:🍸 Growing up in one of bartending's most famous families and finding his own identity within the industry🏨 Starting at the bottom as a teenage pot washer at The Lanesborough🎧 Leaving hospitality to promote clubs, parties and raves around London🍹 Returning to the industry and learning the craft of bartending💡 Why understanding customers and human behaviour can completely transform a hospitality business🐴 Creating The Hoxton Pony and capturing a unique moment in Shoreditch's history🎸 The extraordinary story of receiving a cease-and-desist from Bruce Springsteen two weeks before opening📈 Success, failure and why entrepreneurship rarely follows a straight line🥃 The thinking behind Hoxton and the opportunity Gerry sees in premium naturally flavoured spirits🌍 Building distribution and taking a British drinks brand into international markets👥 Why Gerry has learned not to hold an idea too tightly and the importance of allowing a team to shape a business🔄 His belief that hospitality will endure despite the challenges facing the sectorAs he explains, experience has taught him humility, the importance of collaboration and that the best version of a business is rarely created by one person alone.It's a hugely entertaining conversation about drinks, hospitality, entrepreneurship, resilience and more than 20 years of lessons from London's bar scene.🎙️ The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast.....with Gerry Calabrese, founder of Hoxton Spirits.

What if you took 2,000 years of Italian history… and turned it into vodka?This week on The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, I’m joined by Frank Grillo, founder of Altamura Distilleries, and this is a brilliant story of how a chance idea became a premium Italian vodka now being poured around the world.It all started with Frank baking a loaf of Pane di Altamura in his kitchen in Atlanta, using the ancient durum wheat grown around Altamura in Puglia.One thought followed:“If you boil that, it would have been a bottle of vodka.”And that was the beginning. 🥃In this episode, we talk about:🌾 The 2,000-year-old wheat behind Altamura Vodka, and why its provenance and terroir make it so distinctive💡 How a completely accidental idea turned into Frank's first entrepreneurial venture🇮🇹 Moving from the US to Italy, and discovering the realities of trying to build a drinks business there🤝 Why convincing the local wheat-growing family to let him distil their prized grain felt like “asking for a daughter’s hand in marriage”🍸 How relationships with some of the world’s leading bartenders and cocktail bars transformed the trajectory of the brand🚀 Going from a small Italian launch to distribution across 20+ countries and 25 US states🏨 Breaking into luxury hospitality and seeing Altamura behind the bars of some of the world's most prestigious hotels🎯 Why Frank believes a great liquid is only the starting point, and that every successful drinks brand needs a story people can genuinely connect with🦁 The story behind Altamura's lion, and the brand's growing relationship with the Born Free Foundation🍹 And Frank's wonderfully Italian approach to entrepreneurial frustration:"Get one thing done before lunch. If you can't? Have a Negroni and try again tomorrow!"This is a fantastic conversation about provenance, storytelling, taking chances, navigating rapid growth and building a global drinks brand from an idea that almost happened by accident.🎙️ Frank Grillo | Altamura DistilleriesComing Friday on The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast.

🍸 From Bar to Bottle: Building Rythmik Cocktails with Tash & Antosh SamekWhat happens when an experienced bar owner and a drinks branding strategist decide to build a cocktail brand together?For brother and sister Antosh and Tash Samek, the answer became Rythmik Cocktails - a range of bar-quality bottled cocktails where mixology meets music, with every drink accompanied by its own carefully curated playlist.But Rythmik wasn't originally supposed to become a drinks brand.When lockdown closed Antosh's bar after more than a decade in hospitality, customers started asking whether they could have his cocktails delivered to their homes. What began with small batches and blank bottles soon revealed a much bigger opportunity.Antosh brought years of experience behind the bar - including an earlier career with Bacardi Brown-Forman - while Tash brought a career spent creating and positioning drinks brands. Together, they began figuring out how to turn cocktails designed for a busy bar into a product capable of sitting on a retail shelf.And that meant learning an entirely new business almost from scratch. In this episode of The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, we explore:🍸 How lockdown transformed a bar product into a drinks brand - and why Antosh ultimately chose the scalability of bottles over opening more bars.🎵 Why every Rythmik cocktail has its own soundtrack - and how music became an authentic part of the brand rather than simply a marketing device.🧪 The obsession behind creating genuinely bar-quality bottled cocktails - from testing ingredients and perfecting shelf-stable recipes to refusing to compromise simply to reduce costs.🎨 What happens when a professional brand strategist builds her own brand - and Tash's experience of going from working with major drinks budgets to discovering the very different realities of entrepreneurship.🛒 Breaking into retail and hospitality - including Rythmik's journey into John Lewis, events such as Henley Regatta and the Affordable Art Fair, and the growing opportunity within the on-trade.📈 The economics of building a drinks business - why every marketing opportunity has to be a calculated gamble and the brilliantly simple question they use when considering expenditure: how many cocktails do we need to sell to pay for this?👫 What it's really like building a company with your sibling - the advantages of trust, discovering how differently you work, finding clear responsibilities and even drafting Mum and Dad into the operation when Christmas demand takes off.💡 The lessons five years of entrepreneurship have taught them - including becoming comfortable with not knowing the answer, asking others for help and learning that sometimes you simply have to ask for the opportunity.Rythmik is now stocked in John Lewis, has built a loyal direct-to-consumer following and is expanding its presence across retail, hospitality and events - but Tash and Antosh are equally candid about how much work sits behind that progress. It's a conversation about cocktails, branding and music, but also about something much bigger: making the leap from being an expert in your profession to becoming an entrepreneur — where suddenly everything is your responsibility.🎙️ A brilliant founder story for anyone interested in drinks, hospitality, branding or the realities of building a consumer brand from the ground up.

🍷 How a Lockdown Pivot Became a Drinks Industry Innovation | Online Tasting CoOpening a new wine business just 36 days before the UK went into lockdown could have been the end.Instead, it became the beginning of something entirely unexpected.In this episode of The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, Alex sits down with Jamie Smith, co-founder of Online Tasting Co and EcoSip, to explore how a business built around in-person wine experiences reinvented itself during COVID and went on to create an innovative packaging solution that's now trusted by organisations including The Wine Society, Naked Wines and WSET.From delivering wine samples by hand during lockdown to building a specialist clean-room production facility and producing more than two million premium wine samples, Jamie shares the entrepreneurial journey behind one of the drinks industry's most innovative businesses.We discuss:🍷 Opening a wine business just weeks before lockdown📦 Creating EcoSip's pioneering single-serve wine technology🚀 Turning a crisis into an entirely new business model🌍 Why alternative packaging could transform the future of wine💡 Building trust, scaling innovation and challenging industry traditionWhether you're a drinks entrepreneur, wine lover or founder looking to innovate in a traditional industry, this episode is packed with practical lessons on resilience, creativity and spotting opportunity where others see obstacles.Out on Friday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and also on YouTube.

🎙️ Coming This Friday | Episode 9What do you do after spending 37 years as a Royal Marine?For Rory Copinger-Symes, the answer wasn't consulting, retirement or the corporate world.Instead, he launched Commando Spirit.In this week's episode of The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, Rory shares the remarkable journey from military service to building an award-winning spirits brand inspired by the values, traditions and ethos of the Commandos.🥃 How a whisky blending session in Scotland changed everything🏄 Living in Hawaii before retirement and discovering a new purpose🚀 Launching a spirits brand with no previous drinks industry experience⚔️ Navigating trademark battles, business setbacks and industry challenges🍸 Creating unique products inspired by Dartmoor and Commando training📈 Growing a premium brand through authenticity, community and storytelling❤️ Supporting military charities through the businessOne comment from Rory really stood out:"I had no business plan. I had no idea what I was doing. I just had an idea and decided to make it happen."A fascinating conversation about entrepreneurship, resilience, brand building and finding a new mission after a lifetime of service.🎧 Episode 9 launches Friday.#DrinksEntrepreneurPodcast #CommandoSpirit #Entrepreneurship #RoyalMarines #FounderStory #DrinksIndustry #Whisky #Gin #Rum #BrandBuilding #PremiumSpirits #BusinessGrowth #VeteranOwned #CraftSpirits #DrinksEntrepreneur

This week on The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, I sat down with Oliver Day, founder of G&D (Gin & Dubonnet) and creator of The Spirit of British Mischief.From his background as a dairy farmer in Somerset to launching a premium ready-to-drink version of the late Queen Elizabeth II's favourite cocktail, Oliver shares the fascinating story behind the brand and how a simple idea evolved into a growing drinks business.We discuss:🥃 The inspiration behind G&D and its royal heritage👑 Why Gin & Dubonnet became known as the Queen's favourite cocktail🐄 Oliver's journey from dairy farming to drinks entrepreneur🎠 Building the brand at events including Badminton Horse Trials and Chelsea Flower Show📈 Growing a premium drinks business while staying true to the brand vision💡 The realities of launching a new product and getting it into consumers' handsA brilliant conversation packed with entrepreneurial insight, determination, and a healthy dose of British mischief.🎧 Coming soon on The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast#DrinksEntrepreneur #Podcast #GinAndDubonnet #Gin #Entrepreneurship #DrinksIndustry #FounderStory #BritishBrands #BusinessPodcast

In this episode of The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, I sit down with Sylvester Herman, founder of Island Slice Rum.From creating a Caribbean-inspired rum brand in Scotland to navigating the challenges of launching in a crowded drinks market, Sylvester shares the story behind Island Slice and the lessons he's learned along the way.We discuss:🍍 The rise of flavoured rum🥃 Building the Island Slice brand🌴 Bringing Caribbean heritage to the UK market📈 Growing a drinks business from scratch⚖️ Balancing quality, authenticity, and accessibilityA fascinating conversation with a founder whose journey is as unique as the brand he's building.🎧 Available now.

Is there still room to stand out in the crowded gin market?In this episode of The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, Alex sits down with the founder of Warwickshire Gin Company, Dave Blick, to explore how they’re building a distinctive craft spirits brand rooted in quality, provenance, and local identity.From starting small to scaling a premium gin business, this conversation dives into the realities of building in one of the UK’s most competitive categories.They cover:The origin story of Warwickshire Gin CompanyStanding out in an oversaturated gin marketThe role and importance of local identity and craft in brand buildingScaling from start-up to established brandLessons learned along the journeyWhether you're a drinks founder, brand builder, or gin enthusiast, this episode offers a grounded look at what it really takes to succeed in craft spirits today.

What does it take to build a premium rum brand in a category still fighting outdated perceptions?In this episode of The Drinks Entrepreneur Podcast, Alex sits down with the Dave Howarth, the founder behind House of Rum to explore how they’re reshaping the way consumers think about rum and building a brand to match. Dave also has a very interesting backstory before he entered the world of rum as well!From positioning and storytelling to the realities of launching in a competitive spirits market, this is a deep dive into what it really takes to create a modern premium drinks brand.They cover:The story behind House of RumWhy rum is misunderstood and how that’s changingBuilding a premium brand in a crowded spirits categoryThe importance of education and storytellingLessons from launching and growing a drinks businessAnd, a first for the podcast, tasting 3 fantastic rums, live on the recordingWhether you're a founder, brand builder, or spirits enthusiast, this episode offers a fresh perspective on one of the most exciting categories in drinks.