February 27, 2023 • 33 mins
Paul Feig is the third Dude today and while he’s known for directing smash hits like Bridesmaids, Freaks and Geeks and The Heat, this episode focuses on his side hustle…drinks!
After all, what you serve can make or break your party. Paul reveals the hidden secrets to making the perfect martini and taking your bartending game to the top shelf! Cheers!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Two Dudes in a Kitchen with Tyler Florence and
Wells Adams and iHeartRadio podcast. Time for our episode of
two Dudes in a Kitchen. And I'm excited about this
one because we're gonna talking about something that I know,
which is booze. My name's Wells. I'm alongside Tyler Florence.
How are you, buddy, I'm good brother, How are you?
I'm excited. Our guest today is this isn't his main
(00:22):
thing is making drinks, like at all. His main thing
is making amazing movies and TV shows that we all love.
But the pandemic did a lot of weird things to
a lot of people, and that was like, have everyone
have a side hustle? Yeah, and Paul Fie like actor, comedian, director, writer, producer.
He's known for directing films that have like Melissa McCarthy
(00:44):
and like Bridesmaids, The Heat Spy, and Cohostbusters. He also
directed the black comedy mystery A Simple Favor and the
romantic comedy The Last Christmas. He also did Freaks and Geeks,
which I was a huge fan of back Yeah, but anyway,
so he's done all this stuff. You know. He directed
(01:06):
like a couple episodes The Office, the rest of Development, Weeds,
There's Jackie, all this stuff. But during the pandemic, he
started making drinks like on his social media, and now
he's like got this whole other thing going where he's
got his own gin line cocktail time. This guy literally
has done everything, and this is going to be a
very fun episode. He is a Hollywood royalty, There's no
(01:29):
doubt about it, especially kind of the dark days of
the pandemic. Um it was a bright life off on
social media to watch this guy to sort of just
embrace it and have a great time. I love his
bond vivant style. The man loves a good corsage. She's
always dressed to the nines, and he makes incredible cocktails.
And we're very excited to have him on the show today.
Let's bring him in, Paul. We're so excited to have
(01:51):
you on. Two dudes in a kitchen. How you doing.
I'm good, I'm very good. I'm in Atlanta about to
start shooting a new movie. And yeah, things are things
are lovely. Okay, you gotta tell us. We did this
kind of whole big preamble, kind of explaining all the
things that you have done all the amazing projects that
we all love and watch over the years, but now
(02:12):
you've pivoted over to well what I do on TV,
which is make drinks. So how did this happen? It
happened during the pandemic. Really, you know, we were I
was shooting the pilot for Welcome to Flatch, our our
TV show that's on Fox now, and we had to
shut down obviously because everybody had to shut down, and so,
you know, I went back to LA. I remember just
(02:33):
getting in that day and going like like, Okay, what
am I gonna do? You know, I had plenty of
writing and prepped to do on a movie I was
gonna do and all that, but I wanted to help somehow,
and so I didn't know what to do other than
I go, well, I have all these old cocktail books,
and I've always wanted to try to teach myself how
to make real cocktails. I always made a good martini,
but did how to make more mixology? And thought, I
(02:54):
like doing like an Instagram live show every day, and
that way I can raise money for responders and for
COVID charities. And it just kind of took off, you know,
and I just said I'm gonna do it one hundred
days in a row, every day at five o'clock weekends too,
so the people just hopefully have something something to look
forward doing. Not that they look forward to, mind, but
something there because he just, you know, I just knew
(03:16):
we needed routine during that terrible time, and so go, okay,
I can be this five o'clock thing, and we'll boose
it up and make and raise money. And it was
the best, by the way. I gotta tell you, thank
you so much for that, because I think there was
a real community of artists and producers and DJs and
chefs that all kind of came together and made the
(03:38):
world somewhat normal and just projected humanity and just had
a great time every day. Like I was producing you
know zoom cook along classes. We were doing four or
five a week for a year and a half. I mean,
as everyone's business started to fall apart in a way,
we just got really creative and started producing there's like
(03:59):
really kind of super high end four K four camera
you know cook along classes. I mean, we gave very
very sexy zoom. It was the best Zoom anybody ever had.
And and but I just felt like that that share
part of it kind of fake, like felt like it's
all gonna be okay in a way because at least
we have each other. And so I just want to
think you that because like, no nobody asked you to
(04:19):
do that, right, it was just you going, Okay, here's
how I'm going to contribute, and it was fantastic. Oh
well thanks, and I mean kudos to you for doing that.
I mean, anything we could do to kind of normalize
things for people, and you know, and that was it
was such a terrifying time. I mean, now that we
have vaccines and all that, we kind of know what
it does, but remember back then it was just like
is it a cloud of alien gas? Like you know,
(04:42):
you just had no idea. We're wiping everything down. So
it felt like at that time it was such a
terrifying time that like, oh, whatever we can do. And
also my thing was I wanted to kind of get
people to not just be in their pajamas all day,
because there's nothing more depressing than like spending the day
and the clothes that you slept in. You know. Yeah, dude,
I wasn't only at a coffee in Mill Valley, this
little town where my video is in northern California, and
(05:04):
I heard two adults talking to each other and everybody
had masks on, and one looked at other the other
and said, you know, there's a difference between your daytime
pajamas and your night tim pajamas. Oh my god, it
was a dark time. It's a dart It's a dark time, everybody.
So I want to hear about everything. I want to
hear about, like what makes a great cocktail, because Wells
is a fantastic bartender too, So you got some chit
(05:25):
said about that. We want to hear about your gin, right,
your gin sounds delicious by the way. Right, thank you.
Let's start up. Let's have a little bartender bar off
right now, Like you guys start talking about your cocktails.
What's your favorite? Then, Wells, what's your favorite? Let's get drunk,
all right. We already said that you are you're a
martini man, Paul. Yeah, the fact that you have a
(05:46):
gin makes me think that you are a gin martini man.
But tell me what makes the perfect martini. Well, first
of all, a real martini is always gim So I
will put that out there, fight amongst yourselves. Everybody called
me amini. If I say that, But to me, a
perfect martini has to be a few things. It has
(06:06):
to be very dry. I like a very dry martini.
Some people like a you know, a dirty martini or
a wetter martini with more of armouth vermouth. I think
the vermouth should be in there the same way when
you get like a good single malt Scotch and you
put like a drop of water in there, it just
opens it up. That's really what the vermouth is in there, dude,
just kind of open it up and make it not
so you're not just drinking a big glass gin um.
(06:28):
But then it has to be very very cold, and
and you know, part of the secret. There's there's two
great ways to make a martini. One is the Duke's
Martini way, which is there's a bar in in London
called Duke's Bar, which is in the Duke's Hotel, and
they're what they do. Alessandro Plazzi, the bartender. He freezes
(06:49):
the gin, breezes the glass and so basically it comes
comes to the table. They make a table side, brings
out the frozen glass, puts a few drops of vermouth
in it, swims it around to kind of coat the edges.
And then he throws it down on the carpet. He
throws the vermouth out on the carpet, and then he
just pours in the frozen vermouth and the frozen gin,
(07:10):
you know, and so it's ice ice cold. And then
he has these a mouthy coast lemons and he does
a big twist and expresses the oil over the top,
rubs the edge of the glass, drops it in and
that is a fantastic martini. But it's very very strong. Yeah,
that sound sounds delicious. Yeah, so there's technically no vermouth
(07:30):
in it whatsoever. He just throws her over shoulder. No,
I mean he coats the glass with it. So it
is you know, because again if you know, that was
always the thing with you know, like Churchill. You know,
just look at the bottle if you know vermouth. But
if there's no vermouth in there, it's you're just drinking
gin then so and it's it's getting that small proportion
(07:51):
of of vermouth, right, that makes a perfect martine. I know,
wells what what about you? What, let's let's hear your
perfect martine. Oh, I mean, so I I disagree, like
I know that that's the traditional way to make a martini,
but I don't think it's good. I think that that
is a fancy way of saying I'm going to have
a cold shot of gin. So I do like it dirty.
(08:14):
I do like all of juice. I like olives in
my martinis. But I have to be honest with you.
I can only do like one a night. Like if
if if it's a two martini situation, it's gonna be
a no going to work the next day for me.
So I have to really pick and choose. Um, I
agree with you. I do like a gin martini over
(08:36):
a vodka martini. I think that an espresso martini is blasphemy,
but my beautiful wife loves it, so you know, say
love vy. I suppose I think I think the best
martini I've ever had, and I've had martinis everywhere, and
I think, actually make a really really good martini at
my steakhouse in San Francisco, was at the Hemmingway Bar
(08:59):
at the hotel in Paris. Right, yeah, so it's you
can have it, Yeah, yeah, exactly. You can have a
choice between a gin and vodka. But it's a really
beautiful like the glass is fatigue, but like I think
it's not a coupe. So it's a V shaped glass,
which I prefer. I think that's a really really nice
see could you get your hands around it right? And
then what they do, which I think is really interesting,
(09:19):
is they take olive juice and then they freeze it
with an olive as an ice cube, and then they
float both on top of the well shaken super hard
jake and martini poured into the glass, and then they
float the olive juice ice cube in there, and as
it starts to melt, it starts to dissipate and changes
(09:41):
the flavor as you go. And I think that and
maybe maybe we just had a lot to drink that
night and it was we were at the hemmyweight bar
and parents, but it was really it was very very special.
I was kind of touched. I'm like, that's as good
as it gets. Well, that's cool. I mean, if I
maybe devil is an advocate here. My only issue with
like an olive or anything in a martini is that
(10:02):
it overtakes the gem or the vodka or whatever. It
just that becomes the drink is olive flavored alcohol. And
so I think that's what I like about a twist,
is that because I just really like taste the gin,
you know, And again I think the opens up a
little bit, but when you put the twist on top,
it brightens it up. So to me, it's basically like,
(10:23):
if you like a darker in taste drink, go for
the olive or dirty, and if you like a brighter,
lighter one, go for the lemon. So I saw this
bartiner one time do this for like really fancy tricks,
and it's always like everybody has their own little thing,
and so we express the lemon on top of the
martini and then he actually rubbed the stem of the
(10:43):
martini glass with the lemon peel and then flow to
the lemon peel on top of that. And I just
thought that was so classy that because when you touch,
all of a sudden you have the lemon oil a
roma on your fingers, and I thought that was really
nice touch. It's a very that's a very controversial thing. Again,
like my pal Alexander Palazzi kind of the king of
the martini in London at this place. I because somebody
(11:03):
told me that too, and he's and he doesn't agree
with it because he thinks it then you've got too
much lemon on your fingers in the oil versus of
you put it on the top and you just rub
the rub the lip and around the edge. But I
don't know. I mean, I've done it both ways, and
I think it's kind of cool. There's a really interesting
thing they do um at the Connaught Bar in London
(11:23):
where and I don't I actually I think this is
kind of bs. But they pour they poor you know,
I like the place. But that's a great bar, by
the way, that's a great bar. It's always voted the
best bar in the world. Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, but
they make a table side there. But what they do
is they when they pour the gin or vodka whatever,
they'll they'll do that way up high, so it's this
little stream and then they take the twist and they
(11:45):
like express the twist onto the pouring stream. My issue
with that is that it's got to be cold. So
the media it's like, you know, going through the air,
it's getting less cold, you know what I mean. Versus
there's nothing worse than when you get sir to Martini
and it's just kind of cold. You know, I'll just
send it back and say, like just put it back
in the ice. Let it sit there. I don't care
(12:05):
if it gets watered down. Just make it cool, right,
I totally agree. I think it takes the edge off
the alcohol. I think it making creams it out right,
gives it a nice sort of like nice mouth feel
and then and and balances out the flavor for sure. Yeah,
totally yeah. Okay, we can't just talk about Martini's on
this show. I know, I'm sorry. No, I want to know.
(12:26):
It's like, Martini was your was your go to drink
before you kind of started this, um, this journey down
becoming um a bartender? What is your what is your
favorite drink to make that isn't a Martini? Yeah, I
mean there's a lot. I mean, you know, for me personally, Look,
(12:47):
I like NEGRONI, you know, but that that's that's so
easy to make, um, you know, but it's great and
there's so many different ways to make a NEGRONI My
tip for everybody, don't use komparo. I know it's a
very very and this is a very controversial appearance I'm making.
All right, So then what's your substitute? I want to
hear this. Well, there's just a lot of Italian A
pair of TiVos, you know, red bitter, and I there's
(13:12):
one um that Galliano makes that's fantastic, that's lighter. My
problem with campari is it's I find it very syrup,
you know, and so a lot of times on Negronis
you're kind of like, no, you know, kind of like
you just bring disturbing thing. So if you get I
find get a ballsierum red vermouth, and get a lighter
a pair of TiVo and then you'll just hang on.
I have a nicer, nicer time with your with your
(13:33):
Negroni if you will, and you will also have less
of the hangovers. I do think that kompari is so
sugary that it really affects those hangovers. Yeah, it's weird
because it's you know, it's bitter, but it's weirdly this
sweet bitter. It's very bizarre. But if I had to
pick kind of my favorite drink out of my book
Cocktail Time is uh, it's a drink called the Golden Dawn,
(13:55):
which I've heard of that and it's it won all
these awards like in then it was voted like in
the thirties like the best drink you know of the
century or something like that and it's really good. It's
it's a gin based drink and um, it is half
ounce of Calvados, which is apple brandy, three quarter ounce
of a gin dry gin, three quarter ounces of quantro.
(14:19):
But you could also use a Grand Marnier if you wanted. Um,
three quarter ounce of apricot brandy, three quarter yes, you're right,
orange juice, and then a cocktail cherry and a little
bit of cherry syrup from the Lexarto and you know,
grizzle in there and it's it's like a knockout, but
it's it's I don't like when drinks get too sweet,
and I also don't like when drinks cover up their
(14:41):
alcohol too much. You know. I like when like, oh,
I'm not drinking a drink and then somebody stand up
and you're gonna fall over, you know, like I wanted.
The alcohol is part of the fun of having a drink,
and this kind of has it all. I got to
ask because you have done so many amazing films and
TV shows, which makes me believe that you're around a
(15:04):
lot of big celebrities at parties, and I imagine you
do what I do at parties, where then all of
a sudden I'm holding court because no one can make
a drink as good as I can. So guess what, guys,
I'm gonna make some drinks. Everyone shut the hell up.
Do you have some some great stories of making drinks for,
you know, big celebrities that people would be like, Wow,
(15:24):
what a cool night that must have been? Well, I
mean none that I can tell. No, I mean actually
the one and I can't name any names on this,
but but some you know, some people I know who
were kind of celebrities. They they wanted to do this party,
kind of like a retro party where they we went
to this kind of you know, mid century kind of
(15:45):
house and they hired this person to give a lecture
on how to do like mid century cocktails and all that.
So this person got up and started making a martini
and they were making it so terrible and wrong that
I had to do I'm like, you, you know, it's
like I can't take this anymore. It's like, can I
please just intervene here? And so end up doing that
and just boost everybody the hell up. And it was terrible,
(16:06):
but they had good martinis. So that's all I'll say.
What do you think is the absolute necessities because this
is this is always a thing that happens when Christmas
time comes around and it's like what should we get,
or like I'll do a gift guide for some outlet
or something, and I'm like, hey, listen, like everyone needs
really good bar supplies, and everyone needs like four or
(16:28):
five really good glasses. What are your go tos when
it comes to your bar necessities and your glasses? Yeah, well,
I mean I talk about this in the book because
I want people to be able to set up their bar.
There's so many different ways in if you're just going
bare bones, you don't have a lot of money, you
just want the essentials. You really just need a good shaker,
you know, And the cobbler is sort of the easiest
(16:51):
because that's the three piece one with a strainer in
the top, because then you don't have to buy a strainer,
and then really, I mean, you just need a jigger
and you're kind of off to the races. You can
use anything else out of the kitchen. I personally prefer
a mixing glass in a big long spoon because I
just think it's a more elegant way to make it.
But glassware that that is the most important part because
(17:14):
you can look, you can make drinks and you know tupperware,
you know, if you want, if nobody has to watch
you do it. But it's the glasses, because you know,
you need cocktail glasses, which are martini glasses. If you
want to do coop, that's fine. You can do like
a fistle glass, eat and you know anything that is
kind of dedicated to a drink that doesn't have ice it,
you know, and then you need a good old fashioned glasses.
(17:37):
I think old fashioned glasses are the key to everything.
You can. Honestly, you could serve a martini in an
whole flashion glass if you eat, and it's just elegant.
Get them heavy bottomed, because you know you're going to
use them for for for scotch and for whiskey. And
there's nothing worse than a light glass of scotch because
you know you're always gonna have like, you know, a
quarter of an inch, you know, the half inch if
(17:59):
you're really getting a bull or a triple or whatever.
But the weight's got to be important on those right.
You want that weight on and you want on the bottom.
You don't want a top heavy glass, so like like
kind of a thinner wall with a big heavy bottom
is pretty great. And then after that, I mean highball glasses,
which are kind of like, you know, not a Tom Collins.
It's a little too thin, but just almost like a
water glass. But it's that, you know, if you watch
(18:21):
those movies from like the nineteen thirties, everybody just had
highball glasses and a thing of seltzer and they poured
some whiskey and they drink everything out of these kind
of taller highball glasses, which abably things looks elegant as hell.
If you got that, you know, in a few wine
glasses where people who want to have wine, you're all
set well, and I guess the last thing you'd need
to have is your Bartenny buck Well, of course, I
(18:43):
mean here it is, you know so, and it's but
I literally tell you how you can. You can understock
you bar, or you can just go bananas with muddlers
and you know, all kinds of stuff. But uh, but
that's the fun. That's the fun of setting up your bar.
Is it slowly grows as your repertoire grows, you know,
and in the especially your bottles, I mean, you know,
it's my house now looks like like a Booze Museum.
(19:04):
You know, there's just a gazillion thing. This is not
my house, by the way, I'm just as the place
I'm renting in Atlanta right now. But yeah, because I
almost because during the pandemic, I really set up like
a test kitchen because I was making so many different
drinks and I would love to find a drink with
like an ingredient that I haven't heard of and then
order it through Drizzly and they would drive it over,
(19:24):
you know, and it just grew and grew, and now
it looks like a booze hoarder's house. Now. Did you
start writing the cookbook before you were doing the Instagram
thing in the pandemic or did it become it came
from the show because I was doing these but I
wouldn't post the recipes because I just want people to
watch it and make them with me. And a lot
of people are just like, can you just write them
(19:44):
down and put them out in something? So I just
started writing them down. But then as I did, I
was like, oh, I've got advice. I want to talk
to you about, you know, about throwing a party and
you know, because knowing that we're gonna be coming out
of the pandemic, just like you know with the Spanish
flue back and the Roaring twenties. You know, that's where
that that's why the Roaring Twenties happened, because everybody was
coming out of you know, three years of lockdown. So
I kind of feel like, yeah, you know, now, you know,
(20:05):
obviously we're still contending with it a bit, but now
that it's sort of ebbing away, you feel people going like,
let's have parties, man, you know. So I really wanted
to do it for that, and then I just also thought, well,
I should each drink should maybe have like a funny
story attached to it. So it just kind of grew
and grew. I love that now when we make cocktails
at my house and my wife actually makes it really
good cocktails. This guy have a two part question. She
makes cocktails in batches, right, And I always think that's
(20:28):
a great way to make cocktails. Four parties specifically, just
so you can kind of like knock out one round
and then knock out a second round and then maybe
a third if the party's going great, and then so
tell me a great cocktail you can actually batch out. Manhattan's.
Manhattan's are great to batch out. And actually my friend
Steve Higgins, you know who's Jimmy Fallenside kick, he got
(20:50):
one of he got like this keg, like a wooden
keg that he makes it and almost kind of ages
it in there, so he'll he'll put it in there
and just kind of let it sit and they just
I just find like, like a Manhattan just gets richer
and richer is you go along. I'm a big fan
of the perfect Manhattan myself, which is instead of you know,
two ounces of bourbon or whiskey and then an ounce
(21:13):
of sweet vermouth, you do half sweet vermouth and half drivermouth,
and it just again, it takes that sweetness of I'm
always trying to get rid of that syrupy thing, you know.
And we talked about the grony. But but yeah, a
batch of Manhattan sitting there for a while is dynamite.
Now the second part of my question here too, because
when it comes to batches, like sometimes like my wife
and I will make cocktails together and literally we'll just
(21:35):
make it up right, Like we'll start off with the idea, Okay,
we're gonna make a margharita, but now we're gonna make
an apple cider margarita right, so like especially right, and
it's they're delicious, but we kind of make it up
as we go. From a chef's perspective, like the culinary cocktails.
When you go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant,
are you end like the modern cocktails to have a
culinary twist to it, because it sounds like you're more
(21:57):
you love the classics? Yeah, yeah, I mean I always
hate to not try them, but every time I try them,
it's not that I don't like them. I always feel like,
you know, now I've lost my window for just having
a great martini with this meal, you know. So, but
I do like to try it, and I like to
look at their ingredients list and going, oh that's cool.
Like if I see something that I'm really drawn to,
(22:18):
I go like, I never would have thought of putting
those two things together, or that sounds interesting, then then
I'll try it. But you know, it's kind of like
when I go to New York and you know, I
want to go see theater, but I also know if
I go see theater, it's going to screw up my dinner.
And you're either you go to see theater or you
go to dinner, you know, and so I always end
up going to dinner. So so that's how I feel
about getting in a fancy cocktail versus a traditional martini.
(22:45):
Before you go, I want to know about your gin,
because it's one thing to write an amazing, you know,
drink book, but like you made your own gin, and
it's like you can go buy it. I know, it's crazy, right,
this is my recipe that I developed, designed the bottle.
So this is not one of these situations of like,
you know, some other celebrities we know who name, let's
(23:06):
just buy into the company. This has like been my
baby for like, I mean, you know, twenty five years
I've been wanting to do this, and about now it's
been seven years I think since we you know, started
the process. And yeah, we've done a ton of awards.
I mean, we got a ninety eight from one of
the magazines, a ninety four from tasting panel. We've won
best and Show Best Gin, and yeah, you know, I
(23:29):
kind of searched the world looking for the perfect gin
and never quite found it. And always from all that
kind of research I did everywhere, but like I know
exactly what needs to taste like, and so that's when
I developed this. It was just I was able to
hit that flavor profile that nobody else I don't feel
has ever really hit. And there's some that are similar,
but I think like we're because we're very It's it's bright. Uh,
(23:51):
it's slightly floral, but not overwhelmingly so. It's slightly citrusy,
not overwhelmingly so. Anybody's got a nice peppery back, backburn,
you know, back finish. And what I love about it
is it really works well as a vodka substitute too.
So any any cocktail that requires vodka, it just gives
it a little more interest I find. Person So, if
you had to describe the flavor of gin, I think
(24:13):
to a lot of people, who are you know, purists? Um?
And yes, sometimes it's hard to get people off of
the blanc of aquila kick Like that's all everybody drinks today,
like vodka, vodka or tequila. Um. Tell everybody, Like, when
you taste gin, what are you tasting you? Well, I mean,
if you're tasting a traditional gin, it's gonna stick with
you this kind of piney taste, uh, you know, which
(24:35):
is why a lot of people don't like gin. I
mean Americans don't in general like gin because of those
traditional beefeaters, you know, which is just like it's it's
like pine salt, you know, and so Jennifer, right, yeah,
super juniper. You can't have gin without juniper um. But
if you can regulate how much there is. And the
great thing about gin is gin is really you know,
(24:55):
at its core, I had to say this flavored vodka, um,
you know, it's ethanol that that then is infused with
these flavors. And but the amount, the number of flavors
you can put into a gin are literally infinite. So
that's why there can be just you know, a gazillion
types of gin. But it just it just makes it
more interesting because my problem with with vodka has always been,
(25:17):
you know, look like a frozen vodka, you know, with
var or something like that. That's fantastic, but it always
feels like I'm pretending I'm not drinking, you know what
I mean, Like they regulate vodka, they not have any flavor,
you know. So it's kind of like again going back
to what I said earlier, I mean, have a drink.
I wanted to taste like a drink, you know, And
so that's why I like about gin, you kinda get
the same, you know, the clear spirits, which actually helped
(25:42):
me out Fellas. I still don't understand why tequila has
gone through the roof the way it has. Everybody says
it's the healthiest one. It's it's lowcal The clear spirits
are lower calan than tequila. So I don't quite know
how this this thing happened where everybody thinks that's the
skinny thing to drink, and everybody's obsessed with it because
(26:02):
Mexico's fine, right, Mexico's exact exactly, but that I just
they attach all these health benefits to it now, and
I'm kind of like, hold on, gang, tequila is great,
but let's not pretend that it's this magical elix. Well,
I bartend in Mexico on TV and everybody it's the
funniest thing in the world. Everyone drinks tequila with pineapple
(26:26):
juice and they're all, you know, really healthy, shredded people
because they're filming on TV and they've got dur in
bathing suits and stuff, and I'm always like, this is hilarious.
This is the this is drink is just sugar and tequila,
Like this is the worst thing you could be drinking
right now. You should be drinking like a martini if
(26:48):
you want to keep it really tight. I don't. I
don't get it. And also it messages with my stomach.
I would much rather have a gin martini than a margarita. Now.
I find there's no worse hangover in this world. Dan
a tequila over, I agree, But to me, the ultimate
skinny drink. And I just put this because I'm very
I'm also very and this is gonna be heresy for
(27:08):
a lot of people. I'm very anti gin and tonic.
I don't like tonic water, but even they had a side.
It's super sugary, it's super high kal but gin and
soda chef's kids, you know, because you you taste the gin,
so you get the taste of the gin. Put lemon
or lime in it, whatever you want. But it's a
total skinny drink compared to you know, definitely compared to
(27:30):
a gin and tonic, but you know, definitely compared to
tequila and pineapple juice. I feel like there would be
a lot of really good garnishes that could go with that,
Like I imagine cucumber would go really well, and mints
or basil also would would go in there really well,
and you can make it like spa water, you know.
I mean I had where they put all kinds of
(27:50):
fruit and stuff in there, and that's really fun. I've
had it where they even put black pepper in there.
There's this one French gin really good called pink pepper
and it's kind of like a pepper e. They just
put like peppercorns in there. So yeah, it's it's a
canvas that you can paint a bart you know. Well, Paul,
it's been so freaking fun to talk with you and
hear your side of making drinks, and as someone who
(28:14):
thinks themselves is a very good bartender, this has been
a good conversation to have everyone out there go buy
a cocktail time. I imagine you can get it everywhere anywhere,
all your bookstores and get on Amazon, and then if
you're interested in Artingstall's Gin, go to Artingstalls gin dot
com to find out where you can get it, because
you can get in some states, you can get in
other states, but you can have a chip to you
(28:35):
in most places, so Artingstalls gin dot com. But well,
I'm in California. Can I get it here? Can I
go to bev money you can need it. Pen Where
are you there, I'm in Studio City. Oh you are, Okay,
go to the Flask. They sell at the Flask. Oh perfect,
all right today nice gin is the tequila you heard
her here first? Yeah, there you go exactly. Paul, Thank
(28:57):
you so much for being on two dudes in the kitchen.
This was a truly enjoyable You're a beauty of a man.
And you know, when you get done with film and
whatever you're doing in Atlanta, please come back to the
West Side and I would like to have a martini
made by you one day. Let's do it. I'm in
for that, And thank you so much. I can talk
about this stuff all day and you guys are great,
and I really you appreciate you having me on. See you, buddy,
(29:19):
Thank you so much, Thank you. Thanks Paul, take care
of her. See he's fun. Huh. First of all, as
the old radio host, I wish I had that voice.
Like he's obviously super talented from all the things that
he does, and then like he has this whole side
business of making drinks and cookbooks and gin. What can't
(29:40):
Paul do? Yeah, you just appreciate when someone's got such
a passionate side hustle that they could literally replace her
full time job with it. Right, Like this guy could
start a beverage company start you know, you know, becoming
like the gin king of California. Right. A whole handful
of cookbooks like this, especially cocktail books, I mean, because
cocktails right now are literally about a third of what
(30:02):
we talked about from an R and D standpoint in
our restaurants, because it's always cocktail time, it's always new
cocktail season. So we get together with our beverage team
and we start coming up with cocktails that we think
are great. And I have really hard rules about them.
They can't be fussy when you know, they can't be
like overly engineered. They've got to be very very clean
(30:22):
and really kind of respecting the spirit first and foremost, right,
which I think is I think, really really successful for cocktails. Right,
And that's silly, but I just love his perspective. I
think it's great man. Yeah, And it's it's funny because
there are so many similarities when it comes to making
good drinks and making good food, and a lot of
it is you can play around with things and try
(30:44):
different things. But what I've found that is the most
like similar in both of them, is the simple things
are always the best things. Yeah, Like my favorite drinks
are martinis or old fashions or negronis, and those are
the easiest drinks to make. There are generally three things
and good ice, and like that's it. And then when
(31:07):
it comes to food too, it's like I need garlic,
I need butter, I need a good protein and maybe
some rosemary or something and salt, and like that'll be
like one of the best things ever. You know, I
just don't mess it up. And I'm with you, right,
because I think less is more. I think really really
great cocktails it's all about their strength, because every everybody
can start putting a ton of things into the shaker,
(31:27):
but you really kind of end up with this like
muddy blurry, you know, drink that doesn't really taste like
anything in particular. But I do respect and love our
beversheen because my god, are been brilliant, right, I mean
those come up with cocktails that are just like yummy. Right.
We have these things that are like either stippers or slammers. Right,
So the slammers are things that are like, oh my god,
(31:48):
it's so delicious. I could literally just like chug the
whole thing. And those things that we call like snippers
are about like snugglers things you just want to save
her for a little while. I just love kind of
going through our R and D thing. We do it
about three and a half times a year, flip our
our cocktail lists over. So this next time in San Francisco,
if it happens to be at that time, we'd love
to maybe have a celebrity drink from you. Would that
be fun? Oh yeah? Or I just want to be
(32:09):
there for like the trying of different things, and I
just I just want free booze, Tyler, that's really all all.
It's all I want free booze and free stick. You
eat for free in my restaurants, you know that anytime.
My friend, I gotta say, Paul's done a lot of
smart things in his life, but maybe one of the
smartest things was figuring out a way to write off, well,
I have to go around and try every gin because
(32:30):
I'm gonna start a gin company, right, Oh my god, genius.
I love that. That's good. And Jen is one of
those things, man, It's definitely a a preferred taste, right,
like not everybody's into it. Um Like, you know, I
have restaurants in San Francisco. We kind of live in
the suburbs. So a lot of our friends that kind
of live in the suburbs with us are like tequila vodka,
(32:53):
you know, really really great white burgundy and kind of
getting the same things over and over again. So I'm
gonna I'm gonna take his leave. Then I'm gonna get
some jen to start making up. I think you said, man,
all right, well today was good. I'm gonna go. I
think make a drink. Yeah, it's like I'm get a
little thirsty. I didn't have sounds delicious. It's good. It's
five o'clock somewhere. Man, let's go exactly all right, see
(33:13):
you buddy, all right, take care. Thanks all right, guys,
thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at two Dudes
in a Kitchen. Make sure to write us a review
and leave us five stars. We'll take that and we'll
see you guys next time. See you next time.
It's Two Dudes in a Kitchen with Tyler Florence and
Wells Adams and iHeartRadio podcast. Time for our episode of
two Dudes in a Kitchen. And I'm excited about this
one because we're gonna talking about something that I know,
which is booze. My name's Wells. I'm alongside Tyler Florence.
How are you, buddy, I'm good brother, How are you?
I'm excited. Our guest today is this isn't his main
(00:22):
thing is making drinks, like at all. His main thing
is making amazing movies and TV shows that we all love.
But the pandemic did a lot of weird things to
a lot of people, and that was like, have everyone
have a side hustle? Yeah, and Paul Fie like actor, comedian, director, writer, producer.
He's known for directing films that have like Melissa McCarthy
(00:44):
and like Bridesmaids, The Heat Spy, and Cohostbusters. He also
directed the black comedy mystery A Simple Favor and the
romantic comedy The Last Christmas. He also did Freaks and Geeks,
which I was a huge fan of back Yeah, but anyway,
so he's done all this stuff. You know. He directed
(01:06):
like a couple episodes The Office, the rest of Development, Weeds,
There's Jackie, all this stuff. But during the pandemic, he
started making drinks like on his social media, and now
he's like got this whole other thing going where he's
got his own gin line cocktail time. This guy literally
has done everything, and this is going to be a
very fun episode. He is a Hollywood royalty, There's no
(01:29):
doubt about it, especially kind of the dark days of
the pandemic. Um it was a bright life off on
social media to watch this guy to sort of just
embrace it and have a great time. I love his
bond vivant style. The man loves a good corsage. She's
always dressed to the nines, and he makes incredible cocktails.
And we're very excited to have him on the show today.
Let's bring him in, Paul. We're so excited to have
(01:51):
you on. Two dudes in a kitchen. How you doing.
I'm good, I'm very good. I'm in Atlanta about to
start shooting a new movie. And yeah, things are things
are lovely. Okay, you gotta tell us. We did this
kind of whole big preamble, kind of explaining all the
things that you have done all the amazing projects that
we all love and watch over the years, but now
(02:12):
you've pivoted over to well what I do on TV,
which is make drinks. So how did this happen? It
happened during the pandemic. Really, you know, we were I
was shooting the pilot for Welcome to Flatch, our our
TV show that's on Fox now, and we had to
shut down obviously because everybody had to shut down, and so,
you know, I went back to LA. I remember just
(02:33):
getting in that day and going like like, Okay, what
am I gonna do? You know, I had plenty of
writing and prepped to do on a movie I was
gonna do and all that, but I wanted to help somehow,
and so I didn't know what to do other than
I go, well, I have all these old cocktail books,
and I've always wanted to try to teach myself how
to make real cocktails. I always made a good martini,
but did how to make more mixology? And thought, I
(02:54):
like doing like an Instagram live show every day, and
that way I can raise money for responders and for
COVID charities. And it just kind of took off, you know,
and I just said I'm gonna do it one hundred
days in a row, every day at five o'clock weekends too,
so the people just hopefully have something something to look
forward doing. Not that they look forward to, mind, but
something there because he just, you know, I just knew
(03:16):
we needed routine during that terrible time, and so go, okay,
I can be this five o'clock thing, and we'll boose
it up and make and raise money. And it was
the best, by the way. I gotta tell you, thank
you so much for that, because I think there was
a real community of artists and producers and DJs and
chefs that all kind of came together and made the
(03:38):
world somewhat normal and just projected humanity and just had
a great time every day. Like I was producing you
know zoom cook along classes. We were doing four or
five a week for a year and a half. I mean,
as everyone's business started to fall apart in a way,
we just got really creative and started producing there's like
(03:59):
really kind of super high end four K four camera
you know cook along classes. I mean, we gave very
very sexy zoom. It was the best Zoom anybody ever had.
And and but I just felt like that that share
part of it kind of fake, like felt like it's
all gonna be okay in a way because at least
we have each other. And so I just want to
think you that because like, no nobody asked you to
(04:19):
do that, right, it was just you going, Okay, here's
how I'm going to contribute, and it was fantastic. Oh
well thanks, and I mean kudos to you for doing that.
I mean, anything we could do to kind of normalize
things for people, and you know, and that was it
was such a terrifying time. I mean, now that we
have vaccines and all that, we kind of know what
it does, but remember back then it was just like
is it a cloud of alien gas? Like you know,
(04:42):
you just had no idea. We're wiping everything down. So
it felt like at that time it was such a
terrifying time that like, oh, whatever we can do. And
also my thing was I wanted to kind of get
people to not just be in their pajamas all day,
because there's nothing more depressing than like spending the day
and the clothes that you slept in. You know. Yeah, dude,
I wasn't only at a coffee in Mill Valley, this
little town where my video is in northern California, and
(05:04):
I heard two adults talking to each other and everybody
had masks on, and one looked at other the other
and said, you know, there's a difference between your daytime
pajamas and your night tim pajamas. Oh my god, it
was a dark time. It's a dart It's a dark time, everybody.
So I want to hear about everything. I want to
hear about, like what makes a great cocktail, because Wells
is a fantastic bartender too, So you got some chit
(05:25):
said about that. We want to hear about your gin, right,
your gin sounds delicious by the way. Right, thank you.
Let's start up. Let's have a little bartender bar off
right now, Like you guys start talking about your cocktails.
What's your favorite? Then, Wells, what's your favorite? Let's get drunk,
all right. We already said that you are you're a
martini man, Paul. Yeah, the fact that you have a
(05:46):
gin makes me think that you are a gin martini man.
But tell me what makes the perfect martini. Well, first
of all, a real martini is always gim So I
will put that out there, fight amongst yourselves. Everybody called
me amini. If I say that, But to me, a
perfect martini has to be a few things. It has
(06:06):
to be very dry. I like a very dry martini.
Some people like a you know, a dirty martini or
a wetter martini with more of armouth vermouth. I think
the vermouth should be in there the same way when
you get like a good single malt Scotch and you
put like a drop of water in there, it just
opens it up. That's really what the vermouth is in there, dude,
just kind of open it up and make it not
so you're not just drinking a big glass gin um.
(06:28):
But then it has to be very very cold, and
and you know, part of the secret. There's there's two
great ways to make a martini. One is the Duke's
Martini way, which is there's a bar in in London
called Duke's Bar, which is in the Duke's Hotel, and
they're what they do. Alessandro Plazzi, the bartender. He freezes
(06:49):
the gin, breezes the glass and so basically it comes
comes to the table. They make a table side, brings
out the frozen glass, puts a few drops of vermouth
in it, swims it around to kind of coat the edges.
And then he throws it down on the carpet. He
throws the vermouth out on the carpet, and then he
just pours in the frozen vermouth and the frozen gin,
(07:10):
you know, and so it's ice ice cold. And then
he has these a mouthy coast lemons and he does
a big twist and expresses the oil over the top,
rubs the edge of the glass, drops it in and
that is a fantastic martini. But it's very very strong. Yeah,
that sound sounds delicious. Yeah, so there's technically no vermouth
(07:30):
in it whatsoever. He just throws her over shoulder. No,
I mean he coats the glass with it. So it
is you know, because again if you know, that was
always the thing with you know, like Churchill. You know,
just look at the bottle if you know vermouth. But
if there's no vermouth in there, it's you're just drinking
gin then so and it's it's getting that small proportion
(07:51):
of of vermouth, right, that makes a perfect martine. I know,
wells what what about you? What, let's let's hear your
perfect martine. Oh, I mean, so I I disagree, like
I know that that's the traditional way to make a martini,
but I don't think it's good. I think that that
is a fancy way of saying I'm going to have
a cold shot of gin. So I do like it dirty.
(08:14):
I do like all of juice. I like olives in
my martinis. But I have to be honest with you.
I can only do like one a night. Like if
if if it's a two martini situation, it's gonna be
a no going to work the next day for me.
So I have to really pick and choose. Um, I
agree with you. I do like a gin martini over
(08:36):
a vodka martini. I think that an espresso martini is blasphemy,
but my beautiful wife loves it, so you know, say
love vy. I suppose I think I think the best
martini I've ever had, and I've had martinis everywhere, and
I think, actually make a really really good martini at
my steakhouse in San Francisco, was at the Hemmingway Bar
(08:59):
at the hotel in Paris. Right, yeah, so it's you
can have it, Yeah, yeah, exactly. You can have a
choice between a gin and vodka. But it's a really
beautiful like the glass is fatigue, but like I think
it's not a coupe. So it's a V shaped glass,
which I prefer. I think that's a really really nice
see could you get your hands around it right? And
then what they do, which I think is really interesting,
(09:19):
is they take olive juice and then they freeze it
with an olive as an ice cube, and then they
float both on top of the well shaken super hard
jake and martini poured into the glass, and then they
float the olive juice ice cube in there, and as
it starts to melt, it starts to dissipate and changes
(09:41):
the flavor as you go. And I think that and
maybe maybe we just had a lot to drink that
night and it was we were at the hemmyweight bar
and parents, but it was really it was very very special.
I was kind of touched. I'm like, that's as good
as it gets. Well, that's cool. I mean, if I
maybe devil is an advocate here. My only issue with
like an olive or anything in a martini is that
(10:02):
it overtakes the gem or the vodka or whatever. It
just that becomes the drink is olive flavored alcohol. And
so I think that's what I like about a twist,
is that because I just really like taste the gin,
you know, And again I think the opens up a
little bit, but when you put the twist on top,
it brightens it up. So to me, it's basically like,
(10:23):
if you like a darker in taste drink, go for
the olive or dirty, and if you like a brighter,
lighter one, go for the lemon. So I saw this
bartiner one time do this for like really fancy tricks,
and it's always like everybody has their own little thing,
and so we express the lemon on top of the
martini and then he actually rubbed the stem of the
(10:43):
martini glass with the lemon peel and then flow to
the lemon peel on top of that. And I just
thought that was so classy that because when you touch,
all of a sudden you have the lemon oil a
roma on your fingers, and I thought that was really
nice touch. It's a very that's a very controversial thing. Again,
like my pal Alexander Palazzi kind of the king of
the martini in London at this place. I because somebody
(11:03):
told me that too, and he's and he doesn't agree
with it because he thinks it then you've got too
much lemon on your fingers in the oil versus of
you put it on the top and you just rub
the rub the lip and around the edge. But I
don't know. I mean, I've done it both ways, and
I think it's kind of cool. There's a really interesting
thing they do um at the Connaught Bar in London
(11:23):
where and I don't I actually I think this is
kind of bs. But they pour they poor you know,
I like the place. But that's a great bar, by
the way, that's a great bar. It's always voted the
best bar in the world. Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, but
they make a table side there. But what they do
is they when they pour the gin or vodka whatever,
they'll they'll do that way up high, so it's this
little stream and then they take the twist and they
(11:45):
like express the twist onto the pouring stream. My issue
with that is that it's got to be cold. So
the media it's like, you know, going through the air,
it's getting less cold, you know what I mean. Versus
there's nothing worse than when you get sir to Martini
and it's just kind of cold. You know, I'll just
send it back and say, like just put it back
in the ice. Let it sit there. I don't care
(12:05):
if it gets watered down. Just make it cool, right,
I totally agree. I think it takes the edge off
the alcohol. I think it making creams it out right,
gives it a nice sort of like nice mouth feel
and then and and balances out the flavor for sure. Yeah,
totally yeah. Okay, we can't just talk about Martini's on
this show. I know, I'm sorry. No, I want to know.
(12:26):
It's like, Martini was your was your go to drink
before you kind of started this, um, this journey down
becoming um a bartender? What is your what is your
favorite drink to make that isn't a Martini? Yeah, I
mean there's a lot. I mean, you know, for me personally, Look,
(12:47):
I like NEGRONI, you know, but that that's that's so
easy to make, um, you know, but it's great and
there's so many different ways to make a NEGRONI My
tip for everybody, don't use komparo. I know it's a
very very and this is a very controversial appearance I'm making.
All right, So then what's your substitute? I want to
hear this. Well, there's just a lot of Italian A
pair of TiVos, you know, red bitter, and I there's
(13:12):
one um that Galliano makes that's fantastic, that's lighter. My
problem with campari is it's I find it very syrup,
you know, and so a lot of times on Negronis
you're kind of like, no, you know, kind of like
you just bring disturbing thing. So if you get I
find get a ballsierum red vermouth, and get a lighter
a pair of TiVo and then you'll just hang on.
I have a nicer, nicer time with your with your
(13:33):
Negroni if you will, and you will also have less
of the hangovers. I do think that kompari is so
sugary that it really affects those hangovers. Yeah, it's weird
because it's you know, it's bitter, but it's weirdly this
sweet bitter. It's very bizarre. But if I had to
pick kind of my favorite drink out of my book
Cocktail Time is uh, it's a drink called the Golden Dawn,
(13:55):
which I've heard of that and it's it won all
these awards like in then it was voted like in
the thirties like the best drink you know of the
century or something like that and it's really good. It's
it's a gin based drink and um, it is half
ounce of Calvados, which is apple brandy, three quarter ounce
of a gin dry gin, three quarter ounces of quantro.
(14:19):
But you could also use a Grand Marnier if you wanted. Um,
three quarter ounce of apricot brandy, three quarter yes, you're right,
orange juice, and then a cocktail cherry and a little
bit of cherry syrup from the Lexarto and you know,
grizzle in there and it's it's like a knockout, but
it's it's I don't like when drinks get too sweet,
and I also don't like when drinks cover up their
(14:41):
alcohol too much. You know. I like when like, oh,
I'm not drinking a drink and then somebody stand up
and you're gonna fall over, you know, like I wanted.
The alcohol is part of the fun of having a drink,
and this kind of has it all. I got to
ask because you have done so many amazing films and
TV shows, which makes me believe that you're around a
(15:04):
lot of big celebrities at parties, and I imagine you
do what I do at parties, where then all of
a sudden I'm holding court because no one can make
a drink as good as I can. So guess what, guys,
I'm gonna make some drinks. Everyone shut the hell up.
Do you have some some great stories of making drinks for,
you know, big celebrities that people would be like, Wow,
(15:24):
what a cool night that must have been? Well, I
mean none that I can tell. No, I mean actually
the one and I can't name any names on this,
but but some you know, some people I know who
were kind of celebrities. They they wanted to do this party,
kind of like a retro party where they we went
to this kind of you know, mid century kind of
(15:45):
house and they hired this person to give a lecture
on how to do like mid century cocktails and all that.
So this person got up and started making a martini
and they were making it so terrible and wrong that
I had to do I'm like, you, you know, it's
like I can't take this anymore. It's like, can I
please just intervene here? And so end up doing that
and just boost everybody the hell up. And it was terrible,
(16:06):
but they had good martinis. So that's all I'll say.
What do you think is the absolute necessities because this
is this is always a thing that happens when Christmas
time comes around and it's like what should we get,
or like I'll do a gift guide for some outlet
or something, and I'm like, hey, listen, like everyone needs
really good bar supplies, and everyone needs like four or
(16:28):
five really good glasses. What are your go tos when
it comes to your bar necessities and your glasses? Yeah, well,
I mean I talk about this in the book because
I want people to be able to set up their bar.
There's so many different ways in if you're just going
bare bones, you don't have a lot of money, you
just want the essentials. You really just need a good shaker,
you know, And the cobbler is sort of the easiest
(16:51):
because that's the three piece one with a strainer in
the top, because then you don't have to buy a strainer,
and then really, I mean, you just need a jigger
and you're kind of off to the races. You can
use anything else out of the kitchen. I personally prefer
a mixing glass in a big long spoon because I
just think it's a more elegant way to make it.
But glassware that that is the most important part because
(17:14):
you can look, you can make drinks and you know tupperware,
you know, if you want, if nobody has to watch
you do it. But it's the glasses, because you know,
you need cocktail glasses, which are martini glasses. If you
want to do coop, that's fine. You can do like
a fistle glass, eat and you know anything that is
kind of dedicated to a drink that doesn't have ice it,
you know, and then you need a good old fashioned glasses.
(17:37):
I think old fashioned glasses are the key to everything.
You can. Honestly, you could serve a martini in an
whole flashion glass if you eat, and it's just elegant.
Get them heavy bottomed, because you know you're going to
use them for for for scotch and for whiskey. And
there's nothing worse than a light glass of scotch because
you know you're always gonna have like, you know, a
quarter of an inch, you know, the half inch if
(17:59):
you're really getting a bull or a triple or whatever.
But the weight's got to be important on those right.
You want that weight on and you want on the bottom.
You don't want a top heavy glass, so like like
kind of a thinner wall with a big heavy bottom
is pretty great. And then after that, I mean highball glasses,
which are kind of like, you know, not a Tom Collins.
It's a little too thin, but just almost like a
water glass. But it's that, you know, if you watch
(18:21):
those movies from like the nineteen thirties, everybody just had
highball glasses and a thing of seltzer and they poured
some whiskey and they drink everything out of these kind
of taller highball glasses, which abably things looks elegant as hell.
If you got that, you know, in a few wine
glasses where people who want to have wine, you're all
set well, and I guess the last thing you'd need
to have is your Bartenny buck Well, of course, I
(18:43):
mean here it is, you know so, and it's but
I literally tell you how you can. You can understock
you bar, or you can just go bananas with muddlers
and you know, all kinds of stuff. But uh, but
that's the fun. That's the fun of setting up your bar.
Is it slowly grows as your repertoire grows, you know,
and in the especially your bottles, I mean, you know,
it's my house now looks like like a Booze Museum.
(19:04):
You know, there's just a gazillion thing. This is not
my house, by the way, I'm just as the place
I'm renting in Atlanta right now. But yeah, because I
almost because during the pandemic, I really set up like
a test kitchen because I was making so many different
drinks and I would love to find a drink with
like an ingredient that I haven't heard of and then
order it through Drizzly and they would drive it over,
(19:24):
you know, and it just grew and grew, and now
it looks like a booze hoarder's house. Now. Did you
start writing the cookbook before you were doing the Instagram
thing in the pandemic or did it become it came
from the show because I was doing these but I
wouldn't post the recipes because I just want people to
watch it and make them with me. And a lot
of people are just like, can you just write them
(19:44):
down and put them out in something? So I just
started writing them down. But then as I did, I
was like, oh, I've got advice. I want to talk
to you about, you know, about throwing a party and
you know, because knowing that we're gonna be coming out
of the pandemic, just like you know with the Spanish
flue back and the Roaring twenties. You know, that's where
that that's why the Roaring Twenties happened, because everybody was
coming out of you know, three years of lockdown. So
I kind of feel like, yeah, you know, now, you know,
(20:05):
obviously we're still contending with it a bit, but now
that it's sort of ebbing away, you feel people going like,
let's have parties, man, you know. So I really wanted
to do it for that, and then I just also thought, well,
I should each drink should maybe have like a funny
story attached to it. So it just kind of grew
and grew. I love that now when we make cocktails
at my house and my wife actually makes it really
good cocktails. This guy have a two part question. She
makes cocktails in batches, right, And I always think that's
(20:28):
a great way to make cocktails. Four parties specifically, just
so you can kind of like knock out one round
and then knock out a second round and then maybe
a third if the party's going great, and then so
tell me a great cocktail you can actually batch out. Manhattan's.
Manhattan's are great to batch out. And actually my friend
Steve Higgins, you know who's Jimmy Fallenside kick, he got
(20:50):
one of he got like this keg, like a wooden
keg that he makes it and almost kind of ages
it in there, so he'll he'll put it in there
and just kind of let it sit and they just
I just find like, like a Manhattan just gets richer
and richer is you go along. I'm a big fan
of the perfect Manhattan myself, which is instead of you know,
two ounces of bourbon or whiskey and then an ounce
(21:13):
of sweet vermouth, you do half sweet vermouth and half drivermouth,
and it just again, it takes that sweetness of I'm
always trying to get rid of that syrupy thing, you know.
And we talked about the grony. But but yeah, a
batch of Manhattan sitting there for a while is dynamite.
Now the second part of my question here too, because
when it comes to batches, like sometimes like my wife
and I will make cocktails together and literally we'll just
(21:35):
make it up right, Like we'll start off with the idea, Okay,
we're gonna make a margharita, but now we're gonna make
an apple cider margarita right, so like especially right, and
it's they're delicious, but we kind of make it up
as we go. From a chef's perspective, like the culinary cocktails.
When you go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant,
are you end like the modern cocktails to have a
culinary twist to it, because it sounds like you're more
(21:57):
you love the classics? Yeah, yeah, I mean I always
hate to not try them, but every time I try them,
it's not that I don't like them. I always feel like,
you know, now I've lost my window for just having
a great martini with this meal, you know. So, but
I do like to try it, and I like to
look at their ingredients list and going, oh that's cool.
Like if I see something that I'm really drawn to,
(22:18):
I go like, I never would have thought of putting
those two things together, or that sounds interesting, then then
I'll try it. But you know, it's kind of like
when I go to New York and you know, I
want to go see theater, but I also know if
I go see theater, it's going to screw up my dinner.
And you're either you go to see theater or you
go to dinner, you know, and so I always end
up going to dinner. So so that's how I feel
about getting in a fancy cocktail versus a traditional martini.
(22:45):
Before you go, I want to know about your gin,
because it's one thing to write an amazing, you know,
drink book, but like you made your own gin, and
it's like you can go buy it. I know, it's crazy, right,
this is my recipe that I developed, designed the bottle.
So this is not one of these situations of like,
you know, some other celebrities we know who name, let's
(23:06):
just buy into the company. This has like been my
baby for like, I mean, you know, twenty five years
I've been wanting to do this, and about now it's
been seven years I think since we you know, started
the process. And yeah, we've done a ton of awards.
I mean, we got a ninety eight from one of
the magazines, a ninety four from tasting panel. We've won
best and Show Best Gin, and yeah, you know, I
(23:29):
kind of searched the world looking for the perfect gin
and never quite found it. And always from all that
kind of research I did everywhere, but like I know
exactly what needs to taste like, and so that's when
I developed this. It was just I was able to
hit that flavor profile that nobody else I don't feel
has ever really hit. And there's some that are similar,
but I think like we're because we're very It's it's bright. Uh,
(23:51):
it's slightly floral, but not overwhelmingly so. It's slightly citrusy,
not overwhelmingly so. Anybody's got a nice peppery back, backburn,
you know, back finish. And what I love about it
is it really works well as a vodka substitute too.
So any any cocktail that requires vodka, it just gives
it a little more interest I find. Person So, if
you had to describe the flavor of gin, I think
(24:13):
to a lot of people, who are you know, purists? Um?
And yes, sometimes it's hard to get people off of
the blanc of aquila kick Like that's all everybody drinks today,
like vodka, vodka or tequila. Um. Tell everybody, Like, when
you taste gin, what are you tasting you? Well, I mean,
if you're tasting a traditional gin, it's gonna stick with
you this kind of piney taste, uh, you know, which
(24:35):
is why a lot of people don't like gin. I
mean Americans don't in general like gin because of those
traditional beefeaters, you know, which is just like it's it's
like pine salt, you know, and so Jennifer, right, yeah,
super juniper. You can't have gin without juniper um. But
if you can regulate how much there is. And the
great thing about gin is gin is really you know,
(24:55):
at its core, I had to say this flavored vodka, um,
you know, it's ethanol that that then is infused with
these flavors. And but the amount, the number of flavors
you can put into a gin are literally infinite. So
that's why there can be just you know, a gazillion
types of gin. But it just it just makes it
more interesting because my problem with with vodka has always been,
(25:17):
you know, look like a frozen vodka, you know, with
var or something like that. That's fantastic, but it always
feels like I'm pretending I'm not drinking, you know what
I mean, Like they regulate vodka, they not have any flavor,
you know. So it's kind of like again going back
to what I said earlier, I mean, have a drink.
I wanted to taste like a drink, you know, And
so that's why I like about gin, you kinda get
the same, you know, the clear spirits, which actually helped
(25:42):
me out Fellas. I still don't understand why tequila has
gone through the roof the way it has. Everybody says
it's the healthiest one. It's it's lowcal The clear spirits
are lower calan than tequila. So I don't quite know
how this this thing happened where everybody thinks that's the
skinny thing to drink, and everybody's obsessed with it because
(26:02):
Mexico's fine, right, Mexico's exact exactly, but that I just
they attach all these health benefits to it now, and
I'm kind of like, hold on, gang, tequila is great,
but let's not pretend that it's this magical elix. Well,
I bartend in Mexico on TV and everybody it's the
funniest thing in the world. Everyone drinks tequila with pineapple
(26:26):
juice and they're all, you know, really healthy, shredded people
because they're filming on TV and they've got dur in
bathing suits and stuff, and I'm always like, this is hilarious.
This is the this is drink is just sugar and tequila,
Like this is the worst thing you could be drinking
right now. You should be drinking like a martini if
(26:48):
you want to keep it really tight. I don't. I
don't get it. And also it messages with my stomach.
I would much rather have a gin martini than a margarita. Now.
I find there's no worse hangover in this world. Dan
a tequila over, I agree, But to me, the ultimate
skinny drink. And I just put this because I'm very
I'm also very and this is gonna be heresy for
(27:08):
a lot of people. I'm very anti gin and tonic.
I don't like tonic water, but even they had a side.
It's super sugary, it's super high kal but gin and
soda chef's kids, you know, because you you taste the gin,
so you get the taste of the gin. Put lemon
or lime in it, whatever you want. But it's a
total skinny drink compared to you know, definitely compared to
(27:30):
a gin and tonic, but you know, definitely compared to
tequila and pineapple juice. I feel like there would be
a lot of really good garnishes that could go with that,
Like I imagine cucumber would go really well, and mints
or basil also would would go in there really well,
and you can make it like spa water, you know.
I mean I had where they put all kinds of
(27:50):
fruit and stuff in there, and that's really fun. I've
had it where they even put black pepper in there.
There's this one French gin really good called pink pepper
and it's kind of like a pepper e. They just
put like peppercorns in there. So yeah, it's it's a
canvas that you can paint a bart you know. Well, Paul,
it's been so freaking fun to talk with you and
hear your side of making drinks, and as someone who
(28:14):
thinks themselves is a very good bartender, this has been
a good conversation to have everyone out there go buy
a cocktail time. I imagine you can get it everywhere anywhere,
all your bookstores and get on Amazon, and then if
you're interested in Artingstall's Gin, go to Artingstalls gin dot
com to find out where you can get it, because
you can get in some states, you can get in
other states, but you can have a chip to you
(28:35):
in most places, so Artingstalls gin dot com. But well,
I'm in California. Can I get it here? Can I
go to bev money you can need it. Pen Where
are you there, I'm in Studio City. Oh you are, Okay,
go to the Flask. They sell at the Flask. Oh perfect,
all right today nice gin is the tequila you heard
her here first? Yeah, there you go exactly. Paul, Thank
(28:57):
you so much for being on two dudes in the kitchen.
This was a truly enjoyable You're a beauty of a man.
And you know, when you get done with film and
whatever you're doing in Atlanta, please come back to the
West Side and I would like to have a martini
made by you one day. Let's do it. I'm in
for that, And thank you so much. I can talk
about this stuff all day and you guys are great,
and I really you appreciate you having me on. See you, buddy,
(29:19):
Thank you so much, Thank you. Thanks Paul, take care
of her. See he's fun. Huh. First of all, as
the old radio host, I wish I had that voice.
Like he's obviously super talented from all the things that
he does, and then like he has this whole side
business of making drinks and cookbooks and gin. What can't
(29:40):
Paul do? Yeah, you just appreciate when someone's got such
a passionate side hustle that they could literally replace her
full time job with it. Right, Like this guy could
start a beverage company start you know, you know, becoming
like the gin king of California. Right. A whole handful
of cookbooks like this, especially cocktail books, I mean, because
cocktails right now are literally about a third of what
(30:02):
we talked about from an R and D standpoint in
our restaurants, because it's always cocktail time, it's always new
cocktail season. So we get together with our beverage team
and we start coming up with cocktails that we think
are great. And I have really hard rules about them.
They can't be fussy when you know, they can't be
like overly engineered. They've got to be very very clean
(30:22):
and really kind of respecting the spirit first and foremost, right,
which I think is I think, really really successful for cocktails. Right,
And that's silly, but I just love his perspective. I
think it's great man. Yeah, And it's it's funny because
there are so many similarities when it comes to making
good drinks and making good food, and a lot of
it is you can play around with things and try
(30:44):
different things. But what I've found that is the most
like similar in both of them, is the simple things
are always the best things. Yeah, Like my favorite drinks
are martinis or old fashions or negronis, and those are
the easiest drinks to make. There are generally three things
and good ice, and like that's it. And then when
(31:07):
it comes to food too, it's like I need garlic,
I need butter, I need a good protein and maybe
some rosemary or something and salt, and like that'll be
like one of the best things ever. You know, I
just don't mess it up. And I'm with you, right,
because I think less is more. I think really really
great cocktails it's all about their strength, because every everybody
can start putting a ton of things into the shaker,
(31:27):
but you really kind of end up with this like
muddy blurry, you know, drink that doesn't really taste like
anything in particular. But I do respect and love our
beversheen because my god, are been brilliant, right, I mean
those come up with cocktails that are just like yummy. Right.
We have these things that are like either stippers or slammers. Right,
So the slammers are things that are like, oh my god,
(31:48):
it's so delicious. I could literally just like chug the
whole thing. And those things that we call like snippers
are about like snugglers things you just want to save
her for a little while. I just love kind of
going through our R and D thing. We do it
about three and a half times a year, flip our
our cocktail lists over. So this next time in San Francisco,
if it happens to be at that time, we'd love
to maybe have a celebrity drink from you. Would that
be fun? Oh yeah? Or I just want to be
(32:09):
there for like the trying of different things, and I
just I just want free booze, Tyler, that's really all all.
It's all I want free booze and free stick. You
eat for free in my restaurants, you know that anytime.
My friend, I gotta say, Paul's done a lot of
smart things in his life, but maybe one of the
smartest things was figuring out a way to write off, well,
I have to go around and try every gin because
(32:30):
I'm gonna start a gin company, right, Oh my god, genius.
I love that. That's good. And Jen is one of
those things, man, It's definitely a a preferred taste, right,
like not everybody's into it. Um Like, you know, I
have restaurants in San Francisco. We kind of live in
the suburbs. So a lot of our friends that kind
of live in the suburbs with us are like tequila vodka,
(32:53):
you know, really really great white burgundy and kind of
getting the same things over and over again. So I'm
gonna I'm gonna take his leave. Then I'm gonna get
some jen to start making up. I think you said, man,
all right, well today was good. I'm gonna go. I
think make a drink. Yeah, it's like I'm get a
little thirsty. I didn't have sounds delicious. It's good. It's
five o'clock somewhere. Man, let's go exactly all right, see
(33:13):
you buddy, all right, take care. Thanks all right, guys,
thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at two Dudes
in a Kitchen. Make sure to write us a review
and leave us five stars. We'll take that and we'll
see you guys next time. See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.