Dale DeGroff
American bartenderWikipedia
18
MENTIONS
8
EPISODES
6
PODCASTS
Search complete. 18 mentions across 8 episodes found for "Dale DeGroff".
Oct 8, 2026
Sother TeagueHOST
There was a Howard Johnson's everywhere.
Sother TeagueHOST
In fact, if you go far enough back, you can find the quote from Dale DeGroff where he, he uses Howard Johnson's in his statement about, like, the, quote-unquote, "cocktail revolution." I'm gonna loosely paraphrase it, but he said, um, "The cocktail revolution will be won when you can get a decent," and the strong word is decent, "when you can get a decent Negroni at any Howard Johnson's." And I feel like we've won, even though Howard Johnson's is gone now.
Sother TeagueHOST
I think they're, I think they're completely gone.
Tim McKirdyHOST
I've never, I've never encountered one.
Greg BoehmGUEST
Thank you very much.
Francis SchottHOST
Uh, Mud Puddle Books, I remember, Greg, uh, when I started in the cocktail business, um, I had been a bartender for a number of years, owned my own place for less than a year, and I had the great good fortune to meet Dale DeGroff, sort of the founder of the modern cocktail revolution.
Francis SchottHOST
And, um, I was amazed at when he schooled me, uh, in cocktails 'cause I didn't think cocktails could be really complex.
Francis SchottHOST
I was sort of a wine snob And then I was amazed once again after we became friends, and he took me into his little office stacked with out-of-print cocktail books, hard-to-find cocktail books, things I'd never heard of
Greg BoehmGUEST
So we were publishing books, uh, at Sterling Publishing Company, which was our family business, by a guy named Salvatore Calabrese.
Francis SchottHOST
Sure.
Greg BoehmGUEST
Um, and actually you mentioned Dale DeGroff.
Greg BoehmGUEST
The first time I met him was we brought Salvatore Calabrese over from London for an event, uh, at The Rainbow Room hosted by Dale DeGroff, uh, for the book launch of Salvatore's Classic Cocktail Book.
Noah RothbaumGUEST
Nobody's really re-thought about it.
Noah RothbaumGUEST
Like, we've thought about new drinks, but we haven't actually thought about the craft of bartending maybe since Dale DeGroff's, like, pioneering book came out, you know, which I have my original copy, which is now ratty because I've used it so many [laughs] times looking in it.
Francis SchottHOST
Right.
Francis SchottHOST
Right.
Toby MaloneyGUEST
Yeah.
Francis SchottHOST
And then, and then Dale came in, Dale DeGroff came in and crafted the cocktail.
Francis SchottHOST
Those were all very carefully measured, and most people weren't really accurate pourers.
Toby MaloneyGUEST
Mm-hmm.
11 MINS LATER
Francis SchottHOST
Sure.
Jackson CannonGUEST
Um, but the DNA that really started that was with our owner, Garrett Harker.
Jackson CannonGUEST
He was at Number Nine Park, and he heard Dale DeGroff speak, um, early 2000s about that disconnect between-
Francis SchottHOST
Mm
Philip DuffHOST
Having a mentor take you by the hand.
Philip DuffHOST
Like, I repeat this in almost every episode, but do you know how Dale DeGroff got into the bar business? I actually don't, so please enlighten me.
Philip DuffHOST
His brother worked for an ad agency.
Philip DuffHOST
And one of the ad agency's clients was Restaurant Associates, which built Windows on the World and the Rainbow Room and the Forum of the Twelve Caesars, all of this.
Dan DunnHOST
...
Dan DunnHOST
Dale DeGroff, who is, you know, arguably the most famous bartender in the world.
Dan DunnHOST
He's certainly the guy, I think, who ushered in everything that's happening here.
Dan DunnHOST
And I r- and I didn't know anything.
Ryan FoleyGUEST
Dad did most of the writing himself for a long time, and then eventually branched out where all of our...
Ryan FoleyGUEST
Dale DeGroff has been a writer.
Ryan FoleyGUEST
There's been countless people that have written for us over the years.
Ryan FoleyGUEST
And since I've taken over, I continue to do the same thing.
20 MINS LATER
Ryan FoleyGUEST
But we're close to 300 members of the Bartender Hall of Fame.
Ryan FoleyGUEST
And as you imagine, and like I discussed, it's a lot of folks that you have heard of before.
Ryan FoleyGUEST
Dale DeGroff was Hall of Fame in 1993.
Ryan FoleyGUEST
And it's just really cool.
ChrisHOST
So I've kind of been watching his stuff passively as I do other stuff.
ChrisHOST
And Tony Abuganan, who very quickly is probably the second most for – renowned bartender in this country other than Dale DeGroff in New York, who's done so much for the industry in like the last 30 years.
ChrisHOST
He created the cocktail program at the Bellagio when it opened in 1999.
ChrisHOST
I'm not going to do his resume for him.