I sat down with St. John Frizell, who founded Fort Defiance bar in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighbourhood back in 2009, and brought Gage & Tollner, long the most vaunted fine-dining restaurant in Brooklyn since it opened in 1879, back to life in 2021 (yep, 2021!) after it lay dormant and closed for almost two decades. I met St. John when he taught a seminar I attended on the subject of playboy travel and food & drinks writer  Charles H. Baker, Jr., at Tales of the Cocktail, around 2006 or 2007; in fact, his seminar inspired the first-ever cocktail menu at door 74 (which I opened in Amsterdam in 2008), which was all Charles H. Baker, Jr., cocktails. We kicked it for several hours and it's all here: laundry tips for white shirts, why martinis now cost $21, St. John's exciting new side hustle as a liquor smuggler, why he'll open more Sunken Harbor Clubs but not more Gage & Tollners, world premiere of the Sunken Harbor Club Membership Scheme, serving Hearsts, the old Pegu Club,  having to relearn the art of concentration, and a whole bunch more. We were fuelled solely by coffee, so me and St. John should really do this again some time with a drink in hand!St. John on IG: St John Frizell (@stjohnfrizell) • Instagram photos and videos Gage & Tollner on IG: Gage & Tollner (@gage.and.tollner) • Instagram photos and videos Fort Defiance on IG: Fort Defiance (@fortdefiance) • Instagram photos and videos  Get in touch with Duff!Podcast business enquiries: consulting@liquidsolutions.orgPhilip’s company, Liquid Solutions (on-trade engagement & education, brand creation): philip@liquidsolutions.org Philip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipsduff/ Philip on Facebook: Philip Duff Philip on X/Twitter: Philip Duff (@philipduff) / Twitter Philip on LinkedIn: linkedin.com Old Duff Genever on Instagram: Old Duff Genever (@oldduffgenever) • Instagram photos and videos Old Duff Genever on Facebook: facebook.com Old Duff Genever on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oldduffgenever?lang=en www.oldduffgenever.com Buy Old Duff Genever: http://www.oldduffgenever.com/order-page.html