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Serves You Right
Serves You Right episodes
- #96 Michael Ruhlman: Can a Ratio Replace 1,000 Recipes?
Most bartenders treat cocktails like a vocabulary test. Memorize 200 specs, drill the classics, hope the right one surfaces under pressure on a busy Friday night. It's exhausting, brittle, and a losing skill to keep training. Sadly, this is how I learned.
Michael Ruhlman, the writer behind The French Laundry Cookbook with Thomas Keller and the cult-favorite Ratio, argues the entire hospitality industry has been drilling the wrong muscle for decades. Cocktails aren't recipes to be memorized. They're families governed by ratios. Once you see the underlying math (two parts spirit, one part vermouth, dash of bitters) you stop memorizing the Manhattan, the Rob Roy, the Martinez, the Palmetto, the Star. You generate them. This episode is the missing layer between recipe collecting and real fluency behind the bar, anchored in the fundamental ratios that quietly govern almost every classic on a menu.
Expect to Learn:
- The ratios that quietly govern almost every dish a chef sends out
- Why the Manhattan is the only cocktail a new bartender should learn first, and what it unlocks
- The accidental moment a complaint email turned into a major book deal with one of New York's biggest publishers
- How a 20-year-old cookbook sold 25,000 copies in 9 months because of one YouTube post from a London chef
- The one Negroni tweak almost every working bartender already makes…and why the "official" ratio is actually not as delicious
Links:
- Ruhlman.com
- Ruhlman's Substack
- The Book of Cocktail Ratios
- Ratio
- The Making of a Chef
- The French Laundry Cookbook
- Marcella Kriebel (illustrator + ratio coasters)
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
46 min - #95 Ryan Fitzgerald: Fired to On Fire, an Entrepreneurial Journey
Most bartenders who want to open a bar think the barrier is capital. A lot of people think if they get fired, their life and future work prospects will be ruined. Ryan Fitzgerald disproves both ideas. The San Francisco cocktail scene is one of the most competitive hospitality markets in the world, and ABV has operated there for over a decade by rejecting the playbook everyone else follows: no silverware, no batched drinks, no dedicated servers, no Instagrammable cocktails, and a TV hidden behind a wall. If your bar ownership plan starts with investors taking the majority, or your cocktail bar is built around what photographs well instead of what drinks well, or you think serepisode is vers and bartenders can stay in their lanes, this the missing insight…from a man who co-founded a bar with equal ownership and equal work, and who learned agave spirits from Julio Bermejo himself before that was a résumé line people bragged about.
EXPECT TO LEARN:
- Why Ryan deliberately waited years to open a bar when everyone told him to do it soonerThe exact ownership structure Ryan and his partners insisted on (and the investor deal he walked away from) that he credits as the single biggest reason ABV survived
- How getting fired while already invited to Tales of the Cocktail led directly to a brand ambassador offer from Del Maguey, and what he did on the way out the door that made the offer possible
- The no-silverware, no-server, bartenders-only floor model ABV runs on, and why it solved their training pipeline problem in a way traditional bar staffing never could
- What Julio Bermejo taught him in three eight-hour tequila education sessions that changed how he thinks about spirits, and the single thing Ron Cooper told visiting groups at Oaxacan distilleries that Ryan still carries with him today
LINKS:
- ABV Bar, San Francisco\
- Instagram: @abvsf
- Instagram: @ihatecocktails
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
1 hr 6 min - #94 Wink Lorch: Little Known Grapes and Regions in France You Need to Know About
Most wine education teaches you France through the obvious lens: Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne. But there's an entire Alpine world that New York sommeliers discovered before Paris did, and most wine lovers have never heard of it.
Wink Lorch has spent decades doing what no one else was doing: becoming the world's foremost authority on the wines of the French Alps. Not because it was a cleaver career move, but more because when she drove past those mountain vineyards on ski trips in the early 90s, something pulled her in and never let go.
In this episode, she breaks down why Savoie got lumped together with Jura for "editorial convenience," how a catastrophic 1248 landslide directly shaped the region's most-planted grape, and why the best wines in these mountains are still almost invisible on restaurant lists across America. She also gets specific: which grape to start with, what label trap to avoid ordering in a ski resort restaurant, and why low-alcohol Alpine whites may be the most climate-future-proof wines in France. The classic regions are crowded, overpriced, and varietal-labeled to death. Expand your tasting journey and reap the rewards.
Expect to Learn:
- Why the wines of Savoie and Jura were grouped together for decades and why that framing is actively misleading if you want to understand either region
- The 13th-century landslide that wiped out an entire population and directly determined which grape variety dominates the region today
- The one label detail that separates a crisp, low-alcohol Alpine white from a rich 14% Roussanne Why obscure Alpine grape varieties like Jacquère and Altesse may be better positioned for climate change than the classic French varieties everyone else is planting
- What's actually worth looking for in the US market right now, and what a wine and cheese tour of Savoie and Jura actually looks like on the ground
Links:
- More about Wink Lorch
- Buy Her Books
- The Savoie & Jura Wine and Food tour: June 28 - July 5 2026
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
53 min - #93 Steve Matthiasson: What Exactly Does the Wine World Need?
That high-alcohol, hot, sticky Napa Cab on your shelf isn't a winemaking problem, it's a farming problem.
Steve Matthiason has been quietly proving this for over 30 years. He's been a vineyard consultant to some of the biggest names in Napa…Spottswoode, Chappellet…and the founder of Matthiason Wines, a label that started with five barrels in 2003 and now ships to 46 states and 25 countries. He's a self-described old punk rocker, a UC Davis-trained organic farmer, and one of the most honest voices in the industry about what the words on your bottle actually mean.
In this episode Steve breaks down why "sustainable" is the wine world's most abused word and the simple farming shift that makes Matthiason wines purer and clearer than almost anything coming out of his region. He also gets vulnerable about the parts of his own operation that still aren't there yet…including the tractors he hasn't been able to quit.
If you sell wine, drink wine, or pour wine for a living, you'll hear the inside of an industry that talks a lot but rarely tells the truth. And you'll learn the one thing to check on a winery's website that tells you whether their values are real…before you ever pull the cork.
Expect to Learn:
- Why "sustainable" is the wine world's most abused word…and what serious producers say instead
- The farming shift that quietly creates the high-alcohol, heavy Napa style most of us complain about
- The two phases of organic farming most certified vineyards never reach
- How Steve runs five harvest passes per vineyard and ends up with 150 separate lots per vintage
- The signals on a winery's website that tells you whether their values are real
Links:
- Matthiason Wines
- Lodi Rules Sustainable Winegrowing
- The New California Wine by Jon Bonné
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
50 min - #92 Ralph Mandarino: Necromantic Beers in a Gluten Filled World
If you're thinking about starting a craft brewery, or you've been in one for years, you may want to rethink the conventional playbook. Most founders assume great beer builds a great business. The real game is experience design, distribution strategy, and building a category others have written off.
Ralph Mandarino of Necromantic Brewing Co. figured this out the hard way, launching a dedicated gluten-free, horror-themed craft brewery on Long Island during COVID with no roadmap, no precedent, and no room for error. This episode is the missing insight for anyone in the beverage industry who thinks differentiation starts and ends with what's in the glass.
Expect to Learn:
- Why there are only about 20 dedicated gluten-free breweries in the entire world...and what that gap means for someone willing to fill it
- The single mindset shift that separates breweries still standing from the ones that closed after 8–10 years in business
- How Ralph discovered that his actual job has almost nothing to do with brewing beer
- The counterintuitive location strategy that turns a competitor's wait line into your walk-in traffic
- Why distributors resist gluten-free products, and the self-distribution move Ralph is using to build leverage before they come knocking
Links:
- Necromantic's Eventbrite
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
42 min - #91 Chris Morris: Bacardi to Balvenie, a Bartender's Life
Most bartenders approach spirit education backwards. They master what they love, then try to share it…and wonder why it doesn't land. Whether it's peated Scotch, high-proof mezcal, or a Manhattan that's 80% Carpano, the instinct to share your passion is exactly what loses people. Chris Morris, former single malt ambassador for Brown-Forman and veteran of Houston's serious cocktail scene, has spent a career doing the opposite: finding the entry point that makes someone want to go further on their own. This episode is the tactical framework behind that instinct, and it applies whether you're selling a spirit, building a program, or just trying to get your buddy off Canadian Club.
Expect to Learn:
- Why the first question you ask a spirit-curious guest matters more than the bottle you reach for, and how Chris actually does it
- The Brown-Forman origin story that turned an off-shift whiskey session into a brand ambassador gig (and what made it work)
- What a bad Manhattan trend from 2014 reveals about how most bartenders think about cocktail components
- The philosophy behind hiring at Anvil (Houston's most influential craft cocktail bar) that has less to do with skill and more to do with personality fit to the job
- Why Chris gave six months' notice for bartending at a Michelin-starred bar, what that decision cost him, and what it unlocked
Links:
- Bar Zolo, Houston, TX
- Eazy's Liquor Lounge, Houston Heights, TX
- Two of Chris' favorite scotches:Bunnahabhain , Kilchoman
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
38 min - #90 Alice Feiring: What's Actually In Your Wine Glass?
How deeply can you alter wine before you’re selling a lie?
This episode is about wine, the people that make it, and the mystic of that elusive word “Natural.” It’s a story all about the desire to control wine, manufacture it, contain it, industrialize it.
Alice Feiring and I grapple with some of the big questions in big wine: Who decides what tastes good? Why do entire industries bend toward one critic’s preference? And how is that quietly erasing thousands of years of tradition without you noticing?
Oh, and serial killers make an appearance, for good measure.
Expect to learn:
- The hidden force that made bold, “loud” wines dominate the market
- How to tell in seconds if a wine is alive or manipulated
- Why expensive wine often has nothing to do with quality
- The overlooked skill that separates elite sommeliers from everyone else
- How to train your palate faster without certifications or gatekeepers
Links:
- Alice Feiring Substack
- Instagram: @alice.feiring
- Alice Feiring Books
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
55 min - #89 David Kong: Upgrade Your Glass, Upgrade Your Life
You may not dislike your bottle of wine. You might just be overpaying for wine and under-experiencing it.
The industry wants you to focus on bottles, regions, and price tags while ignoring the thing in your hand that directly controls taste at the moment of consumption. If your wine tastes inconsistent, muted, or underwhelming, this episode is a must listen.
David Kong, the entrepreneur behind Glasvin is on a mission to help the world enjoy wine, one thin glass at a time.
Expect to learn:
- Why a bad glass can destroy up to half the value of a great bottle
- The 2 physical traits that matter more than shape, brand, or price
- How high-end restaurants use glassware to increase wine sales
- The hidden economics of breakage and why it signals success
- How to instantly test and feel the difference without guessing
Links:
- Find David's Glassware
- David's Data Platform
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
43 min - #88 Wine with Anya: Will Wine Certification Help Your Career?
Most people think they “don’t get wine.” I’d say that’s not true. The industry often trains you to feel that way. And the people from inside the tent? Burned out, selling bottles they don’t even believe in.
In this episode, you meet someone who walked straight through that machine… and walked away to do her own thing.
She chased certification, worked inside one of the biggest wine distributors in the world and realized something uncomfortable: wine in business isn’t always about taste…it’s about pressure, perception, and profit.
You’ll hear the exact moment she realized she knew far less than she thought. The brutal truth about certifications that nobody says out loud. And the one simple shift that makes ordering wine feel effortless instead of embarrassing.
People ordering wine chase labels, ratings, and approval instead of understanding what they actually like. That’s why they feel intimidated ordering at restaurants, default to the same safe bottle, and assume experts know something they don’t. This episode breaks that illusion.
Expect to learn:
- Why wine “expertise” often has nothing to do with taste
- The fastest way to learn wine without spending thousands
- What to do when a server clearly doesn’t know wine
- How to order a bottle confidently in any restaurant
- The hidden reason people attack wine content online
Links:
- Instagram: Wine with Anya
- Court of Master Sommeliers
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in bars. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess that can be a life working in bars, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
58 min - #87 Kim Haasarud: Are Bar Owners Waiting for a Guest Who No Longer Exists
Most hospitality operators are running a broken strategy and calling it optimism. They are sourcing the same ingredients, targeting the same guest, and waiting for a market that structurally no longer exists. The middle of the market is hollowing out, consumer spending has split into luxury experiences and high-value basics, and the bar industry's third space identity is being competed away by bookstores, online communities, and drive-through coffee brands that have cracked Gen Z culture without serving a single craft cocktail.
Kim Haasarud, 20-year beverage innovation veteran, author of eight cocktail books including the 101 series published by John Wiley & Sons, USBG leader, and consultant to national chains and hotel groups, brings the strategic clarity this industry desperately needs. This conversation is a direct challenge to the way you are thinking about your concept, your menu, your competitions, and your creative identity.
Expect to Learn:
- What the Stockdale Paradox reveals about why hospitality optimism is killing businesses right now, and the specific mental shift operators need to make before it is too late to pivot.
- The exact reason competition judges can identify an AI-generated entry within seconds, and what you must do instead to make your submission the one they remember.
- Why the "I work busy shifts, I know how to make drinks fast" mindset is actively sabotaging your competition performance, and the unconventional practice method a world-class winner uses to stay on pace under pressure.
- How the economy is forcing every concept into a binary choice, and the creative frameworks successful operators are using right now to position on either end rather than disappear in the middle.
- The single most important rule in any competition, the one that most experienced bartenders still skip, and why violating it results in automatic disqualification with zero chance of appeal.
Links:
- Kim Haasarud on Substack
- Kim Haasarud on LinkedIn
- Liquid Architecture
- The United States Bartenders Guild (USBG)
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler's blog
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- Doug Frost MW MS
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
- Tony Abou-Ganim
- Bobby "G" Gleason
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
1 hr
About Serves You Right
From the publisher's feed
Most bartenders are great at their jobs and have no idea what to do with that...
Nobody tells you that the skills behind the bar: reading people, building experiences, thinking fast under pressure, are actually worth something. They just hand you a shaker and hope you figure it out.
Serves You Right is for bartenders who are done drifting and ready to do something. Every episode, host Andrew Roy talks with the people who are currently doing something inspiring, and pulls out exactly how they did it.
Your career behind the bar is the starting point. Not the ceiling. Let's make some drinks!