Pouring the Perfect Pint: Inside Gus O'Connor's and Gus's Snug - Episode 200

Pouring the Perfect Pint: Inside Gus O'Connor's and Gus's Snug.

Raise a proper pint as we celebrate our 200th episode at Gus's Snug in downtown Clawson, Michigan! This milestone deserves something special, and our guest Dimitry Goyfman delivers with his fascinating journey from Moscow to becoming one of Michigan's premier Irish pub proprietors.

Born in Russia and fluent in the language, Dimitry shares how he accidentally stumbled into the hospitality industry after an unemployment office visit led him to Ruby Tuesday's. His natural talent for making people happy eventually brought him to Gus O'Connor's in Rochester, where he worked his way up to become part-owner before opening the second location, Gus's Snug, in Clawson.

What makes an Irish pub truly authentic? For Dimitry, it required firsthand research in Ireland, where he discovered that beyond the decor, real Irish pubs embody community, camaraderie, and genuine hospitality. We explore the fascinating history behind "the snug" – those semi-private spaces originally created so women and clergy could drink discreetly, away from the main bar area where men gathered.

The conversation flows like a perfect Guinness pour as we discuss the meticulous art of serving a proper 20-ounce pint, complete with shamrock foam art. Dimitry reveals why cleaning lines every three weeks makes all the difference and explains why Irish cider tastes better over ice. The menu at both establishments honors traditional Irish dishes like boxties, shepherd's pie, and scotch eggs while supporting local Michigan suppliers.

As St. Patrick's Day approaches, Dimitry shares what makes their celebrations special, from the 7am openings with free Irish breakfasts to the beloved "blessing of the pint" ceremony. Our blind Irish whiskey tasting reveals surprising preferences, and we're treated to the story behind Dimitry's unique Tullamore Dew blend, custom-created during a distillery tour in Ireland.

Pour yourself something smooth and join us for this landmark episode celebrating 200 conversations about spirits, community, and the stories that bring us together. Sláinte!

https://linktr.ee/ManCaveHappyHour

www.ManCaveHappyHour.com

Jamie Flanagan @DJJamieDetroit

Matt Fox @fox_beazlefox

Merch www.WearingFunny.com

Chapters

• 0:00 200th Episode Celebration
• 3:43 Dimitri's Journey from Russia to Michigan
• 8:43 The Birth of Gus's Irish Pubs
• 17:52 Authentic Irish Food and Menu
• 27:36 The History and Meaning of The Snug
• 33:43 St. Patrick's Day Celebrations
• 41:34 The Perfect Guinness Pour
• 47:47 Irish Whiskeys and Special Tastings

Transcript

Jamie Flanagan: 0:02

I said hey, hey, welcome to the man Cave Happy Hour.

Matt Fox: 0:09

I said hey, hey, welcome to the man Cave Happy Hour.

August Gitschlag: 0:16

We're gonna drink a fine whiskey and smoke a really fine cigar.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:24

It is time for Happy Hour. It is the man Cave Happy Hour Whiskey, cigar, spirits, the stories that go along with it. I'm Jamie Flanagan. This right here is August Gitschlag.

August Gitschlag: 0:35

That's Matt Fox over there. Hi, we haven't been together in a while, fellas.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:38

It's been a few weeks. It's been a couple weeks.

August Gitschlag: 0:41

You were dying of another random virus that was going around. I had all that funeral. You know you were dying of another random virus that was going around.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:47

Yeah, I know, and I had all that funeral shit to deal with. Oh, yeah, yeah and yeah so. But I just yeah, I didn't want to spread the love with the germs, so I decided to park it at home.

August Gitschlag: 0:57

Yeah, it's a nice refreshing break to not be in the studio.

Matt Fox: 1:01

Some creamy pints just came out on a tray. Oh my goodness, look at that. And what's on top of that creamy pint? Oh, there's a gorgeous shamrock.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:10

A proper poured pint, Right, Because you guys know I love Guinness. Yes, you're a Guinness guy and it's what I do. I'm at a bar. I'm like, yeah, Guinness. And they're like, uh, in a can. I'm at a bar. I'm like, get us. They're like in a can. I'm like give me a PBR. I'm like, screw it, I can handle the can.

August Gitschlag: 1:28

I don't like the bottle. I had the bottle. The other day I was at Motor City in Hampshire. If I have to, I'll give you a can.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:34

Give me a pint. Give me a well-poured pint. It makes me a happy, happy man.

August Gitschlag: 1:40

Other than that forget about it.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:41

I don't want that. I don't want to start any fights and then other people go oh well, we have this milkshake stout. I'm like, no, it's not a Guinness, get out of my face.

August Gitschlag: 1:50

I went through a phase where I was only drinking Murphy's.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:52

I went through a Murphy's Irish stout phase. I remember Murphy's I salute Murphy's always.

August Gitschlag: 1:56

It was nice, creamy it's. We're going to Dimitri. We're going to get to you in a second, I swear we're here.

Jamie Flanagan: 2:09

No, no worries, we're at Gus's.

Matt Fox: 2:10

Snug.

Jamie Flanagan: 2:11

No, yeah, and we're going to talk a lot. We're going to talk about Dimitri.

Matt Fox: 2:21

But before we do that, gentlemen, the elephant in the join us in this.

Dimitry Goyfman: 2:24

This is our 200th episode. You get to be on episode 200.

Jamie Flanagan: 2:26

I am honored Ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, it's.

Matt Fox: 2:33

Oh, 200. We've drank 200 times together.

August Gitschlag: 2:37

I think it's a lot. It's going to be in that sum.

Jamie Flanagan: 2:39

That's just on the audio feed too. There's been shenanigans, there's things that haven't made it to the audio feed, there's been some fuzzy math and a couple that had to go away for various reasons, but, as the audio feed says, this will be episode 200. So I just wanted to say cheers and thank you, too, for your….

August Gitschlag: 3:02

Thank you for bringing us along on this ride, buddy. It's been a blast.

Matt Fox: 3:06

It's been fun.

Jamie Flanagan: 3:07

This has been a lot of fun and we've been doing just a crap ton of fun things like hanging out and meeting people who do great things with spirits and do great things in the community and have just a crap ton of fun, and with us today at Gus's Snug in downtown Clawson, Dimitri. Welcome to Mackey.

Dimitry Goyfman: 3:26

Well, thank you very much. Honored to be here for the 200th episode. Thanks, man, it's special. Well, you are special. I'm sure your mom told you that too. She has many sides.

Jamie Flanagan: 3:35

Because I was posting some stuff and I'm like, oh crap, the next one's going to be 200. What are we going to do?

Matt Fox: 3:41

And then we started talking.

Jamie Flanagan: 3:42

Let's do this, let's do this, let's do this, and then we had this lined up and I'm like screw it.

Dimitry Goyfman: 3:47

Love the.

Jamie Flanagan: 3:47

Irish.

August Gitschlag: 3:48

It's going to be the snug. Look at the hell with it. And our second episode in City of Clawson yes, so 200. And second year, yes, second, down south.

Jamie Flanagan: 4:09

But, Dimitry, we're going to find out, because Gus's snug Gus is a smaller version, a slightly smaller version of Gus O'Connor's in downtown Rochester and it's snuggie. I'm digging this place. We're going to find out all about that, but before we get to about the two pubs, I want to find out a little bit about you, dimitri. Dimitri, tell me about your childhood, bam.

Dimitry Goyfman: 4:22

There it is. Well, I was born in Moscow, Russia. Oh really, Absolutely, See I love that question.

Jamie Flanagan: 4:27

People go. That's such a dumb question Get out.

Dimitry Goyfman: 4:30

Well, yeah, and then your name's Dimitri. Which one? Yeah, A lot of people ask me if I'm Greek but no Russian. Okay, but I lived there until I was 10, so Fluent.

Matt Fox: 4:40

Still I am, yes, I'm very fluent.

Dimitry Goyfman: 4:44

Reading is tough for me, but I just have fun with them. You know he's working things out.

Jamie Flanagan: 4:51

I hope, yeah, yeah, jesus, mary Joseph.

August Gitschlag: 4:53

So your parents keep your Russian going. Huh, yeah, yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 4:56

My mom, my family, we always just speak Russian, Otherwise you forget it. I mean, I've been here almost 30 years, so you know, and then I go back there, I have family, so then it's good practice.

Matt Fox: 5:08

Very cool. Yeah, you got to keep your palate moving you know, absolutely, keep the vernacular there.

Dimitry Goyfman: 5:12

Yeah, got to remember all the swear words.

Jamie Flanagan: 5:14

Did you come right to Michigan or were there other stops in Michigan?

Dimitry Goyfman: 5:17

We went to New York and Brooklyn, as a lot of Russians do so, and A lot of Russians do.

Jamie Flanagan: 5:26

And then came to Michigan. All right, how long have you been a Michigan boy?

Dimitry Goyfman: 5:29

Very long time, and do you consider yourself a?

Matt Fox: 5:31

Michigan boy, I do, absolutely yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 5:33

What's the dirtiest thing you can say in Russian. You know that's. I don't know. Do you own a lot?

August Gitschlag: 5:38

of tracksuits.

Dimitry Goyfman: 5:39

You know what I don't, but when I came here, I'm pretty sure I was wearing a red Adidas tracksuit.

August Gitschlag: 5:45

Of course you were.

Dimitry Goyfman: 5:46

Pretty sure.

Jamie Flanagan: 5:47

Pretty sure you got to come to the tracksuit party.

August Gitschlag: 5:49

Yes for sure I throw a tracksuit fundraiser every year when we're as vintage tracksuits.

Dimitry Goyfman: 5:53

Oh, there you go. Okay, I can fit in there.

August Gitschlag: 5:58

Yeah, we've done it like 13 times now and we're as money. Yeah, so that's why.

Jamie Flanagan: 6:02

That's awesome. We've got a connection. I'm down All right. So as you get to Michigan, what led you into the bar life and the hospitality industry?

Dimitry Goyfman: 6:14

That's actually a great question. I kind of ended up here by accident. I used to so. In high school I lived in Rochester, Okay, and a buddy of mine got me a great job at a great oaks country club and it was great because we parked some cars and we go smoke some weed and then wait for them to get done.

Dimitry Goyfman: 6:35

Well, nobody's doing anything for hours they're all golfing, yeah. So I was doing that and then um didn't want to time. I just said they're close. So they said go get unemployment. I said okay, and you know I didn't know I'm out. They said they're closed, so they said go get unemployment. I said okay, and you know I didn't know I'm like okay, go ahead and get unemployment. And by an unemployment office there was a Ruby Tuesdays that was hired.

August Gitschlag: 6:54

I said well, I'll just go get a job. So I ended up working there. Love that mentality, got that corporate background. Yeah, absolutely. I worked in bars for 18 years and you'd get a hold of a TGIF. You know a TGI Friday's bartender or a Ruby Tuesday's bartender. That was portion control trained.

Matt Fox: 7:09

Oh yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 7:09

That was gold. Oh yeah, the TGI Friday's bartenders. I remember then they'd do some flair too.

Jamie Flanagan: 7:17

That's funny. So that brought you into your first experience with hospitality. What got you into it? How did you get involved with Gus O'Connor's and yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 7:26

So I kind of went from there and you know, I just figured out I enjoyed, I like cooking at home, I like entertaining, so I just enjoyed making people happy and I was good at it. So then you know, I started, I went to a couple of different places. The server and I worked for Bravo and I became like a corporate trainer and learned how to bartend. So that kind of really got me more involved. And one of my regulars said hey, I know this cool bar downtown Rochester just opened a few years ago. They're looking for somebody to help them out. They need a good bartender. So I said, let me check it out. And that kind of ended up being there and I didn't like it. Back then I would go in there. I'm like this place is not that fun. But you know what? It got much better after that.

Jamie Flanagan: 8:12

And here we are. So what is your position with Gus O'Connor's and Gus's Snug?

Dimitry Goyfman: 8:17

So I'm one of the owners, so I actually worked at O'Connor's for a very long time to, kind of. Then I figured out, I said you know what I really like this, we've done a lot of great things. And I partnered up, you know, made a plan to buy it out Half of it out, from the current owner, and you know the rest is history.

Jamie Flanagan: 8:36

and then this place kind of happened by accident, as long as you're, you know, bankrolled by that Russian mob. You're all right. Yeah, we put these rolling on.

Dimitry Goyfman: 8:44

Not cool, jamie. You know my dad was actually part of the Russian mob. See what you did. See what you did.

August Gitschlag: 8:50

I think that's why my mom said we need to get the hell out of here. We can't put this online, right, right right.

Dimitry Goyfman: 8:57

It's all right, we're good.

August Gitschlag: 8:58

I have a lot of track suits, I'll fit in, I'll fit in.

Jamie Flanagan: 9:03

So this place happened by just a happy accident, is it?

Dimitry Goyfman: 9:07

Yeah, you know what, we weren't really looking to do another place, but a friend of mine, one of my best friends, mike O'Connor.

Matt Fox: 9:14

Yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 9:15

Ironic, right, right, that just so happens. And he calls me one day and says hey, there's this place. I saw in Claussen, it looks pretty cool. So I came in here and I checked it out and I said you know what, if I'm ever going to do another one, this is going to be the spot. It just felt right. Yeah, and I didn't even know the history of this place. Oh, it has a history, exactly right, that's what I found out.

Jamie Flanagan: 9:38

It's got so much of a history. The bar next door has t-shirts saying that they're not them.

August Gitschlag: 9:42

Right, it says no, this wasn't. Boost was new, so that's hilarious.

Dimitry Goyfman: 9:49

Well, I found out that because, as we open, I got all kinds of people coming in. I had a guy come in. He was probably in his mid to late eighties. He's a. Yeah, I used to work here at Ted's oh geez, and Ted's opened in like 1923 or something crazy like 100 years ago, my goodness. And so that's kind of cool.

Matt Fox: 10:09

It is cool there's some history going on over here, yeah.

August Gitschlag: 10:13

Yeah, well, when they built out after Moose was Newskies, they put a ton of money in this place and it never came out of COVID. Right, because I was just I just started here in town working in Cawson and it just I'm like I just started here in town working in Clawson and I felt so bad for them Because I was like they put a bunch of money in, they were ready to go and everyone went in and then everything got shut down.

August Gitschlag: 10:29

And they just never really got their momentum. And I'm like you ever go into a place I'm sure you've done this D where you walk into a place like this is going to be a great bar for the third owner down the route.

Dimitry Goyfman: 10:45

COVID was tough. It was tough for our industry. We had Rochester. We tried to stay relevant and do the carryout stuff. That really, I think, helped us a lot because people remember who you were, your Piedmontese, though. That's what kept you out there as well because that's the only reason why I come back absolutely.

Jamie Flanagan: 11:10

Those are delicious. So it began in rochester, um, there there's some unique things about the building in the space, uh, and there's things about this space, um, that have a traditional irish feel to them, more than places like we're an Irish pub and then you're like you walk in and you're like the hell, y'all.

August Gitschlag: 11:28

It's a couple of Guinness mirrors.

Dimitry Goyfman: 11:29

Yes, I've been to a lot of those places.

Jamie Flanagan: 11:33

So what being a Russian dude? Why is it important to I?

August Gitschlag: 11:39

would have guessed Irish. Most people do. They say either Irish or Greek, with a name like Dimitri, and they're like you're Russian, what are you doing?

Dimitry Goyfman: 11:46

in the Irish club? I said you know what Good thing is? Ireland and Russia are always going to get along. They have whiskey, we got vodka. There's nothing to fight for, right? So we're good Plenty of trade there.

Jamie Flanagan: 11:56

Exactly. So what are some of the things that you try to infuse into the spaces, to bases, to make them genuinely an Irish experience?

Dimitry Goyfman: 12:04

You know, that's a good question and I asked that question to myself when I started working at O'Connor's. I said, you know, once I was there for a little while I got the owner and the manager and we're sitting there having a pie and I said, okay, this place looks cool, it looks like an Irish pub. What really makes it an Irish pub? Though? Real alcoholics working in the kitchen.

August Gitschlag: 12:23

Okay, you're not getting any. What really makes it an Irish pub, though? Real alcoholics working in the kitchen.

Dimitry Goyfman: 12:26

Okay, you're not getting any food. So I said I said I got to go to Ireland. I got to find out because I've never been. So we put a trip together, we went and you know, what I found was what the Irish is really about is about that hospitality, about the camaraderie and being part of your community. So, um, we tried to get that feel and, of course, making it look authentic, and so o'connor's was actually built by a uh, I think they call it now pop in a box, right, so they basically build everything in ireland.

Dimitry Goyfman: 13:00

they and they ship everything over and they put it it together and here you have your Irish pub. So here we took a little bit of a different approach, because whatever cost 20 years ago when they did O'Connor's, probably cost 20 times more now, right? So we actually myself, our contractor Kevin, my partner we went to Ireland, and this was a hard trip. I'll tell you what because all we had to do is visit as many pubs as we can. Oh my God, that's a tough trip man. It is.

August Gitschlag: 13:30

It's so tough, so let me know what you made Sounds like the worst time ever. We made a lot of sacrifices that trip.

Dimitry Goyfman: 13:38

Absolutely, and so I've been there a few times, but this particular trip, I've been there a few times, but this particular trip, I've never been to the north. So, belfast, we're actually sitting in a snub, that's called. Belfast. So we went to the north. It was a little different. It was good, but I liked the little bit different culture there. What year were you there? So this was. So we opened, because that makes a difference, so I was in 23. Oh, okay, 24.

August Gitschlag: 14:05

23, yeah, so post-COVID yeah right post-COVID. Okay.

Dimitry Goyfman: 14:08

So lots of history of the unrest and all that stuff.

Jamie Flanagan: 14:12

Yeah, where was your first visit, though? This was your recon for this, but when was that first visit?

Dimitry Goyfman: 14:17

Oh gosh, I've been there like five times, but usually stay at like Dublin. We've done the Rio Cari, so we've kind of been all over.

Jamie Flanagan: 14:24

Sure, sure Galway is one of my favorites. When was the first trip?

Dimitry Goyfman: 14:27

Oh, the first trip gosh A long time ago, like 15 years ago.

Jamie Flanagan: 14:33

It's interesting, though, when you travel. The first time I went was 97. It was my family's from the north, but we were doing, you know, around the Republic, and then we're like, all right, let's go see our cousins. And we head on up and and there's, like you know, 20 foot fence and razor wire, full metal jackets, yeah, yeah. And then we're driving through the town there's burnt out cars and cause.

Dimitry Goyfman: 15:05

we went on, like you know, the, the the second week of july, which is the week when they blow shit up.

Jamie Flanagan: 15:08

Yeah, okay, yeah. So we went. The perfect freaking time is when they're blowing crap up. You know the week of the parades and what have you. But, um, and then I went back 10 years later with my sister and we're driving, we're trying to go north to see our cousins again. We're driving, driving, driving, like when we're gonna hit the border and I'm like, wow, we gotta stop there is no border we gotta stop for gas.

Jamie Flanagan: 15:27

Stop for gas, it was in pounds and I'm like, oh crap, we're in the north. That whole, that whole border was gone. That whole thing was gone, although we went back again, uh, and it was getting a little tense again. There was a little bit more presence again, so it really depends on when you went.

Dimitry Goyfman: 15:41

Yeah, I think my first trip had to be like 2010, maybe so, but it was just great to see. Well, you know part of being Russian, so for a long time I wasn't a citizen. I have been for a long time now, but back then I wasn't. So, yeah, right, I'm good, I got my papers, I got my passport. But you know, back then we couldn't go north because it would have been a problem for me, because I didn't get a different visa and all that, so that's why we always stayed.

August Gitschlag: 16:12

The Brexit changed a lot of that. Made it chippy again too. The Brexit breakup oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Made it chippy. That's a good way, yep.

Dimitry Goyfman: 16:19

But yeah it was great. I mean, I love the history of Belfast. It was beautiful, All right we sidetracked.

Jamie Flanagan: 16:25

So the first one was a pub in a box. There's a lot of really authentic stuff in the Rochester place. But then when you were to build this one out, you did a little of your own recon and you had to visit a ton of pubs. What did you bring back? Or did you physically bring things back or order things?

Dimitry Goyfman: 16:41

You know what? Yes, order things or just bring things. Yes, we did bring some stuff physically back, a lot of the posters and things you see on the wall. Actually, this art that's behind you, this mural that's from a bar in Belfast that we saw, it's the Jameson Titanic sinking into a rocks west Jameson, ah nice.

Jamie Flanagan: 17:02

Does he build?

Matt Fox: 17:02

that up yeah, a lot of them.

Dimitry Goyfman: 17:05

You'll see like this white star line. So that's the Titanic line that basically operated the ships. So you'll see, like in the main dining room, there's some more pictures of Belfast workers. I think it was the biggest shipbuilding city in the world at that time. So a lot of that industrial feel. So you know, we definitely were looking at how to design it and what we noticed a lot of times and you'll notice here is so Ireland's old A lot of the pubs are super old right, america's like got nothing on that.

Dimitry Goyfman: 17:43

We're 250 years old.

August Gitschlag: 17:44

Yeah, exactly Like there you're like oh, like got nothing on that and we're 250 years old.

Dimitry Goyfman: 17:45

Yeah, exactly, like there you're like oh yeah, the oldest bar is like 3000 years old. They used to behead people here for fun.

Matt Fox: 17:51

You know what I mean. I'm like, okay, that's cool.

Dimitry Goyfman: 17:54

So one of the biggest thing I noticed was when we go into these old pubs, a lot of times you'll have that little pub. They expand it, so you'll be in the part of the building that's super old and different and then you go in the next room and it's totally different and because it's been added on, so we tried to get that 300 years old.

Dimitry Goyfman: 18:14

Yes, absolutely right. Yeah, so we tried to get that feel here. So you don't look in the ceiling, you'll have different things going on there in different areas, so, um, so we tried to bring that warm feel back. Yeah, you did an amazing job here. Yeah, we learned how to drink a lot of pints together. So that was probably the most important thing.

August Gitschlag: 18:33

There you go. So we are on the eve of St Patrick's Day here. We've got about a week to go right, A week from tomorrow.

Jamie Flanagan: 18:40

Exactly a week from tomorrow Council of Counties in Rochester has always been one of the big parties. The radio stations always fight for you guys to get their name out there and promote that day, and you know the party I'm sure is important to the culture of the place. So what's in store for the two locations now that you've got to have two shows?

Dimitry Goyfman: 19:03

Yeah, well, last year was our first year of having two shows and at first I was, like you know, after I called Kevin.

Matt Fox: 19:09

I said hey.

Dimitry Goyfman: 19:10

Kevin, I want to do another call. He goes what are you fucking stupid you got more problems I said, yeah, I guess so. And then he goes well, how are you going to be in two? First year here I think we had a great turnout. Everybody had a great time. So I got some great people that have been working our event in Rochester forever.

Matt Fox: 19:32

So I, they kind of understand. You know the what's going to happen. You trust them with the ship.

Dimitry Goyfman: 19:38

Well, I shipped them off to the island. They're like so you shipped us off to a different island, I go. No, you got your own island.

Matt Fox: 19:44

You're looking at it the wrong way. There's a cadence to the day and they understand that cadence Absolutely. Yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 19:50

And you know that day we want to. It's not just a drunk fest, you know, we want people to have a great time and not, you know, a lot of people go. Well, it's Amateur Day, I go. Amateur Day is like for Thanksgiving, st Benny's Day, true Is an Irish holiday Right. So we, we do a pretty good, good job, I think a lot of entertainment.

Jamie Flanagan: 20:10

What do you have coming in? So what's on tap for the two places?

Dimitry Goyfman: 20:13

Yeah, so I can kind of talk about Rochester first. So well, as you mentioned, we work with radio stations. This year we're working with 995.

Jamie Flanagan: 20:23

Yep, I got hired from them all, so it doesn't matter. So you can talk to any station you want to go to. Perfect, all right, I love this guy.

Dimitry Goyfman: 20:29

Nobody will hire me. Well, you got your own podcast.

Jamie Flanagan: 20:32

I do I do so.

Dimitry Goyfman: 20:34

we open. Both places open at 7 am. We'll have a live broadcast going from the morning show and then what's cool is so if you want that real Irish experience, that's why you gotta come at 7 in the morning, because that's probably when they drink there. So, but At both places we're going to do first 100. Guinness will be on site. First 100 people will get a nice little gift from Guinness and that's when you can hear authentic Irish music. We do a free breakfast with cover. Oh nice. So a nice Irish breakfast from 7 to 10. One of my favorite things we started doing a while ago and we do a blessing of the pint. You would enjoy this.

Jamie Flanagan: 21:13

Oh, okay, irish Catholic boy.

Dimitry Goyfman: 21:15

Yeah, so we have a priest in quotes. Me and him get on the bar in Rochester and he reads a nice little eulogy that's fun about regulars and everything he knows about the pub and then we do a toast. So a lot of people really come out for that one.

August Gitschlag: 21:29

You know I am a man of the cloth, Jamie. I've performed about 15 weddings. I can't bless beer. What's your status on?

Dimitry Goyfman: 21:36

divorces. On those, I only have one oh good, that's impressive, that is impressive. Well done, well done. So, yeah, the whole day is filled with you know both places. We have two music stages, one outside in the tent, one inside. So tons of bands, tons of full bars.

Jamie Flanagan: 21:58

So it's a great time, I mean so all right. So that's st patrick's day. Shenanigans, which is a beast in and of it itself, uh, always an experience but, it's always just a little better when you're in an actual irish pub right, I think so too.

Dimitry Goyfman: 22:09

You know everybody's irish that day. But I would say you know everybody can party with that. Well, I never. I messed that one up. Get a good look at the pictures. There's a really hot girl that's walked by and excused.

Matt Fox: 22:26

So if you had to give anyone some advice that are out and they think they're going to go bar hopping on St Patty's Day, what is some of the piece of advice you can give to them? Is it visit one or two places, or go to as many places as you can and include Rochester, O'Connor's and here as well?

Dimitry Goyfman: 22:44

You know, before I started an Irish bar gig on St Paddy's Day, we'd get a limo or a bus and go to as many bars as we could. So can't say you've got to stay at one, you've got to stay at one, you got to spread the love. But I think for sure you have to hit an authentic irish pub, oh yeah, and there's some great ones around, not just ours. But I think that's where you're going to get the experience, because so I was saying, you know, that day, everybody, you know everybody's irish, everybody wants to have. Sure, you know, come drink, drink green beer and all that. But I think you get that real experience in the authentic Irish pub.

Matt Fox: 23:20

Make sure you're here for the blessing of the pint.

Jamie Flanagan: 23:24

As a kid, it was always Old.

Dimitry Goyfman: 23:25

Shillelagh Yep I used to work at the door there.

Jamie Flanagan: 23:31

I mean that's a great, great establishment. The tip on Southfield was always a good one. That's like long gone.

August Gitschlag: 23:37

On the east side was Pet O'Brien's over there on 10 and Jefferson. I did that a lot as a kid All right, all right.

Jamie Flanagan: 23:42

So that's one day. The other 364 days, you're doing your Irish thing. What about the menu? Right? So I've eaten here a couple of times and I've enjoyed it. Colleen was annoyed because she doesn't like people.

Matt Fox: 23:59

It was like jockeying for a seat A lot of people.

Jamie Flanagan: 24:01

It's great for you because it's busy and she didn't like it because that's the only thing she didn't like. She liked it when you poured the pints. Well, she just didn't like to have to jockey for the seat you just came on the wrong day.

Dimitry Goyfman: 24:12

You've got to come during the week.

Jamie Flanagan: 24:13

You guys are usually hopping.

Dimitry Goyfman: 24:15

It was a weekday.

Matt Fox: 24:16

It was a good day. It was a good day.

Jamie Flanagan: 24:18

So tell me about the menu. What do we got on the menu at Gus's Snug and Gus O'Connor's, and is it traditional Irish at all?

Dimitry Goyfman: 24:27

Yeah, you know, we kind of have a mix of both. You know, you've been to Ireland and I think, until my last trip. I don't think they're the culinary mecca of the world.

Jamie Flanagan: 24:37

No, Not to fund anybody?

August Gitschlag: 24:40

No, you find the right place Exactly. The United Kingdom is not a food paradise.

Jamie Flanagan: 24:44

No, but you get the right place doing seafood yes. It's amazing, it's insane, yes, but then there's this place. We rolled in late and we're trying to get to our bed and breakfast and we're like we need food and they're like well, the only thing is going to be the Doyle chipper, you head on down. Oh the nice chipper, the chipper, so we go. Everything was deep fried in the same thing. So the fish, the burgers, everything was deep fried, the burgers.

August Gitschlag: 25:16

It was like everything was deep fried and in the same oil. Everything just tasted like a fish. My heart just skipped a beat, so not so much yeah, you know what we do.

Jamie Flanagan: 25:24

Actually that was quite the adventure. You know, I travel quite a bit and sometimes that late night food is the highlights only where you're eating.

Dimitry Goyfman: 25:34

sometimes that's the day not so much, but yeah, you know Only where you're eating. Sometimes I stay, not so much, but yeah, you know our menu. We kind of we use a lot of fresh ingredients. We're known for our burgers, like you mentioned the Piedmontese Burger, one of my favorites.

Dimitry Goyfman: 25:46

Our Wagyu Burger is very popular and we actually use Fairway Packing Company I don't know if you guys know Out of beautiful Fraser Michigan. Yes, sir, yeah, beautiful Fraser Michigan. Yes, sir, yeah. So they just moved to Fraser. Yeah, they just opened a new facility. Yeah, great guys. And you know we use fresh ground, nothing's frozen. And then it's for Irish. You know, we do our. We make all of our own stews, so shepherd's pie is probably one of our more popular dishes. You know Guinness stew, so those are super authentic.

Matt Fox: 26:17

We do the scotch eggs which, yep, you don't see those out in the market, you know, at restaurants very often, you know you really can't buy them.

Dimitry Goyfman: 26:21

That's why you got to make them by hand, huh. So you can't buy a scotch egg that's like pre-made. You know, cisco uh delivered. No, no, so right so um, so we do the bangers mash. You know, obviously corned beef. So we use a global corned beef. They're out of Eastern market, yeah, they are. I mean I've tried to, you know I like with ways they do a pretty good job. But you know we just stick with the global and I do enjoy that.

Matt Fox: 26:48

You is that you really do support local.

Jamie Flanagan: 26:50

Yeah, everything has been mentioned.

Matt Fox: 26:52

Yeah, I really love that fact that you guys support local air.

August Gitschlag: 26:55

It's fantastic. It's not like a big generic food truck pulls up and you unload all the frozen stuff, right, yeah, no I mean other than that.

Dimitry Goyfman: 27:01

You know, especially here I got a tiny freezer. The only thing I keep in there is fries, so you know that's what you got to do, what you got to do there, right, that's. We do boxies. So this location here in Clawson it's a little smaller kitchen, so unfortunately we just can't execute those Right, but in Rochester the boxies are super popular. And that is a very authentic Irish dish.

Matt Fox: 27:26

Tell me what that is, I have no idea what you're talking about. I've had the boxie in Rochester, so it's a potato pancake and you know boxies can be all different.

Dimitry Goyfman: 27:37

The and you know boxies can be all different. The way we do them is we do a potato pancake and then we stuff it with different ingredients so we have like a corned beef box, the Irish bacon box, the seafood box. That sounds like I love it. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to say it, I'm not going to lie. It's not the healthiest thing for you.

August Gitschlag: 27:47

I live in downtown. That's why it's so dark.

Dimitry Goyfman: 27:59

Yeah, there you go. So, yeah, similar to a Polish potato pancake kind of deal. So those are probably one of the most authentic dishes we do. Obviously, I mentioned corned beef and, believe it or not, if you go to Ireland when you were in Ireland, did you find corned beef?

Jamie Flanagan: 28:07

No, oh, no, no, that's a New York Jewish thing.

Matt Fox: 28:09

That's an American Irish thing. That's because the Jews and the Irish lived together.

Jamie Flanagan: 28:11

Yes, and in New York it was like that's the only thing we got. It was sheep brisket Nobody wanted brisket back then.

Dimitry Goyfman: 28:20

Now it's like gold because everybody wants to smoke it. Back then, brisket potatoes, it was just sheep, it's more of an Irish-Jewish-American. The menu is versed. We have some good appetizers, things like that, but your chicken tenders were just nothing but chicken.

Matt Fox: 28:41

We caught them by hand, fresh, not frozen.

Dimitry Goyfman: 28:43

I still got to finish them and it's going to take me the rest of the night to do it.

Matt Fox: 28:46

They're amazing.

Dimitry Goyfman: 28:47

Yeah Well, thank you.

Jamie Flanagan: 28:48

We got a lot more to cover, because we're going to talk about drinking soon.

Matt Fox: 28:54

We haven't even discussed.

Jamie Flanagan: 28:55

I know, I know We've just been drinking, I know we've been drinking, so we're going to talk about the Guinness, we're going to talk about the other, because you've got some beautiful things on the taps, and we're going to talk whiskey in a minute as well. But before we do that, you said one of the important things about Ireland and Irish pubs was the community, absolutely, and being part of the community. So how does Gus make itself part of the community?

Dimitry Goyfman: 29:19

That's a good question. You know we try to be involved with Answer it, damn it. Well, yeah, we try to be involved. You know, support local schools, any charities I was just talking about earlier. We're working with St Baldrick's. We do that every year right around this time, so that's great and we just try to be responsible to the community, not just throwing out drunks on the street you have to be cognizant of what's going on out there.

Matt Fox: 29:48

So then you can ask the question what can we help you with, what can we do with you? You have to keep your head on a swivel in that regard. I'm so happy you do that.

Dimitry Goyfman: 29:56

Yeah, we try to. We try to. You know it's hard because you get a lot of people that you know need help and want. So I always try to focus. Even when people coming in and say, hey, I got this event, I got this charity, my first question is, where is it? And I want it to be within, you know, clausen, within my immediate community. I mean, other people do need help and we want to support them, but we want to support the people that support us first, fair, and I think that's kind of my outlook on that. And you know we talked about Irish pubs and the Snug. We'll have to talk about the Snug meeting at some point.

Matt Fox: 30:32

Okay, we've got to talk about it now.

Jamie Flanagan: 30:36

So where did the name of the snub company?

Dimitry Goyfman: 30:39

So the snub. So I think that ties into the community a lot. So you know, in Ireland again it's been like a million years old, right? So back in the day. You know a lot of Irish towns. So Ireland's spread out, there's a bunch of these little towns, and all these little towns they have a church, a pub and probably a grocery store. Sure, they didn't have gas stations back then because there was no gas right.

Matt Fox: 31:03

I've seen Waking the Divine, so go on.

Dimitry Goyfman: 31:07

So back then, for men and women to drink in the same establishment, what was frowned upon by the church? I believe.

Jamie Flanagan: 31:16

I could be wrong.

Dimitry Goyfman: 31:16

I don don't know fact checkers out there, but, um, that's what I was told. So, so what they did and they said, okay, well, where are we gonna go? We gotta be in a that's only one place. So that's how they came up with the snug. Okay, so all of your old irish pubs will have a snug, and that's a little room. It's just a lot of times off the bar area where it's secluded, and that's where they would put women and priests and that's where they would sit and drink. As the guys sat at the bar and drank.

Jamie Flanagan: 31:44

So we're in a small clergy room here actually recording the show.

August Gitschlag: 31:47

We're one of two snugs you have in here, right? Yes, we have two, because I was putting one on a date night. One night we went to Weiss Came over here with my little one With Brett Coon and a few other people and they put us up there like, oh, this is interesting, it's a semi-private room, okay.

Matt Fox: 31:59

I like it.

August Gitschlag: 32:00

So, yeah, we sat back there and had our cocktails, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 32:06

A lot of people ask what is it? I guess, O'Connor's as well. Up in Rochester there's a, an Irish pub. That doesn't always get done right, it gets a little lost in translation, but you guys do a fine job of it, thank you.

Dimitry Goyfman: 32:22

I think having it right off the bar is where it's at Our second one is in the back of the pub, which is nice, but it's a little smaller. It's a little more private, but it's fair.

August Gitschlag: 32:32

The bartender can get the finds faster.

Matt Fox: 32:40

You leave the remotes here so they can watch whatever they want. That's awesome sometimes. Sometimes it can be a little concerning, you know. So over here, over the door, here over the uh it's. This little emblem says what does that mean?

August Gitschlag: 32:48

kiss my ass yes all right, that's one of the things I brought back from ireland.

Dimitry Goyfman: 32:55

Definitely did I say that properly I think so, yeah, all right, yeah, my gail, because a lot of it's all good.

Matt Fox: 33:03

Wow, that's great. I just I was curious, so now I know all right but you know, back to the community.

Dimitry Goyfman: 33:08

So the pubs are a center of the community. Yeah, because people go there to celebrate good things, bad things, and then the snogs. They would have meetings like city meetings and deal making. So they were an essential part of it. So you know to be, you know, that authentic Irish pub. That's why we kind of try to go after. And you know we're like, oh, do you want to name the other place, o'connor's? I was like well, it's not exactly the same. So I don't want people to come in here and expect it's got to have its own identity. So then I said why not snog? Nobody knows what that means and it sounds interesting.

Matt Fox: 33:44

Thank you for that.

Jamie Flanagan: 33:47

So you have entertainment here several nights a week Almost all of them, right.

Dimitry Goyfman: 33:52

Yeah, we do. I want to say four nights a week, okay, Yep, so we do live music and we always use our local artists. So Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays here we have live music, and then Sundays at both pubs we do traditional Irish.

Jamie Flanagan: 34:09

There you go, setting up. Right now it's like 5 o'clock, yeah, like 5-ish Eastern Standard Time. I'm excited to have a pint and listen to a little Irish music.

Matt Fox: 34:19

I can hang for about 15, 20 minutes at that point yeah.

August Gitschlag: 34:23

I might be convinced to do so if I had the proper Irish whiskey in front of me. Ah, we're going to get to the whiskey.

Dimitry Goyfman: 34:30

I have a special one for you. We're celebrating.

Jamie Flanagan: 34:33

Don't forget, this is our 200th episode. That's right. We brought you on for the very, very special two. No pressure, Well where's the bell?

Matt Fox: 34:42

I hear the bell Ding ding.

Jamie Flanagan: 34:43

I'm just saying but before we get to the whiskey, I do want to get to the whiskey. I want to talk about your taps and I want to talk about the Guinness, because your bartenders, to be your gals, back there behind the bar, the bar wenches, they pour a proper pint, they do it up, proper pint tenfold because they draw out the little shamrock and what have you.

Dimitry Goyfman: 35:07

That's something you don't see a lot Not everybody gets that right.

Matt Fox: 35:10

I've seen that in Southeast Michigan. The foam has to be right.

Jamie Flanagan: 35:13

The pour has to be right. The bartender's got to be right to make that happen, and we've had. I had two. There's been a few on the table and they've all come out just gorgeous.

August Gitschlag: 35:24

I had the Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale with the Nitro Pour. That's a good one. It's delicious.

Dimitry Goyfman: 35:30

I pretty much made the distributor bring that in, just for us it took them like a year to get it here. After I went to Ireland I said there's this stuff called Kilkenny. How come you guys don't have it? They're like what they bring it in now? Been bringing it in for a long time.

Jamie Flanagan: 35:48

It's good stuff. It's one of the few places you can get it.

Dimitry Goyfman: 35:52

I think there's a handful of places that serve it. I just thought it was kind of cool I'm like, hey, we'll sell it if you bring it right.

Jamie Flanagan: 35:59

So and then, because people people would argue that a pint in ireland is is so much better than the pint in the states. I've heard that and it is. It's good. But one of the things is I know that just the, the, the brewery will send out. They send out teams to like to the pubs and like big and small everywhere, and they make sure that they're pouring them right and they clean out the lines and they so how? Because there's places that I know oh, we're out of Guinness and then the, you know they pour it as like a fresh barrel and it's like it tastes like dogma and it's like cause you know they haven't cleaned their lines or any of those things that they're supposed to do.

Jamie Flanagan: 36:37

So, as far as that goes, does Guinness mandate things for you to do with your lines and keep them clean, and what?

Dimitry Goyfman: 36:43

do you do? You know that's a great question. Unfortunately, they don't mandate it.

Jamie Flanagan: 36:47

None of the companies do. But they do on the island. They go out and they do it for the pubs.

Dimitry Goyfman: 36:52

Yes, absolutely. So. You know a lot of people will say it's just not the same Guinness as there. And you know I agree with you. It does taste a little better there, but I think it's because you're there.

Jamie Flanagan: 37:02

You're there, right, it's a little fresher. It's not coming across the table.

Matt Fox: 37:05

That's the word I was looking for it's right from it's so close. Yes, it's got to come so far away to here and it takes time, yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 37:14

But the Guinness we get here, at least for sure in Michigan, is coming from Dublin. Right, so it is coming from there, but they don't us. They do send training teams to places to make sure they pour them right, which I don't know if it works great, because I would say more than 75% of places I go in order to get us. It's not done correctly.

Matt Fox: 37:33

Well, it's when you pour it.

Dimitry Goyfman: 37:35

You let the glass fill up to about 75% full stop, yep, and let it settle a little bit and then finish it off.

Matt Fox: 37:51

I got this when I was in ireland.

Jamie Flanagan: 37:52

It's a little card that tells a bartender or someone, exactly how to pour it, and it's like how, how it's got the little thing to tell you how long your head's supposed to be, absolutely how exactly to pour. It's an art it really is.

August Gitschlag: 37:59

But yeah, we get our lines. I mean, I think I'll show that to a bartender?

Jamie Flanagan: 38:04

you should, yeah and what I I said was it's funny because the place I get a pint poured correctly more often than not is at Buffalo Wild Wings.

August Gitschlag: 38:16

Corporate Morning. Don't sleep on that More often than not.

Jamie Flanagan: 38:22

I get a proper poured pint at the Buffalo Wild Wings. That's awesome, that's what gets me awesome, I'll see it here. Yeah, and you know that's what gets me in. I'll pop in. You know, on an afternoon I just work on my computer for a couple minutes and have just a nice pint, because it's just nice to have a nice pint you know it just makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

Dimitry Goyfman: 38:39

You know, snob, it does.

Matt Fox: 38:42

That's snug.

Dimitry Goyfman: 38:46

So you go to the house follow the protocols? Yeah, we do the training. We make sure we use the right glass, obviously Right right, and you know we do clean our lines every three weeks, so I mean that helps, that's good, that helps huge.

Jamie Flanagan: 38:58

Yeah, it's different. It's like people don't do that. So you got the Kilkenny. I like that you pour them in the proper glasses.

Dimitry Goyfman: 39:02

All of our Irish pints are pined at a proper 20 ounce.

Jamie Flanagan: 39:05

In the proper 20 ounce. You know what?

Dimitry Goyfman: 39:07

else I don't understand is I'm not going to mention it, but I go to a couple of different places and they go. Do you want a short or a tall Guinness?

August Gitschlag: 39:15

And I go. What do you mean?

Matt Fox: 39:17

What do you mean? A pint of Guinness is a pint of Guinness. It's a 20 ounce pint of Guinness.

Dimitry Goyfman: 39:22

Pour me a damn pint, yeah. So. But yeah, I get confused.

Jamie Flanagan: 39:29

Like your water glass is like a traditional. That's a 16 ounce, and that's what a lot of places pour as a pint.

August Gitschlag: 39:33

Yeah that's not proper.

Dimitry Goyfman: 39:36

If you go to Ireland and get one of those, you're not in Ireland. That's a half pint. They do have half pints. Yeah, they do.

Jamie Flanagan: 39:46

I do like that Because it's like, oh well, I'm going to pump the brakes, so I'll have a couple half-bites.

Dimitry Goyfman: 39:51

It makes you feel better about yourself.

August Gitschlag: 39:54

I'll have eight and a half-bites, that's great Well, I'll find myself doing that at microbreweries, because it's high-gravity stuff.

Dimitry Goyfman: 40:01

It's not bad stuff, yeah, if you drink the whole pint you're done. Yeah you've got to forget you know the Russian Imperial styles especially. Those are butt-kickers, those Russians again, they're high-gravity beer. Here's what I'm saying about Gus's.

Jamie Flanagan: 40:16

You have a nice set of taps, so what do we got on tap that's got the Irish flavor to it, as far as ciders and the other?

August Gitschlag: 40:24

Why do you care? You only drink Guinness? No Irish flavor to it as far as ciders and the other. Why do you care you only drink Guinness?

Jamie Flanagan: 40:27

I know Do you mix your Guinness? I love the ciders too. Do you mix your Guinness? I do. I do a half and half. I have soda all the time.

Dimitry Goyfman: 40:32

That's why I drink it with yeast when I'm at soccer. Matches. The Black Velvet I believe it's called the.

August Gitschlag: 40:37

Magners and Guinness Yep, so I had the.

Matt Fox: 40:40

Magners, tonight, tonight I've already finished my second one. I might go back for a third, but you guys keep talking about Guinness. I might have to go back to.

Jamie Flanagan: 40:50

Guinness, I'm crazy. Michigan we had a 50-degree day, so everybody lost a damn month.

Dimitry Goyfman: 40:56

I saw somebody driving a convertible today. It was crazy. It was the first day over 50 degrees in two months, everybody lost their mind.

Jamie Flanagan: 41:05

A nice Irish cider, a nice cider on a sunny, stayed over 50 degrees in two months and everybody's like but a nice Irish cider, a nice cider on a sunny day, it's beautiful.

Dimitry Goyfman: 41:11

So yeah, I mean, at both pubs we have Guinness Park, kilkenny, and then we uh, smittix, of course I like a nice Smittix.

August Gitschlag: 41:19

I was looking for a Smittix shirt.

Dimitry Goyfman: 41:21

I don't know if Killian's still around, but I hate to break it to people. I don't know if Killian's still around, but I hate to break it to people. I don't think Killian's is Irish. I don't think it is. It's Budweiser.

August Gitschlag: 41:30

Red yes, exactly.

Dimitry Goyfman: 41:31

But hey, you know, back in the day you selected the Killians. Yeah.

August Gitschlag: 41:34

So it was the only option. It was the only option A Porter, a Guinness or that?

Dimitry Goyfman: 41:38

Yeah, and then we do Magners, yeah. So you know, magners in Ireland is called. Balmers.

Matt Fox: 41:44

It's called Balmers, I don't know why but same logo, just Balmers. I don't know why. Why the name change?

Dimitry Goyfman: 41:51

I have no idea. Sometimes you'll see Magners as well, but I'm going to teach you how to drink Magners. Okay, you've got to put some ice in it.

Jamie Flanagan: 42:02

Really yes, over ice is the way it's supposed to do it Too icing it Really.

Dimitry Goyfman: 42:05

Yes, over ice is the way it's supposed to do it. Too late. I'm getting a Guinness now, the night's not over. But yeah, I didn't know that either. But when I was in Ireland I ordered a Balmer's and they served it to me with nice full rocks glass, you know, pint with ice. It was fucking delicious, it was good and I recommend it to everybody. Say, hey, you like cider. Try it with some ice.

Matt Fox: 42:32

So your bar staff they're very well, they have a lot of knowledge. Because when I got here, I was really thinking about what I wanted to do and I asked okay, so you have Blake's on, you have Blake's here as well, correct?

Dimitry Goyfman: 42:42

Yes, absolutely. I love Blake's. They do a good night's shop Amazing stuff over there.

Matt Fox: 42:45

But she's like but we have this kind. I'm like, well, what else do you have? And she's like well, we got the Magners. You'll probably like it. I'm like I'll give it a shot.

Dimitry Goyfman: 43:02

I'll try anything once, and I want to try itchuck.

Jamie Flanagan: 43:04

Those were sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, oh sweet, Way too sweet, and Colleen hated them and when we were in Ireland she was like, oh my God, this is it?

Matt Fox: 43:11

That's right.

August Gitschlag: 43:12

Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 43:14

And so you know, even though it's English, you know the strongbow.

Dimitry Goyfman: 43:19

Strongbow was the closest we could get. Yes, yeah, and now it's actually hard to get it. We used to have Strongbow on draft for a long time.

August Gitschlag: 43:25

The good, solid dry Strongbow is great, and they just continued it in.

Jamie Flanagan: 43:28

Michigan. There's a couple places you can get the 16-ounce or the 20-ounce cans.

August Gitschlag: 43:34

They're old then, because they'll say Strongbow Gold. Oh yeah, and that's not it, that's the change it hasn't been for 10 years now.

Jamie Flanagan: 43:41

Really yes, because you're a bar boy too. But yeah, the Magnus is just gorgeous too.

Dimitry Goyfman: 43:51

You know what? For me it cuts that sweetness a little bit.

Matt Fox: 43:54

That's fair, because it had a little sweet tone to it. But it was delicious. It really was delicious.

Dimitry Goyfman: 43:59

But Balmers in Ireland, yes, Balmers in Ireland I think they have Magnus too, but you see the either or and I'm not really sure what the difference is, I was told it's the same.

Jamie Flanagan: 44:09

I'll do. I'll do another if I may, please. So all right. So, but now we want to talk about the spirits on the shelves, right Cause a lot of times we talk about the whiskeys, and let us remind you that this is our 200th episode.

Dimitry Goyfman: 44:25

A lot of whis been talked about there. You guys know way more than I do.

Jamie Flanagan: 44:30

Ben. So we did a blind tasting and we had some Green Dot and we had Tullamore Dew, tullamore Dew.

Matt Fox: 44:43

We had Bushmills, jameson, jameson, black Bar Dew, tullamore Dew.

August Gitschlag: 44:45

We had Bushmills, jameson, jameson.

Jamie Flanagan: 44:47

Black Barrel, black Barrel, yeah, and we had the proper 12. I think we had five or six of them. We had seven bottles.

Dimitry Goyfman: 44:54

We tried five. I got to do this stuff with you guys more often.

August Gitschlag: 44:58

My girlfriend came in with a tray where they're all numbered and we had to, like try to guess.

Jamie Flanagan: 45:02

I love that because we knew what was coming, yeah, but we didn't know what they were, so we were tasting them, trying to figure out which ones we like the best. So we had, so two gingers too, which is like yeah, yeah yeah, but it's uh so so, yeah, so we were, we were trying high and low end and trying to what we liked right and and doing that. But you have, uh, there's like just an amazing selection. I mean, you got like five different yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 45:24

I mean, I think here we probably have around 50 different ones. I know at the O'Connor's downtown location we have like over 80 Irish whiskeys.

Matt Fox: 45:33

I see Redbreast, I'm just saying oh.

Jamie Flanagan: 45:37

Redbreast is good.

August Gitschlag: 45:38

I'll tell you, in our blind taste test, the one that we all voted and I think this is I tell the story all the time we drink so much bourbon and rye that our palates are set to. Our flavors are like that. So when we went to Irish, the one that we went with was the most flavorful of the Irish whiskeys. We all picked Proper 12 in a blind case.

Jamie Flanagan: 45:55

Really, I wouldn't have guessed that it was our top order too.

Dimitry Goyfman: 45:58

It was our top order. It's the most American one. That's probably it. I was so upset I All that started.

Jamie Flanagan: 46:03

Matt was like well, I hate proper 12, so that's going to be my bottom pick for sure, wow.

Matt Fox: 46:11

And then by the end of the day.

Dimitry Goyfman: 46:13

This is number one. That's tough. You go home and you're like, oh my.

Jamie Flanagan: 46:16

God, is it canceled? Did proper 12 get canceled Because of Conor McGregor?

Dimitry Goyfman: 46:19

Yeah, no, but a funny story. Last time I was in Dublin on our last trip and you know we were talking to bartenders and we were like proper trouble. They're like no, no, no, he's not very well liked in most of Dublin. Oh yeah, I think there's some parts where they love him, but they're like no, don't say that word again.

August Gitschlag: 46:37

I'll buy you something different. Oh wow. So yeah, we were all pretty disappointed in ourselves.

Jamie Flanagan: 46:44

What do you know about the whiskeys that you guys carry? Thank you, absolutely so, the whiskeys that we carry. So what do you got?

Dimitry Goyfman: 46:55

We focus on. You know Irish, so you're talking about. You know the spots. Those are good. I think I was supposed to be getting. It might be here or not, but a blue spot, so those are pretty rare.

August Gitschlag: 47:06

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah Because we buy a lot of you know famous and stuff you go through it. You get access to that. I don't know how the allocation game is played. Yes.

Dimitry Goyfman: 47:13

So we get some cool ones. I would say probably. We have the Red Breast 27 here, so that's a nice one, oh, yes, but but you know, irish whiskeys are cool. Yeah, they are. So last time we went, we got the pleasure of going to Tultmar Dew Distillery. All right, and it was like on a Sunday morning and it was towards the end of our trip. And we were all regretting that drive because it's a hike, is it?

Matt Fox: 47:41

You know it wasn't that far, but we just I mean we were, we've been hitting pubs like 10 pubs a day for four days at this point.

Jamie Flanagan: 47:45

So everybody's terrible. It really does.

Dimitry Goyfman: 47:46

Everybody was like do we have to do this, that's why those hat points come in handy. Yes, so, um, so I really got an appreciation for tolly and we went there, beautiful distillery, they gave us an amazing tour, and then they let us mix our own bottle of whiskey. Oh what, I actually got one here. So that's what I was telling you.

Jamie Flanagan: 48:06

I got something special you got your Telemore Barrel Pick huh, yes, nice.

Dimitry Goyfman: 48:11

It was pretty cool. Well, it wasn't a barrel pick. So they have this cool machine and they have so a lot of virus. Whiskeys are blended right. I'm not afraid of blended whiskeys I'm not afraid of blended at all.

Matt Fox: 48:23

None of us are afraid of blended whiskeys.

Dimitry Goyfman: 48:24

So they have all the different blends and then you pick how much of each you want, and that's what makes the unique yeah, so they record a number, so if you ever go back there you can make it again Other than that nobody else has that whiskey in the world.

August Gitschlag: 48:38

You got your format, yeah.

Dimitry Goyfman: 48:40

So it's kind of cool, that's nice.

Jamie Flanagan: 48:43

All right, so God.

August Gitschlag: 48:45

If you can tell people you have this here, you're the only one.

Dimitry Goyfman: 48:47

Well, the only people you can't buy it, the only special people get it here.

August Gitschlag: 48:51

Oh, you can't. Well, I have a bottle. You can't sit at the bar and order it.

Dimitry Goyfman: 48:54

No, no, so it's not like that. Not if you're a friend or somebody special or somebody that really loves the Irish whiskeys, you know, do a little tasting with them. Did we mention it's our 200th episode?

Matt Fox: 49:05

Yes, I was going to say the same thing.

Dimitry Goyfman: 49:07

You guys qualify for special.

Matt Fox: 49:11

This is going to become the 200th first episode.

Jamie Flanagan: 49:14

Dimitry, how can people find out about the goings on at both places? Websites for both.

Dimitry Goyfman: 49:19

Yeah, our website O'Connor's, rochestercom or GusSnugcom, so everything is on there. You'll probably hear some stuff on the radio, but you know, if you're going out St Patty's day, make sure you have an authentic Irish pub. It doesn't have to be ours, but make sure you Uber.

August Gitschlag: 49:37

And make sure you Uber yes.

Dimitry Goyfman: 49:39

I was shocked a few years ago because, you know, I noticed that I came out of the parking lot the next day, or like we're full. You know I noticed that I came out in a parking lot the next day or like we're full. You know, at Rochester we hold about 1,000 people at a time and we got a huge line. We're full and I'm looking in the parking lot I'm going, where are all the cars?

August Gitschlag: 49:58

Which kind of made me happy. That's great.

Dimitry Goyfman: 50:01

Because you know seven, eight years ago that wasn't the case.

August Gitschlag: 50:05

It was a gauntlet, yep.

Dimitry Goyfman: 50:06

Everybody's getting their cartos yeah.

August Gitschlag: 50:09

So it's called mom to pick them up.

Jamie Flanagan: 50:11

Yep, all right, dimitri, thanks so much. My pleasure, man, let's try a little whiskey. Should we just wrap it and then do some whiskey?

August Gitschlag: 50:18

Let's wrap and do some whiskey, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 50:21

Absolutely, there we go All right. So, uh, dimitry, thank you so much. You're my favorite Irish Russian dude I have ever met. Perfect For sure, cheers gentlemen.

Matt Fox: 50:33

Hey, that's Jamie Flanagan.

Jamie Flanagan: 50:34

That's August Gitschlag. Matt Fox is right here next to me.

Matt Fox: 50:38

That's like subscribe, leave a comment all those podcasts things that.