Jason: Coming up, it's the final trailer, an introduction as to what brought me to the dance in the podcast world. And we sat down with Kelly Guilfoyle from Drink Like a Girl 5K to talk about the Curtain Up event this month. The Buffalo Brews Podcast starts right now. Welcome everyone. It's brews day and you know what that means. I'm Jason Ettinger your host, and thank you for giving us a listen as we are here to share all that's good in the ever changing landscape that is Buffalo and Western New York. And it is never more true than it is today, as it was announced just a few hours ago in The Athletic online publication that Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula are going to be getting out of the restaurant business. And that means that At seven one six. As of today is no more. Uh, you will hear this podcast on Tuesday, and as of today, the keys are going to be handed over to Southern Tier Brewing Company out of Lakewood, NY. Uh, formed in 2002, they have locations in Lakewood, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Charlotte, NC. And now they're moving north from Lakewood up into the city of Buffalo into a very prime location. Unfortunately for the Pegulas, when the pandemic struck last year, they were forced to lay off several of their workers, and it was understood that they never reopened the restaurant. Uh, after the pandemic struck. So, uh, basically cutting bait and moving forward with that. And Southern Tier Brewing Company is going to be a great proprietor in that space. Uh, I believe the other two establishments in there are the draft room and the healthy scratch. But as according to that story, It's not clear what will happen with those two spots. So I look forward to going to Southern Tier Brewing Company in the Harbor Center when they get opened up there to enjoy a lakeshore fog, or perhaps an extra mile. I wanted to take a moment to thank family and friends, and even the perfect strangers who have reached out over the past several weeks while we're ramping up the podcast to offer well-wishes, encouragement to check in, or to offer helpful suggestions as we move forward. It is always great to hear from everyone, and we welcome any and all feedback that we receive here at the podcast. So now it's going to be that silly, sentimental time of this introduction podcast to tell you why I made the leap into podcasting world, I'm going to try not to turn this into one of my old youth football coach speeches, and I'm going to do this in my own words. So here we go. I grew up in the southern tier, Sherman, NY to be exact, and right in the snow belt. We learned early on at a young age that not only did you help yourself out when you needed to, but you helped your neighbors as well. And when I moved to Buffalo after getting out of the military, it was no different. We have earned the nickname The City of Good Neighbors for a reason. It doesn't matter if it was the 2006 October surprise storm, or if it was Snowmageddon, or if it was the pandemic. You saw it everywhere. People helping people. Even when we were told we couldn't be within six feet of each other, we figured out a way when birthday parties couldn't happen. We had car parades. When restaurants couldn't seat customers any longer, we did curbside takeout from our favorite places. I remember driving to Lewiston with my son to pick up a couple of barbecue dinners, and I remember the young man who anxiously ran out of the restaurant to ask me my name and a run back in to grab those dinners for me, and I was on my way. Now, is that why I decided to do the podcast? No, but it is the reason for the podcast because that is who we are. And you're going to hear plenty about all the great places to eat drink experience in the many weeks going forward with this podcast. Growing up, I always liked to be outdoors with my father and hiking the trails that were behind my parents old property. I always looked at trails, not just as paths that went through the woods that went wherever, but that a trail had a destination. Even today, I'm outdoorsy, especially this winter and with the hiking challenge that I am part of, not every trail is a straight line that goes to a specific goal. Sometimes those trails will veer off into different directions, but in the end, we have to make it to that goal or that objective to take the challenge picture. And I look at trails like that in the same way today. I even like the idea of a wine trail or a beer trail, or a chicken wing trail or an ice cream trail. You have a list, you have a way to get there and you have an objective. But how you get there is your choice. Now take that trail and turn those trails into life and experiences and stories. What trail or path led you to open the business that you run? What trail or path led you to the way that you run your restaurant? What trailer path did you take in order to create a fantastic experience for families across Western New York to enjoy? So for me, that is why I created the podcast. I want to hear the stories. I want to walk the trails with them. I want to know how they got to the objective. Did they take a straight line? Was it an easy trail? Did they take a different path? Did they take their own path? That's what I want to do here is bring those stories, bring those paths to you, and encourage you to get out and enjoy everything that we have to offer. Thank you again to everyone for joining us for this introduction version of our podcast. Uh, this next segment, we sat down and talked with Kelly Guilfoyle, who is the head of Drink Like a Girl. Five K Kelly's event, The Curtain Up Backyard Brew Fest, takes place in the month of March to celebrate Women's History Month, the women's right to vote in craft beer. Afterwards, I'll give you some additional information on how you can participate in the event coming up on March twenty seventh. And now my interview with Kelly.

Jason: Caught my attention originally was 12 Gates brewery is literally a mile and a half from my place. Yeah, and I saw your poster in the hallway, uh, a while back, and. Well, and honestly, it was before the original shutdown, so you were going to have the first event in twenty twenty. Yeah. And it kept catching my eye because they never took the poster down during quarantine or afterwards, and it had the old date on it. So I started looking up the information and I was really intrigued. So, you know, so then I'm looking it up and I know that Women's History Month is in March, and I'm looking up your history, and you had just started in January of twenty twenty, and then the bottom fell out of everything.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yes, it did.

Jason: But I love the concept of one hundredth anniversary, of celebrating women's rights to vote and craft beer.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah. I mean, so I have a whole backstory if you want to hear it, but in short, you know, like this event management company drink like a girl. Uh, it it's all about creating awesome memories and supporting the craft brewery industry, as well as empowering women to to simplify things. But yeah, there's a whole reason why I even created Drink Like a Girl that we could get. What? Whatever you want to get into.

Jason: If we have if we have backstory, I would love to hear backstory.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Okay.

Jason: One of the things about my podcast is we always like the story about how things came to be. It's all about creating your own path. So we want to find out what your path was to get to where we are today.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Alright, alright, let's do this. Um, so yeah, um, I um, I've been in the service industry for about twenty. Well, now, if I, if I include event management, drink like a girl twenty six years, but twenty four years professionally bartending for some crazy places. I ended up opening Yankee Stadium. Um, in 2009. I opened up Barclays Center in 2012, I was Jay-Z's private bartender and I got to meet all the celebs and all that jazz. And then I from there I also worked at the twenty one club seasonally, uh, where, you know, that is legend. So and I and, uh, you know, I continued to to grow that I worked with Marcus Samuelsson out of Red Rooster Harlem, who's a world renowned chef. Um, and that was such a fun experience. And the people I got to meet, that was incredible. And the Capitol Theater and which is like the home of Jerry Garcia. And a portion of this event's proceeds are going to them because they're one of, you know, they became family to me. And this is all about supporting the live performance industry as a whole. You know, this event that we're throwing is just the kick off. This whole realm of curtain up beer is a whole nother gorgeous world that we can get into. So, uh, came back upstate, was born and raised up here about three years ago, and I helped open a brewery. And there I was, the head bartender, and I was the on premise sales rep. And I was really able to dive into the craft beer world, and I learned so much. Um, as well as I found that, um, women are definitely a minority in the at least because there's discussion of, oh, a bartender is always female, like in the sales realm, in other realms of craft beer. Craft beer is not just the taproom. Craft beer involves so many things. And so I'd see a female every two to three months. Uh, that was a sales rep. And it's very male dominated world, and they all think that they own it. And I love you, men. I'm not trying to hate, but, uh, my take back was drink like a girl. I'm going to create a company that focuses on craft beer and women empowerment, and we're going to stretch across the state. And my goal is and although that was, uh, slowed down a bit due to Covid, uh, is to take this thing on the road and go to different states and meet different breweries. And, you know, I'm all about even right now doing these virtual events is combining downstate and upstate, upstate and downstate, border, PA, New York and up. So like, there's a huge world. And yes, we dominate in this region. We really do with the amount of beers that are offered in the taprooms and all that. But there is beautiful beer all across the state, and there are amazing people. And I have a passion for New York City, especially because my heart's still there in many ways. I have so much family and friends, uh, staying down there for well over a decade and having all these great experiences. So yeah, that's Drink Like a Girl. That's where it came from. That's where it birthed itself, uh, with all those ideas.

Jason: Yeah. And and I agree with what you were saying that you're talking about coming up to our area here. So, you know, Western New York, Rochester, Buffalo, and it being a very male dominated, uh, industry here, not only in, uh. Not only in the craft beer industry, but it seems like in a lot of the distribution, it seems to be very male dominated. And you see women peppered in here and there. Um, in all the interviews that I've listened to and even the ones I've conducted, I haven't conducted a single interview, uh, yet with, uh, and I don't know of any women who run any, uh, craft beer. I know some that are involved in the spirits industry around here. Southern tier, uh, cast and crew, which is what I was drinking earlier, uh, because I enjoy their rye whiskey myself. Um, I know that some of some women, uh, run the some of the show there, so. Yeah. And then you also answered the big question I had was when I was looking at your, uh, the selection for the event that I'm going to ask you about in a moment here, with the curtain up and the selection of beers that went across the state, I was very curious about how you had so many connections going up and down the state. Now I know. Opening Yankee Stadium opened the Barclays Center, being the private bartender for Jay-Z, which just sounds like amazing stories that would come out of that.

Kelly Guilfoyle: That was a lot of fun. Let's just say that it's a lot of fun.

Jason: Well, is there a now for just a one side pitch question? Question there? Is there a favorite celeb interaction that you ever had in that job?

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah there is. I love Dave Chappelle. I have met some amazing, crazy, um, people, but I love Dave Chappelle. It sounds weird, but. And Queen Latifah, I love Queen Latifah, too. Uh, Dave Chappelle sat at my bar and just cracked jokes on people the entire night as I took care of him. And, uh, a couple times. And he's just, you know, it's as a bartender, it's great to meet people who are just. They're just people to you, you know? They're just, uh. And he's a celebrity on top of it. But in general, like, communicating with Beginning with people. And having that engagement as a bartender is what we really look for. And yeah, he kept me laughing the entire time. It was hilarious. He's hilarious and Queen just has a great attitude overall. And she was kind and sweet and, um, but you know, Rihanna was a big regular of mine too, and she's incredible and all of those things, um, you know, we could go on, but my favorite was Dave because he kept me laughing.

Jason: Good. I like that. I like that a lot. And, you know, it's always great to be able to interact with celebrities and have great stories that come from it. Um, mine mine were more music influences, especially in my late teenage years. And so I spent time in Chautauqua Institution. I used to night manage a hotel there. I was also a waiter, so I met a lot of musicians like Gloria Estefan, Tony Bennett, um, the jazz artists, Chick Corea that just recently passed away. I mean, just and being able to learn about Bennett.

Kelly Guilfoyle: I'm so jealous.

Jason: Tony. And it was. And I'll just tell a quick story about that. I'm not really.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Tell me.

Jason: Tell me about myself. But. So, Tony Bennett, um, had a concert at Chautauqua Institution, and I was working in a restaurant that was just up the hill from the, uh, from the amphitheater. Um, so I would run. I would run the nighttime activities. It usually ran until about two a m, and then the manager, who's who? Uh, I always forget his last name. His first name was Joe. I always remember that, um, you know, big, jolly Italian guy. And he had this very narrow office that was really deep. That was up front just off of the main dining area in the restaurant. And I would always stop in, you know, okay. Hey, Joe. Everything's done. Um, see if you had any questions for me, let him know I was going to lock up behind me because he always stayed until the wee hours of the morning. I never know when that guy ever slept. And the one night I went in there, he had this kind of recliner, not a recliner chair. It was just kind of like a stationary armchair that was that was there, you know, Pat, you know, cushioned and everything like that. And once in a while I'd see friends of his and they'd be having a, you know, a drink or whatever. And I just happened to stick my head in. I knocked on the door and he said, oh, that's good. And he turned around and I, I literally said to him, Holy shit, you're Tony Bennett.

Kelly Guilfoyle: He love it.

Jason: He had known Tony for for thirty years. And, uh, he got up out of the chair. He shook my hand and, uh, he's like, how are you, young man? I said. He goes, what's your name? I told him, my name is Jason. And I just kept shaking his hand and like, one of those fanboy moments and and he's like, he's like, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Benny. He says, please call me Tony B.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Oh, I love that. Like, we were like.

Jason: Now we were friends for thirty years. And I'm like, it was just an incredible interaction.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Tony B yeah, yeah. Like that.

Kelly Guilfoyle: You know, I've only had one moment with a celebrity. I mean, I don't know what it is. I just, I, I maybe it's a little bit of my best friend is, um, Travie McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, but this was well beyond him, so I don't think that's even it. I don't know what it is. Like I don't. I think I've maybe met so many, uh, different celebrities. Uh, that's not bragging. It's trying to come to a conclusion that one time and only one time. And I was very surprised by it. By me. Did I have a a fanboy reaction? And it was when I was, um, backstage, I was Jay-Z's private bartender, and Beyonce walked in the room and I literally lost my breath. And I've never I mean, I'm a Beyonce fan, don't get me wrong, I'm actually a Mariah Carey fan. Like always and forever. Like, she I'm old, so, you know, she was she was everything as a kid to me. Um, but I was shocked. I literally lost my breath. And I've never done that with I mean, I'm a professional. I've never done that. So I get the fanboy or like that moment like, um, because of that moment with Beyonce, I was just like, It's Beyonce.

Kelly Guilfoyle: It's just. It's not what happened. It's just.

Kelly Guilfoyle: I didn't even expect it came out of nowhere.

Kelly Guilfoyle: I love.

Jason: That. I love that so now. So now. Um, so going back to the event itself. Now, this is the curtain up back.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Right?

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah. We're talking about the event.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah.

Jason: We're like I'm like, now I want to talk about celebrity moments all night long. It's like, no, this one time. This one time.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah. Let's go.

Kelly Guilfoyle: All right.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Come on.

Jason: But, um. Yeah. So. So this is the curtain up Backyard Brew Fest event that we're talking about here, correct?

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Drink like a girl. Curtain up. Backyard brew fest. We, you know, we were asked to throw the kickoff event for the Curtain Up initiative, which was an honor from the, uh, happy hour guys who started this initiative. They're two out of work actors. But prior to being out of work pre-COVID, they were all about combining Broadway or the arts with craft beer. And this is the sixth in their six pack. Is the current up beer. Because of Covid, they decided to go this route with their sixth beer in their six pack. They've been creating since twenty fourteen.

Jason: Wonderful, wonderful I love that and I saw so I saw there was a did I see there was fifteen beers across fifteen breweries going all the way down to New York City. Yeah. And then the and I guess the westernmost is the one that's being featured here at twelve gates, and they're in a collaboration.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yep.

Kelly Guilfoyle: That's right with Gun Hill.

Jason: That's fantastic.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah.

Jason: And so for the event itself now if I now as I'm reading this, you're going to have uh, numerous as you put it, I, I love I love the term starving artist because it's, uh, it's really highlighting people who are, who have the talent but are truly struggling in their art.

Kelly Guilfoyle: They need it, man. I mean, I see.

Jason: So you're bringing in these starving artists that are going to be doing these songs, and then they're going to be voted on by the fans.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah. This is the like little bit of a hidden gem that people don't know that's going on with the event. Um, so, yeah, uh, what's going to happen is the first two weeks in March, musicians are going to go live from the private access group, and on March sixteenth, customers or participants of the actual current up event will be able to vote, as well as anyone who donates twenty dollars. Some people are like, I don't, I don't want to get into beer, but this sounds really fun. Um, or they want to support their artists or what have you. Uh, so you donate twenty dollars to the directly to the event, and that will go to the Capitol Theatre and these musicians. And so they're going to live stream, we have a set schedule. We're going to be launching that soon with the dates and times and the artists of when they're going live. And everyone will vote on March sixteenth, and then those two winning artists will receive. Right now, we're well over two hundred and fifty dollars. Um, well, they'll receive that and then they'll do one encore song and they'll also kick off the live event on March or the virtual. It's a live feed, uh, virtual event on March twenty seventh.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Wonderful.

Jason: I and I love everything that I've read about this event so far. So for twenty dollars, uh, now that now the ticket for the the event on the twenty seventh, is that the twenty dollars ticket or is that, uh, or the twenty dollars ticket gets you the voting rights and then the ticket to the event, the twenty.

Kelly Guilfoyle: It's not a ticket. It's a direct donation. So you just go to, uh, drink like a girl. Com, and you click on the button that says tickets slash donations. And you can just choose to donate that twenty dollars and you'll gain access for the first two weeks in March. And you'll get voting rights on those musicians. At which point, if you don't have a ticket to the actual event, you'll be removed from that group on the seventeenth. So this is a way, again, to get everyone engaged that not necessarily wants to get involved with the curtain up. Uh, backyard brew fest.

Jason: Now, now, you've completely sold me because I'm about. I was about ready to buy the ticket. I'm like, I gotta ask the question because I gotta know exactly how this works. So now you're going to have to count me in. I'm going to buy my ticket tonight so that I can get involved on the, you know, on the twenty seventh, because I just love how this sounds.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Thank you. I mean, with that ticket you're getting, you know, some you're getting those fifteen craft beers across NYS. But we're also doing and we hope you come out six DLG event pickups. We start in Buffalo. Then we move to Rochester, then Syracuse, then Westchester, then Queens and then Long Island. So we're literally going across the state with this thing. And so they're really fun. They're high energy. A lot of the breweries are also, um, they have food trucks and bands. And what I love about what we can do is that when we throw an event pickup, people make a day of it. They go have lunch, they have a pint, and they support these breweries and these breweries benefit benefit from it as well, not only from gaining new customers because we reached statewide, but also just from that business they're bringing in while these people are picking up the pack. So it really is just great. Everything all around. We just have a ton of fun. And then you also get merch. We do have a couple sponsors and Frito Lay and uh, we have Pittsburgh Printing that's doing this awesome description card where the brewers themselves are making these descriptions. So they're like, funny. They're not something you'd see on a website. They have like quirky things. Some of them are one liners. Uh, some of them are like, uh, an act like that, oh, two hops walk in a bar, like. And these are directly from the Brewers mouth, which we absolutely love. And another thing that we absolutely love is these brewers are filming what this will be our third beer reviews unfiltered. So it's a homage to Jimmy. Jimmy Kimmel's mean tweets if you ever heard of that.

Jason: I have and I enjoy those every time.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Hey.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah. So this is the brewery. The brewers reading mean comments from untapped. Uh, you know, social media of sorts, even emails. And they're they're reading these comments and then we make a video out of it. And it's been one of the highlights for every single virtual event. And we absolutely love it. It's a it's.

Kelly Guilfoyle: A fun.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Tick. It really is. Um, but yeah, you get to taste the Brewers and then yeah, we have that live competition prior. But the Dale we also have a ton of amazing artists going live. And you're going to get this mixed up learning about beer and talking to these brewers and listening to these artists. They're nationwide that are signing up not only for the battle of the breweries best competition that runs from March first to March sixteenth, but also for the actual event. We have some really cool acts coming on, and we're going to be shuffling that in between learning with brewers and tasting some beer.

Jason: Oh, I can't wait for it. It's going to be so much fun. It's gonna be so much fun.

Kelly Guilfoyle: Yeah, definitely.

Jason: I'd like to thank Kelly Guilfoyle for sitting down with me and talking about her event. The drink like a girl Five-k. Curtain up backyard brew Fest that's going to take place on Saturday, March twenty seventh. You can pick up tickets at Drink Like a Girl Five-k. They start at one hundred and twenty five dollars and you get your ticket for the event, as well as the fifteen custom brews that they're making for the event. You can pick up your pack locally on Saturday, March 20th at 12Gates Brewery, located on Earhart Drive in Williamsville. So get your ticket now. Once again, going to drink like a girl Five-k and get in on a fantastic event for a great cause. All right folks, that's the end of another episode of the Buffalo Brews Podcast. I can now announce to you that our debut episode is going to take place on Tuesday, March 23rd. And from there, we will be with you each and every week to bring you the best that Buffalo and Western New York has to offer.