Leo Degroff is a New York City based bartender and proprietor of beverage consultancy, Prince Cocktail.
Degroff’s career has spanned over a decade with work experiences ranging from bartending at regarded establishments like BED NY, Pegu Club, and Sweetwater Social to high profile events such as Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR) Five Day, Ultimate Beverage Challenge, BarSmarts, World Class Competition, Life is Beautiful, Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, Telluride Wine Festival, The James Beard Awards, Tales of the Cocktail, Copa Jerez, Art Basel, South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Las Vegas Nightclub and Bar Show, New York Bar Show, and World Cocktail Weekevents for The Museum of the American Cocktail. During his stint with Steve Olson and Andy Seymour for the consultancy aka Wine Geek, Degroff sharpened his skills for event coordinating and restaurant management, including training bartenders/barbacks, assisting in creating cocktail programs, and budget planning. Utilizing his affinity for technology, Degroff has been able to translate and draft his ideas of efficient bar concepts for specific spaces using graphic design. Taking his work on the road in 2014, Degroff was invited to consult on Jimmy’s Bodega Aspen, a restaurant attempting the fastest known opening in just sixteen days. Along with the owner and long time friend Jimmy Yeager, they created a world class bar program that was quickly recognized as one of the top twenty new bars in the west and southwest.
Currently, his consultancy Prince Cocktail has allowed him flexibility to work alongside spectacular talent such as the consultancy Liquid Productions. He serves as Production Coordinator for Ultimate Beverage Challenge with Paul Pacult and Assistant Coordinator for BAR Five Day with Andy Seymour, Dave Wondrich, Paul Pacult, Steve Olson, and Dale Degroff. He is also part of the back of house team for Pernod Ricard USA’s BarSmarts.
Spirit education has been on the forefront of Degroff’s career and the desire to learn has taken him all over America and the world, including Oaxaca, Mexico; Jalisco, Mexico; Ica, Peru; Atacama, Chile; Jerez, Spain; Cognac, France; Ireland; whisky distilleries and sake breweries around Japan; and Havana, Cuba for first hand experience of distillation in each country’s respective spirits, culture, and bar scenes.