Gabriel Sloyer: Crafty Celebrity Stories

Broadway, TV and film actor Gabriel Sloyer joins The Beer Connoisseur for the first installment of the Crafty Celebrity Stories series, which features the best tales of ale, and more, from leading actors, celebrities and persons of interest.

Sloyer stars in the upcoming season of the hit Netflix show Narcos, which debuts September 1st.

Beer drinkers like to laugh. What’s the funniest drinking story you can share with us?
I was way out in the Urubamba Valley in Peru when I realized I hadn’t had anything to drink all day. I asked a local where I could go and he pointed me to the nearest watering hole. Little did I know, the regional soccer team had just won their tournament and now this bar only served two beverages: beer and beer. I asked for water, but they cheekily insisted beer would quench my thirst better. So I settled in for a play by play and toasted the team’s victory. Sometime later I was dancing on a table with a beautiful woman named Clara. She wanted a job at the consulate and kept asking if I could give her a letter of recommendation. Apparently I had told her I was a French diplomat. Heartbroken ballads were shouted hoarsely until 2AM, at which time I finished my final beer and was crowned “El Rey de las Cervezas,” which made me chuckle cause I ain’t Budweiser. I did at last earn that glass of water. But by then I didn’t want it. Not from the tap anyway. So I issued as my first kingly decree that all present must join me in jumping into the nearby river. The rest of the night is a blur.

Who's the coolest person you've had a beer with?
Easy one. I used to train at Gleason’s Boxing Gym in Brooklyn. What most people passing by don’t know, is right off to the side of the boxers in there is a pro wrestling ring where WWF hall-of-famer Johnny Rodz continues to lay the smackdown. At seventy-something, he was still in character and decided to teach me a thing or two. At the time, I needed to prepare for a role in a wrestling play and had three weeks to learn some solid moves for the stage. He kicked my ass the first day and, over a drink in his office, said: “Let me tell you something, papi. Don’t come in here and act like you some professional. You ain’t no professional, I’m the professional. I performed in Madison Square Garden. You know what that is? Twenty thousand people, that’s what that is. And let me tell you something else. These guys ain’t gonna share their secrets with no actor. They’ll knock the feathers outta' you. From now on you tell them you a wrestler and you're interested in wrestling, you understand me?“ It was an epic rant and I loved every minute of it.

What are a few of your favorite craft beers and why?
Right now I’m into Hill Farmstead's Conduct of Life. In the summertime it takes me to my favorite beach. That's a useful escape in the concrete jungle that is Manhattan. APA not IPA, so it's just the right balance of bitter within boundaries. Those hops don't lie.

Do you have a favorite (craft) brewery or breweries and why?
I like very remote breweries because when I’m drinking that much beer, I don’t like to have people see me afterwards. My favorite breweries are far to the north and in the woods.

Have you attended any beer events or festivals that you particularly enjoyed? What made them stand out?
I’m perfectly content with whatever’s on tap, but if I get invited to something like the Brooklyn Pour Fest, that’s always a good time.  

What projects do you have brewing?
Heading up the draft you can catch me on a couple episodes of Narcos -- hop onto Netflix September 1st. Later on, I'm in the clink for Brawl in Cell Block 99 with Vince Vaughn and Breaking Brooklyn with Lou Gossett Jr. Then I’ll be sloshing around with rap royalty Lil Mama in Born In The Game, as we find out how unbearable life in the hood can be when dreams get smashed.

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