Dylan Brentwood, bar director and founder of Hummingbird, a mental health and harm-reduction initiative for hospitality workers, joins Over Proof from Halifax, Nova Scotia — mid-way through opening a brand new bar program from scratch. With a background as a professional dancer and actor before crossing into hospitality, Dylan brings a fight director's precision and a performer's read on adrenaline to everything he does behind the bar.

From six years anchoring a beloved Halifax cocktail program to turning over an entire new venue in under six weeks, Dylan talks candidly about what it actually costs to keep opening doors — creatively, financially, and mentally. He traces the years that led to founding Hummingbird: an undiagnosed autoimmune condition, a mental health crisis that started as an offhand comment from a boss, and a realisation that the industry has been treating bartenders like therapists without ever giving them the tools.

This one moves through burnout, neurodivergence, substance use, and the quiet epidemic of hospitality workers who don't know how to ask for help — but it's also full of the philosophy Dylan's built his whole career on: intent over balance, forgiveness over shame, and investing in people over product. Expect some properly unfiltered opinions on police, "sustainability" marketing, and why muscle memory doesn't actually exist.

And if you've ever wondered what a bottle of tequila tattooed on someone's bicep has to do with knowing your limits — stick around for that one.

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