Episode 304: Service at Scale with Kevin Beary

On Today's Speakeasy Damon talks with Kevin Beary, Beverage Director at Three Dots and a Dash in Chicago. Kevin Beary his first taste of bartending while shaking and pouring colorless liquid as a minor. His first official gig was aboard a Delaware River cruise in Philadelphia, where 500 thirsty passengers would board the ship most nights and drink tickets would start flying. Beary worked in restaurants while attending La Salle University and rose to beverage director of Hyatt at the Bellevue, whose Library Lounge is the home of the Clover Club cocktail.

In 2012, he transferred to Chicago’s Park Hyatt to oversee the property’s beverage program and open its cocktail bar, NoMi Lounge, until he took over the juggernaut tiki program that is Three Dots and a Dash. Beary revamped every aspect of prep, installing industrial cold press juice machines and centrifuges to ensure consistency and quality in every one of the 2,000-plus cocktails his team serves on Saturday nights. Beary is a great lover of rum, so much so that he led his 16 bartenders through an 11-week rum course, and he’s working on a master’s degree in brewing and distilling. Together they discuss batching drinks, tiki cocktails, seasonality, and more.

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