Beau Drops Cocktail Program, Kate Wise Moves On 

click to enlarge

• File: Jeb Wallace-brodeur
• Kate Wise at Prohibition Pig

Kate Wise, who ran the cocktail program at Beau, left her job there at the end of December when the butcher shop and deli at 207 Barre Street in Montpelier stopped serving cocktails.

Wise, 34, of Stowe, has started a consulting company, Wise Consulting, to assist bar managers and restaurant owners with staff training and provide "in-depth" education about spirits, wine and beer.* "I want to be able to teach people about their products that they might not necessarily understand and haven't been given an opportunity to learn about," she said.

Wise, who has tended bar since age 19, previously worked at Prohibition Pig in Waterbury (where Seven Days' readers named her the state's best bartender in 2014) and Doc Ponds in Stowe. Since leaving Beau last month, she's been doing freelance bartending and working special events. "I'm actually staying pretty busy," she said.

At Beau, where the meat and cocktail programs were "competing for space," the plan is to focus on and expand the butcher side of the business, co-owner Crystal Maderia said. The eight-seat shop still serves beer and cider (and sandwiches and soups) on-site.

"Our meat program is really successful at Beau, and in our tiny space we saw the opportunity to expand the meat program," she said. "We're going to work on additional recipes and new products."

The program's development will include getting Beau products onto the shelves of stores beyond the Montpelier shop later this year, Maderia said.