How do you follow up a project like Gus’ Sip & Dip, which earned almost every coveted bar award there is in its first year? You go super classic with tuxedo-clad bartenders, exceptional hospitality, and, of course, top-notch drinks. At Kitty’s Cosmopolitan Club in Chicago, the team, led by partner and beverage director Kevin Beary, is also taking the trendy Freezer Martini to the next level with a custom-built cold room set to -16˚F.
Before Kitty’s opened, the space was completely overhauled through a gut renovation that installed the draped ceilings, emerald velvet furniture, and opulent decor the bar is quickly becoming known for. Based on the popularity of the Freezer Martini at Gus’ Sip & Dip, Beary knew Kitty’s would need a ton of freezer space, so the bar was designed with two under-cabinet units at each bartender station. Toward the end of the buildout, an awkwardly shaped dead space became apparent.
Another team member posed the idea of turning it into a walk-in freezer, and thus the concept was cemented. But it’s not just any freezer. Beary worked with techs to achieve the exact temperature he wanted, hide the compressor unit, and design a space that could hold all the glassware and cocktails needed — plus a bartender. Then, it was time to develop the menu.
There are a few limitations inherent in freezer cocktails. They have to be boozy enough that they won’t freeze solid, plus, it’s easier to freeze a stirred cocktail than one that needs to be shaken. And testing this type of drink is not as easy as throwing together a few ingredients and tasting. “You have to make them in batches and then put them in the freezer and then let them get cold and then figure out which one was best,” Beary explains. He also sampled each one immediately, then two minutes later, then four minutes after it was served to make sure the final recipe held up. A lot of the time, he and the team would get a recipe 80 percent of the way there and then have to dial in the dilution in those time-consuming batches. He also leaned on friends with freezer programs to help determine the final temperature of -16˚F.
Through this process, Beary found that washed-spirits perform well in the freezer. The 20th Century is made with a cream cheese-washed gin, which Beary says “really gave us a leg up because it’s just so viscous and rich without having to lengthen that cocktail by stirring on ice and getting all that water in there.” That leads to a “bold and delicious” drink with a mouthfeel you couldn’t achieve through other methods.
And while dilution is an essential component of a freezer cocktail, Beary mixes up some very strong batches. The Rob Roy at Kitty’s is a 50/50 ratio of Scotch to a house blend of vermouth and amaro for a super-rich drink. And the Dirty Martini is completely undiluted when it goes into the freezer. Upon service, it’s shaken with a single ice cube for just a touch of dilution and aeration, but it essentially stays as pure as it starts out.
Because of the intensity of these drinks, Beary serves them in smaller pours. “They’re so concentrated and so boozy that I can’t pour you 4 ounces of this cocktail,” he explains. That also means they need the right size glassware to match. Every piece used at Kitty’s is hand-blown and comes from either Blow in Madrid or Kimura in Tokyo. These delicate vessels brought up another challenge: Would they be able to withstand such drastic temperature changes?
Luckily, the glassware is holding up just fine in both the cold room and high-tech, super-hot dishwasher that Kitty’s uses. That was not a guarantee when Beary picked it out, and at a bar that serves every drink in frozen stemware regardless of how it’s prepared, it could have been a major issue. Instead, it’s a forgotten concern that doesn’t detract from the show.
And the staff really is putting on a show at Kitty’s. Bartender-led service means that each table has its own designated bartender whom guests can visually track as he or she makes their cocktails. The bar is set up like a stage, and the cold room is in sight from every table. While backwaiters offer considered touches like hot hand towels and complimentary snacks, guests can see their server suit up in protective gloves before handling items in the cold room or pouring liquid nitrogen over drinks prepared tableside.
It might just seem like a neat trick to keep your drink super cold, but Beary explains that the cold room is more than that. “It’s about the freedom of being able to work with proportions, using all those advantages that a freezer program gets you,” he says. He also knows how lucky he was to design the bar, since a production like this couldn’t be executed everywhere. And though the cold room might only be the successor to the ice bar in spirit, it’s creating a new type of buzz that puts quality over gimmick, yet leaving a touch of performance intact.
