Wellington hospitality has a few genuine institutions left. Dee’s Place — basement bar, no signage, twelve seats at the bar, juicer running — is becoming one of them. This week Tash sits down with Devan Nesbitt, bar manager and day-one crew at Dee’s, to talk about how you build a bar that people actually want to drink in, when you’re the customer.
Devan’s path runs through Matterhorn and Hawthorne Lounge to name just a couple and a slice of iconic Wellington bartending compressed into one conversation. A business degree that didn’t finish. A Negroni he’d never heard of. A pact with a mate that turned into a career pivot.
They get into the ice. Specifically: why ice is the most important ingredient in any bar, what a Hoshizaki cube tilted just off-centre does to the drinking experience, and why Tash has never had a cold nose problem at Dee’s. From there: vermouth blending as house philosophy, the slow conversion of single malt loyalists to American whiskey, and what seasonal produce-led menus actually look like when you don’t have a rotovap.
Also: milk punch, the Remember the Maine, Chattanooga Bottled in Bond, and why the staffy drink is a Michelob Ultra. Maybe a whiskey. Depends on the weekend.
In this episode:
How Matterhorn and Hawthorne shaped a generation of Wellington bartenders
Why Dee’s was designed around the bar, not the tables
Ice as the most considered ingredient in the glass
The American whiskey conversion programme, and how rye is usually where it starts
Seasonal menus without the fancy equipment
On mentorship: teaching fundamentals without the kitchen militia energy
Outstanding Bartender of the Year, and why it still comes back to service
