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Jason Kerstein
James Beard Award winner
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Today
A beverage program built from the floor up tends to carry a different kind of discipline. At Eddie Martini's, Jason Kerstein started as a server, then moved into the Wine Captain role, learning service tempo, table judgment, and bottle-list guidance before taking on broader responsibility. That sequence matters: it shows the craft of hospitality as a progression of earned competencies, not a single title change. Opening a concept shifts the work from executing service to shaping the whole room. At Sticks & Stones in Brookfield, Jason Kerstein moved into that broader remit with Sticks & Stones, where hospitality was no longer only about the table in front of him but about how room, menu, and beverage program had to hold together. Sales and marketing work at Stone's Throw Winery in Door County and Pinnacle Distributors widened that view further, adding the commercial side of the beverage trade to his operating background. Since 2013, Jason Kerstein has served as Beverage Director of Black Shoe Hospitality while also working as General Manager of Blue's Egg and General Manager of Story Hill BKC. Beverage direction asks for consistency, identity, and close attention to detail; multi-unit management asks for measured oversight and steady control of moving parts. Taken together, those roles place him in the part of the trade where guest-facing polish and operational discipline have to line up every day.
Recognition
The recognition here is in the shape of the career itself: service, wine, operations, sales, and leadership, all carried through one line of work. Jason Kerstein's path shows the value of moving through the trade in stages, with each role adding a different part of the operating picture. That kind of breadth is what lets a beverage lead stay connected to the floor while still thinking at the level of program and business.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Jason
Where did Jason Kerstein train or study?
Jason Kerstein trained at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
