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Successfully blind-tasting wine requires 鈥渁 bunch of smell-taste memories that I鈥檝e built up,鈥� said Brahm Callahan, pictured here in a wine room at Grill 23. (Photographs by Michael Piazza)

Callahan, 35, is beverage director for Himmel Hospitality Group, whose portfolio of Boston-area restaurants also includes Harvest, Bistro du Midi, and Post 390. At each of these spots, Callahan oversees every cocktail, mocktail, beer, and bottle of wine that鈥檚 offered. The chain鈥檚 crown jewel, though, is Grill 23, the vaunted steakhouse where the wine list runs a dizzying 2,300 selections deep.

As Callahan is acutely aware, booze is big business鈥攁lcohol sales in the U.S. topped $253 billion in 2018鈥攁nd a crucial component of a restaurant鈥檚 success: Beer, wine, and spirits typically account for an eatery鈥檚 highest profit margins. But alcohol isn鈥檛 just important to the bottom line. In the age of craft spirits, microbrews, and social media influencers, beverage programs are an increasingly vital part of a restaurant鈥檚 identity. And it falls on Callahan to ensure that each of the Himmel Group鈥檚 businesses rises above the fray to deliver something special to every thirsty guest who walks in the door.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 copy and paste our beverage programs,鈥� Callahan, who wore a gray suit and a pink shirt with blue buttons, told me as we talked in Grill 23. 鈥淓ach restaurant in the Himmel Group has its own personality, and I work with my teams to make sure the drink list is appropriate for the concept of the restaurant, as well as the customer base and the season.鈥� At the Cambridge, Massachusetts, mainstay Harvest, for instance, Callahan believes that the focus on New England鈥搕hemed cuisine and the smaller dining room call for cocktails that are a little different and a little more complex, such as a Sidecar with Frangelico, pumpkin spice, and cava. 鈥淎nd because the restaurant is in Harvard Square, where there are a lot of academics and international travelers, we can offer up a wine list that鈥檚 perhaps more esoteric than you might see in our other restaurants,鈥� he said.

Callahan鈥檚 talent for inspired drink lists is admired by competitors and customers alike. 鈥淚f you look at all the Himmel Group鈥檚 restaurants, they have phenomenal balance across their wine lists,鈥� said Ben Oram, wine director at Boston Harbor Hotel. 鈥淏rahm鈥檚 done a great job of pulling the whole world of wine together and representing so many countries.鈥�

Meanwhile, Kevin O鈥橪eary, who鈥檚 better known as Mr. Wonderful, the ruthlessly critical star of A蝌蚪直播鈥檚 Shark Tank, gushed about 鈥渢he depth of Grill 23鈥檚 domestic offerings鈥� and Callahan鈥檚 attention to service. O鈥橪eary, a serious wine enthusiast who belongs to the Confr茅rie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, a semi-secretive society of Burgundy lovers, has frequented Grill 23 for years, in part because of Callahan鈥檚 skill. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 even bother looking at the wine list anymore,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 tell him or whoever on his team is working that night what I鈥檓 in the mood for, what my price range is鈥�$150, $180 a bottle鈥攁nd I let them go dig in the cellar. I鈥檝e never been disappointed.鈥�

As a vibrant beverage program has become ever-more crucial to a restaurant鈥檚 financial health, the role of beverage director has become quite common in the hospitality industry. But there鈥檚 something about Callahan that distinguishes him from just about every other beverage director in the world: He鈥檚 one of fewer than 300 people on earth who鈥檚 a certified master sommelier.

鈥夾 few days later, Callahan invited me back to Grill 23 to show me how he shrinks the world. At the bar, he lifted up a glass containing three or so ounces of red wine, tilted it to a nearly 90-degree angle, and peered through the purple-hued liquid toward his wristwatch. 鈥淚 can read the time, so that means it鈥檚 Pinot Noir, Gamay, Nebbiolo, or Sangiovese,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t could be Nerello Mascalese, it could be Grenache. You have to make the world smaller before you smell or taste it.鈥�

Growing up in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, Callahan realized early in life that he was sensitive to the world around him in ways most people weren鈥檛. 鈥淚 was the kid who had to have all the tags and loose threads cut off my clothes and sneakers and socks or they鈥檇 drive me nuts,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 also the person who thinks cilantro tastes like soap, and I鈥檝e always been sensitive to smells. I remember there was one tree in my neighborhood that when it bloomed each year I had to stop going on our family bike rides because the smell would bother me so much. It just smelled rotten, and my parents thought I was crazy because they couldn鈥檛 smell anything.鈥�

Callahan had considered wine a side hustle and a hobby, but that was starting to change. Around 2010, a friend suggested he take the advanced sommelier examination. It鈥檚 the next significant step toward becoming a master sommelier and a challenging feat in itself, one that most people fail the first time around. He passed on his first try. He was now eligible to sit for the master鈥檚 exam. Suddenly, wine had become a very serious business. Callahan spent more than a year studying, took the master鈥檚 exam鈥�and promptly 鈥済ot smoked,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just set myself on fire during the theory portion of the exam. I was clearly not aware of the gap between where I was and where I needed to be.鈥�

Having been humbled by his first attempt at the master鈥檚 exam, Callahan started to feel the pressure. Among the exam鈥檚 more notable rules are that you can sit for it only once a year and that you must pass each of its three parts within a three-year period. Fail to do so and you lose credit for any portions you鈥檝e previously passed and have to start all over again. For Callahan, the clock was ticking in other ways, too: His wife was pregnant with their first child.

Acutely aware of all that was at stake, Callahan cut himself off almost entirely from the outside world. No TV, no Internet unless it was wine related, and limited social interactions. He created laminated study guides for cramming while in the shower. At the gym, his ninety minutes on the treadmill or elliptical involved studying note cards the whole time. 鈥淚 was just crushing data into my brain,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淭here鈥檚 like a full eighteen-month period in 2014 and 2015 where I don鈥檛 know what happened in the world. I didn鈥檛 know there was a new governor of Massachusetts. I couldn鈥檛 have a conversation with a human being unless it was about alcohol. I just shut off.鈥� In 2015, Callahan sat for the exam once again. This time he passed, becoming just the second master sommelier in Massachusetts. (There鈥檚 now a third in the state.) 鈥淚t鈥檚 the best thing I鈥檝e ever done,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut getting there was the worst thing I鈥檝e ever done to myself.鈥�

Callahan is a sommelier, of course, and that means he still gets excited about the flavor profiles of Rieslings or the aromatics of a glass of Burgundy. But these days, he鈥檚 more passionate about the business of wine. 鈥淭he restaurant industry and the wine industry are changing at light speed and the traditional role of a sommelier鈥攑airing an appropriate wine with the appropriate food, opening the bottle, and selling it鈥攊sn鈥檛 really what we鈥檙e doing anymore,鈥� Callahan said. 鈥淚 think of myself as someone who fully understands the business of wine.鈥�

Before I departed Grill 23, Callahan had one last thing he wanted to show me. We took an old service elevator to the basement, where Callahan led me down a winding hallway until we reached a padlocked door. Behind it, racks and racks and racks of wine greeted us.

Now, you might imagine that one of the best wine collections in New England would be housed in a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled room with laser alarms and beams of mahogany. You鈥檇 be wrong. The room was impressively bare-bones, consisting of cement walls, an old thermostat that read 52 degrees, and a couple of dozen shelves. Most people don鈥檛 give wine enough credit, Callahan said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly durable. There鈥檚 a reason people have been making it and drinking it for thousands of years.鈥�

I asked Callahan which bottle down here excited him the most, but he doesn鈥檛 play favorites. He can鈥檛. 鈥淲e have bottles that would bend most people鈥檚 minds,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have Roman茅e-Conti Roman茅e-Conti鈥攚hich is arguably the rarest bottle of wine in the world鈥攁 鈥�61 Lafite, and Madeira from the 1800s. But this is all so normalized to me. I鈥檝e pretty much had everything at this point and I think that鈥檚 one of the reasons I have such a casual attitude toward wine.鈥�

For all of Callahan鈥檚 expertise and experience, he truly does appear to have zero pretensions about wine or his career. He doesn鈥檛 care if you love canned Chardonnay or have a rack full of Two Buck Chuck in your living room. Nor does he mind the rise of Instagram influencers who鈥檝e never studied a day in their life but are busy living that #winelife and sharing #wineporn to 40,000 followers. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e drinking wine and enjoying it,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd that inspires someone else to go out and buy some wine, it鈥檒l eventually trickle over to our side.鈥� Callahan doesn鈥檛 romanticize wine or the path he鈥檚 taken. In his world, wine is first and foremost a business, and he鈥檚 after every bit of market share he can grab.

As we continued looking around the vast storage room, Callahan mentioned that he recently acquired a haul of Giacomo Conterno Monfortino 2012 Barolo Riserva. The 750 ml bottles will age for seven to ten years, while the magnums will age for fifteen to twenty years. 鈥淚 could be long gone from here by the time those bottles are ready to be put on the list,鈥� he said. Sometimes Callahan must be two, three, or four steps ahead of the competition. Other times, fifteen or twenty years.听

Chris Sweeney is a Boston-based writer and editor whose work has appeared in Men鈥檚 Journal, Popular Mechanics, and more.

Share your thoughts: bcm@bc.edu