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Come into Barley’s in downtown Greenville on any given night, and you can expect to find bartenders who’ll make your head spin with the laundry list of things they know about craft and microbrew beers. If you get lucky, your drinking session could even turn into a history session.
Kevin Campbell, 35, has been a bartender at Barley’s for five months, and while beer is one of his passions, he considers himself just as big of a history buff as a beer buff.
“I’m just really interested in history and politics,” he says. He’s pursuing his bachelor’s degree in history at Clemson University and hopes to eventually get his Ph.D. so he can teach and write.
But in the meantime, the 10-year bartending veteran is content to school the beer newbies of the Upstate on the differences between lagers and ales.
What did you do before you started at Barley’s? I was the bar manager at the Mellow Mushroom in Asheville before I moved to Greenville in August of last year. I worked at Soby’s for a little while, but I didn’t really fit in there.
What’s your favorite part about working here? Just the vast amount of beers we carry. There’s a ton of enthusiasm about beer from our clientele, and especially from the people who work here.
What’s on tap when you’re in a drinking mood? The Belgian style was fairly new to me when I came here, so I’ve been wallowing around in that. Urthel Samaranth is probably my favorite right now. It’s a Belgian quad.
What got you into bartending? I’ve been working in the service industry for a long time. I grew up in Indiana, and my first job was at a Waffle House when I was 13 washing dishes. I worked in the kitchen lots of places for years, and right before I turned 21, I got a brew pub in Indiana, and that kind of sealed the deal for me for drinking good beer and bartending.
What’s something ridiculous that has happened at the bar? We make it pretty clear that we specialize in microbrews and imports, but we always have people coming in here trying to order Bud Light and Miller Light.
When people come in here trying to order the cheap stuff, how do you react? It depends on how they are. For some people, they’re instantly open to trying something new. Other people get really offended. Most people don’t know enough about beer to know what they really like. We try to educate people and find out what their palette’s used to and guide them to something that maybe they haven’t seen before.
Heard any cheesy pick-up lines? I’ve had a few times when girls have asked when I’m single, and I’m not, so I don’t really engage in any of those flirtations.
How about lines other guys have used on girls at the bar? What’s the funniest thing is when a guy wants to find something his girlfriend will like, so he’ll come up here and wants to sound really knowledgeable, but doesn’t. They’ll want to make an impression and say something absurd.
When your shift is over, do you go out to any other bars around here? Not really, my schedule is pretty busy. I’m a full-time student and I have a baby and a stepson at home. If there’s any place I go out, it’s Smiley’s. Just because I like the music and the ambience there. It reminds me a lot of Asheville.
Do you have any bartending heroes or inspirations? In Indiana, my boss saw a guy drop a roofie in a girl’s drink. I was busy making drinks, and I just saw his arm come out in front of me and hit this dude. It’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen bartending. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some pretty seasoned bartenders who taught me about multitasking.
What have you done during the periods you haven’t been bartending? I was a traveling musician for a few years and made a living doing that. I play guitar and sing. I was in L.A. and was on the doorstep of everything I thought I wanted and then realized I didn’t want it anymore. I packed up and left and came out here to reinvent myself.
Do you still play? I dabble a little bit at home. But music was the main focus of my life for so long and it’s not something I can do part-time, so I have that on hold while I’m working on school.
Any surefire hangover cures? It can go one of two routes: It’s either being coherent enough to drink a ton of water before you go to sleep, or being in a position where you can drink more alcohol when you wake up. I guess a combination of water and coffee is probably the best.
When you’re having a special night on the town, what do you indulge in? Expensive beer. For some reason, I can’t drink cheap crappy beer anymore. I can’t do it. I do drink Jaeger bombs. That’s my shot of choice.
Got an idea for a bartender profile? Suggest a bartender in the comments section below, or e-mail Yvonne Zusel at yzusel@UpstateLink.com.
