Dan Smith is managing partner at Queen Mary Tavern, a cocktail bar in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village. He learned the cocktail trade, first at foundational Chicago bar The Violet Hour, then at its offspring Barrelhouse Flat under Stephen Cole and Greg Buttera, and opened Queen Mary with Heisler Hospitality in 2015. A veteran bartender and dedicated operator, Smith has overseen all aspects of Queen Mary’s program and operations since the bar’s inception, developing a focused, sui generis beverage program centering on the “maritime spirits”: gin, rum, Scotch whisky, sherry and madeira. Transparency, integrity, quality and authenticity are the bar’s guiding values, as is a signature warm and generous approach to hospitality. The bar has become both a cult favorite and a community institution.

Smith’s work has been featured in Imbibe, Punch, Esquire and Chicago Magazine, who named his Navy Strength Old Fashioned the best cocktail in Chicago in 2024. Queen Mary’s Martini has often been cited as Chicago’s finest and among the finest in the country.