Why small Johnson County bar keeps earning national acclaim
Listed on the bottom right corner of Drastic Measures’ menu is the College Dropout, a glowing yellow cocktail served in a coupe glass.
It’s a woodsy drink with St. George Terroir gin (which has the flavor profile of a Douglas fir), absinthe, lime and sugar. But it’s also the journey of Drastic Measures’ bar manager Nate Tallman and owner Jay Sanders.
Their stories run like parallel lines: Both started as engineering students who weren’t confident in their future careers. Both abandoned them before they began. Both ended up in the cocktail industry.
The two eventually intersected at a bar in Iowa, where Sanders was the beverage director. Tallman followed Sanders over to Drastic, which opened in downtown Shawnee during the pandemic. They have no regrets about the twists their paths have taken, either — especially with the prospect of a James Beard Award hanging overhead.
Any mention by the James Beard Foundation is considered a tremendous honor by most in the hospitality industry. But Drastic Measures now has three. This is Sanders’ fourth — he was mentioned last year for his work at sister bar Wild Child.
In 2023, Drastic advanced to the final round of the competition. He and his staff hopped on a plane and attended the awards ceremony in Chicago, shaking hands with celebrity chefs in suits and ties.
If all goes well, he’ll get to go back this summer.
“I thought they were tired of us,” Sanders said with a laugh. “I thought they were like, ‘Ah, these guys.’”
Apparently not. Drastic Measures is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Bar category yet again. Sanders’ bar is listed alongside Highball in Phoenix, Portland’s Scotch Lodge, Lady Jane in Denver, and other major players.
“Seeing the list of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Shawnee, is pretty cool,” Sanders said.
A growing downtown Shawnee
When he opened Drastic Measures six years ago, Sanders caught a fair amount of flack for trying to bring an artful cocktail bar to a downtown Johnson County suburb. But it was what he could afford. And frankly, he didn’t care what others thought.
“Shawnee? My grandparents live there,” nay-sayers told Sanders.
He’d quip back: “They sure do. And they need somewhere to drink, too.”
At the time it opened, McLain’s, Servaes and Transport already had a presence in the area. In the years since, Hank’s Garage, Friction, Gilda’s Bar de Tapas, Buenos Aires Restaurante, Tiki Taco and more have opened nearby.
If one visits downtown Shawnee on a given Friday evening, they’ll see young professionals walk up and down the sidewalks as cars whizz past. Laughter echoes from the patios surrounding Nieman and Johnson Drive.
It’s a completely different district than when Sanders moved in. Many of the aforementioned spaces were dark or home to things other than hospitality concepts.
“We could’ve opened Drastic somewhere else, but it wouldn’t have been as fun. Or as unexpected,” he said.
Midwest humble
One’s mind might wander to tight ties and velvet seats when they hear “James Beard-nominated cocktail bar.” But Drastic Measures is not that.
It’s still Midwest humble, just like Shawnee. It has concrete floors and plays rock music. Duck decoys sit on shelves and thank-you notes from charities hang on the walls.
On one Thursday evening during an interview with The Star, Tallman mixed a cocktail with genepy, curacao, pineapple, Cloosterbitter, lime and clove falernum called Heavy Bag Night. He served it on ice, poured into a glass.
A glass that looks like a trashcan, that is.
Another menu star is served with a tiny cowboy hat on top. Like all the cocktails at Drastic Measures, it’s $15.
While they’re honored by the accolades, Tallman and Sanders say they’re not letting them affect their practice.
“We just show up every day and serve drinks and take care of people,” Tallman said. “At the end of the day, we’re serving what we are, we’re not trying to change for that award.”
Sanders admits that some people have heard the James Beard acclaim and expected something different. Perhaps they wanted Drastic to be a little more posh. That’s been disappointing for those customers, but a breath of fresh air for others.
“There’s a stigma in craft cocktail bars that your bartender is gonna be a turd,” Sanders said. “You get in here and it’s these two clowns talking about Minecraft and turning up silly songs way too loud.”
‘A potluck every night’
All this — Drastic Measures, its subsequent sister bars, the James Beard mentions — started because Sanders loves to throw parties.
It’s what he was best at in college: gathering folks of different backgrounds together, turning on a good playlist, and testing ingredients for the perfect drink. He was more of the wallflower, himself though. He’d sit in the corner and watch others mingle in the environment he created.
Those skills are transferable. Sanders still loves to throw parties, though now on a much larger scale.
“If you break down the basics of what you do with friends and family when you have them in your space, it very much matches what we’re doing here,” Sanders said. “Except there’s a little more cleaning and a lot more citrus juicing.”
When Sanders made the decision to drop out, his parents said they’d support him if he promised to take his dream seriously, not just drink and flirt with the hostesses. Sanders agreed, and though he was driven to learn and grow in the industry, he never wanted to lose that sense of amusement.
Even as what some would call an accomplished professional in the industry, he still sees his job as hosting big get-togethers. His bar is a place where Shawnee neighbors shake hands and trade gardening secrets, discussing everything from weather to politics.
“It’s like a potluck every night,” he said.
But there are some differences, of course: Throwing a party at your house doesn’t earn you three James Beard nods.
Sitting next to Tallman inside the bar during an interview with The Star, Sanders said he gives all kudos to his staff. Tallman and his bartenders are the ones who pour drinks, clean and entertain customers. Sanders has been busy attending to his third bar, Cheval in midtown Kansas City, which he began operating in October.
Each of his three bars now has its own ecosystem.
“I don’t do the hard work here anymore,” Sanders said. “Definitely a message to the staff like, ‘This is yours. Congratulations.’ These guys run such a tight ship.”
Sanders said he only asks three things of his employees: Work your butt off, think and care.
“If you do the third thing, the first two take care of themselves,” Sanders said. “You can teach anybody to make a good cocktail. You can’t teach them to care.”
Tallman agreed with Sanders’ analysis. They’re in the business of finding good people. And good people make good bartenders.
The duo believe having caring employees helped them earn James Beard acclaim. Many of Drastic Measures’ Google reviews mention the friendly staff.
“They’re just recipes,” Tallman said. “It’s not incredibly difficult to make drinks. What is incredibly difficult is the human aspect.”
Intentionally welcoming
Anti-ICE signs are taped around the dark brick walls of Drastic Measures, and the phone numbers of Kansas’ two senators are listed on a black, felt letterboard. The bar hosted city councilman Steele Reynolds’ campaign launch last summer and has supported other political causes.
Sanders isn’t shy about his opinions, and his bar’s social media page is often a platform to speak out on things going on in the world and the city.
Secretly, other businesses want to share their thoughts, too.
“We get messages people who own bars and work at bars who are like, ‘It’s so cool you’re doing that,’ and I’m like, ‘Why the hell aren’t you?’” Sanders said.
He’s aware that could ruffle some feathers, and he’s made peace with how that may turn some away. It all aligns with his “good neighbor” mentality.
“Why are you letting those people in your business?” Sanders continued. “This space is not inclusive for everybody, it’s inclusive for people who care about other people.”
Drastic Measures doesn’t seem to have trouble finding customers, though. It’s open Tuesdays through Saturdays. Weekend nights often mean lines, and folks who stand outside Drastic Measures’ interior door and knock. They wait for the chandelier overhead to turn green.
If it does, they’re welcomed inside.
When they step through the doors, they’ll likely find Tallman and his staff standing behind the bar, tossing playful insults back and forth with customers.
Pours will be precise, “measured” as the name implies, but don’t expect Tallman to be wearing a starched button-up.
No need to keep your laughter at a respectable volume, either.
“Fun is a flavor, and it’s a good ingredient,” Sanders said.
This story was originally published March 19, 2026 at 5:30 AM.