Sou'Wester's Cocktails

I've been doing a lot of cocktail drinking lately, for a piece on fall and Halloween cocktails that will come out in the Washington Post Express this week. While there are some lovely fall cocktails out there (like the Wild Winter at CoCo. Sala and the Spiced Chianti Fizz at Dino), I've also enjoyed the cocktails at Sou’Wester immensely. The food there is another, equally enjoyable, story that I will save for another time.

Sou'Wester's cocktail menu is divided into "The Cocktail Collection" and "The Nectars," which utilize fresh fruit infusions prepared seasonally in the kitchen. The first category includes classics like a Bloody Mary, a Negroni and a Mint Julep. It also includes a Root Beer Float made with Jack Daniel’s, Sou’Wester root beer, vanilla bean, angostura bitters, soda and a vanilla topping, which is great fun and not as sweet as I imagined. Nectars include a lovely Strawberry "Daiquiri" and sweet-tart When Life Gives you Lemons, with homemade lemoncello, Chainey Farm’s lavender syrup and lemon juice soda. Cocktails are $10, but if you head there between 3 and 5 p.m., they're only $7.
 
Sou'Wester is located in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at  1330 Maryland Avenue, S.W.