Urbana's Repeal Day Party

If you aren't heading to the Repeal Day Ball on Saturday, plan to swing by Urbana, which will be celebrating the 76th anniversary of the 1933 repeal of Prohibition with bathtub gin fizzes and cocktails. There will also be '20s music and if you're a fan of Urbana on Facebook, you'll have access to a secret password that will get you an extra treat.

There will be a literal bathtub in the bar, and you can sip on the Urbana Gin Fizz. If you're dressed in 1920’s period attire, your first drink will be the '20s price of 25 cents. After the first, classic cocktails are $8.

A $33 prix fixe menu is available for dinner, with plates like curried kabocha soup, bacon wrapped pork tenderloin and chocolate brioche available.

Five Questions for Garrett Peck

Next Saturday, December 5, is the second Repeal Day Ball, the party put on the D.C. Craft Bartenders Guild, which celebrates the 76th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. I attended last year's festivities, and it was one of the best parties of the year.

The Repeal Day Ball will be held at PS7's, which means snacks from Peter Smith, one of my favorite D.C. chefs. The theme is the "Spirit of '76," so expect members of the guild to be dressed as the founding fathers. Tickets are $100 (VIP $150). Click here to order tickets.

I recently chatted with Garrett Peck, author of The Prohibition Hangover, about the social history of alcohol in America, who lives in the area. Peck will be giving his Temperance Tour the day of the Ball, and he answered five questions for me.

AC: What's the appeal with celebrating the end of Prohibition?

GP: It was such a huge success last year and really fun. All these bartenders came last year, like Jeffrey Morgenthaler from Portland, and people from Philly and New York.  There’s also a wider appeal — there’s a whole nostalgia now for that era, with funny waistcoats and groovy facial hair and old cocktails. This was only 76 years ago. It’s still incredible that we changed the constitution to deal with alcohol and then changed it back. It’s fun to celebrate the quirky past of American history.

AC: Are you helping with this year’s Repeal Day Ball in any way?

GP: I’m definitely going, but my piece is to do the Temperance Tour earlier that day.

AC: What are some spots you hit on the Temperance Tour? How often do you do them?

GP: I do them at least twice a year through Walking Town D.C., which handles the marketing. This year, Derek Brown asked me to lead it in conjunction with the ball. We start at Cogswell Temperance Fountain on Pennsylvania Avenue, halfway between the White House and the Capitol. It’s a symbolic location. Then we walk up to Chinatown and the Cavalry Baptist Church where the Anti-Saloon League held their first convention in 1895. They got the 18th amendment passed and existed for 40 years. We end at Woodrow Wilson’s house. He was the only president to retire in D.C. and he was also president when Prohibition went into effect. You get to see Wilson’s wine cellar, which was hauled over from the White House.

AC: D.C. seems to just be a cocktail city, though more beer-centric places are opening. Do you think D.C. will ever really become beer-friendly?

GP: Beer is still what the majority of Americans drink, though not so much in D.C. Drinking culture here is centered around spirits at happy hour or wine at dinner, and we don’t have a huge beer culture unlike in New England. Boston is a beer-drinking city, and New York is a heavy cocktail city.

Generation is also a factor — I’m a gen x-er, and overall we’re beer drinkers, though now that we have more disposable income, we like fine Scotch, bourbon and wine. Each generation won’t stick with the same drink their whole lives.

The way the economy is now, we’re shifting where we buy drinks and reassessing what value means. A lot of people are saying, 'Do I need a $65 bottle of wine? Is it that much better than the $20 bottle?'

AC: How did you happen to study American drinking culture and write a book on it?

GP: I had an epiphany moment for the book during Christmas 2003. I brought a bottle of wine, and my grandmother got snooty. ‘What are you doing bringing wine? You know I don’t drink!’

A light bulb went off. My mother and I both drink, but why didn’t my grandmother’s value about temperance get passed on? She was born in 1913 and was taught that alcohol was sinful and wrong. I thought – that’s a subtle but huge social change in American society.

Photo by Manuel Claros

The Passenger Opens Today

The Passenger, the cool, new endeavor from bartender brothers Derek and Tom Brown opens today. I checked out the space last night and sampled some of the drinks and food at the media preview, and I think it's going to become a fun go-to spot in the area. Located a block and a half from the Convention Center Metro, The Passenger is located in the old Warehouse Theatre space at 1021 7th St., NW.

The inside is kind of unfinished, which gives it a raw aesthetic. There's a large front room, a smaller back room (soon to look like a train dining car), and a separate room — the Columbia Room — for the cocktail lounge that Derek will be manning in the coming months. There's a nice mix of open space and tables.

The drink menu is mostly wines and beers, but you can order a pitcher of the Sherry Flip, which is delicious. You can also order cocktails to your liking. The food is from Red Apron Butchery, and includes kimchi hot dogs and Italian and roasted vegetable paninis.

Warm and Fuzzy Cocktails at the W Hotel

Hot winter drinks mean more than just hot chocolate. The Point of View rooftop bar at the W Hotel is now offering warm cocktails like a lovely mulled pear cider spiked with bourbon and pear liqueur (above) and a creative hot peanut butter rum, which I might just be trying at home this season. Cocktails are $10.

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.

Reminder!

The last Cocktail Sessions at Bar Pilar is tonight. I'll be there with friends in tow.

World Cocktail Week — D.C. Events

World Cocktail Week kicks off on May 6 and runs through May 13. Below, a list of the events going on around the city. Last year I went to the Proof dinner and it was so fun that I'm planning to check out some of the other events going on as well.

May 6
Cocktail Cage Match - 1-2 p.m.
WAMU 88.5 FM
Tune in to WAMU’s Kojo Nnambi Show to hear a debate between Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve, PX and Derek M. Brown of the Gibson, SOVA on the merits of culinary cocktails versus classic cocktails.

Honoring D.C.'s Greatest Bartender - 3 p.m.
Visit to the grave of George A. Williamson, legendary D.C. bartender and inventor of the Rickey.
For details, contact: Derek Brown

Bar Pilar - 5-7 p.m.
Plymouth Gin Rickey Happy Hour with Adam Bernbach, DC's indigenous cocktail featuring Plymouth Gin.

May 7
PS7’s - 5-8 p.m.
80's Happy Hour Remix - Gina Chersevani in promotion with Skyy Vodka will be remixing 80's cocktails to a new beat, with music provided by DJ Brian Miller! There will flare, fire, and fun with the help of fellow guild members Rachel Sergi from Zatinaya and Jason Strich from Rasika. Get out your hairspray and tight roll your jeans for an outrageous time.

May 8
The Warehouse Cafe - 6-8 p.m.
Punch Club Happy Hour, featuring classic punches by Dan Searing of Room 11

May 9
SOVA Espresso and Wine - 7-9 p.m.
Featuring the Bay Area Philosopher and assorted Pisco cocktails with Pisco expert Melanie Asher and SOVA head bartender Jamie MacBain.

May 10
The Gibson - 6-8 p.m.
Tiffany's Tiki Happy Hour - We are offering a selection of three classic tiki drinks made by Tiffany Short.

May 11
Proof - 7 p.m.
Cocktail party and five-course dinner benefiting the Museum of the American Cocktail will kick off with a cocktail hour featuring passed hors d'oeuvres and five specialty cocktails created just for this event. Proof’s executive chef Haidar Karoum will prepare a five-course tasting menu that will be paired with five additional specialty cocktails.The city's top mixologists will create cocktails for the evening, including Adam Bernbach, Derek Brown, Gina Chersevani, Justin Guthrie, Owen Thomson, Todd Thrasher, Chantal Tseng, Rico Wisnor, Jill Zimorski, and Sebastian Zutant. $145 per person. Contact: Karen Chan

May 12
Sonoma Lounge - 6-9 p.m.
Upstairs Happy Hour - Cucumber Milk Punch, along with other cocktails featuring Hendricks Gin by Justin Guthrie and Tom Street.

May 13
Tabard Inn - 10 p.m.
Reverse Happy Hour with Chantal Tseng - Featuring “May” cocktails by Chantal Tseng.

Derby Day

It's Kentucky Derby Day, and wherever you're watching you should have a mint julep in hand. Here's an easy recipe to whip up at home from Jim Hewes, the bar man at the Round Robin at the Willard Intercontinental, who I talked to here.

Southern Style Mint Julep

2 oz. Maker’s Mark Bourbon
1 tsp sugar
Water
8-10 red-stem mint leaves
Freshly cracked ice

Muddle mint leaves, a small measure of bourbon and sugar in a tall glass tumbler, add small amount of cracked ice and stir, refill with remaining ice. Top with rest of the bourbon and water and re-stir. Garnish with fresh mint and a zest of lemon, dust with sugar.

The Last Cocktail Sessions

Mark your calendars for May 19, when Adam Bernbach puts on his last Cocktail Sessions at Bar Pilar. I always have fun at the weekly Tuesday event, mainly because Adam's cocktails are all so creative and delicious. Though I always have fun at Bar Pilar, because I like the space and it has really good food for a bar. Since I'm already claiming a whole birthday weekend prior to this, why not just extend the celebrations a few days?

Scotch Bar at the Willard Intercontinental

I'm a big fan of the Scotch Bar at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel. Go read the profile I wrote on it that ran in today's Express.

Cherry Up! at Equinox

I'm excited, as I am every year, for the impending Cherry Blossom Festival. I love the pink trees, of course, but I also love all the delightful cherry dishes that find themselves on area menus. Cherries are one of my favorite fruits, and until there's a strawberry festival (actual favorite fruit), I'll take what I can get.

Next week I'll be sampling some of the dishes you can order during the festival, which runs March 28-April 12, but until then, check out Equinox's Cherry Up! happy hour kicking off on Friday. The special runs every Friday from 5-7 p.m. through June 5.

Cherry-themed cocktails include cherry rum-and-cola with macerated cherries, cherry pie, with vanilla-infused vodka, white chocolate liqueur, and maraschino-cherry juice, and the cherry sphere, with cherry-infused vodka and sweet vermouth. Cocktails are $10.

There will also be free hors d'oeuvres, including duck spring rolls with dark cherry sauce, asparagus tempura with green-garlic mayonnaise, and white-chocolate/cherry bark.

I want to hit this up one week. Anyone want to come with me for a cocktail post-work?

Absinthe Tastings at Morton's

If you're looking for something to do tomorrow or later this month, head to one of the Morton's locations nearby for an absinthe tasting. I wrote up a brief piece for today's Express about the tastings and where else you can find absinthe around town.

Washington in Love: Valentine Cocktails

Romantic dinners aren't just about wine. Cocktails, which have been making a resurgence over the last year or two in Washington, are also appropriate, and area restaurants have created special drinks for the holiday.

At Café Atlantico, Jill Zimorski has created a "Champagne and Caviar" Cocktail. The drink is garnished table side with tiny, caviar-like strawberries which float in the cocktail and burst in your mouth.

Mixologist Todd Thrasher has whipped up several cocktails, all of which will be served at Restaurant Eve, The Majestic and PX in Virginia. Look for the gingery "Pear of Desire," the chocolately "Love Me Tender" and the Passion fruity "Persuasion."

The Park Hyatt Washington is offering White Chocolate Seduction, which tempting libation combines sweet Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur, Van Gogh Vanilla Vodka, White Crème de Cacao, Crème de Cassis and cream. They are also offering a mulled cider and a Riesling rosemary mulled wine, which is available now through Feb. 28. Or, make the mulled wine at home, with the recipe below.

Riesling Rosemary Mulled Wine

2 bottles Riesling white wine
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
3 whole cloves
2 tbsp rosemary
1/2 vanilla bean
1/4 cup honey
2 lemons, sliced

Simmer (but not boil) the water, sugar, rosemary, and honey for 10 minutes. Add in the wine. Peel the lemons and add in the peels. Allow to steep without boiling. Strain and serve warm.

Vino Volo

How is it that I've never been to Vino Volo before? It's a fantastic little wine shop/wine bar in BWI's Southwest terminal, and was a nice place to wait out my delayed flight earlier this week. In other parts of the airport people were eating McDonald's and reading trashy magazines, but here it was cheese plates and red wine flights, and someone actually pulled out A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I had a great little sandwich with prosciutto, brie, and fig jam, and a salad with herbed chicken, pine nuts, cranberries and goat cheese (each half portions, which were $6 each), and then two glasses of an Italian pinot grigio.

Now I hate everything about flying, but this just made the whole experience a little more civilized.

Pimm's Winter Update

It seems that a number of people stumble across this blog in an attempt to track down Pimm's Winter in the U.S. I've done a cursory search at local liquor stores, but haven't had any luck, and in return have received puzzled stares from people who think I made the drink up.

You can, however, buy a bottle online — if you have about $80 to spend.

If you have even more money, and are lucky enough to be in the U.K., you can drink Pimm's Winter and eat chocolate truffles in a private capsule on the London Eye. Some people have all the luck.

Fall Cocktails

It took several weeks of research in bars, but here's my article on fall cocktails. There are many that I tried that I couldn't write about, including a lovely mulled wine from Cork and a cocktail utilizing maple syrup at Bourbon.

You can read the article here. And then read my food blog post with more fall cocktail recipes to try if you don't want to venture out to a bar.

Cocktail Dinner at Proof

Monday night I went to Proof for their Museum of the American Cocktail Dinner. Four and a half hours, ten drinks and five plates later, I went home and passed out.

There were so many drinks that I only finished three of the cocktails: Derek Brown's Hibiscus Fizz (Finlandia Vodka infused with Hibiscus, Rose Hips and Orange Peel, Yuzu and Lemon Juices, topped with soda), Gina Chervesani's Cereza la Fuma (Milagro Silver Tequila, Lillet Rouge, Cherrywood Smoked WHite Pepper Meringue, Agave Nectar, Lime Juice, topped with Fleur de Sel), and Tom Brown's Truffled Amaro Flip (Korbel Brandy, Ramazotti Amaro, Egg Whites, Lemon Juice, Truffle Oil, Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters). Also notable was Justin Guthrie's Tarragon Gin Fizz (Hendrick's Gin infused with Tarragon, Lemon Juice, Natakhari Tarragon Soda).

On the food end there were five dishes (along with some nice little passed hors d'oeuvres in the beginning, with were paired with five cocktails). First up, and paired with Todd Trasher's Dr. Who celery cocktail, was a chilled seafood and hearts of palm cocktail that tasted like gazpacho. Next, paired with Derek's drink, and my favorite dish, was sake glazed salmon with pickled honshimenji mushrooms, asparagus and tamari-radish emulsion. Third was braised Shenandoah lamb with spring pea tarragon risotto and grilled ramps, paired with Gina's cocktail. Fourth was a cheese selection with honey and bread paired with a killer drink by Sebastian Zutant called the Medicine Man (Sebby Potter and the Teaming Cauldron of Booze). Finally was a strawberry and pink peppercorn shortcake with creme fraiche and honey lavender ice cream paired with Tom's really nice amaro flip.

Washingtonian has some pictures of the event here.

And read my article for recipes for some of the above drinks.

Tequila Festival at Oyamel

Last week I went to the press preview for the Tequila Festival at Oyamel, which runs March 18-30. I can safely say I consumed more tequila than I have in the rest of my life combined.

We started with great three cocktails, the best of which was the prickly pear margarita. Then we moved onto dinner, the highlights of which were the lime-tequila soup, the sauteed shrimp with Oaxaca cheese and tequila, and the cornish hen. There were two desserts, a strawberry tequila sorbet (delicious) and a tequila gelatin with white chocolate foam and anise (less so, but I don't really like anise). Then there was a fantastic coffee with yes, more tequila, but which was topped with this amazing white chocolate orange whipped cream.

The menu is really fun, and it's great to see how many different things can be done with tequila.