Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: Triple Crown Cocktails at The Source

Horse races are sporting events I can get behind: Gambling, hats, and over in two minutes. Also, each of the American Triple Crown races features a traditional official cocktail.

At The Source by Wolfgang Puck, the bar team decided to honor the equestrian traditions by adding each of these three cocktails to their lounge menu for a limited time. However, as an Asian fusion restaurant, the classic mint julep (Kentucky Derby), black-eyed susan (Preakness) and Belmont breeze (Belmont) seemed a bit too domestic, so they decided to add pan-Asian flavors to their interpretation of each.

Upon reading this, I was curious – and maybe just a hint dubious. These are such iconic American drinks, the julep in particular. How would spruced-up Pacific Rim variants work out?
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: Pimm’s Cup No. 13

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

Some of my favorite things: London, gin, ridiculous hats, men in morning dress, and pomp. I have even been told I am “a bit of a princess” (though that may not have been meant as a compliment). In other words, I have somewhat greater than a passing interest in this morning’s Royal Wedding.

I am writing this column whilst drinking Bellocq tea – No. 35, naturally – from a William and Catherine commemorative mug purchased at my favorite store in the world, Liberty.

Of course, that does not make for nearly so good a happy hour as a Pimm’s Cup.
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: The Josephine

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

I hate jelly beans. I do not care if this makes me some kind of easter bunny hating grinch, I think the neon-colored gelatinous orbs are gross. However, even the jar of them that arrived with my drink at Last Exit last night did not sour me on the place.

The new Mount Pleasant bar specializes in simple drinks that showcase house infused sprits and pairs each one with a little snack like grapes, popcorn, or, in the case of The Josephine, jelly beans. The pairing makes sense – the sugary, fruity beans are meant to play off the dry, savory qualities of the drink. The Josephine takes a thyme and grapefruit infused gin and lengthens it with a bit of club soda. The result is a sophisticated, not remotely sticky, sort of a take on a “gin and tonic” and perfect for the coming summer.
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: DC Brau Public Ale

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

This Friday Happy Hour is a little unusual: I have never tried the thing I am going to recommend. In fact, only a few people I know have yet had the chance to sample it. However, starting tonight, that is all going to change.

DC Brau is the first brewery to be crafting beer within the District in a generation. Much has been made of the risks the entrepreneurs behind it took and their forays into public policy to make the city more hospitable to themselves and other new breweries that might want to crop up. For more, one can read a profile we did on Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock last year.
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: Eve’s Pear

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

Sunday afternoon, I found myself fairly aimlessly going about town with someone when I happened to look at Twitter on my phone. A terrible habit, I know, but a habit nonetheless. I saw an update from The Passenger with a photo of their special cocktails for the day – and I instantly had a mission for us to accomplish. I texted one of my favorite friends, a known lover of Sunday excursions to the Passenger, to see if he wanted to join us. He replied that he was already there. I should have guessed.
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Friday Happy Hour: Cappuccino

peregrine cappuccino by erin_m

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

Traditionally, one celebrates with Champagne. Some things, though, one celebrates with coffee.

In this case, the celebratory beverage was a cappuccino from Peregrine Espresso. It seemed more appropriate at two in the afternoon on a Thursday, after all. Besides, there is always a faint air of luxury and rebellion about spending hours over coffee with a friend when everybody else is trapped in their offices, which even a lovely glass of wine cannot quite top.
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: Jack Rose Cocktail

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

My friend Kirk (pictured above) has been reading Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises specifically, which got him thinking about the Jack Rose cocktail. In the 1926 novel, the narrator sips one in a Parisian boîte and the drink has benefitted from that bit of product placement ever since. When I asked him what I should drink for the column this week (after a spate of fairly unremarkable imbibition) he had a clear answer: a Jack Rose at The Gibson.
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: Burnt Sugar Old Fashioned

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

Tuesday was my rad friend Julie’s birthday. Julie does really important work at a really important non-profit and is always surrounded by super cool activist types, musicians, and the like. I showed up to her impromptu party at Haydees in Columbia Heights straight from a meeting, dressed like someone who has to get up early to take the train to work on Wednesday mornings; I was the only one so attired. Pitchers and pitchers of margaritas came as the group swelled in size and grew louder to try to compete with the blaring music. As it got later, I realized I was going to have to be that loser who leaves the party first – thus confirming everything the cool kids probably thought of me and my sell-out job all along.

My friend Jeffrey agreed to leave at the same time, but as soon as we got out of the loud, loud restaurant, he made clear he was not actually ready to go home. He knew our friend Iris was working over at Room 11 and so we made our way there. I may be giving away a secret here, but around midnight on a Tuesday night is the perfect time to go to Room 11. The snug, warm bar had only a few other patrons and the atmosphere is extra cozy. Room 11 is generally open until at least 1:00 – part of the owners’ commitment to creating a “neighborhood bar” feel.

On the chalkboard was a Burnt Sugar Old Fashioned which, Iris told me, was one of the first special cocktails the staff created upon the bar’s opening but which is sometimes unavailable when they cannot get the special sugar in question. When prepping a syrup of it, the bartenders burn the sugar to caramelize it and add extra molasses. This creates a dark, opaque cocktail with a depth of flavor. Iris added Maker’s Mark bourbon, Fee Brothers Bitters – and a peel of orange which took a bit of effort as she was working with one injured hand. The drink was rich and delightful and a perfect way to end the evening. It was even better than the sticky, bright green margaritas in huge cups I had been drinking all night (which is shocking, I know.)

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: Goose Island Dominique

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

I may be against eating meat but I am totally in favor of day drinking. When Addison arranged a ChurchKey for brunch on Sunday, I asked to tag along. As a vegetarian, I wanted nothing to do with the Luther – I just wanted to socialize and drink beers at noon.

Noon seem early for a bourbon-barrel aged wild ale – but by the time we wrapped up the multi-hour brunch session, several glasses of Goose Island Dominique had made their way to our table. I think everybody ordering beer at the table had at least a small glass.

Goose Island produces the very delicious Bourbon County Stout, which is aged in used bourbon barrels. After they age the stout in those barrels, they recycle them again to age a wild-yeast farmhouse style ale to produce the Dominique. The barrel-aging infuses the beer with a bourbony, spirituous quality and vanilla note, which blends perfectly with the more tart, sour, and rustic flavors.

The fascinating thing about this beer is that it seems to be so balanced that it really appeals to a wide variety of tastes. Everybody with whom I have sampled this seems to enjoy it. When I found myself at ChurchKey again with another beer nerd, his sip of mine turned into him ordering himself another glass. (I forced myself to have something else and ordered a different Goose Island, the Pepe Nero, for my next drink.)

It does not go overboard in any single direction which may not impress the heads who want something really intense or distinctive. Instead, the beer has a certain elegance and subtlety – without being boring.

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Friday Happy Hour: Holy Molé Hot Chocolate

photo by author

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

By all accounts, I could have gone in to the office after the big thundersnowstorm. Living pretty close to work, I do not have a hellish commute and anybody who has seen my closet can tell you I am well-stocked on boots and scarves for all situations. Nonetheless, I took advantage of my company’s liberal leave policy and good telework infrastructure and stayed home instead.

Working from home is great for my productivity and, in my case at least, the environment – but by the end of a day inside I tend to get antsy for human interaction. Besides, there was a beautiful snow-capped Washington to tromp around. I arranged to meet a friend at Tryst. Continue reading

Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, The Daily Feed

Friday Happy Hour: West Islayer

West Islayer (photo by author)

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

One of my besties, Heidi, wanted celebrate her birthday with a low-key, grown-up sort of celebration in which a group of us went out for a nice dinner and cocktails at a nicer sort of restaurant. Our group, though, is all vegetarians or vegans, so the choices for fancy spots can feel limited. She picked Rasika for the ample offerings of both veg fare and original cocktails.

Jason Stritch was behind the bar that night and we enjoyed a number of his creations. He told me he spends about thirty hours a week just prepping ingredients – creating his own syrups, growing herbs, and brewing his own cider (which was the best cider I have ever tasted – though I am not much of a cider fan). The first thing he whipped up for me was a Scotch-based cocktail called the “West Islayer.”

Scotch can be a challenging base for a cocktail – most Scotch-tails I have tasted leave me wishing I just ordered a tumbler of the stuff without mixers – but the campfire smokiness of a Laphroaig Scotch is so appealing this time of year that I gave the drink a chance. It won me over immediately.

To the smoky Laphroaig, the drink adds spiced honey and allspice dram. The sweetness and hint of spice add a wonderful walking-on-damp-leaves-in-autumn quality. Everyone who sampled my drink – and, with an aroma like the West Islayer has, everyone around wants to sample it – enjoyed it, be they regular Scotch drinkers or the person who claims they do not like to drink “anything brown.”

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: Fool’s Warmth

"Fool's Warmth" cocktail, Proof

Yay, we’re resuscitating our Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

Is it really just a week since New Year’s Eve? Sigh. 2011 is upon us and most of DC is back at work hard. It’s cold and snow may be on the way. Does this mean no more bubbly? Hell, no!

I’ve got a mania for champagne cocktails, and over at Proof you can try a very wintery combination by Adam Bernbach, poetically named Fool’s Warmth. Though you might think it’s a hot toddy, both from the title and some of the ingredients – honey syrup and lemon juice – it’s actually a cold sparkler with a base of Champagne and Calvados apple brandy, plus the classic champagne cocktail component of Angostura bitters. Just the right balance of mellow sweet and tart, it was perfect on a chilly winter’s night (especially after having my system shocked by seeing Black Swan).

A golden, fizzy apple love. That warms me up.

Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: Raki

Photo courtesy of
‘Efe Raki’
courtesy of ‘Jenn Larsen’

Welcome to the Friday Happy Hour, your single drink primer for the weekend.

Ah, the aniseed! Like cilantro, it has a taste you either love or hate. Absinthe, sambuca, pastis, raki are all anise-flavored spirits that inspire devotion or downright hatred. Me? I love licorice. So you know what side I fall on. Recently the mysteries of one of these aniseed derived drinks was revealed to me at Agora, the new Turkish restaurant on 17th Street NW in Dupont Circle. The charming bar manager, Ismail Uslu, was kind enough to let me sample some raki, Turkey’s official national drink. It was a fascinating experience and one I hope you’ll share.

But what is raki exactly? Like ouzo and grappa, raki is produced by distilling the solid remains of fruit after it’s been pressed, commonly raisins, figs, or grapes. Then it’s flavored with aniseed. Raki can be drunk straight (called “sec”), in which case it’s clear, or diluted with cold water, which turns it milky white. Ice cubes can also be added after dilution according to personal preference. Agora stocks six raki of different styles and distillation levels so you can sample several to see which one you prefer. I tried Efe, which is triple-distilled from grape remains.

Ismail showed me the traditional way to serve raki. Two glasses were placed on the bar, one with plain raki about a third of the way full, and the other with water. From a separate pitcher he poured chilled water into the raki which resulted in the magical transformation known in Turkey as “the lion’s milk” – turning the raki that beautiful opaque color. Then he placed a bowl of ice cubes down for me to add as I liked.

“It’s a slow drink,” he said, “sip some raki, then some water. It’s not like shots.” Continue reading

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: Moonshine Iced Tea

Photo courtesy of
‘Easy Day’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

Welcome to the Friday Happy Hour, your single drink primer for the weekend.

For this holiday weekend which proudly celebrates our American independence, it might be treasonous to suggest you head over to British gastro-pub AGAINN for your happy hour, but there are two words guaranteed to make me do a happy dance in the world of drinks – tinctures and tea. Add moonshine, and well, say no more.

Ace bartender JP Caceres showed me how they are serving up a Moonshine Iced Tea cocktail with inspiration coming from the past – traveling medicine shows where old wives’ wisdom in the form of specially crafted tinctures cured all ails. Your bartender will mix up the base – 1 oz of your liquor choice, 1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 oz simple syrup, and a highball glass is filled with crushed ice and tea. Here’s the fun part – you then get to choose from several different tea-based tinctures with delightful names (like Happy Tummy, Dawn Chorus, Easy Day) splashing a few drops into your drink to your own taste. The idea is to use some old-fashioned knowledge to self-medicate and experiment with different tastes depending on your mood. The results are lovely – flavors ranging from herbal, floral and vegetal with the alcohol just a side note to tea’s invigorating kick.

Ok, that sounds tempting Jenn, but what the heck are tinctures anyway?
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: Cool Hand Cuke

Photo courtesy of
‘Cucumber Cocktail’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’ 

Welcome to the Friday Happy Hour, your single drink primer for the weekend.

Last month Samer and I were treated to a sneak peek of the incredibly refreshing cocktail Owen Thomson would mix up to inaugurate the “Farm to Glass” program in his new role at Cafe Atlantico. Beginning tonight, you can try it too. Called the Cool Hand Cuke, it has a beautiful green hue quirkily topped by a baby cucumber blossom. Perfectly balanced between vegetal and spice flavors, it features SubRosa Tarragon Infused Vodka, Black Rock Farms Baby Persian Cucumber Juice, black pepper and thyme juice and “Dr. Thomson’s” spiced liquor #2.

The “Farm to Glass” program is part of Cafe Atlantico’s Farmers’ Market Dinners, a three-course menu (priced at $45) sourced from the Penn Quarter FRESHFARM market by newly appointed head chef Richard Brandenburg and served every Friday evening during market season. The “Farm to Glass” cocktail program will complement the dinners and their seasonal ingredients.

A green cocktail for a green program. Sip up what Samer called “summer in a glass,” and don’t forget to eat the baby cucumber garnish too – it’s part of the fun!

Entertainment, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed

Georgetown Gallery Gazing

Photo courtesy of
‘Staring at Lines’
courtesy of ‘Karon’

This Friday, April 16 from 5 to 8 p.m participating Georgetown gallery owners will open their doors with extended hours, welcoming people with art, music, libations, and nibbles. It’s all part of The Georgetown Gallery Gaze featuring fine art, wearable art to adorn, and artful patrons will be there. For a list of participating galleries, maps and more information, visit www.georgetowngallerygaze.com.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: Peep of View

Photo courtesy of
‘Peep of View’
courtesy of ‘rabid_c’

Welcome to the Friday Happy Hour, your single drink primer for the weekend.

There aren’t a ton of holiday specific drinks out there, and pretty much the only ones that do exist are Christmas drinks.  POV at the W Hotel has stepped in to remedy this with their new Easter themed cocktail, the “Peep of View.”  It’s a concoction of vodka, grapefruit juice, cranberry, and St. Germaine, topped off with champagne and garnished by a Peep.  As you can imagine, it’s sweet and fruity and drinking it was a severe test of my masculine security. As over the top as a Peep garnished cocktail sounds,  it’s an altogether pleasant drink. House squeezed juices give it a freshness that pairs perfectly with open air on the rooftop at POV. Not to mention that food and beverage director Robert Sabin wouldn’t let anything pass from his shop that wasn’t well constructed.  He even took into account how the marshmallow from Peep garnish would affect the flavor of the drink.  This weekend, consider the season.  Have your self a Peep of View at the W (but remember to get a reservation before you go).  Happy Easter!

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Green DC, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: Guinness

Photo courtesy of
‘christmas eve’
courtesy of ‘volcanojw’

I know that St. Patrick’s Day isn’t until next week, but let’s be honest, it’s on your mind.  So, why drink anything other than Ireland’s finest: Guinness Stout. I don’t feel like I need to expound upon the flavor and richness of Guinness as I’m sure that everyone has tried it.  But, lest anyone fear that the upcoming holiday may contribute to growing waistlines, let me assure you that Guinness will not be the culprit.  It is a wonder beer, of sorts.  Despite it’s thick texture and powerful flavor, Guinness stout is actually very light.  It actually has fewer calories that Coca Cola.  In fact, there is evidence to suggest that may be healthy, if drunk in moderation.

Another fun fact: the great-great-great-grandson of Arthur Guinness is a local.  Os Guinness, who is a prolific author/critic/theologian lives in McClean.  So, this weekend drink for your health, drink for our local Guinness family member, and most of all, drink for St. Paddy’s Day.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier

Photo courtesy of
‘Weihenstephaner’
courtesy of ‘yto’

Welcome to the Friday Happy Hour, your single drink primer for the weekend.

I’ve been trying to come up with some sort of seasonal or circumstantial justification for recommending the Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, but I really can’t.  The best thing I can think of is that you might die tomorrow and it would be a real shame if you went to your grave without trying this beer. The Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier is a wheat beer hailing from the Weihenstephan brewery of Bavaria (supposedly the oldest in the world). It’s consistently rated as the best hefewizen in the world and packs an enormous amount of complexity and flavor.  It bears notes of lemon and clove with strong overtones of banana from the acids produced by the particular style of yeast used during the fermentation process.  It’s sweet and refreshing, with a medium body and lingering finish.  Typically, you’d drink this style of beer during warmer weather, but it’s definitely worth having today.  You can find it at Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar on H St., or at Total Wine and More.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: The Kraken

Photo courtesy of
‘The Kraken’
courtesy of ‘wrgenec’

Welcome to the Friday Happy Hour, your single drink primer for the weekend.

I admit freely that when it comes to liquor, I can easily be seduced by bottle imagery. Shallow, I know, but when beautiful imagery is actually matched by flavor, well, that’s it. Done.

The first night Tom Brown showed me a bottle of The Kraken black spiced rum, it was Christmas Eve at The Passenger, and I was in a magical mood. The vintage image of the beast from the deep hit all my old Mystic Seaport memories from being a kid peeping at exotic (and often erotic) scrimshaw. The color, dark as the night sea, was also pretty evocative. But let’s be honest, it could’ve tasted like bilgewater.

Only it didn’t. Continue reading