Wondering where all the hip, young poly-sci majors are drinking these days? If you’re thinking of moving to the capital and need some drink recommendations to whet your appetite, we’re here to help. Here’s our list of where to grab everything from cider to whiskey in the District of Columbia/DMV.
Anxo Cidery & Pintxos Bar
Neighborhood: Truxton Circle
This Basque-inspired bar, cidery, and restaurant in Truxton Circle is known for its artisan cider and bite-sized fare. The rustic-chic space features a 660-gallon Mastro Battaio barrel near the entrance where yeast naturally transforms from fresh-pressed apple juice to cider. The drink menu has Anxo’s own ciders, plus collaborations. There’s also a section for Sidra/Sagardoa–rustic ciders best poured from height for proper aeration.
Don’t know what to order? Ask the staff for help, or just order a flight to see what strikes your fancy. The drink menu also features cider cocktails, vermouth, wine, beer, sherry, and apple brandy. Come hungry so you can try the Basque-style pintxos, small snacks traditionally served in Northern Spanish bars.
Service Bar
Neighborhood: U Street/Shaw
Cocktails and fried chicken sound like an odd combo, but it sure is working for the friendly folks at Service Bar. The cozy spot nestled in the U Street Corridor is at your service with friendly bartenders mixing up inventive cocktails. Order inexpensive classic drinks, like a daiquiri, Old Fashioned, or pony and a shot for just $7, or pick your poison from the cocktail menu, which is arranged by spirits. There’s also a martini of the week and rotating seasonal concoctions. Sunday brunch doesn’t start until 2pm, but it goes all night until 1am, with a DJ starting a 9pm. If you go with a group of 8-10, reserve the Snug Room, a private tasting nook attached to the bar.
Churchkey
Neighborhood: Logan Circle
This beer bar is basically church for craft aficionados, with 555 labels to choose from, including 50 taps, five casks, and a selection over 500 bottles, which are categorized by flavor profile, like crisp, roast, hop, smoke, or tart and funky. Greg Engert from Bluejacket also serves as the beer director at Churchkey. His curated menu of bottled beers is basically a book, featuring many exclusive and rare brews that you can only find at Churchkey (at least locally). If you like beer, this is a must-visit bar.
Columbia Room
Neighborhood: Shaw
This luxe cocktail lounge by Drink Company co-founder and mixologist Derek Brown serves up inventive, innovative libations in regal surroundings. The award-winning Columbia Room started as an unassuming, snug, 10-seat bar down the street in the back of The Passenger, but has reopened in Blagden Alley and tripled in size, now with three whimsical concepts, each with their own menus and drinks.
The airy outdoor deck, called the Punch Garden, offers bottled cocktails and its namesake beverage in shareable servings. The posh Spirits Library serves rare liquors, and a long list of highballs and Old Fashioneds in a regal room with dark walls, leather chairs, woodwork, and bookshelves lined with liquor bottles. Ball hard and make a reservation at the mosaic-backed Tasting Room for a prix-fixe menu of four cocktails paired with snacks prepared by their chef for $85.
Copycat Company
Neighborhood: H Street Corridor
Sip on daiquiris, gimlets, martinis, smashes, mules, and more at one of DC’s most beloved bars. Copycat Company’s founder Devin Gong keeps it simple with a menu of classic cocktails done right. Chalkboards behind the bar announce the day’s offerings and ingredients, plus helpful details like the history behind the drink. The sultry Atlas District den is perfect for pre- or post-dinner drinks, but there is a food menu featuring Chinese dumplings and meat skewers in case bar patrons work up an appetite.
Bluejacket
Neighborhood: Navy Yard
Attracting Nationals fans and beer nerds alike, Bluejacket brewery, restaurant, and bar in Navy Yard features a rotating selection of 20 original ales and lagers on tap daily, as well as four casks—all produced in-house—and poured at optimal temperature. Bluejacket was Neighborhood Restaurant Group’s (the team behind the venerable beer bar Churchkey) first foray into brewing. Beer director Greg Engert and his team brew a broad range of styles and flavors, from the Lost Weekend Citra IPA to the Mexican Radio spiced sweet stout.
The brewery is spread out over three levels in a historic building once known as the Boilermaker Shops, one of the few true industrial buildings remaining in DC. Order a Belgian blonde ale, dry-hopped lager, or sour blonde ale with pink guava and passionfruit–whatever floats your boat–and look out over the fermentation vessels. The Arsenal is Bluejacket’s restaurant and bar, serving up satisfying bar fare made from locally sourced products, like a fried mumbo sauce chicken sandwich or loaded potato skins.
Cotton & Reed Distillery
Neighborhood: Union Market
This popular craft rum distillery and tasting room near Union Market mixes up winning cocktails, like the Redbeard, made with Cotton & Reed white rum, Campari, ginger, and lemon. Cotton & Reed was created by two former NASA strategists, who decided they liked rum more than rockets. Order a pour of dry-spiced rum, neat or on the rocks, or a daiquiri if you’re craving something sweeter.
Some are relieved that DC’s first rum distillery and cocktail bar is not tiki-themed, but for those who enjoy an umbrella in their drink, there’s Tiki Tuesdays, which showcase the spirit in a tropical context, like the classic Hurricane. And, because no bar is complete these days without some design element you can add to your Insta-story, the honeycomb tiled bar top is laser etched with dragons, ferns, and more.
Jack Rose Dining Saloon
Neighborhood: Adams Morgan
Known for its ridiculous number of whiskeys, Jack Rose boasts an array of over 2,600 bottles, including single malt, blended, international, Irish, domestic, and rare bottlings. Bottles are displayed prominently, lining the walls of the spacious first-floor dining room and saloon, which sounds like a college kid’s apartment, but the vibe is much more Mad Men-esque. The beer program and cocktail menu is nothing to sneeze at either. Head downstairs to Dram & Grain (reservations required on weekends) to enjoy fancy cocktails in the intimate, leather-clad lounge. Go up to the open-air terrace for a hot toddy on a cold day or a refreshing tiki cocktail when it’s warm out. The full dinner menu of elevated comfort food is served in the first-floor dining saloon, while the terrace has a menu of its own with more bar food style offerings.
While DC residents drink more wine per capita than any other state or district in the U.S., they sure know where to go for a good cocktail, too. Ready to make yourself a DC local? Find your next apartment and make it close to one of these watering holes; you’ll thank us later when you can stumble home from the bar.
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