“Uh, okay, sure, whatever,” was probably my response. Unlike him, I hadn’t been reading cocktail sites and had never really thought about it. “If we’re going to do it, though, we should write about it.” At the time I wrote for a gaming website, plus did random reviews and such on a LiveJournal site (where we started this site!) and so it only made sense to me. Why just read when you can participate?

Who knew where that’d lead.

There’s been the heyday of blogging, the CSOWG and the Mixoloseum, and more than a few Tales of the Cocktails. There was the first time someone referred to us as “industry”. There have been classes and even a short gig bartending. There’s been lots of words but in the end, probably lots more drinks.

Some thoughts on this ten year anniversary:

I don’t drink like I used to thanks to medication. My doctor put me on naltrexone, which reduces the urge to drink, and it’s been a good thing for me. It’s helping me keep my weight down(-ish) and working well with my other meds to keep me the healthiest I’ve been at least since 2007 (geez ain’t that coincidental — but there were other factors in there too) and combined with Latuda has really done wonders for my bipolar disorder.

I don’t know if I would have come to love DC the way I do nowadays without this site. Because of this site, because of DC’s cocktail community, I’ve made so many friends and met so many amazing people (as well as folks in other cities, obviously). I spent ten years living in Charlottesville before moving to the DMV area in 2004, and that entire time, I always said I’d never move up here. I found it soulless and boring. What I found is that DC itself is an amazing city, really a small town, and the people here support it and each other.

One year at Tales of the Cocktail I gave away t-shirts that said “Ambush Marketer”. I’ve said for years how I disagree with how things are run. The event itself, when I’ve gone, has (for the most part) been amazing, though the parts that weren’t amazing no one seemed inclined to listen to complaints about. If you haven’t heard what’s happening with it, I recommend this article. I’m hoping, for the community’s sake and for New Orleans, that it becomes a more inclusive, better run event for everyone involved, but I’ve had my time there. It’s too big and too unwieldy; I love New Orleans, and will go back (hopefully soon) at a different time, just not then (nor during Jazzfest or Mardis Gras, those kind of things).

And what about us? Since we started, Marshall got himself married (which included an epic bachelor party to NOLA and Tales that we shall not write down events from here) and now has a house and a kid. He’s even working related to the liquor industry now, albeit on the law-talkin’ side. I’m…maintaining, though with a new gig that might see a lot more travel. Already it’s taken me to Seattle where I got to see so many friends (some of whom I’d never met before). I miss bartending, but over the summer did a negroni class, and depending on how my workload goes might look into doing more. Though you’re more likely to find me posted up at at the Passenger drinking a Schlitz and Old Overholt combo.

If you’re reading this: we love y’all. Thanks for sticking with us all this time. I have no plans to stop writing (“You already have!” LAUGH IT UP FUNNY GUY) and keep meaning to write more. Hit me up on Twitter if you have ideas of what you’d like to see content on…even if it’s just short things like “I”m drinking a lot of Gibsons lately” (man, I like the brine off those onions)…

Saturday, June 10th at 2:30 PM at Dino’s Grotto I’ll be doing a class with Andrew Shapiro and Dean Gold there. We’ll talk about the cocktail itself plus the ingredients that go into it. You’ll get a chance to try a few different variations of the Negroni and even come up with your own version if you’d like! There will also be snacks.

This week is Negroni Week, and Dino’s Grotto is doing seven different variations of the Negroni, with proceeds going to Miriam’s Kitchen.

The class is $30 and you can get tickets here. Hope to see you there!

Entrance sign

So, I’d originally meant to post about how meds and drinking were going, but got distracted over…uh…a couple of months.

Shot Glass (DON’T STEAL THEM THEY’RE ONLY $5) and Tiki Mug (also DO NOT STEAL)

Well, in the meantime Hogo reopened!

Tom Brown’s tiki nuevo bar, formerly further down 7th St two doors down from the old Passenger, reopened in the upstairs of the new Passenger at 1539 7th St NW tonight.

Mug & Menu

Like the original, it’ll be open Tuesday through Saturday 5 PM until close (2 AM-ish). There’s a full menu of tiki related food stuffs and a number of drinks, including four tiki drinks on tap.

Food Menu

I got to try the pork bun, which I enjoyed quite a bit, and the pimento macaroni salad which rocked my world. I also had a couple of tiki drinks (my limit these days with the old blood sugar plus fun with citric acid), the first thanks to Left Door’s Mick Perrigo (who is there this week only) who helped with the menu.

It’s a smaller place than their old one – at least, it feels smaller – but very cool, if you’ve been upstairs before. I can’t wait to work my way through more of both menus.

A card, just for me? Thanks!

And welcome to another edition of Bars You Must Try! Today we’re going to visit the Columbia Room, and if by today you mean February 9th, which was when I went, the first day it reopened to the public since closing in the Passenger on NYE 2014, which made me so excited I made reservations for right in the middle of what was to be our last staff meeting con call, leaving me standing in Blagden Alley taking the call and freezing my butt off before going inside to see the new joint.

The Mural is pretty, especially with JP standing in front of it

But man oh man, is it nice. I walked up the stairs, through the Punch Garden (which I believe is opening tomorrow!) and met Derek in the Spirits Library, where Alex was serving up drinks. The Library is a more casual place with drinks a la carte and a chance to try some rare liquors. But I’ll come back there in a moment.

Menu for then (not for now, ‘s different now I believe)

After Derek took my coat I was escorted into the Tasting Room. If you’d visited the Columbia Room’s previous incarnation, you knew it to be quite the intimate spot, as it was quite easy to have someone accidentally touch your intimate spots you were so close together. Now, it’s a bigger room with more seats (and cool booths behind you) and much, much more comfortable. I’d gone for the five course drinks (three drinks with food is $75, all taxes and gratuity included, and the extra two drinks costs an extra $25) because of course I did. Out came the Shoot One, a delightful riff off Coca-Cola, and away we went.

I could’ve drank it all day but it was too small to drink all day

It’s amazing how quickly two hours can go when they’re spent in an atmosphere like this, with amazing drinks like these, and with people so passionate, knowledgeable, and entertaining as JP Fetherston, Derek Brown, Adriana, and their crew. Each drink was beautiful and delicious with the accompaniments pairing perfectly with them.

I WANTED TO STEAL THIS GLASS SO BAD

(Oh, and if you’re looking at the menu, I went for the Robert Frost Cocktail despite the incredible amount of venison I’ve been eating this winter because bourbon. The presentation was AWESOME on that with charcoal on the side, I should’ve taken more pictures but I didn’t because I am not good with the picture taking as you can tell by the pictures I do manage to take.)

Pick one! I dare you! PICK ONLY ONE!

As we finished up in the Tasting Room, JP told me he wanted to buy me a drink in the Spirits Library. I walked over to the bar – it was fairly packed by this point – and perused the menu while Alex (whom you may remember from Southern Efficiency) finished up the drinks he was working on. I did my best to pick just one drink which was very difficult, but I feel that I chose well.

With the E!-V-! OH OH OH! no wait only two OHs.

Why? Because I chose the Steady Cocktail, a combination of gin, dry vermouth, Elixir Vegetal de la Grande-Chartreuse (which is g-ddamned delicious, and no, I won’t look up how to put all those accent marks into WordPress), with a garnish of three beautiful drops of extra virgin olive oil and accompanied by complimentary olives (they told me I was very pretty that day).

Oh wait I did take a picture of the Robert Frost with food

Friends, please believe me when I tell you that it was quite the wonderful drink.

The kelp water and oyster leaf gave me my veggies for the day!

I could’ve stayed in the Spirits Library and hung out all night, sipping all of the cocktails on the list until I stumbled home. But, alas, I knew I needed additional sustenance to maintain my svelte figure, so it was time to take my leave and hopefully not get as lost leaving as I did arriving.

VEP Green chartreuse + egg yolk + meyer lemon = AWESOME

If you’d like to experience the Tasting Room, you need to make reservations via their website. The other parts are open seating. Let me know if you want me to join you!

Have you been? Comment on Twitter or Facebook!

The ball really got rolling yesterday at 7:30am when the contractors showed up to begin the basement renovation. Tearing down walls, rewiring the current lights, and adding additional lights were on the docket. We got everything set before having to run out the door to get the baby to day care and us to the office. All day, I kept my phone within grabbing distance in case the contractors called or texted. Maybe I watch too much HGTV, but I had a pit in my stomach waiting for that “We have an issue . . . ” call. Thankfully, it never really came. The electrician called mid-morning and asked about lighting configurations, locations, and the (unplanned) installation of an access panel in the ceiling. The access panel needed to be installed to bring the basement electrical up to code.

In talking with various contractors I knew that we’d need a solution on fixing the holes in the floor once the walls came down. The easiest, and most affordable, solution was to use the flooring located in two adjacent closets to fill in the holes in the bar area and replace the flooring in the closets with something new or similar enough to what was removed. To that end I went to Home Depot and bought two cases of flooring that?almost matched what was currently there.

Hey, it’s going inside a closet, it ain’t gots to be a perfect match.

When I got home yesterday though, I learned that the flooring I bought was too thick to match what was there. The way one guy described it, “What was here was the lowest grade. What you bought was the best. What we put in was middle-of-the-road.” That was an interesting lesson in flooring. For me at least. Luckily, what they ended up putting in is an even closer match to what I bought that it’s virtually seamless.

Needless to say, I was really excited to see the work after I got home. I practically sprinted from the car to take a look. What I saw was amazing. Although unfinished in several places and more electrical still to do, it matched my vision to a tee.

This is what the closed off portion of the basement looked like before we moved in. If you remember from the last post I called the enclosed room the “weird room.” Here is what the space looks like now:

Standing a bit further back from the perspective of the picture above, you can see how different it looks. We had wondered about the use of this room ever since we first looked at the house. Shaped odd, power outlets high on the walls, and no, that’s right?no air registers really made this room something of a conundrum. After talking with the contractors, they confirmed what I had guessed, namely that the walls we just removed were put up by a previous owner to make this area a bedroom/living area. The high outlets were probable placed there because of a countertop which was removed. I bet if they had never put up the walls to begin with, they could have asked a lot more for the house. Another good lesson in long term planning when it comes to owning/selling a home.

Here is a close-up of the lights we had installed that will be above the bar. We’ll put vintage Edison bulbs in them when all is said and done.

In the last post, I asked folks to email me thoughts on their own renovations, home bars, or what I’m currently doing. My friend Sylvan from?Tasty Libations?emailed and strongly suggested we not scuttle the sink/plumbing from the plans. Has he stated;

“You won’t miss the money after a few months, but you’ll regret not having the sink every. single. time. you need to wash something. And every time you do use it, you?ll smile.”

While I don’t disagree with him, at this stage of our finances we just couldn’t make the sink and plumbing work without sacrificing something, which, quite frankly, is higher on the priority list such as the backbar cabinets and seating. But the option for adding a sink is always there in the future. Of course, we may have to find a new location for it since the countertop will be one huge slab of granite, but it’s still an option. While it does suck a bit, we also get a bit of luck on the sink front.

If you look at the photo above (sans walls) you’ll notice two columns. The one on the left supports the ductwork in that particular bulkhead. The one on the right was a bit of a mystery. Does it house anything other than support for the cross beam of the house? Most likely it was structural so we couldn’t move it, but was it hiding anything else? Maybe something like . . . plumbing?

This my friends is what we found. Apparently it is the main drainage pipe for the entire house. If you look closely at the bottom third of the pipe you’ll see a 1.5 inch pipe nubbin. (I’m pretty sure that’s a plumbing technical term.) Our contractor said that at some point there was a sink within the vicinity of this pipe and that nubbin was where the sink drain connected to the main drain. HUZZAH!!! Of course, unless we do some more investigative demolition, we don’t know where the water for the sink came from. But the point is, we have a pipe! And for future projects that could come in quite handy.

That’s it for this update. The next update should have the space completed and ready for back-bar cabinet installation and the bar itself. Cheers!

Left Door’s Front Door

It can be easy to simplify how the old Passenger/Columbia Room setup was. Columbia Room was for fancy cocktails, Passenger was not-so-fancy and a bit more simple. Especially after being there on nights like Fridays and Saturdays when it was packed to the brim with the beer and a shot crowd, it could be easy to forget that the folks there could put together some kickass classic cocktails.

After it closed, and the two joints moving to separate locations (Columbia Room is now open in Blagden Alley, and that’ll be the next installment in this series, while the Passenger will reopen later this year in Shaw), Tom Brown opened up Left Door in the Logan Circle area this January after some delays, and it is, perhaps, the essence of a classic cocktail bar.

It’s not ostentatious on the outside – you can see the front door on the left up top, it’s barely marked – but inside it’s nice and quiet. It’s like a meditation on good cocktails and tea (which it also specializes in). If there is beer on the menu (there aren’t any drafts), I haven’t even looked for them, and I’m the guy whose Twitter handle is “BeerAndAShot”.

Mick Shaking a Drink

He pulled in Mick Perrigo, who worked with Tom back at Hogo, the “dark tiki” bar that also closed in 2014. (Full disclosure: Tom and Mick are both friends of mine, and I got to bartend / pour punch there the last night, but if you read this site you know already I’m entirely biased in favor of my friends all the time and wear that on my sleeve.) Mick has been front and center when I’ve been there, along with Jason and another bartender whose name I have completely forgotten and will update with when I find out.

Part of the menu

But it’s not just all gorgeous architecture (I almost said scenery but didn’t want Mick to know I was talking about him) and vintage barware. One of the standouts is the classic liquor collection – and it’s not just old, delicious, and yes, expensive as shit liquor but you can get drinks made with them. Want to see what a $100 cocktail tastes like? Just pony up the cash.

(I am constantly tempted just to say I’ve done it. Then I remember my credit card bill.)

Tom has a deep love for spirits like those. He took a few of us through a tour of a number of them a couple of years ago including the Black Tot rum, old whiskeys, and enough other things that I Irish goodbye-ed without paying either of two tabs I had running (and boy oh boy did I feel guilty for WEEKS about that).

I didn’t write down the name of this drink but it was delicious.

A bit more about the space: it’s a quiet, well decorated spot on the second floor of the building. The middle part is mostly the bar, and by the windows there’s several seats and such for small groups to gather. I think it’s pretty beautiful, but do keep in mind it is not large, nor do they even have a kitchen (they do have some snacks on the menu). Personally, I like to go before dinner, because if I have a couple of cocktails I’ll often forget to have dinner unless Marshall is there to kick me in the nuts.

Ignore the sketchy guy in the mirror

Oh, for the quiet meditation of the adult cocktail bar. Guess I need to go there again, like probably Thursday.

If you’ve been, feel free to share your thoughts with us on Twitter or our Facebook page!

– ?SeanMike

We’ve been in the house for a little over two weeks now. Moving was an experience. We were scheduled to move on a Saturday. The weather gods decided that Saturday was the perfect day to have a huge snowstorm on the East Coast. So the move was rescheduled to the Thursday?before the storm. It was hectic. The movers finished everything by Thursday afternoon and on Friday, I had four contractors out to look at the basement, take measurements and prepare quotes. We also had the cable/internet guy out and luckily got everything hooked up just before the storm hit.

Dealing with the contractors has been interesting. Most came in, measured the space, talked briefly about the project and left. Some, spent considerably more time discussing the project, providing ideas and suggestions, and generally seemed to be more interested in the job. After a week of having a couple more contractors in, we slowly started to get estimates. Some were laughably high. Some pulled out of consideration because the project was “too small” for them. ?One of these latter contractors actually said that he would be happy to do the work, even though it was too small, if I agreed to meet a minimum of $25k. Twenty. Five. Thousand. Dollars. Right, that was ridiculous. I mean who would say yes to this? It’s not like we’re having the entire basement remodeled. Crazy. A few of the estimates came in under our budget but still seemed high for the work we wanted to do.

When we met with all of the contractors we clearly detailed everything we wanted done to the space – two walls to tear down, some plumbing and a sink installed, light electrical work, and cabinet purchase/installation. After receiving a handful of quotes, we decided that the plumbing aspect was too time consuming and too costly at this particular time.?It was a very intense discussion with my wife over making this a true “wet bar.” It would be fantastic to have a fully function sink right behind the bar to wash glasses, tools, fruit, etc. and not have to cart dirty items upstairs to the kitchen. However, there is a full bathroom right around the corner from where the bar is being placed with a perfectly good sink installed. And truly, I don’t think we’ll be serving so many people at one time that taking a few dirty glasses to the dishwasher in the kitchen is a big deal.

I also went to Home Depot and met with a kitchen design person and had them draw up plans for a service bar counter and cabinets. I’m currently waiting for the finished estimate on these to see if Home Depot is a good option for this aspect of the bar. It was really exciting to see my vision put in a 3D print out containing many of the very specific details I requested. I’m looking forward to seeing the final numbers.

As promised in my last post, below are a few pictures of the basement as it looks now, before any work is done. In the next post, I hope to have some “after” shots of the basement and some more info on the service bar area.

This is looking down the basement hallway. the steps coming down from the living room are to the right and the bathroom is to the left. At the end of the hall, just before the carpet, there is a door on each side. To the right is a storage closet. To the left is the entrance to the “weird room.” This is the room we’re removing.

This is affectionately called the “weird room” due to it’s shape and unclear purpose. We think it was an office, but it could have also been a bedroom. This is the room we’re opening up to the rest of the basement. The wall directly to the left (door jam) will be removed as will the perpendicular wall to the left.

This is looking at the enclosed “weird room” from the main basement floor. The wall right in front will be removed. The door to the right is to the utility room (hot water heater, HVAC, etc.) The carpet will eventually be replaced with hardwood or the like.

This is the wood burning fireplace and sliding door to the fenced in patio.

I want to wish anyone who still reads these words we put on here a Happy and Prosperous New Year! I hope everyone has had a great holiday season.

2016! I mean, 2016!!! I think the first day of this new year is really appropriate for this post. A lot of people made resolutions last night. Their resolutions are generally things they want to accomplish in the new year or lifestyle changes they want to stick with for the next 365 days. This is not a resolution post. Rather, with the start of a new year, there are new adventures and this is a space I want to use to share these adventures. Don’t worry, they will still be booze related, and who knows, maybe more posts will be born from these adventures.

If you know me in real life or follow me on the social medias, you are already aware of the biggest change and adventure that began in 2015. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I became a father. I’m not going to give too many details here (those are elsewhere in the web) but my wife and I have a beautiful 5-month old girl, Addie. The next biggest adventure began just before the New Year, we bought a house!

But I hear you there behind your computer or smartphone saying, “So, what does that have to do with Scofflaws Den and drinking boozy goodness?” Well, the house has a finished basement and a wood burning fireplace. And with those bones, what is a Scofflaw to do but put in a working bar! To be clear, our basement will be, generally speaking, our family room where we hang out, watch TV, and relax with friends and family. The formal living room will be upstairs, but the basement will be a relaxed oasis.

My goal is to document the process of creating this oasis. Writing about the process, what I want to do with the space, what my wife lets me do with the space, and the final product will, I hope, be a fun exercise and interesting to others. If anyone has built a custom home bar, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

To begin, I want to share my (very amateurish and childlike) drawings of what I envision. In the next post, I’ll share photos of the basement space as it currently is. Without further ado, here is the beginning:

This would be to my left as I stand behind the bar.

The back bar.

Negroni Week at Dino’s Grotto!

Hey guys guess what? It’s International Negroni Week! YAY FOR NEGRONIS THEY ARE DELICIOUS.

A negroni is a classic aperitif cocktail – equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari.

33 different restaurants in the DC area are participating this year, which means they’re doing negroni specials and donating money to charity.

mmm, negronis

At Dino’s Grotto, we’re doing seven different negronis (or negroni variations, like the negroni-meets-Manhattan “Ric Flair”) for $7 each. $1 from each one ordered goes to Miriam’s Kitchen, who helps the homeless here in DC.

So swing by this week and grab a negroni or seven! I’ll be there tonight as the week kicks off, and back on Wednesday and the final day of Sunday. Otherwise, Ric will be here, which means no matter what day you come by, you’ll be amazed by the sexiness. Also, the drinks. And the food. I can’t stop eating the food.

Come by and say hi!

What do we have here?

So, remember in my last post when I talked about bartending for the first time and how I wanted to do it again?

I spent all spring basically saying that, but not really doing anything?about it. I was lazy, admittedly, and it felt weird to look for a job like that when I had a day job. Besides, who’d want to take the chance on a guy with no service industry experience?

Also, I was going out less and less. I was trying to watch my spending, for one, and also just enjoying being at home.

I also kept saying I needed a new day job. “I’m going to work on my resume,” I’d say, “and look for a new job.” Only I didn’t. Partly out of fear I’d be fired if my job found out (not likely, but not completely unfounded) but mostly out of (again) laziness. I didn’t like my job, but I didn’t realize how MUCH I didn’t like it, and I was in a rut.

Then, two weeks ago yesterday I got called into my boss’ office and laid off. One week severance for every year I’d worked there, so 10 weeks, fortunately. Also, we were 2 weeks behind on pay, so I still had a full paycheck and half of another coming.

Just to warn you, I don’t always smile like this.

After I got all my stuff from my cube piled into my car (where it still sits, to be honest), I got on my phone and posted a short status to Twitter and Facebook. “Shit-canned.”

That was a bit of a mistake, since it meant my whole drive home, trying to use my traffic app (I love Waze), I kept getting text notifications.

Still, I felt loved. And better yet: happy. I’d always imagined being laid off would be the worst thing in the world to happen to me, but instead it’s been one of the best.

One of the Facebook messages I got was from Tom Brown, who had recruited me to bartend at the Passenger NYE. He told me to come see him.

The next day I wandered over to Slipstream in Logan Circle. Tom was there and we chatted. He thought I might be a fit there but didn’t have the hours to offer me, so he told me to go meet his friend Ric at Dino’s Grotto. He needed a new bartender there. I’d never been there, but I’d heard good things about it, and later that night I made my way there. We chatted a bit, and Ric told me to come back Sunday morning at 11 AM for a brunch shift.

Erp.

Here comes Sunday. I show up in dress pants, button down shirt, dress shoes. Overdressed, obviously. And also poor choice of shoes, I was sliding everywhere. I didn’t bring a notebook or pen, but Ric had one for me. I didn’t bring a wine key or lighter. I was unprepared.

Unlike most of Ric’s new bartenders, who have service experience but not cocktail & liquor knowledge, I was the opposite. So we started off slowly. He showed me how things should be, showed me when I made mistakes, and basically just let me practice.

Tuesday I was back, and I did better. Still not what you’d call?good, probably, but better. By the end, he said to come back Thursday for a final training day. I came in, working with a different bartender, and took the lead on most of the things while she made sure I didn’t completely screw up.

Friday night I worked with Ric. He liked what he saw, I was doing much better.

Sunday I worked my first solo bar shift for brunch and dinner. In the morning I was scared I was going to screw something up; there’s so much to prepare, especially with things like mimosas and bloody marys which are only ordered at brunch. I made some mistakes, got made fun of for not having the right shoes (which were on order), but I got through the day and 13 hours of work.

Then Wednesday night I got called in, worked what’ll be one of my shifts from here on out (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday). I had my shoes, I knew better what to do, I felt more confident – and I think it definitely showed in my service. The server working upstairs in the dining room said I made more money then the previous bartender would have as she wouldn’t have worked the room as well (and that I probably stole at least one of his tables by doing that!).

So I’m learning. It’s fun. It’s creative, it’s physical, it’s demanding, and I like it a lot. I bought a nice new wine key and I’m about to buy a back-up. If you’re around DC, come by Shaw (9th St NW between T & U) and visit Dino’s Grotto. We have great food and great drinks. And you might be able to tell me what mistake I’m making this time.

(And maybe, sometime, we’ll be able to do some Scofflaw’s Den type related activities there!)

– SeanMike