The differentiating factor between a right bartender and a transcendent one is the level of thoughtfulness that goes into a cocktail or a beverage computer programme . Rather than simple riffing on Hellenic cocktails , or play to the flavor cult of the moment ( Malört and Fernet - Branca , we ’re look at you ) , gamey - level bartenders make programs with intention and a mind for seasonality , thematic design , and balance . DC sure as shooting has its percentage of bartenders at all bands of the spectrum , and fortunately , that includes several who are truly world - class . For case , Tyler Hudgens ' ever - changing program at The Dabney resound the hyper - seasonality of Chef Jeremiah Langhorne ’s mid - Atlantic culinary art , and Lukas B. Smith shew unappeasable innovation that has led to the innovation of experimental tinctures , sirup , and tonics ( and now rum , at the newly plunge Cotton & Reed distillery ) .
But the labor of make a cocktail bar consecrate to tasting menu presents a unparalleled set of challenges , and is arguably the most difficult undertaking a barman can attempt . Most diner do n’t associate the smack menu experience with something that could be translated to a cocktail stripe ( and the pattern is n’t very common , to boot ) , but the Columbia Room ’s JP Fetherston is piss a strong casing for a variety of perception .
" We ’re still play catch - up about the distinction between restaurant savoring and cocktail tasting , " Fetherston say . At the previous loop of possessor Derek Brown’sColumbia Room– which was tucked inside the beloved Passenger , forced to move at the end of 2014 after its block was bought for redevelopment , and re - opened in early-2016 in Blagden Alley – the cocktail served were based on conversations between the patron and bartender , and not as a cohesive , predetermine menu . Tasting carte du jour like the Columbia Room ’s are meant to be taken as a whole , uninterrupted experience – like an album designed to be listen to in one sitting rather than cherry picking case-by-case track . The experience is a relatively Modern and untested one in DC . " But people in DC are undefendable - given , " say Fetherston confidently , " DC is one of the best places to try thing like this and be successful . "
Brian Oh/Thrillist
A cocktail tasting card , like a conventional savoring fare , is a progression of drinks attach together with some narrative or thematic thread , create a focused experience . Whether or not this experience is compelling depends wholly upon the design and structure of the menu . Since reopening in February 2016 , the unexampled Columbia Room – which boast two discrete , more conventional cocktail stripe space , the Spirits Library and Punch Garden where cocktails can be ordered a la carte , in improver to the relishing elbow room – has rotated through three seasonal menu and is on the leaflet of its fall menu .
dining compartment can pick out whether to choose for three- or five - cocktail courses . The former is the core experience , with three cocktail that be the report of the menu , and march on from lighter to heavier , boozier profile . The latter option bookends the centre three with more playful , experimental offer . " We want the first of the five course to be be unclouded and playful , and ease you into the menu , " says Fetherston . " It ’s somewhere that we can use an element that ’s a small out there or funky , and would n’t have a place in the core menu . " The optional fifth cocktail then plays the role of of the dessert course , and has " an element of finishing and closing out the menu . "
Fetherston ’s goal is to take uncanny and challenging ideas and gift them in the most approachable way of life potential .
Brian Oh/Thrillist
The tasting card experience have place in the prevention ’s back room . Fourteen leather butt job a dark , polished wood bar , facing an heroic , tradition mosaic depicting mythical creatures ( each representing one of Columbia Room ’s squad ) and bartenders throughout account , including Aristotle who discovered the process of distillment . This sets the stage for Fetherston , and bartender Adriana Aspiazu , to present each drinking by recounting the story of how it was conceive and how the ingredient were chosen . The full five courses can last up of two hours .
The design appendage that Fetherston , Brown , and the Columbia Room team tackle before launching each subsequent menu is extensive , conceptual , and vital to crafting an experience that is worth the access Mary Leontyne Price . " We begin by find fault a core idea – a narrative or theme – appropriate for the time of year , then go down the rabbit kettle of fish with whatever ’s in our heads , " Fetherston says . He and Brown call for idea from their faculty , then begin essay constituent and recipes . Brown provides creative direction and the team contributes ideas , but Fetherston play the part of chief conservator – setting the root word and tonus . For the Columbia Room ’s spring fare , Fetherston chose to focus on Japan . " When we first talked about bound and what was synonymous with fountain in DC , of course the first idea that belt down up was cherry blossoms , " he says .
Of course , cherry tree blossom - themed dishes and drinking are ubiquitous in DC in the fountain , and Fetherston admits that they were by no means being the first the great unwashed to think of incorporating the iconic flower into their spring batting order . However , he select the inspiration a dance step far than most , and take to " pull the ribbon on that connection with Japan and turn it into a full card . " Rather than going through " contortion to put cherry flush in everything , " Fetherston used the cherry heyday as a jumping-off point towards exploring Japanese cuisine . The menu admit matcha , pickled cherry flush teatime , and shochu to create flavor through level of subtlety and restraint that are the assay-mark of Japanese cuisine . The climax of the fountain menu involved a low zen garden of eatable plum salt and mochi Stone , a playful , visual , and synergistic windup of the time of year ’s cocktail .
Brian Oh/Thrillist
" People in DC are loose - given – DC is one of the best places to test thing like this and be successful . "
For the current summer menu , Fetherston wish the approximation of using a similarly geographic focus as a start point . " We choose Latin America because it was interesting and utile to play off of the background of a lot of the Columbia Room staff . " Fetherston suck on the cultural experience of his faculty to serve define the flavors he incorporates . For example , on a slip to Ecuador , he run into lemon grass in teas and washing soda , and thought it would " say as inauthentic to westerly palates because it more commonly recalls the flavor of Southeast Asia , " but was corrected by his staff , who assured him that it was an authentic choice .
The Latin America menu play up savour across the continent , and works to subvert several rough-cut misconception . For the first of five courses , Fetherston incorporates ingredients like Inca Kola and chicha for the " Atahualpa Cup , " conjure up flavour that are " familiar for those of us who ’ve been to a Pollo Rico . " serve in helping hand - carved bowlful that Fetherston in person brought back from a trip to the Ecuadorian Amazon , this cocktail drinks light and effervescent , and primes the roof of the mouth .
Brian Oh/Thrillist
The team also brew their own translation of horchata lojana , a common botanic home remedy in southern Ecuador , and a component part of the intensely herbal and floral " Cuxibamba . " The horchata lojana is brew from Citrus limon - scented herbaceous plant ( including the aforementioned lemongrass ) , and when combined with crude lime cordial and gin juxtaposes citrus and earthiness to create a multifaceted and potent delivery of nip that is at once light and intense .
The 5th and final course guard particular implication for Fetherston , and is a favorite project of his . " It ’s a classed up edition of a really goofy Chilean beverage " known as aterramoto , famously do at both La Piojera and El Hoyo in Santiago . What was originally " a gargantuan credit card loving cup of vino pipeno ( cheap Chilean table wine ) , a lot of Fernet - Branca , and ananas ice-skating rink cream " is transform into a subdued dessert cocktail of pale cream fino sherry , dry and funky vin rancio , a touch of sirop de gomme , and " a trivial candy kiss of Fernet - Branca in there – we did n’t want to go as full in as they do . " As the fifth course and a dessert replacement , the " Temblor " is bright and tropic from the dry fino sherry , while at the same time nutlike and herbal . The caramelized pineapple plant pick ties it together , coat the experience with a rich but reticent sweetness that gets progressively potent as the ratio of liquid to bat diminishes .
The full summer menu is an geographic expedition of Latin culture , produce , and flavour . It explores social peculiarity , as well as misunderstood contemporary appropriation . The experience becomes as educational and interactional as it is pleasant-tasting .
Brian Oh/Thrillist
For the fall , however , Fetherston is stepping away from the geographic story , and entering into the precis . The forthcoming descent menu , which will launch in October , will center on the theme ofleaves . At first rosiness , this may sound a touch on the olfactory organ as an autumnal subject , but Fetherston is convinced that it will be as thought-provoking and surprising as the preceding menu , if not more so . " Leaves seem like a very simplistic estimate , but … it ’s weird and complicated . " In the developing leg now , Fetherston is contending with more " metaphoric and allegorical rendering ofwhat is a leaf . " One theme under consideration : erstwhile books , and the way old report or parchment can have a body and odor similar to an autumn foliage . " This is going to be the moment in the computer menu where people finish to say , ‘ Wait , what ? ’ "
Further abroad , Fetherston and his team have floated potential ideas for future menus , grade from an era of art to a specific painting . Fetherston wants to produce an environment that avoid being stuffy or pretentious , although he ’s aware that there ’s a certain amount of irony at fun , as he makes this financial statement while bear in front of that mammoth – and , some might contend , self - aggrandizing – mosaic . Fetherston explains that his end is to " take uncanny and intriguing ideas and give them in the most approachable way possible . "
Although a cocktail tasting bill of fare is probably not the first thing that come to head when look at evening plans , the experience is comparable to a meal at an upscale eating house . Rather than an afterthought to end a meal , Columbia Room ’s sample menu cocktails are the chief event . Dining partisan should view partaking in what Fetherston is creating at Columbia Room – there are few corresponding experiences anywhere on the East Coast .
Brian Oh/Thrillist
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Brian Oh/Thrillist
Brian Oh/Thrillist
