This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to Washington DC
Washington is a centre for gossip that does, and doesn’t, matter. Downtown is filled with secrets that journalists, lobbyists and politicians trade for profit. Every couple of years, the people inside the city seek to inflame or tame the mood outside it, causing total upheaval. Fortunes come and go. In short, it’s the perfect place for a drink. And it has built, in turn, a thriving cocktail scene.
The power-hungry class meets and murmurs at a handful of bars near the White House: the Round Robin, the St Regis, the Quill, The Occidental, Off the Record. That’s where tourists go too, to get a sense of Washington.
I love these bars — especially The Occidental for a clean Green Alaska, José Andrés’s experimental “cocktail lab” Barmini, the whiskey palace that is the Jack Rose Dining Saloon and Mr Lyan’s wild concoctions at Silver Lyan. But lots of lush guides will send you there. And at heart, I’m a DC kid with a soft spot for the if-you-know-you-know ones, where you can take a first date, meet old friends, cheer on the Commanders and still get some of the city’s best drinks.
So when my editor asked me to start drinking, professionally, a month after my first child Colton was born, I wanted to show off DC from the view of the bartenders who run it. I imagined “researching” would be a burden on my marriage. But my wife, Tessa, is also a journalist from DC, who thought the opportunity to write about something other than politics, and show off the city we love, was too good to pass up.
