Drink in the Details is a monthly column highlighting spirits and classic cocktails written by DC Craft Bartenders Guild members Adam Bernbach (Bar Pilar) and Chantal Tseng (Tabard Inn). There’s an episode of The Simpsons in which Bart sells his soul to Milhouse for $5 to prove how needless it is. He then spends the remainder of the episode scrambling to recover it. While this might be a bit dramatic, it often proves to be......

For everyone who ever wished their parents had been just a little more fun and laidback when they were growing up, meet Lanora Lucas of Frederick County, Md. Lucas was arrested for purchasing a bottle of vodka in May for a group of kids to enjoy at a 13-year-old girl's birthday party. After drinking the vodka, two of the teens were sent to the hospital with possible alcohol poisoning. The kicker is that it turns......

WTOP is reporting that Joshua Stoll and Michael Feiock, the two men who died in July when their heads hit an overpass while riding on the roof of an Open Top Sightseeing bus shuttling fans to Nationals Park, were legally drunk when they died. Police believe both men were standing on the seats at the time of the crash. Open Top is still operating its regular tour buses in D.C., but its Nationals shuttles have......

NBC4 picked up an AP story about the Amethyst Initiative, a movement to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18, noting that C.D. Mote, Jr., the president of the University of Maryland, has signed on as a supporter. Over 100 college presidents have joined the initiative, saying they have observed that the higher drinking age has created a dangerous climate of secretive binge drinking on their campuses. Johns Hopkins University president William Brody......

Over the last few years a number of ANCs and Wards -- including a stretch of H Street NE, part of Logan Circle, and wards 4, 7 and 8 -- have banned the sale of single cans and bottles of beer, citing their tendency to cause their drinkers to pee on sidewalks, litter, and generally make trouble. Now the Examiner is reporting that Council members Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) would......

Have you noticed that certain drinks are missing a certain oomph in Virginia? Do you find yourself traveling into D.C. for that special glass of sangria? It’s that oomph that is under debate in the Virginia General Assembly today. The Post reports that a House subcommittee will be debating a bill introduced by Del. Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria) that would amend the 74-year-old Virginia code outlawing the mixing of wine or beer with spirits and......

Happy Christmas Eve, Washington. With the frenzy of last-minute shopping and travel out of the city largely complete, folks staying here for the holiday are being treated to a quieter, gentler D.C. than normal, and it turns out in more ways than one. Over the weekend the Post took a look at a recent decline in the murder rate, reporting that only nine homicides have been logged in the District in the 37 days since......

Good morning, Washington. If you experienced a power outage at some point on Sunday, you were not alone. Strong winds averaging close to 40 mph knocked out power to as many as 100,000 customers across the metro area yesterday. While not much ice or snow ever materialized during the weekend's storm, Sunday's chilly wind made for an uncomfortable time walking through downtown D.C. for many holiday shoppers -- we spotted at least one woman near......

WJLA brings word that Victor Kolako, the former Metrobus driver who was convicted of striking and killing two pedestrians on February 14, has been sentenced to one year in jail. Kolako was found guilty on two felony counts of negligent homicide in the Pennsylvania Ave. accident. The widower of one of the victims, Greg Schoenborn, has also filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Metro in U.S. District Court. The sentencing decision is potentially......

This is a great time of the year for beer lovers. Winter, more than any other season, is when craft brewers get a chance to flex their creativity and brew some unusual beers that satisfy the palate and warm the heart. Although many have traditionally been called Christmas beers, most brewers these days are going with some variation on the "winter" theme, in a large part because of the stigma of seeing a "Christmas" beer......

>> Bostonist is on top of the hostage situation at the Hillary Clinton headquarters in Rochester, NH. [Bostonist] >> "The historic Hotel Washington will close at the end of the year to undergo extensive renovations and will reopen in 2009 as a sleek W Hotel." [AP via WTOP] >> "Montgomery County Del. Kumar Barve was arrested last night in Gaithersburg for allegedly driving while impaired by alcohol." [WaPo] >> "In this day and age,......

Via City Desk, the Dupont Current (not available online) has a short piece about how the Logan Circle advisory neighborhood commission has given the go-ahead for the P Street Whole Foods to continue selling single-sale beers in the grocery store. The decision reportedly comes after eight months of such sales at the Whole Foods “without major conflict,” but the Current notes that just around the corner on 14th Street, the reputable Barrel House Liquors is......

The name may be unfamiliar, but the players behind Club Tiger Promotions are highly recognizable to any one who follows the D.C. music scene. Local artists Carol Bui and Jay Smith of Middle Distance Runner have started an all-ages venue, The Lab in Alexandria, which will both give under-age bands a place to play with their more seasoned peers and serve as an environment where, as Bui puts it, "kids feel totally comfortable and safe......

Earlier this season, the Caps ranked first in the entire NHL - for about an hour, before the Ottawa Senators reclaimed the lead. Yesterday the Caps were tied for last place overall, and had spent two whole days in sole possession of last place in the Eastern Conference. The Senators, meanwhile, remained on top of the league with thirteen wins and one loss. Last night, with three of their top five wingers out injured, the......

It's hard out there for a frat guy. That, at least, is what pro-Greek commenters over at George Mason University's Broadside newspaper would have you believe. The student publication has a story up about a law suit filed by the school's banned chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, which is suing GMU for violating their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Sigma Chi was kicked off the campus after being found guilty of a series of......

Disoriented and Seeing Stars WaPo reviewer Tom Sietsema has released his 2007 Washington Post Dining Guide online. You can catch it on newsstands this weekend. At the top, Cathal Armstrong's Restaurant Eve has broken through to the four-star category, and his revamped Majestic also made the list. Newcomers Central Michel Richard (3 stars), Proof (2.5), Farrah Olivia (2.5), and Hook (2.5) also made it onto the list. A surprising omission was Brasserie Beck, which Sietsema......

The autopsy for 14 year-old DeOnté Rawlings, who was killed by an off-duty police officer last month, has been released -- but its findings don't provide many more clues as to what might have happened that night. According to the Post, the autopsy report shows that Rawlings died of a gunshot wound to the back of his head. It also says that no traces of drugs or alcohol were in his blood, and more notably,......

DCist is proud to be the official media sponsor of Cultural Tourism DC's free event this Saturday, Sept. 29: WalkingTown DC offers a wealth of free walking tours all day long to get Washingtonians out and discovering new things about their city and neighborhoods. The Temperance Tour, hosted by volunteer Garrett Peck, author of The Prohibition Hangover, begins at the Cogswell Temperance Fountain at 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW at 1 p.m. and wraps......

By DCist Contributor Sarah Stonesifer The Eagle - American: >> At American University, officials decided that an official record will be kept along with possible judicial action after students receive their "second medical transport due to alcohol consumption." So remember kids, the first case of alcohol poisoning is free. >> There was an attempted robbery in an American University dorm last Saturday, but the suspect was quickly apprehended and identified. The Hoya - Georgetown: >>......

Virginia’s love for wine is no secret. It dates back centuries with Thomas Jefferson’s personal endorsement of wine as a suitable beverage. However, when you mention “Virginia Wines” to anyone, you are met with one of two reactions: an overwhelming expression of excitement and testament to how fabulous they are or an exasperated eye roll that says it all. Whichever one you fall under is fine with us, but as avid wine drinkers we feel......

>> October 1, 2007. Remember that date, because after it H Street aficionados will no longer be allowed to buy a single can or bottle of their favorite low-quality and high-alcohol beer. [FreeRide] >> Michael Vick filed his guilty plea in the dog-fighting controversy today. On another note, the Big Mac turns 40 today. To Post columnist Courtland Milloy, fans of the Big Mac are no better than Vick. [WTOP] >> Whoever said D.C.......

Brookland neighborhood blog stop, blog and roll points to a pretty horrifying crime story we missed: A woman was sexually assaulted and beaten inside her basement apartment on the 900 block of Perry Place NE Friday night, and then subsequently driven by the suspect to several ATMs around the neighborhood and forced to withdraw money. The assault occurred as the woman was entering her apartment -- she was grabbed from behind, forced inside, beaten and......

FRIDAY: >> In case you missed Chapel Hill's The Old Ceremony (pictured) last time they were in town, they'll be at the Rock and Roll Hotel tonight with Junior League, Unwed Sailor and John Pringle. We've raved in the past about lead singer Django Haskins' Nick Cave-meets-Ben Folds stage presence, and since then we've picked up their 2006 release Our One Mistake. If you can't make the show, we highly suggest giving them a listen......

Via The Examiner, it looks like it's finally been long enough that we can start to measure the financial impact of the District's smoking ban, thanks to reported tax revenues on both alcohol and cigarettes for the fiscal year now being available. Overall, the news is good: alcoholic beverage tax revenues are up 1.6 percent for fiscal 2007, while cigarette tax dollars are down a whopping 7.5 percent for the year. Taken at face value,......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. It wasn’t easy to keep up with the business flooding through the Council as the latest session neared its end. Amid the bills dealing with Greater Southeast Community Hospital, authorizing development bonds, addressing land deals in the West End and over the Center Leg Freeway, and placing moratoria on new Adams Morgan taverns, an interesting pattern nonetheless emerged. In just this past......

Yesterday's legislative action in the D.C. Council, typical of end-of-session days, was jam-packed with votes. Here's a few more you may have missed: >> The Council moved ahead on a bill that restricts interest rates levied by the so-called payday loan industry, an issue we've looked at before. The bill passed on an initial reading, and if implemented would place a 24 percent annual percentage rate cap on interest charged by lenders. The Examiner notes......

There are literally thousands of grape varieties throughout the world. With wine being produced around every corner, it is impossible to keep track of them all, or even half for that matter. A good place to start is to realize that many of the varietals that we’ve come to love often have alter egos. This is what we will be focusing on this week; grapes that are genetically the same but have different names......

For many, the bars-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see on 18th Street in Adams Morgan is exactly what has made the neighborhood the center of the District's nightlife. For others, it's the very reason the neighborhood has started going downhill. According to the Post, the D.C. Council will vote tomorrow on whether to limit the number of taverns on the strip, potentially imposing restrictions that could force owners to close shop. Longtime area residents have complained that more and more......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

>> The Smashing Pumpkins have announced a surprise show next Tuesday at 9:30 Club. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. through Tickets.com. [GOGs] >> Frances Marquez and Scott Veketch were married on Saturday morning, and left a camera with the only photos of their wedding in the back seat of a taxicab they hailed near Old Executive Office Building. The couple is offering a $500 reward to anyone who comes forward......