Taps at Soi 38. Photo by Nathan Wilkinson.

By DCist contributor Nathan Wilkinson

Drinkers at some of D.C.’s trendier bars will notice that there is more on tap than just beer or cider. Classic cocktails are flowing. With just a pull of a handle, out comes a perfectly mixed, ice cold Manhattan or Martini ready to drink in seconds. To cocktail purists this sounds like an abomination. The art of crafting cocktails, indeed the pleasure of watching an expert mixologist at work, is being replaced by a machine—all in the name of efficiency! Or so they surmise. But the tapping of cocktails does not relegate a time-honored tradition to the pedestrian level of beer. I’ve tried some of the best ones, and I have to say that the benefits of a good draft cocktail outweigh the drawbacks.

When something is done in haste, the assumption is that there is a sacrifice in quality. Not so, says the bartender at Soi 38 (2101 L Street, NW) where she serves up Singapore Slings on tap to go with spicy Thai fare. “This drink is unusual for a draft because there are so many ingredients to prepare ahead of time,” she says. The drink, batched in a small keg behind the bar, includes Beefeater gin, Luxardo cherry liqueur, Benedictine, and lime and pineapple juice. But the Singapore Sling is not complete until she adds ice, soda, a drizzle of Plymouth sloe gin. It really is exquisite, and stronger than I expected. She tells me that this is because the liquor mixture in the keg is concentrated and carbonated, and that the soda water is “only used as dilution” so that the cocktail tastes more like the original.

The real upside of a drink on tap is less about saving time as it is about moving product. Soi 38’s Singapore Sling comes out of a tap adorned by the likeness of a bikini-clad surfer girl. The novelty makes it a hit, even with people who have never heard of the classic cocktail. Other bars downplay their draft cocktails; the menus don’t indicate whether or not they are handmade and they pour them from unmarked taps. This is the case at Iron Gate (1734 N Street, NW) where I tried two excellent up drinks that are as good as or better on tap than the hand-made originals.

Iron Gate’s Bijou. Photo by Nathan Wilkinson.

Take the Iron Gate’s Bijou, for example: a classic cocktail that I often enjoy the old-fashioned way, shaken. A batch of Ransom Old Tom Gin, Dolin Genepy and Cocchi Vermouth, it comes out as a complete drink, needing only to be garnished with orange peel and served in a coup glass. It tastes bold with the familiar cheek-dimpling citrus and herb bite of Chartreuse that comes from the Genepy. And it is remarkably cold. There’s no dilution from having been chilled with ice cubes, so the flavor is at its maximum richness. There’s also the Andiamo, made with Bols Genever, Benedictine, Dolin Blanc and Burlesque bitters. It’s even richer than the Bijou, with dark whiskey-like notes that come from the aged gin. These drinks are not carbonated, and they have a smoother mouth-feel owing, I think, to having been mixed together longer than a cocktail made on the spot.

The only drawback of draft cocktails is that there are limits to the types of drinks you can make. You can’t use solids in the mixture, so drinks like the Mint Julep are out. You can batch an Old Fashioned by mixing the whiskey, juices and bitters, but you still have to garnish the drink after you pour it. And if you use standard carbon dioxide to move the liquor through the lines, you are stuck with a fizzy drink—no good for Martinis. But places like Jack Rose (2007 18th Street NW) and The Passenger, (1021 7th Street NW) where they rotate draft cocktails and whiskeys on dedicated taps pressurized with nitrogen, you can expect only the best.

So the draft cocktail wave has the unexpected benefit of exposing the adventurous to classic cocktails. Try one next time you go out and you might find a new favorite that you can easily make at home without having to install a tap for your bar.