Rachel Kurzius
Several selections from the opening Tasting Room menu. (Photo by Jai Williams)
The spirits have spoken—the Spirited Awards, that is—and D.C.’s Columbia Room is now officially the “Best American Cocktail Bar.”
“We’re exceedingly proud to have won this award, and we’re also extremely proud to bring it back to D.C.,” says Derek Brown, the co-owner of Columbia Room and the president of Drink Company.
Columbia Room began as a tiny, only-by-reservation speakeasy inside the first location of The Passenger, and shuttered when the larger bar did at the start of 2015.
When the bar rolled out the welcome mat in Blagden Alley in early 2016, our reviewer wrote that “it is not so much being reopened as being reborn.” More than tripling its number of seats from its original iteration, the bar boasts a tasting room, a spirits library (and a library manager), and a punch garden. Unusual for a cocktail bar, it has a full-time chef in Johnny Spero, formerly of Minibar, who concocts many of the drink and course pairings available on a nightly basis in the tasting room.
“To be the best cocktail bar, in some ways, nobody knows what that means,” says Brown. “But it becomes clear when you go to a place and have a great time, and drink a great cocktail, and have great service—when you have that experience you know you’ve been in a great cocktail bar.”
Brown credits Angie Fetherston, the CEO of Drink Company, and head bartender JP Fetherston, as well as the entire staff. “We have so many hardworking people that are part of this,” he says. “If the dishwasher doesn’t come to work, we’re screwed.”
Columbia Room was up against Anvil Bar and Refuge of Houston, Attaboy of New York, and Trick Dog in San Francisco—”bars we greatly admire,” says Brown.
While a “soiree” to celebrate the win is in the works, Brown says today the team plans to “sit down, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy it. We’re going to enjoy our day off and we’re going to get back tomorrow and work as hard as we’ve ever worked.”
He also wants to assuage the concerns from regulars who fear that the award will mean that they can no longer score a seat at Columbia Room. “One nervous guest who has been there 50 times at least, has this sense of fear that he’ll never get in again,” Brown says. “For us, we’re never going to turn the door on him or any of them. Awards are cool, don’t get me wrong, but the best single thing a person can do is become a return guest. That’s when you’ve really won.”
