The Son of a Nutcracker is made with cognac, brandy, creme de cacao, creme de menthe, and cream.

/ Drink Company

The weather is getting colder, every third email in my inbox begins with “Tis the season,” and I find myself rolling my eyes over the pun Maccabeats by Dreidel …. all of which means that the 7th Street Christmas pop-up bar must be returning. The annual winter wonderland bar opens up Friday, with the requisite themed cocktails and over-the-top decorations.

In recent years, Drink Company’s annual pop-up bar has honored the city’s top celebrities: Where last season’s space was Bei Bei themed, this year will include a room set aside for the World Series-winning Washington Nationals.

Before you ask, we don’t have a potential repeat of last year’s Rick and Morty hullabaloo on our hands. According to Drink Company president Derek Brown, the pop up was developed in close collaboration with the Nationals.

Watch out for baby sharks (but no baby shark cocktail) that will accent the space. “I had to,” says Drink Company special projects manager Adriana Salame-Aspiazu. She promises that candy canes will be up alongside decorations of baseballs, bats, and helmets. “I’m very lucky [the Nats are] red and white in color,” she says.

As per usual, a space will be reserved for Hanukkah, dubbed the “Chinese and a movie” room. This year’s iteration will include a popcorn machine and a popcorn art installation, and the wall bears decoupaged posters of movies featuring Jewish actors, Salame-Aspiazu says. The third room is all things Christmas; think pine trees, ornaments, and herald angels. There’s an advent calendar behind the bar, and the back room contains one of the installations just screaming to be climbed inside and Instagrammed: a geodesic dome decked out like an igloo.

Salame-Aspiazu expects another popular photo op will be the marquee sign that reads “World Champs” situated near a massive “Finish the Fight” banner. “That’s gonna be a solid Christmas card,” she says.

As for the cocktail list, the bar is offering a greatest hits list to celebrate five years of Miracle on Seventh. There’s the Gretchen, Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen—a concoction of sherry, dry curacao, spiced cranberry syrup, and cava—and the aforementioned Maccabeats by Dreidel—made with gin, Manischewitz, lemon, and sparkling water. Expect a few new drinks, too, including the Son of a Nutcracker, made with cognac, brandy, creme de cacao, creme de menthe, and cream.

One element that had to make a return appearance, according to Brown, is the eggnog shots. “They have been a phenomenon since the beginning,” he says.

The pop up’s biggest night will be a Christmas Eve Eve party on Dec. 23. Tickets will be available to hop a potential line to get into the bar, the sales of which will go to the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation.

Will the Nationals themselves make an appearance? If they do, they better not celebrate in shirtless style, as they did in the weekend after their big win. “We do have a strict no shirt no shoes no service policy,” Brown says. “If they take off their shirts off we’ll ask them to put it back on.”

Miracle on 7th Street is located at 1843 7th St. NW. Open Nov. 22-Dec. 31. From Nov. 22-29, hours are Sunday-Thursday 5 p.m.-12:30 a.m., Friday-Saturday 5 p.m.-1:30 a.m.. From Nov. 30-Dec. 31, hours are Mondays-Thursdays 5 p.m-12:30 a.m., Fridays 5 p.m.-1:30 a.m., Saturdays 1 p.m.-1:30 a.m., Sundays 1 p.m.-12:30 a.m.

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