To reach Chacho Distillery, all you need to do is follow the llamas.
Housed on the second floor of a warehouse in Manor Park, near Brightwood, Chacho Distillery opens this week with plans to serve patrons cocktails mixed with its signature spicy spirit. Red llamas painted on the walls lead the way up a set of stairs and into a long, narrow bar resembling an open artist’s studio. Fake foliage mingled with fairy lights hangs from the ceiling and colorful artwork, made by Colombian artists, lines the wall. Behind a curtain, a life-size llama replica awaits photo ops under a red sign that says “Chacho.”
The entrance through an unmarked door at the back of a parking lot and up a winding set of stairs is much like a speakeasy, founder and owner Dan Ziegler acknowledges, but that’s where the resemblance stops.
“I really wanted to create a very vibrant and fun space,” he says. “I think the speakeasy vibe is often pretentious and that’s not at all what we’re going for.” Instead, he hopes to attract a day drinking crowd who might feel comfortable hanging around for a while, drinking into the night, or bonding over a football game all while sharing some drinks. He notes that the bar — once the home of Don Ciccio & Figli — is mere blocks from places like Hellbender Brewing Company and Three Stars Brewery.
“So we’re really kind of hoping to create our own little mini-Ivy City up here,” he says.
The story of Chacho began in 2016. Ziegler visited Colombia with friends and found he really enjoyed the national spirit aguardiente. It’s a fermented and distilled spirit derived from cane sugar and, in Colombia, infused with anise, giving it a licorice-like flavor. Variations of the spirit can be found across South America and the rest of the world.
Anise, Zielger admits, is not his favorite but he found he couldn’t get enough of the spirit.
“So that’s why I thought, man, if they can make it so good with something that I don’t even like, how can I do my own twist?” he says. So he spent the next two-and-a-half-years “moonshining out of [his] kitchen” to create his own inspired drink.
Ziegler’s variation called Chacho — named for the llama he rode (drunkenly) while on his trip — is instead infused with jalapeño, giving it the spicy kick he prefers.
“It’s going to be really nice and smooth up front, a little bit of sweet from the sugar cane,” is how Ziegler describes Chacho. “A second later, you’ll get the spicy pop kick from the jalapeño, but it’s a very fresh green jalapeño vegetable that’s not spicy to be spicy.”
Since launching Chacho, Ziegler has gotten the spirit into liquor stores and onto the menu at bars across D.C., including Red Derby and Bar Charley. The distillery is his first location, which he purchased in September 2019 with original plans to open in 2020. The pandemic pushed the timeline. Ziegler says he waited to open until he felt his staff and more patrons would feel comfortable returning to a bar. (Chacho Distillery currently has no outdoor seating.)
Still, Ziegler says they have a bit of an advantage that may help them get off the ground during a pandemic.
“We’ve had, not only consumers out there tasting our product, buying it, already knowing it, but … bars around the city who have been supporting the heck out of us.” Ziegler says.
And Chacho Distillery hopes to shout out those bars on its own menu, which features cocktails seen at local bars that use Chacho. Patrons can currently order the Dalai Parton (Chacho Barrel Finished, whisky, pineapple, honey, lemon, and hot sauce) from the Pub & the People as well as the Que Onda (Chacho, tequila, passion fruit, lime and grapefruit) from Chicken + Whiskey, among others. Ziegler says they plan to rotate the menu to feature other local bars as a thank you for their support.
“All of these places have been around since the very early days, just super supportive,” Ziegler says.
Other cocktails, which are priced at $9-$11, all use Chacho in some way. An Eastside Spritz cools the spice down a bit with cucumber, mint, lime and bubbles. Meanwhile, a Chachorita raises the heat on a classic margarita. There are also take-home cocktail kits, a fixture many bars have adopted during the pandemic. Food, including a Colombian rice bowl with chicken, tomatoes, onions and pepper, is courtesy of La Fonda Paisa, a Colombian cafe in Silver Spring.
Meanwhile, the distillery space itself is the ultimate pandemic DIY. “I kind of made the best out of a bad situation,” Ziegler says. Over the past year, he and his friends have handmade much of the furniture and decor, from building the bar (the cement is infused with bottles of Chacho) to creating seating and tables. A nearby construction site came in handy: Tables are made out of discarded electric spools and seating is made out of wooden pallets. A friend of Zielger’s, who works for Bar Charley, is painting a mural that’ll appear next to the bar.
Artwork is also a centerfold of the distillery. Some of it is Zielger’s own flir. For example, three round wooden electric spools mounted on the wall tell the distillery’s story through paint: One is an American flag, another is a Colombian flag, and another is a D.C. flag.
But on another wall, there’s a mix of different paintings, including one of Frida Kahlo and colorful streets, that Ziegler says he bought directly from Colombian artists and he plans on reselling directly from the wall with plaques that show the artist’s name and Instagram handles. All those proceeds, he says, will go 100% towards buying more art from Colombian artists to display and sell.
“I really want to kind of try and give back to the country and culture that inspired this whole thing,” he says, adding that he hopes the distillery can be seen as a sort of interactive art exhibit from the rotating art wall. Ziegler also plans to display artwork from local D.C. artists in the tasting room, where patrons can learn about the process of creating Chacho, featuring the distilling instrument Ziegler used in his own kitchen.
The cafe and the artists’ involvement are the only participation from Colombian people in the distillery. Ziegler insists he’s not trying to recreate his own Colombian bar, nor does he consider Chacho a copy of aguardiente — rather, his spirit is inspired by it. His hope is that people simply come to appreciate Chacho as much as he does.
“I hope that the distillery itself is successful as it can be, but at the end of the day, the ultimate goal is for people to come here, learn about Chacho, bring their friends, have an amazing time,” he says. “But then, go and drink Chacho out in the bars, from the liquor stores, and it really be a thing that they’re incorporating into their life.”
Chacho Distillery is located at 6031 Kansas Ave NW. It will be open Friday from 4 p.m.-10 p.m., Saturday from 12 p.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m.-10 p.m. Reservations are required.
