When Mayor Muriel Bowser announced in early December that her snow team would use its “hot mix,” a de-icing solution comprised of brine and beet juice, D.C. resident Michael Rodríguez took inspiration to make the sort of fancy cocktail one could easily imagine appearing on a menu:

https://twitter.com/MRodDC/status/1467985503379206146

Rodríguez’s cocktail is by far the most memorable thing about the otherwise unremarkable snow preparation, and his concoction got us thinking. What might other news events from 2021 in our region taste like? We reached out to D.C.-area bartenders, who mixed up incredible drink recipes based on some noteworthy local stories from the year.

The Vaccine Rollout

Chantal Tseng, who curates special wine and cocktail menus at the Gibson and runs Cocktails For End Times, designed “an immune boosting concoction” that evokes the COVID-19 vaccine (for a deep dive into the rollout of the vaccine in our region over the past year,  see here) and provides good thoughts and warming spices. (She cautions that the drink is no substitute for the vaccine and booster, though.) The drink’s recipe allows the maker to choose their own adventure, deciding whether they want a hot or cold beverage, and whether they prefer the drink contain alcohol or not. Tseng says that a cold version should include more citrus and less tea, substituting in a syrup for easier mixing.

If making a cold version, skip everything after step 1 and do the following: After brewing tea, add equal parts tea to your honey and molasses to create a 1:1 syrup of tea and sweetener.

Fill with cracked ice and shake for about 10 seconds. Double-strain into your chilled glass. Garnish with your clove studded lemon wheel.

The Escaped Zebras

Deke Dunne, the bar supervisor of Allegory at the Eaton Hotel, made “A Little Taste Of Freedom” to commemorate the zebras who escaped from an Upper Marlboro property in late August. (The two surviving equids returned to their dazzle earlier in December after months on the lam.) Dunne says he “couldn’t help but smile and think about the freedom they were finally tasting,” and the call to freedom immediately had him reaching for Equiano Original Rum, an Afro-Caribbean spirit with D.C. roots. He used the rum in a take on an Irish Coffee, among his favorite black-and-white cocktails.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Equiano Original Afro-Caribbean Rum
• 4 oz Compass Coffee Waypoint Blend brewed coffee, hot
• *.75 oz biscotti demerara syrup
• lightly whipped heavy cream

1) Fill a glass with hot water and let it sit for a couple minutes.

2) Toss the water and add the rum, coffee, and biscotti demerara syrup to the glass.  Stir to incorporate ingredients.

3) Lightly whip heavy cream and carefully layer it onto the top of the cocktail. The easiest way is to take a spoon and place it on the top of the drink with the rounded side facing up.  Slowly pour the whipped cream down the back of the spoon and it’ll layer on top of your cocktail.

(*To make the biscotti demerara syrup: Combine 1 cup of demerara sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add your biscotti biscuits. Break up the biscuits and stir to incorporate.  Cover and let sit for 20-30 minutes.  Longer the better. Strain off the biscotti and transfer the syrup to a clean glass jar. Cover and keep refrigerated for up to 3-4 weeks.)

The Metro 7000-Series Train Debacle

For “24 Minutes,” Gibson head bartender and cofounder of Bartenders Against Racism Jewel Murray captures the regional headache that has been Metro’s woes with the 7000-series train car, which has led to ongoing delays for months. (Indeed, the drink is named for the average wait time at the Green Line station by Murray’s home.) Even as the creation of the drink tells the story of the faulty railcar going back to October, when a derailment prompted their removal from service, the resulting cocktail manages to taste far better. 

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz rye whiskey
• .75 oz lemon juice
• .5-.75 oz simple syrup
• Champagne or ginger ale
• 1 oz Bitter Journey Amaro (or other bitter liqueur)
• Garnish: dried or fresh lime husk, a dash of high-proof liquor (anything over 100 proof), fire
• Glassware: champagne flute, rocks glass

1) Add whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup to shaker with ice. Shake for 20 seconds.

2) Pour drink in champagne flute, which should be placed inside of rocks glass, with a double strainer

3) Top off drink with champagne or ginger ale almost to the top of the flute

4) Measure 1 oz Bitter Journey (ahem, a very fitting drink for this recipe) into a shot glass — this will serve as the “transfer” — and then pour it into the flute. It will spill over into the rocks glass, causing a “derailment.”

5) Put a dehydrated lime on top of the flute (it’s okay if that leads to more overflow into that rocks glass) and pour a bit of high proof rum on the citrus. Then, fittingly, light it on fire.

The Demolition At McMillan

Red Hen beverage director Sam Nellis concocted The McMillan Park after a big year for the city’s most cursed development project. Demolition started this fall at McMillan after decades of back-and-forth. Nellis says he was inspired by the site’s history as a water purification system and he wanted to use second-run coffee grounds (meaning grounds that have already been used to brew a pot of coffee) because he was “moved by the idea of taking something that’s fallen out of use and repurposing it for the future.” 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz bourbon (Wild Turkey 81 preferably)
• *.25 oz Second-Run Coffee Syrup
• .25 oz amaretto
• 2 dash orange bitters

1) Add all ingredients to an Old Fashioned glass with ice. Stir 10 times.

(*To make the Second-Run Coffee Syrup: After you brew a pot of coffee, take the old grounds and brew a second, weaker pot of coffee. Weigh your second-run coffee on a kitchen scale. Add twice the weight of the coffee in light brown sugar. Stir until all sugar is dissolved. Store in the fridge up to 2 weeks.)

Arlington’s Missing Middle

Arlington County released its first “Missing Middle” report, which looked at ways the jurisdiction could provide more housing options over time. “Missing middle” refers to the kinds of housing in between a single-family home and a huge apartment building (think townhomes and small multifamily buildings). The phrase is more about housing size than price, though “missing middle” homes are, on average, likely to be less pricey than single-family homes. The study now goes into Phase 2, which will include a deeper dive into specific kinds of “missing middle” housing, and which the county will follow up with specific recommendations. While the study could potentially shape the future of residential offerings in Arlington, this drink focuses more on what isn’t than what is.

Ingredients:

• Glass of your choosing

1) Set glass, with missing drink, in front of drinker. Enjoy!