Brightest Young Things

Welcome to the future, where everyone has hoverboards and most communicable diseases have been wiped out of existence. We all drive whips with built-in cocktail bars.

Also, we all look like Judy Jetson.

So, seeing as how it's the future and all, what do we drink besides Crystal Pepsi and our own urine, filtered through a Mr. Coffee?

Cocktails, of course. If the fads of 2009 are any indication, cocktails are back, big-time. Now I'll predict (some are serious predictions, most are smartass snark) the cocktails....OF THE FUTURE!

As anyone who hasn't been hiding under a rock in Sperryville knows, "speakeasies" (take this term with a massive grain of salt around the rim of your margarita) are huge in DC right now. DC is on the cusp of a cocktail revolution of sorts; people are eschewing their old standbys of beer and Appletinis in favor of more sophisticated drinks. And I for one couldn't be more pleased; people are now actually tasting things, savoring their drinks rather than pounding back a few to get drunk. Oh sure, getting wasted is still a time-honored Saturday tradition for most, but this practice is now augmented with Mondays through Fridays spent nursing a highly seasoned beverage with complex flavors and nuances.

So if the Gin Rickey and Mint Julep are coming back in vogue, what will 2010 bring? I think 2010 will see a resurgence of aperitifs and digestifs, complemented by sitting back and sipping a liquor straight up or on the rocks. Martinis and Sazeracs will still be popular, but the Old World tradition of lounging around and sipping some straight spirits will make an appearance. Restaurants and lounges will offer flavored liquors and liqueurs not generally seen in the good ol' US of A: think Aquavit, Limoncello, Ouzo. Dubonnet on the rocks with a twist after dinner somewhere on 14th Street. Brandies and Ports will become popular again.

Strange Liquors and Liqueurs

Now that things like bitters and absinthe are becoming commonplace, even stranger (in terms of American, beer-swilling perspective here) things will come to the forefront. Zirbenz, a delicious pine-flavored liqueur from the Alps will hit it big. Creme Yvette, an almost impossibly hard to find liqueur made from violets will make a resurgence (note: I wrote this paragraph on Sunday and found Creme de Violette, its stand-in, at Sova on Tuesday. The future is here!). Van der Hum, a liqueur made from the naartjes variety of orange native to South Africa, might even show up. Nuvo however will never enjoy widespread popularity no matter how many rappers extol its virtues.

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Arabella (with Zirbenz)

• 1/2 oz Zirbenz
• 1/2 oz Kirsch
• 1/2 oz Amaretto

Stir in a cocktail shaker with ice, serve in a chilled cocktail glass.

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The future of cocktails is thus: more "cocktail" places will open. Every place (and their mother) will get signature cocktails. Gibson will not be the only player out there; far from it. Just as was seen with Cork, competition will come and it will get fierce. To top it off (gird your loins, child) bottled cocktail mixes will come back en masse. Not every restaurant will be able to have a mixologist on hand, but they will be able to pour a Negroni straight from the bottle. I think though that anything in a bottle will be better than what we're used to from bottled mixes: not overwhelmingly sweet, but not good either. It won't compare to having a well-trained bartender make it in front of you. At some point the market will become saturated with cocktail offerings - I think this is what will truly happen, and I'm going to guess that by the end of 2010 there will be so many places offering cocktails, some of less quality than others, that frankly most people will get sick of it.

But what kind of cocktails do you envision for the future? What is DC's future after cocktails?