Brightest Young Things

Wine News and Perhaps Some Booze:

• Last night was the last of Punch Club at Warehouse. Shame on you if you didn't go.

• Room 11, the wine bar in Columbia Heights, is slated to open in April and word on the street is they may feature some punches to keep the memory of Punch Club alive and well.

• The DC Craft Bartenders Guild is throwing a bash on Sunday night: “Billy’s Parents’ House,” a party to make us somehow want to relive the days of drinking random bottles of liquor mixed in a punch bowl and utilizing Kool-Aid chasers.  It's 7pm this Sunday night at Warehouse, no cover.  Chief Mixers: Adam Bernbach and Owen Thomson. DJs YellowFever - with special guests. Featuring homemade Wine Coolers, Craft Canned Beer, Mom's Schnapps Cabinet and Agar Agar Shots. What's that I feel? Oh yes - a hangover!

• The American Heart Association is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Heart’s Delight Wine Tasting and Auction May 7-9, 2009.  Wine legends, Robert Parker Jr. (founder of The Wine Advocate) and Château Latour’s Frederic Engerer, are returning to Washington to participate in this event that raises critically needed funds for heart research. It's split up into several mini events at Embassies and Ambassador homes and believe me when I say that it is every oenophile's dream.

• A guy tries to call Obama out for drinking expensive stuff (note: this guy is bitching at him for drinking an Archery Summit 2004 Pinot Noir, retails $167. Not chump change, but it's not tastelessly reckless either) and not living like a common man. Tom Sietsema puts him in his place. Sietsema for the win. (scroll down to "Fairfax VA" for the chat)

• Beacon Bar & Grill is hosting their second annual Martini Contest, featuring some of the top bartenders in town to compete for the title of "Best Martini in D.C." Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, event is Tuesday, March 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door, and can only be purchased at the Beacon. Get your tickets early!

• If you like Absinthe head over to Wisdom, featuring Absinthe Verta, Lucid Absinthe Superior, and Le Tourment Vert (The Green Torment), which contains the maximum dosage of thujone currently allowed.

• Throughout the month of March, the Corcoran is hosting 12 of the city's best mixologists who are competing to create the most artistic martini, inspired by the work of students attending the Corcoran College of Art and Design. Visit the participating restaurants, sample the "artinis", and vote online for your favorite. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. during the month of March, one featured venue will offer a 20% discount on their "artini" to all attending sippers. The next ones coming up:

• Thursday, March 12 @ Teatro Goldoni
• Tuesday, March 17 @ Enology
• Wednesday, March 18 @ Tabard Inn
• Thursday, March 19 @ Wisdom
• Tuesday, March 24 @ Rasika
• Wednesday, March 25 @ The Bar at St. Regis
• Thursday, March 26 @ Art and Soul

• You don't need to register in advance for these feature nights! You do however have to register for the big 1869 Society shebang celebrating the Artini winner on Saturday March 28, 8pm-midnight. Music provided by DJ Heather Femia, participate in an Artini Raffle, and tour the exhibition Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes. The winning Artini will be revealed. 1869 Society members pay $80, Corcoran members $90, everyone else $100, VIP $125 (VIP Admission Includes five raffle tickets and an invitation to the VIP post-reception at Urbana Restaurant and Wine Bar. RSVP by March 18.

• (Not exactly related but I <3 the Corcoran: go to their website to get 2 for 1 admission to Maya Lin: Landscapes for a limited time only.)

• Enology is hosting a mixology and tasting class featuring multiple gins. Learn the brief history of the spirit before getting behind the bar and making your own cocktails. This Saturday March 14 from 3:15-5 p.m. and costs $40.

• Rick’s Wine & Gourmet is hosting a wine dinner at Rasika, featured guest will be importer Brennan Downey of Michael Downey Selections. Enjoy a five course dinner paired with wines for $100/person, call Rick’s at 703-823-4600 for more details.

NOT Wine News:

Unless you've been in a cave (and not a gypsy cave, as those are pretty tricked out) or your last name is Noel (whoops! guess not!) it's a recession, stupid. Sales of alcohol are typically recession resistant, if not recession proof - everyone wants a nip to stave off the feelings of financial impotence or perhaps just to forget about things awhile. This doesn't mean people are flocking to wine bars or those not-actually-discreet-in-fact-wholly-misrepresented-as-speakeasies joints, in fact the opposite: they're flocking to their corner bodega for a 40oz Bud, a six pack, or gin and juice. In our stylish neighbor to the north New York City diners and drinkers are staying home or going to the homes of friends and not going out. This is spelling certain death for area businesses and many restaurants and bars have ceased operation. Many large cities (and smaller ones) are reporting the same fate.

Except, perhaps, our dear District. Everywhere I go, from the dingy Polly's basement at Happy Hour to Punch Club on Thursdays to Gibson (well, try to go, anyways) is teeming with the huddled masses yearning to drink free. This is in spite of the fact that try as we may to ignore the facts with comments like "Oh, DC is doing alright, the recession isn't really hitting here" it is. Unemployment is 9.3%  and this isn't all just people in SE that are heavily featured in the City Paper (and let's face it, no other venue). This doesn't take into account the underemployed, the people we know (hell, perhaps you reading this right now) that's working part time only because you couldn't find a full time job.

So I beseech you all: who among you are still going out? Have your bar habits changed because of the recession? And most importantly, what do you think the future holds for DC's bar scene, from dives to wine bars to gin joints to speakeasies? Will DC go the way of NYC, with bars, clubs and restaurants shuttering their doors and empty cabs on weekends? Or will DC be buyoed by big government and stay the course - a new wine bar per season and classic cocktails flowing like waterfalls of inebriated awesomeness? Throw in your own two cents below or on the Shitshow. Paranoid conspiracy theories are always welcome.