Bartender Todd Thrasher | Recommendations - Find. Eat. Drink.
Bartender Todd Thrasher, Washington, DC, District Of Columbia, Alexandria, Virginia, VA, New York, NY, NYC, Manhattan, Portland, OR, Oregon, New Orleans, LA, Louisiana, Los Angeles, CA, California, Where to drink, Cocktails, Bars, Bartenders, Restaurants, Cocktail Programs, Best Bartenders, Bartender’s Recommendations, Insider Recommendations, cocktails, Gin, Vodka, Whiskey, Bourbon, Rum, Liquor Recommendations, Spirits, Beer, Wheat Beer, What To Drink
Recommendations
Old Town Alexandria
Vintage Barware
New York, NY
New Orleans, LA
Portland, OR
Find | Vintage Barware - Washington, DC
Whenever bartenders come here to Alexandria, I always send them to The Hour. It is the coolest cocktail shop around. This lady named Victoria has basically scoured antique stores for shakers and antique glassware. It's kind of an ode to a bar and definitely one of the coolest shops I've ever been to in my life. It's good and bad, because you end up going in, getting totally sucked in and spending a ton of money!
COLUMBIA ROOM
1021 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001
Reservations Required
T: 202.393.0336
If you can possibly get a reservation there, Derek Brown does really technically, proficient, old school cocktails. If you want a Martini, it's the best place to go in town. Passenger is kind of a dive bar in front and the Columbia Room is a hidden little gem in the back. It's a quiet, serene, little place to go. I prefer the Columbia Room.
NW Washington
American / Cocktails
Bartender Todd Thrasher | Recommendations
Who
Todd Thrasher is a bartender, sommelier and partner with the Good Food Group in Alexandria, Virginia.
Why
Todd Thrasher is considered one of the top masters of mixology in the country, winning multiple mixology competitions and making his own bar's mixers, from sodas to tonic water to bitters and tinctures.
Recommended By
- Bartender Chris McMillian (Bar Uncommon in New Orleans, LA)
May 17, 2012
Alexandria, VA
Photographs courtesy of The Modern Hotel & Bar
Drink | Cocktails - Washington, DC
PROOF
Penn Quarter
Contemporary American
It's a restaurant where you have great cocktails and you can get some food to nosh on. Bar manager Adam Bernbach is awesome. It's right by the Verizon Center.
ROUND ROBIN SCOTCH BAR
www.washington.intercontinental.com/food-drink/round-robin-scotch-bar
The Willard Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20004
T: 202.628.9100
Old school bar with an angry bartender named Jim Hewes. He makes the best Mint Julep you've ever had in your life. It's just amazing. He's like the old kind of bartender, cranky, but has so many good stories to tell. He has a scotch collection like no other. There are three to four hundred scotches in the bar.
Downtown
Cocktails
Eat | Restaurants - Washington, DC
CITY ZEN
www.mandarinoriental.com/washington/dining/cityzen/
1330 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20024
T: 202.787.6148 (make a reservation)
Downtown
Contemporary American
It's in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It is a dining pleasure to go there. The menu changes nightly. You go there, relax and don't have to make any decisions, the menu is what it is, and the sommelier Andy will come and take care of you. I can't afford to go there all the time, but if you go there, you just relinquish all control and you enjoy yourself.
ESTADIO
It's Spanish tapas, but it's not a hundred percent traditional tapas. It's kinda got a little bit of modernism put into it. The pintxos are amazing. They have these bacon-wrapped dates that are ridiculous, they're like crack. The cod fritters and the bacalao are amazing.
Logan Circle
Spanish
RAY’S HELL BURGER
Arlington
American / Burgers
They probably have ten or twelve different types of burgers. All they serve is burgers and they're so delicious. I really like the Diablo Burger that has spicy chipotle sauce on it, it's so good.
Greg Best is a kindred spirit. He does some awesome things. He did a Coca-cola syrup champagne cocktail that blew my mind.
Buckhead
American
Drink | Cocktails - Atlanta, GA
THE VARNISH
Downtown
Lounge
For Eric Alperin, the bartender at The Varnish.
Drink | Cocktails - Los Angeles, CA
I met Jim Meehan when he was the lunchtime bartender at Gramercy Tavern. Whenever I go to New York I make sure that I see him.
East Village
Cocktails / Hot Dogs
Drink | Cocktails - New York, NY
THE TIPPLER
For bartender Tad Carducci. He's awesome!
Chelsea
Cocktails
BAR UNCOMMON | CHRIS MCMILLIAN
Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel
817 Common Street, New Orleans, LA 70112
T: 504.525.1111
Chris McMillian of Bar UnCommon in New Orleans -- he is awesome.
Central Business District
Cocktail Lounge / Bar
Drink | Cocktails - New Orleans, LA
WOODSMAN TAVERN
4537 Southeast Division Street Portland, OR 97206
T: 971.373.8264 (make a reservation)
Evan Zimmerman is awesome. He's using smoke and char in a lot of things.
Southeast Portland
American
Drink | Cocktails - Portland, OR
BLUECOAT AMERICAN DRY GIN
It’s probably one of the best gins besides Smooth Ambler on the East Coast for me.
United States / Pennsylvania
Spirits / Gin
Find | Spirits & Liquors - Gin
I like Citadelle Gin quite a bit, it’s an accessible gin. I like the floral to it and the smoothness to it. While it does have tons of juniper in it, it doesn’t have that like junipery bite that sometimes is a little overwhelming to people.
French / Cognac
Spirits / Gin
ELDERGIN | ELDERBERRY GIN LIQUOR
It's a kind of a sloe gin style, but it doesn't have that cloying sweetness to it. It has lots of spices and it's super good.
United States / Illinois
Spirits / Gin Liquor
SMOOTH AMBLER GIN
Super clean spirit. Their spirits really taste like someone put their heart and soul into them. Their gin is one of the best gins I've ever had in my life. It's a really easy mixing gin.
United States / West Virginia
Spirits / Gin
CAPTAIN MORGAN
I spent a good deal of my life in Calvert County, Maryland, in the summers, so I'm a little bit of a red neck and I definitely enjoy my Captain Morgan and diet coke once in a while in the summer time. That's like blasphemy for people that do what I do.
Jamaica
Spirits / Spiced Rum
Find | Spirits & Liquors - Rum
EL DORADO 15
My favorite rum for sipping is El Dorado 15.
Guyana
Spirits / Rum
WESTERHALL RUM
My favorite rum for mixing is Westerhall from Grenada.
Grenada
Spirits / Rum
Find | Spirits & Liquors - Vodka
CIRRUS VODKA
It's my favorite vodka on the market right now. It's a potato-based vodka and I know vodka is suppose to be odorless and tasteless, but Cirrus has a little bit of flavor and a little bit of viscosity and I really enjoy using it for cocktails. If someone wants a martini, it's really good--it has a little bit of flavor, so you're not gonna get that crystal clear clean vodka.
United States / Virginia
Spirits / Vodka
GEORGE WASHINGTON RESERVE BOURBON
It's a new distillery and they’re producing some ridiculous bourbon. They're only doing one bourbon right now.
United States /
Spirits / Rum
Find | Spirits & Liquors - Whiskey
WASMUNDS
Rick Wasmund has got it dialed in and he makes amazing single malt whiskey.
United States / Virginia
Spirits / Single Malt Whiskey
DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE
www.proximedia.com/web/breweryverhaeghe.html
Brouwerij Verhaeghe
My favorite beer of the last year is Duchesse De Bourgogne. It's a sour ale from Belgium. Oh my God, it's so good. It’s one of those beers that you offer to people and they either say, ‘oh my God, what have I been missing my whole life’ or they're just totally turned off by it.
Belgium
Beer / Flemish Red Ale
Find | Beer
PORT CITY BREWERY OPTIMAL WIT
They have a wheat beer that is so easy for me to manipulate in cocktails.
United States / Virginia
Beer / Wheat
