12/27/11
7 in ’11
Everything That Was Important in 2011
It was a year of turmoil. A year of tension. And of new ways to release said tension—among them bocce, brisket and countless bottles of whiskey. Let’s review...
A MUSEUM OF WHISKEY OPENED
Jack Rose Dining Saloon
Think whiskey. No, more. Still more. Now you might be approaching the near-2,000 selections at this
three-story whiskey emporium—many of them from the personal library of a local collector. It beats leaving
them to the Smithsonian.
- 411:
- Jack Rose Dining Saloon, 2007 18th St NW, 202-588-7388
PENN QUARTER WENT TEXAS BIG
Hill Country
We could have predicted the people would line up for “moist” Texas brisket and beer can game hen. Not so
much the live karaoke nights, which had you queuing up to belt out “Ring of Fire.”
- 411:
- Hill Country, 410 7th St NW, 202-556-2050
A BEER FUTURES MARKET OPENED
The Big Board
Finally, a bar whose beer prices fluctuate in real time, based on demand. Convince the table next to you to
order Guinness, and the price might drop. You’re the Jim Cramer of the beer exchange.
- 411:
- The Big Board, 421 H St NE, 202-543-3630
SHOPPING WENT BESPOKE
The Black Room
Bespoke suits: you got ’em. But enter bespoke shopping, where everything in the store is pulled for you,
in your size. The only thing not designed with you in mind: the house cocktail. Which is probably
forgivable.
- 411:
- The Black Room, 1033 31st St NW, 202-333-0093
BOCCE GOT AN AUDIENCE
Black Jack
You’ve had bocce victories. But never in view of a partisan crowd packed into stadium seating next to the
court. Of course, you plied them all with smoked-ice cocktails, but that’s another story.
- 411:
- Black Jack, 1612 14th St NW, 202-986-5225
SEAL TRAINING GOT ACCESSIBLE
Extreme SEAL Experience
Previously, if you wanted to train like SEAL Team 6, you had to stand up to your neck in a mud pit by
yourself. Now, there’s a former SEAL who tells you to do it. You pay him for the privilege.
- 411:
- Extreme SEAL Experience, 324 Gallbush Rd, Chesapeake, VA, 757-572-7203
GAMING WENT 19TH CENTURY
Virtue Feed & Grain
Virginia’s hottest opening was a 19th-century warehouse converted to a place where organ meats lived
alongside beer cocktails, and billiards lived alongside classic arcade games. Proving that space-time
somehow involves Pac-Man.
- 411:
- Virtue Feed & Grain, 106 S Union St, Alexandria, VA, 571-970-3669
Only what you need to know.