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Holiday Bars and Restaurants to Sip on a Festive Drink in DC
Coquito cocktails. Photo courtesy of La Famosa.
Best Holiday Cocktails
Put down the eggnog: DC restaurants are serving holiday drinks from around the world. Here are three options.
Coquito
From: Puerto Rican
Where to find it: La Famosa (1300 Fourth St., SE)
The cocktail’s name translates to “little coconut.” At this Navy Yard spot, it’s made with local distillery Cotton & Reed’s rum, which features notes of vanilla and coconut.
Ponche a Crème
From: Trinidad
Where to find it: St. James (2017 14th St., NW)
The festive libation is popular around the Caribbean. The 14th Street restaurant serves the milky drink with an abundance of citrus peels.
Glühwein
From: Switzerland
Where to find it: Stable (1324 H St., NE)
‘Tis the season for hot spiced wine, a staple at this Swiss restaurant. Pair the mulled drink with melty fondue for a cozy dinner.
Top Holiday Pop-up Bars
Bars are decking their halls with drink specials and spirited decorations.
Sippin’ Santas at Archipelago
1201 U St., NW.
Take a holiday trip to the tropics November 25 through December 31 when the tiki bar converts to a Christmas pop-up. Sip the pineapple Kris Kringle Colada among the island ephemera—think summery drinks and Santa in sunglasses.
Miracle at Death Punch Bar
2321 18th St., N.W.
The cocktail lounge transforms into a merry destination with twinkling lights, Yuletide motifs, and themed seating areas. Visit the holiday bar starting November 25 for spiked eggnog, mulled wine, and a gingerbread-flavored old fashioned in festive glassware.
Chai-vy and Cohen-y at Ivy & Coney
1537 Seventh St., N.W.
Head to the Shaw watering hole’s annual Hanukkah bar for a hanukkiah-lighting each evening starting December 18. Snack on fried-potato latkes, then take part in a unique holiday tradition: the “shot-norah,” a giant menorah affixed to shot glasses for seasonal imbibing. The bar will remain open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Bejeweled Christmas Bar at Maxwell Park
1346 Fourth St., SE.
Swifties get a holiday bar in Navy Yard beginning on November 23, decked out by former Miracle on Seventh Street designer Adriana Salame. The glittering decor is inspired by Taylor Swift’s “Bejeweled” music video, and drinks pay homage to her discography. There are peppermint shooters, spiked whipped cream, and an espresso martini.
Once Upon a Tiki Christmas at Tiki TNT
1130 Maine Ave., SW.
Santa gets a beach vacation at Todd Thrasher’s tiki joint from November 21 to January 2. Holiday specials include hot pineapple cider and s’mores kits to roast over a tiny grill. Despite the tropical theme, the bar’s snow machine means flurries are in the forecast.
Jingle Bell Rock at B Live
2854 Wilson Blvd., Arlington.
Starting on November 29, the Clarendon music venue and restaurant is getting into the holiday spirit with oversized candy canes and a mistletoe-laden photo booth. Stop by the bar on Tuesdays for karaoke caroling and on Thursdays for Christmas films.
Illustrations by Connie Zheng.
This article appears in the November 2022 issue of Washingtonian.
Lifestyle Editor
Daniella Byck joined the Washingtonian in 2022. She was previously with Outside Magazine and lives in NoMa.
No booze? No problem for most fans at the World Cup in Qatar
DOHA, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Soccer fans at the almost alcohol-free World Cup are ready to pay high prices for a beer, a few have tried to smuggle booze into stadiums but most simply accept that drinking is off limits at the first tournament in a Muslim country.
World soccer governing body FIFA reversed course in mid-November, two days before the first match kicked off, and announced that no alcoholic beer would be sold at stadiums in Qatar where it is an offense to drink alcohol or be drunk in public.
While beer is available at designated World Cup fan zones and in some hotels, the hassle and the cost of finding alcohol — half a liter is sold for 50 Qatari riyalis ($13.70) in fan zones — are simply too much for many supporters from countries where beer is typically part of the match-day routine.
“For me, it’s a tradition of having a beer, watching a game, enjoying the game with friends,” said Stefan Pacquee, a Belgian doctor who traveled to Qatar from his home in Sydney, Australia, as he made his way into a stadium before Belgium’s 2-0 defeat by Morocco on Sunday.
He said he had his first beer-and-football experience aged 16 with his father.
“So I miss it. And I don’t think the Budweiser Zero is going to compensate for that. But hey, we’re here, the weather’s beautiful, it’s a great atmosphere,” Pacquee said.
LARGELY DRY
Germany fan Christian Kopatsch said alcohol was often banned at matches in his home country which was considered to be at high risk of violence among supporters, so the dry World Cup was not a big adjustment for him.
He said he noticed a change in the atmosphere where, apart from minor skirmishes between a few fans of Mexico and Argentina, there have been no reports of violence, in contrast to trouble that broke out in Belgium after Morocco’s win and fighting between England and Wales fans in Tenerife, Spain.
“I think it’s more peaceful. You don’t have these very drunk people everywhere and people are just normal and happy,” Kopatsch said before Germany’s 1-1 draw with Spain on Sunday.
He has not even tried to find a drink.
“I can do without alcohol for a week,” he said.
Not everyone is so accepting of the rules.
A video shared on Twitter showed security staff seizing what appeared to be a pair of binoculars turned into a secret booze bottle by a Mexico fan trying to get into his country’s match against Argentina on Saturday, which Mexico lost 2-0.
One of the security officials is seen unscrewing one of the eye cups and simulating having a swig to show a colleague what he has discovered while the fan in a green, white and red wig seems to gesture that the contents are in fact hand wash.
But most supporters seem to understand that, for this tournament, old habits will have to be put on hold.
Spain fan Raimundo Oujo, a businessman from La Coruna, said the mood in the stadiums was a little less charged than usual as a result of the booze ban.
“It’s a fact that we always celebrate with drinks before or after, so I think it can make a difference, but it’s not a critical factor,” he said.
“Let’s celebrate some other way, or you can also celebrate when you come back home and then you can have a big party.”
Additional reporting by Javier Andres Rojas and Christophe Van Der Perre; writing by William Schomberg, editing by Ed Osmond
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Do you need to drink eight glasses of water daily?
It is a widely held belief that a person must drink at least eight glasses of water in a day, however, a new study has contradicted this view which says that it might be “too much”.
A recent study, published in Sciencefound that the recommended eight glasses of water were more than the required amount, BBC reported.
As per the estimates, people only need about 1.5 to 1.8 liters of water as they also intake water from food.
“The original estimate of two liters a day comes from a slight miscalculation,” Professor John Speakman from the University of Aberdeen told BBC.
“The water that we need to drink is the difference between the total water that we need to ingest and the amount that we get from our food.
“The way they estimated the amount of food was by asking people how much they eat.”
The scientist said that asking people how much they eat is a common practice to estimate the amount of water intake that comes from food. He, however, said that following this method could result in misestimation as people “under-report” the amount of their food intake.
The study
There have been countless studies to find the correct answer to the question but the surveys are applied to small samples of people. However, this new study was conducted through collaboration across the globe, in which scientists used a stable isotope technique.
The survey involved 5,604 individuals aged between eight days and 96 years old, from 23 different countries. Some of the hydrogen molecules were replaced by a stable isotope of the element called deuterium which was consumed in a glass of water by the participants in the survey.
Deuterium is an element naturally found in the body so the rate of its elimination shows how quickly the water in the body is turned over.
It was discovered that people with a higher water turnover generally need to drink more water, while energy expenditure is the biggest factor in water turnover.
‘Just an adage’
meanwhile, CNN’s senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen said that drinking more than needed water is just “an adage” and does “no harm” to the human body.
When asked how much water people should drink, Cohen said that people only need to observe the color of their urine instead of counting the glasses of water they consume, to see if they are drinking enough water.
As per the study, a person is considered healthy and hydrated if the color of their pee is pale straw. The “amber or honey” colored urine indicates mild dehydration while the “syrupy or brown ale” colored pee shows that a person is experiencing “worrisome dehydration” which could be a sign of liver disease.
She said that the symptoms are well known in a country with hotter weather.
“If you’ve yellow pee, that’s not good,” she translated an Israeli song, saying that everyone needs to learn that.