Happy Friday spirited friends! This week we want to start off by letting you know about an incredible event coming up at Lui’s own Ember & Alma. Tequila and agave enthusiasts, you won’t want to miss this. I can personally attest to how incredible the events put on by the staff at Ember & Alma are. It also is worth traveling for if you’re into cocktail tourism, I met a really cool guy from Philly at the last tequila event they had. Anyways on with the formal announcement:

Ember & Alma is hosting their first private event of the year with Mijenta Tequila on Tuesday Jan 27th! There will be a complete unique food menu, 3 new and unique cocktails, a tasting through all of their expressions, and a hell of a good time. Come shake the winter blues off with some killer tequila, cocktails and friends!

Click here to buy your tickets

And now back to our regularly scheduled newsletter.

According to the WHO Global Tax Rates on Alcohol Are Too Low

We all know that alcohol isn’t considered healthy - it is poison after all - but the messaging around “healthy” consumption has been anything but clear lately. With the American government recently removing their recommended daily limits for men and women from their official dietary guidelines, there has been concern among health officials. Globally, The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that alcohol excise taxes have not kept up with market increases and thus have made alcohol “too affordable”. In their report there are a number of countries that did not deliver data upon request regarding the taxation of alcohol. No shock here: the US is one of the non-reporting countries.

Essentially alcohol (specifically spirits) has become more affordable in the majority of countries included in the data. This isn’t to say that alcohol is affordable everywhere, there were a number of countries in which alcohol became more expensive, but the concerns from WHO are aimed at the global trend.

The concerns from WHO are linked to poor health outcomes, strained familial relationships, and death amongst populations with heavy alcohol consumption.

It Was Amazing and I Already Need to Go Back

Last week I mentioned that I was going to visit DC to see my lifelong best friend. For me, a mom of two young kids, it’s hard to make time for little trips like these but it was SO worth it. Since we got a request to post a list of must-try spots in Washington DC (hi, Chris!) I’ll give you a quick recap on where I went and what I tried. I’m also sharing where I didn’t get to this time but that came highly recommended by other area bartenders.

OKPB - 3165 Mt. Pleasant St NW floor 2, Washington DC: This is a speakeasy style bar with amazing ambiance. My friend, Alison, wanted to make sure we went here because she loves the expertise and creativity of the bartenders. They gave us a list of their happy hour drinks but that was all as far as menus go - part of the experience is letting your bartender create something for you based on taste profile and spirit. Jovi, our bartender the night we went, made us killer drinks (most notably a drink for Alison who likes spicy drinks, a Gordon’s Breakfast). Important to note, this is a speakeasy style bar so there are no reservations and it fills up fast!

Riff Raff - 2333 18th St NW, Washington DC: This was a spot that Alison hadn’t been to yet so I was super excited to get there. Well, that and the fact that I had just written about their sustainability efforts in one of our newsletters. On top of the incredible atmosphere in the bar, which is relatively small and intimate, the staff is vibrant in such a contagious way. We had the honor of grabbing seats at the bar and chatting with the Jon Schott (owner of the bar and absolute creative genius). The drink menu is extensive and these drinks are not like anything you’ll find elsewhere. Millennials: this is an absolute must-go, there is a lot of nostalgia here.

Cana - 2412 18Th St NW, Adams Morgan, Washington DC: Lui recommended that we go here for food and drink. He hasn’t been yet but he had mentioned that they, like Ember & Alma, are focused on highlighting South American spirits and flavors. The food is actually something that I will dream about forever and the drinks where equally delicious. The staff worked seamlessly with one another despite being packed to the gills the whole time we were there. Shout out to our bartender Nico for the hospitality and great conversation.

Doi Moi - 1800 14th St NW, Washington DC: Since we went here for brunch and I knew I was going to Service Bar immediately after I was focused on N/A drinks when we ate here. The food was so so so good, I ate enough to hate myself just a little bit, and I even ate a coconut beignet (I am not a sweets girlie) because it was that good. The spirit-free drinks were made to look and taste just as wonderful as their spirited offerings. I got their Pink Panther and it was hands-down the best N/A drink I have had.

Service Bar - 926-928 U St NW, Washington DC: I was adamant on going here while I was in DC. This bar has been on the 50 Best Bars of North America for four years running and their bartender Christine Kim won best bartender of the year at Tales of the Cocktail this past year. As fate would have it, she was actually behind the bar when I went, although I didn’t know it was her until we were all downing some industry drinks and heading out. She’s super modest and down-to-earth and has great taste in manicure colors. The drink menu is bird-themed (plus one flying squirrel) and every drink is an ✨experience✨. Their menu also literally tells a story page by page and brings awareness to endangered or threatened species in the process.

Other places recommended to us that we either didn’t have time for or were too busy to get in:

With content overload it felt like something light to finish off was warranted. I’ve seen a few iterations of this joke online but this one actually made me chuckle. It feels to me like less people are doing “dry January” this year which might be because more people take breaks from alcohol more regularly lately but January is always a wildcard for the bar and restaurant industry. Hang in there friends.

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