Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/6221
W hat happens when you take a Constitutional Amendment, one incredible chef, eight top- notch mixologists and a room full of bartend- ers and cocktail enthusiasts? You get Washington D.C.'s Second Annual Repeal Day Ball. On December 5, 1933, Utah provided the final vote needed to ratify the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which repealed the 18th Amendment and put an end to the era of Prohibition. As this particular group of revelers did not need an excuse to gather and imbibe, Repeal Day was not simply a drinking festival, but a true-to-form holiday commemorating a day of historical significance. Last year, after a discussion with repealday.org founder Jeffrey Morgenthaler, the D.C. Craft Bartenders Guild (dc- craftbartendersguild.org) decided that as caring and dedicated bar- tenders in the Nation's Capital, they should take Repeal Day to the next level. This idea became a black-tie event to raise awareness not only of the group's passion for the craft of bartending, but of the importance of the holiday itself. This year, Gina Chersevani, well- known D.C. cocktail consultant and PS7's official "Mixtress," collaborat- ed with PS7 chef and owner Peter Smith to create a dozen finger foods; sever- al of the dishes were cooked with spirits, including Plymouth gin, St-Germain elderflower liqueur, Tres Generaciones tequila and two types of Lustau sherry. A group of crack bartenders from both D.C. and New York worked to craft a cocktail menu worthy of this second annual event. Although the invitation requested black tie attire, many attendees marked the occasion by dressing in appropriate Prohibition-era garb, further increas- coasT To CoaSt let Freedom clinK Susan Anderson, AGM at Mi- chael Mina's Clock Bar in San Francisco, shows off the bar's special Repeal Day menu. PHOTO: ELISE QUINLISK The Founding Fathers travel to the future to raise toasts and praise the democrat- ic system they helped create, cleverly dressing up as local barmen Derek Brown (The Passenger), Owen Thomson (Bourbon) and Dan Searing (Room 11). PHOTO: DANNY RONEN rePeal day 2009 was a naTionwidE parTy wiTh a pUrposE by Danny Ronen 88 / the tasting panel / january–february 2010