Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/7240
march 2010 / the tasting panel / 77 Vaults for Your Malts Thanks to AGAINN's 130 private Scotch lockers, your favorite bottle of whisky is both coddled and revered. A $500 yearly rental fee at the modern gastropub, whose Gaelic name trans- lates to "with us," includes use of a felt- lined, temperature-controlled storage locker emblazoned with a personalized nameplate, a restaurant gift certificate and a bottle from AGAINN's menu to jumpstart your collection (the venue touts over eighty whiskies, including forty-six Scotches, and each locker can hold four or five bottles). The remainder of the beverage menu, created by Josh Harris and Scott Baird, cocktail consultants and founding partners of Bon Vivants, draws on the pub's British influence, with tea, gin, Irish whiskey, Scotch and even curry factoring prominently on the drinks menu of the 20-seat bar. "I love the 'old- school' style we are trying to portray, as well as the amazing ingredients we get to work with," notes Beverage Direc- tor Elli Benchimol, who gets excited at the prospect of turning guests on to new things. Complex, multi-layered creations include Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot liqueur, Dolin dry ver- mouth and Madras curry–infused John L. Sullivan Irish whiskey in the Bare Knuckle Boxer; and Dolin sweet ver- mouth infused with Earl Grey tea for the citrus-tinged Yeoman's Afternoon. www.againndc.com PHOTO: POWERS AND CREWE Private Scotch lockers at AGAINN. Liquid Journeys Like yin and yang, black and white or gin and vodka, bartending brothers Tom and Derek Brown are an intriguing study in cocktailian contrast. The two recently joined forces to open The Passenger/Columbia Room, near D.C.'s Convention Center. The Passenger is Tom's playground, where guests are encouraged to order beer from a can (one of its two natural states, along with a keg, he says), swirl a glass of an off-the-beaten path varietal or suggest a cocktail direction to the more spontaneous brother ("spicy," "not too sweet," "something with gin,") and sip what comes out of the shaker while noshing on a kim-chi hot dog. Younger brother Derek, the self- proclaimed bookish cocktail geek, holds court back in the more subdued, railcar-inspired Columbia Room, as well as behind the 20 seats at the intimate reservation-only omakase-style bar. The Japanese phrase for "It's up to you" aptly describes the latter, as it's here that Derek interacts closely with guests to make custom cocktails. "I take notes from small, Japanese bars in Tokyo but let people in on the process of mak- ing cocktails," he says. The exclusive inner sanctum stocks only a handful of commercial liquors; the rest, ranging from booze to bitters and infusions, are house-made. www.passengerdc.com The Passenger co-owner Derek Brown with staff. BARs & TAvERNs PHOTOS: VINCENT GALLEGOS