Rickey to be D.C.’s cocktail (original) (raw)

A cocktail at Bar Pilar. (Michael Temchine for The Washington Post) (Michael Temchine/For The Washington Post)

On Thursday, D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans will join cocktail aficionados to read a proclamation declaring the rickey as Washington’s native cocktail and declaring July as rickey month in the district.

The rickey was invented in 1883 at Shoomaker’s, a bar once frequented by politicians and journalists. The J.W. Marriott hotel now sits on the Shoomaker’s site, across the street from the John A. Wilson Building, D.C.’s city hall.

Writer and bartender Derek Brown has trained bartenders at the Marriott’s 1331 Bar and Lounge to make rickeys, and they’ll be offered at half-price for the rest of the month.