The famous bronze King Neptune statue in Virginia Beach was created in 2005 and named after the mythological god Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, who has long defended well-balanced cocktails with fresh ingredients. And though the “Virginia is for Lovers” sign was created over fifty years ago, we decided to give it a little cocktail moxie to make the Atlantic Ocean happy.
Virginia
Known as “the birthplace of the nation,” Virginia was never one to settle. Yes, the first peanut plantation in America started here. As a lifelong fan of peanut butter, let’s get that established. But so did Thanksgiving in 1619 and the first female-run bank in 1906. Virginia is the home of the annual Chincoteague pony swim, and is famous for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, an engineering masterpiece and the world’s largest bridge-tunnel complex.
Early legislation made it difficult for there to be more than two taverns per county in Virginia, which meant that in 1677 you could live like a queen or king if you served alcohol. Even today, bars need to maintain a certain percentage of food sales in order to operate, which—good news—means snacks are always available.
In recent years, while Richmond has gotten national attention for its emerging food and drink scene (Saison, Grandstaff & Stein, and Heritage may satisfy your early evening cravings, and don’t pass up the chance to visit the Jasper, Cobra Cabana, or GWARbar—a local metal bar created by the band GWAR, offering nachos all day and night), there are gems to be found around the state. Alexandria’s Captain Gregory’s, a hidden speakeasy inside Sugar Shack Donuts, provides wildly creative cocktails with small bites and hand-rolled donuts. The cocktail menu sees a monthly rotation of house concoctions, homemade vermouth, bitters, and fernet, in addition to Tiki Thursdays and Experimental Sundays, when bartenders test out new recipes for anyone attending the bar. B Side in Fairfax features drinks named after B sides on albums (well played on the Guess Who’s “No Sugar Tonight”) and plays records through the night. Virginia Beach’s Repeal Bourbon & Burger not only celebrates its name with a wide variety of delectable burgers and spirits, it offers a terrific choose-your-own-adventure menu layout for Old Fashioneds and Manhattans, giving you the option to select varying whiskeys, vermouth, bitters, and garnishes to make the magic.
Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia, has a healthy number of cocktail dens for a smaller city. Micah LeMon, author of The Imbible, is also the bar manager of Alley Light, a terrific restaurant in the Downtown Mall area specializing in French cuisine and a fine selection of creative cocktails overseen by LeMon and his bar team; the McClure brothers opened Lost Saint, a Prohibition-style speakeasy, which fits only thirty people at a time, with an extensive cocktail list; and the Fitzroy, on Main Street, does a bang-up job of modernizing classic recipes while providing house-made tonic and the everpopular Fitz Spritz, made with Aperol, grapefruit juice, Cocchi Americano, and sparkling brut.
“Virginia is for Lovers,” a phrase now commonly associated with the state, was created in 1969 as a travel advertisement to run in Modern Bride by the Virginia State Travel Service. It was the 1960s, baby. Free love! Beach love. Mountain love. All kinds. Like America, it was right there, waiting for you to reach out and grab it.
VIRGINIA SPIRIT
American whiskey originated on the James River in 1620, so it should come as no surprise that people settled in parts of Virginia in hopes of growing families and starting new traditions to carry on the family’s legacies. A. Smith Bowman purchased farmland in 1927 and opened its distillery in 1935, after Prohibition. Between 1934 and into the 1950s, Bowman was the only legal whiskey distillery in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1988 the distillery moved from its original location to its current spot in Fredericksburg, where it continues to produce award-winning bourbons, limited-edition whiskeys, vodka, gin, rum, and a must-try experimental series, such as espresso bourbon and rye-based gin.
The Bamboo Cafe is a Richmond classic. The staff never really changes, the prices rarely ever have, and they make a killer Irish coffee that no one seems to know about. Some people think “dive bar” has a negative connotation and would argue that Bamboo doesn’t deserve to be called such names, but in my mind a dive bar attitude can exist in a place that feels homey and warm, that also might just happen to serve the best chicken wings in town.
—Brandon Peck, beverage director, the Jasper (Richmond)
VIRGINIA’S OLDEST BAR
Yep. It’s just called “the Tavern.” Over the years it’s been a bank, a bakery, a general store, a cabinet shop, a barber shop, a private house, a post office (first one on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, thank you very much), an antique shop, and even a hospital for wounded Civil War soldiers. But now, it’s just a tavern—and not just any tavern, it’s the Tavern, as owner Max Hermann says, and it belongs to you.
STATE FACT
About 60 percent of all Internet traffic flows through the northern part of Virginia. Think about it: all those GIFs you’ve been sending over the years, somehow living in miles of wires throughout Loudoun County (which actually sounds like a cocktail name …).
VIRGINIA BUCKET LIST BAR
I was lucky enough to visit the Cobra when it was a wee little youth in the Richmond bar and nightlife scene, having opened in late 2018. Upon entering, a small Santa Claus statue wearing sunglasses and a Megadeth T-shirt waved to me from the window, one TV was screening Better off Dead and the other was showing Big Top Pee-Wee, and the bar counter had over thirteen thousand pennies strategically placed to resemble snakeskin. The Cobra’s “Snake Juice” menu is a playful cocktail mix of Bloody Marys, Piña Coladas, and Margaritas, all constructed with precise care and effortless heavy metal charm, but if you really wanna rip the sleeves off of that T-shirt holding you back from stage diving, go for an “antivenom” shooter.
VIRGINIA COCKTAIL BAR
The Jasper has been producing thought-provoking cocktails since opening its doors in January 2018. Beyond paying homage to the regional influences of yesteryear, such as the house Quoit Club Punch, they razzle-dazzle with modern bar sorcery by serving Zombies—a legendary rum and fruit–based tiki cocktail—on draft. “Full pours, honest prices,” is the Jasper’s motto. I would add “Inventive cocktails, Italian sub sandwiches, and great people” to that as well.
BAR SNACK
In Virginia, you are allowed to be twenty-one years old the day before your twenty-first birthday. Heads up to my nephew Joe Bartels.
Sadly, this spot was torn down, but Fatty B’s in Fredericksburg was one of my favorite bars ever. It was basically a glorified shack with a rickety porch attached. There was a purple Lincoln limousine parked out front with a fat cigar painted on the side. You sat on the porch, drinking Coors Light by the bucket, sipping Margaritas from a jug, and trying not to breathe too deeply for fear of falling into the murky Rappahannock River.
—Emily Morton, bar director, Deli/126 (Burlington, VT)
QUOIT CLUB PUNCH
Just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, down a windy road and up a gravel driveway, sits the distillery that produces all of the brandy for Laird’s apple brandy, all of it made from Virginia apples. The facility is one of the most rustic buildings I have ever seen, and the juice that flows from the still in North Garden recalls a time when our country was young. It’s so cool to be able to drink something that has been made since the 1700s.
—Brandon Peck, beverage director, the Jasper (Richmond)
The Jasper is a modern-day homage to the great city of Richmond, the people who have lived there, and freedom and equality for everyone: The laid-back, cocktail-focused, fun-loving Carytown bar was aptly named after legendary local barman Jasper Crouch, and the bar occasionally serves up one his most famous creations. Buchanan Springs Quoit Club was a place in Richmond where one gathered to throw quoits (basically iron donuts—funny the name and game didn’t stick) around posts, have some barbecue with cayenne, and sip on a cocktail created by Crouch, a freed slave who used lemons, sugar, Cognac, Jamaican rum, and Madeira—a fortified, sweet, acidic wine from an island in Portugal (named Madeira) offering flavors of stewed fruit, caramel, and roasted nuts. This recipe is based on David Wondrich’s assessment of the original recipe. To make this punch, you must first prepare the oleo-saccharum, made by coating lemon peels in sugar and allowing them to sit for at least four hours, which draws the oils from the peels.
Serves about 18 (6 ounces per serving)
One 750 ml bottle Appleton Estate Signature rum
One 750 ml bottle rainwater Madeira wine
One 750 ml bottle brandy (Jasper uses Korbel)
2 cups oleo-saccharum (recipe follows)
2 cups fresh lemon juice (should be roughly the amount of juice that will come from the lemons you peel for the oleosaccharum, but you may need to juice more)
Garnish: lemon wheels
Pour the liquors and lemon juice into the oleo container to get all the sugar into the punch. Stir until the sugar is incorporated, then strain out the lemon peels and discard them. Refrigerate the punch for up to 3 days or serve immediately. To serve, pour the punch into a large punch bowl. Add a large chunk of ice to chill the punch, and continue to add smaller ice chunks to achieve your desired dilution. Ladle into chilled glasses and garnish the glasses with the lemons.
Oleo-Saccharum
Makes 2 cups
Peels of 12 lemons
2 cups sugar
In a quart container, combine the lemon peels and sugar, layering the peels and sugar so that the peels are evenly dispersed in the sugar. Lightly press the top of the sugar once the container is full, to help start the process of leaching the oils from the peels. Leave the oleo unrefrigerated for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight for maximum oil extraction.
LITTLE SECRETS
Saison is located on a corner space in the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood, known for its African American heritage and the iconic Jefferson Hotel (famous for at one time having alligators in its lobby pool, naturally). The bar specializes in a wide variety of house-made seasonal cocktails and small plates, such as roasted Virginia peanuts. The cozy little bar can get lively on any given night, as many bar and restaurant industry colleagues enjoy spending time here when they’re not working, and especially when Sophia Kim is mixing drinks. “She rules,” said my Richmond tour guide. And she does. And so does this drink, which she served me the night I visited, and is the drink my tour guide orders every time he visits Saison and Sophia is bartending. Doesn’t “toasted coconut fat-washed Plantation 3 Stars rum” sound awesome? It could be the opening band for a Tame Impala concert, or the title of the next Flaming Lips album. I wanna hear it in my mouth!
1 ounce Averna amaro
1 ounce El Dorado 5-Year rum
1 ounce toasted coconut fat–washed Plantation 3 Stars rum (recipe follows)
Stir the ingredients with ice in a mixing glass until chilled; strain into a chilled cocktail glass and serve neat or over fresh ice in an old fashioned glass.
In Warrenton, Virginia, for sixteen years our mayor was a man by the name of George B. Fitch, the man who co-founded the Jamaican Bobsled Team. That’s right, our mayor was the man played by John Candy in Cool Runnings. How awesome is that? I spent most of my early twenties frequenting Richmond’s Ipanema Cafe and being hired there felt like a dream come true. It was there that I developed a love for spirits and learned how to bartend, and people like Saison’s Chris Elford (now in Seattle at No Anchor and Navy Strength) and Anna Wingfield at New York’s Mother’s Ruin helped inspire me to be a better bartender.
—Brandon Peck, beverage director, the Jasper (Richmond)
Toasted Coconut Fat–Washed Plantation 3 Stars Rum
Makes about 30 ounces
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup unrefined coconut oil
One 750 ml bottle Plantation 3 Stars rum
Toast the coconut flakes until golden brown. Combine the coconut, coconut oil, and rum in a nonreactive container. Let sit at room temperature overnight, then freeze for 4 hours. Strain while ice cold through cheesecloth and discard the solids. Store in a bottle or the nonreactive container for up to 6 months. It does not need to be refrigerated.
BAR SNACK
Fat-washing became a more familiar craft cocktail technique after Don Lee created the Benton’s Old Fashioned at PDT in 2007 New York, for which he added 1 ounce bacon fat to 1 bottle of bourbon, let it sit at room temperature for 4 hours, placed it in the freezer for 12 hours, then separated the solid fat and rebottled the liquid bourbon. Lee credits New York bar pioneer Eben Freeman for the inspiration, as Freeman was fat-washing brown butter and rum at Chef Wylie Dufresne’s acclaimed restaurant WD-50, after being inspired by pastry chef Sam Mason’s recipe-testing using a traditional perfumer’s technique, which is a good reminder: Inspiration can be found anywhere. If you are working at a bar connected to a restaurant, there is no better source of cocktail inventiveness than what is being stored, tested, and produced in your nearby kitchen. Make friends with your kitchen.