Off the Record

Descend the stairs beneath Hotel Washington and you enter one of the District's best-kept secrets. Off the Record sits one level below street level, just a single block from the White House, and its walls are covered in original caricatures of Washington power brokers — politicians, lobbyists, journalists, and the occasional Supreme Court justice rendered in unflattering but affectionate cartoon form. The effect is part private members' club, part satirical gallery.

The spirits program is the main event. The bar holds over 900 bottles of whiskey, bourbon, Scotch, and Irish whiskey, organized on floor-to-ceiling shelves that wrap most of the room. The bartenders know the list intimately. Ask for a recommendation and you will get a real answer, not a rehearsed pitch. The selection of rare American bourbons alone warrants multiple visits.

Cocktails are built with the same seriousness. The house Old Fashioned uses a 12-year Kentucky straight bourbon that few other bars in the city carry. The Bees Knees, made with local DC honey, is a regular order among the in-the-know Capitol Hill crowd that files in after votes. Sit at the bar rather than a table if you can. The conversation with whoever is pouring is usually worth it.

The crowd skews toward the political and media class — lobbyists wrapping up long days, journalists comparing notes, staffers decompressing after floor sessions. It is not a place for birthday parties or bachelorette groups. It is a place for quiet, considered drinking with people who take their whiskey as seriously as their policy briefs.

Best time to visit: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, when the political crowd is thickest and the energy is charged without being overwhelming. Friday night gets busier and younger. Weekend afternoons, when it first opens, offer a peaceful hour with the space largely to yourself.