At the Tabard Inn, Chantal Tseng’s not-so-traditional sherry cocktail gets a shot of tequila. Photograph by Scott Suchman.

The first sherry cocktail that ever touched the lips of Adam Bernbach, bar manager at Proof and Estadio, was the work of another notable local barman: Derek Brown, who owns the Columbia Room and the Passenger cocktail bars in DC. “It was a variation on an Adonis”—a mix of dry sherry, sweet vermouth, and bitters—recalls Bernbach, and the drink made an impression.

Although José Andrés’s Jaleo was the area’s first sherry-cocktail destination, Bernbach is now Washington’s foremost mixer of sherry-enhanced concoctions. He uses dry finos, aromatic amontillados, and dark, rich olorosos in place of base spirits and in supporting roles, sweetening or bittering up drinks as necessary.

Sherry, which begins life as a white-wine grape, hails from the southwest of Spain, in and around the city of Jerez. After vintners press and ferment the fruit, they fortify the wine and age it in barrels, often using the solera system, mixing old batches with new. For years, the Spanish shipped cheap stuff to the United States—that’s how it earned its reputation as Grandma’s super-sweet postprandial sipper.

Today, wine and liquor stores stock an array of sherries, making it easy to experiment at home. A good place to start is this cocktail—which pairs amontillado sherry with aged tequila and Drambuie—from Chantal Tseng at DC’s Tabard Inn.

JP Caceres poses at Dirty Martini. The Dupont bar is a current client of his cocktail consultancy business. Photograph by Erik Uecke.

“I went to law school, I worked at a desk. It was not for me,” says JP Caceres, a Derek Brown acolyte who owns the Washington-based cocktail consulting business Let’s Imbibe Beverage Consulting.

The Bolivian bartender’s chosen career began when he took a busboy job at Jaleo in the early 2000s. There, he worked his way up while learning English, and when owner José Andrés opened Zaytinya, Caceres moved over to the Penn Quarter restaurant as a barback and service bartender.

It was there that he had his worst shift ever.

“I had worked at Zaytinya for about three months when a club opened up around the corner called VIP. All the pretty boys and all the pretty girls would come very nicely dressed for the club, but they wanted to have dinner or drinks first. And on this particular Saturday, we had a little bit of people coming in. It wasn’t too much. Everybody working was just looking at each other like, ‘What else do we do? What else do we clean?’ And the managers, they said to us, ‘We’re going to get busy.’ And we were like, ‘No we’re not. It’s six o’clock.’ So the manager decided to send a couple of bartenders home. Around like 9:30, 10, people start coming in. We’d never seen the restaurant like that! And by 11 o’clock—I don’t have to tell you—it was four deep at the bar. Crazy. 

Garden & Gun’s February/March cover story is “Best Southern Bars” and there are some local locales among its top 50. “The draws are obvious” at 14th Street beer destination Churchkey, listed in the category of Draft Houses. And G&G considers Ripple to be among the Southeast’s best snack bars, singling out chef Logan Cox’s “locally sourced dishes” like “glazed shoat belly and blood-sausage-stuffed squid.” It should surprise nobody that recherché-concoctions destination Px made the cut, though closely associated barkeep/owner Todd Thrasher was not mentioned by name.

Other regional mentions: Greenwood, Virginia’s Pollak Vineyards—which got singled out for its views of, well, vineyards—and the Purser’s Pub in St. Michaels, Maryland. There, the magazine recommends “an ice-cold ‘up’ martini (vodka, please)”. That's maybe not the best drink to order at Px, however.

Ellen Cox, behind the bar at Jackie's. Photograph by Erik Uecke

What does Ellen Cox do at Jackie’s Restaurant and Sidebar in Silver Spring? She pays bills, she puts together private events, she tends bar—“a little bit of everything,” says Cox, who has worked at Jackie Greenbaum’s neighborhood hangout since its 2004 debut. Things she loves about her job: coworkers you can be yourself around, dancing with happy clients at the end of weddings she has personally planned, and, last but not least, adult customers who know what they like and how to behave.

To understand her appreciation for that last point, you need only ask Cox about the part of her career she spent at Buffalo Billiards in Dupont Circle, where she was a manager for years. Herewith, Cox tells the story of a singularly bad night at the hard-partying pool hall. Before you read it, however, a word of warning: This worst shift ever does involve some bloodshed.

The omnivore's dilemma, indeed. Would Michael Pollan eat squirrel? Photograph courtesy of Alia Malley

Todd Kliman, food and wine editor

• Mmmm, just what I want to dig into on a cold, winter day: ash, the new It ingredient. And not just ash—artisanal ash! Key Ingredient: Ash 

• Crunchy-trendy types think eating local is all about cheeses and chickens from local farms. This Seattle woman has a more traditional notion of local—one that Michael Pollan and others might turn up their freshly exfoliated noses at, but which speaks right to the heart of what they so high-mindedly champion. I can almost taste her risotto di rodentia now: Eastern gray squirrel braised in Lopez Island white wine, with mushrooms and rice. Dinner gets very local for squirrel-eating Seattleite

For a no-frills New Year's, head to Boundary Stone in Bloomingdale. Photograph courtesy Boundary Stone

Smug as the expression may seem, there’s a reason New Year’s Eve is often referred to as “amateur night”: Things get kinda crazy. One way to handle the insanity is to wait things out at home, but think about it this way, sane citizen of the drinking universe: With the possible exception of St. Patty’s Day, New Year’s Eve is when you and your kind are needed more than ever. So, better to venture forth in the early evening and claim a stool or table at one of these bars and restaurants, all of which are taking a low-key, no-frills approach on the 31st. Sure, some of them may get crowded, but since none charge an entrance fee, you’re free to wander at your leisure.

Value sparkling wines can make or break a New Year's party. Photograph by Kyle Gustafson.

Conventional wine-world wisdom has it that the best way to discover new bottles is to head to a good vino emporium and ask the pros. With New Year’s Eve upon us, the Best Bites Blog imbibing panel put this approach to the test, soliciting staffers at some of our favorite local beverage boutiques for 11 effervescents between $9 and $23, then taste-testing the recommendations. Read on for the results.

NV Domaine du Vissoux Crémant de Bourgogne Brut ($22.99)

Balanced, and delicately bubbled, but with little to brag about in the way of finish, this sparkling wine struck our tasters as perfectly adequate, if not inspiring. “It would be fantastic in a mimosa” was one panelist’s verbal shrug.

2008 Domaine Albert Mann Crémant d’Alsace ($21.99) 

Sippers found few flaws with this white blend from Alsace—a sophisticated wine, particularly at this price point. It was our third favorite of the group.