Why create a Donald Trump-themed cocktail when you can have an entire bar devoted to (or against) the Republican nominee?
Soon, DC will have two such places. Barrel in Capitol Hill has already converted its basement den into a Trump-themed bar with gigantic menus that make your hands look small and several cardboard cutouts of the candidate. Next, bartenders Lukas Smith and Steve Laycock are bringing a mezcal-centered anti-Trump pop-up to the former Libertine space in Adams Morgan from Nov. 2 through 8. (They’re also consulting on the Italian restaurant, Rosario, opening there in December.)
Smith, who’s working on forthcoming rum Cotton & Reed, and Laycock, a recent transplant from the cocktail scene in New York, are both brand ambassadors for Ilegal Mezcal. Over the past year, the company has been on an anti-Trump campaign, selling T-shirts that say “Donald eres un pendejo” (Donald, you’re a dumbass) and putting up thousands of posters with that message—as well as “The only thing that should be Ilegal is mezcal”—in New York, California, and beyond.
Their Bar Ilegal pop-up in DC will bring together live music with a rotating cast of bartenders from New York, Baltimore, and DC. They’ll serve various mezcal drinks as well as cans of beer and Mexican food. For election night, the bar will air the vote count live, and Smith is looking to get a cake in Trump’s likeness.
“We’re going to ceremoniously cannibalize Mr. Trump,” he says.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
