This week, our podcast is with Erik Holzherr, owner of three DC bars:
Atlas Arcade, Wisdom, and Church & State.
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| This perfectly encapsulates the feel of Wisdom, where we recorded. (image is © bstumbo123) |
Wisdom, Erik's first bar, is renowned for cocktails. I had a rosemary-infused gin and homemade tonic serum that I will never forget. The website also boasts that they have the largest authentic absinthe collection around, if you're brave enough to dare. Thankfully it's also mere steps from the Potomac Ave stop. We showed up on Thursday, mid-happy hour, on techno mix theme night. We recorded in this brick enclosure where I had a window straight to the bar through which they were nice enough to let me run an extension cord. We did the whole thing by candlelight and the macbook glow, and it was all ten times more awesome than I can make that sound.
Wisdom is all well and good, but if you want to see god, you'll have to stop above Atlas Arcade at Church & State. As they say it best, "Every bottle here, whether heavenly or devilish, comes from the United States, its territories, or possessions. We invite you to be free and brave." That's far more eloquent than my exclamation of, "Drink ALL the bourbon!"
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| A rare shot from behind the bar Warning: pun intended (image from Atlas Arcade's website) |
And of course, the reason you're all here: Atlas Arcade. Because video games and drinking go together like Adventure Time and this Saturday. Although he initially had doubts, Erik Holzherr has put together the bar where you can get all your friends together for some serious old school gaming and your favorite beer (which, if it isn't, it should be Ommegang-Abbey Ale). And then snag a cab home and not have to spend the next day matching cartridges to cases. Or you can show up on a random night and join forces with a stranger to defend NYC from The Foot Clan. Use it to hold you over between MAGFests/MAGstocks.
As with all successful business owners that we've interviewed around DC, Erik didn't step into success overnight. He took seven years of planning and work before finally opening Wisdom - including tearing out walls, custom stamping tin details, and that's before going into the business skills or mixology. So the next time you and your friends have that HIMYM moment of "We should buy a bar!" Think about whether or not your drywalling tasks are up to code first.
Go to them. Go to them all:
- Church & State (The bar isn't a church, and DC isn't a state)
- Atlas Arcade (Hit Church for a drink, then go downstairs to AA)
- The GINtender (Alex's personal site)
- Washingtonian Article where Erik teaches us how to make the Tortoise and the Bare
Thank you, Erik, for an excellent podcast.
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