Church & State, Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I was one of the first people through the door after the 7:30pm opening time of Church & State, the newest offering by Erik Holzherr on H St. NE.  I was expecting a large crowd of people, but was surprised to find only a handful of other patrons.  Perhaps they got confused because you have to go in the door for Fruit Bat and then go up the stairs, but I imagine that soon this bar will be busy every night.

My companion and I were early enough to snag two seats at the bar, and were handed menus by Josh, who was our bartender for the evening.  The menu is the "Bill of Rights", and lists 10 cocktails which are intended to be the core drinks that you always have the "right" to order.  There's also a page that lists all the liquors available, under the heading "Hymns", and Josh told us that he's developing a Seven Deadly Sins portion of the menu as well, which will have rotating specials (perhaps involving the Sriracha bottle we saw up behind the bar!).  Craft cocktails run between $10 and $12, and each item on the menu lists the ingredients in the drink, as well as providing a short description of the drink's history.

I have the unfortunate constraint that I cannot drink vodka, so I asked Josh what he recommended with no vodka, that wasn't super strong, but not too sweet either.  I was steered towards the Chuck Yeager or the Jack Rose, and picked the Yeager to start.  I'll fast-forward for you: over the course of the evening, I had the Chuck Yeager, the Jack Rose, a daquiri, and two off-menu drinks that are still in development, and I enjoyed every single cocktail.  Josh did a great job with my requests, which isn't surprising given his background; he's worked at Restaurant Eve, trained at PX under Todd Thrasher, and most recently tended bar at Wisdom, so he definitely has craft cocktail bona fides.  My friend ordered, among other things, the Old Fashioned (strong for my taste, but he thought it was great), and the Sazerac, which we both enjoyed.

Church & State is intended to be a uniquely American bar, with only American liquor, drinks, and eventually only American music playing.  Church is the theme for decor, done in dark wood, with stained glass windows behind the bar and in the front alcove.  Footrests at the bar aren't just a rail, they're the kneeling pads that might be recognized by current or former churchgoers.  If you're looking for the pews themselves, turn around, as they line the wall opposite the bar.  I briefly visited the confessional, a tiny closet which seems to be tailor-made for creating things to confess.  The Pastor's Study, a small red-lit room, has a few more pews, and a chair where you can sit if you would like to hear someone's cocktail-aided confession.  The "State" portion of the name isn't really reflected inside, as far as I can tell, and there was no TV at all, so no State of the Union viewing.  For me, though, I didn't mind, as TVs in bars tend to turn otherwise good conversationalists into slack-jawed starers.

At Church & State, they have housemade sweet and dry vermouth, grenadine, and lime-ginger beer, all of which I got to sample in one form or another.  They have a selection of flavored whiskeys as well, which I'd not realized existed.  Cocktails were served in lovely glassware, and water was poured into gold-leaf-accented goblets.  I can see this bar getting packed with people, but when I was there it was calm and low-key, and not at all pretentious.

Overall, I had a wonderful evening, I enjoyed all of my cocktails, and talked and laughed with the other patrons and our lovely bartender, the irreverent Josh.  I'll definitely be back.