Jack Rose Dining Saloon - A Bar Review
A panoramic view of just one wall of the wraparound bar
"Dining Saloon" is a somewhat odd name, which doesn't accurately convey what this place is: the best whiskey bar on the East Coast, or for that matter, in the country. Jack Rose, located in the bar-and-restaurant-heavy Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC, was the highlight of our recent trip. We reunited with old friends, had a few drams (ok, perhaps more than a few), and reminded ourselves of why we loved this bar when we lived in DC.
Atmosphere and Service: Jack Rose has a bustling, happening vibe, but that buzz is juxtaposed with a setting that resembles a whiskey library. The only analogous place I can recall is Golden Promise in Paris, at least in terms of the sheer magnificence of seeing that much whiskey up on the walls. Like a classic Scottish bar, Jack Rose features a gantry ladder that enables the bartenders to scale the shelves to get at those hard-to-reach bottles. This place is a shrine for those who appreciate the water of life, with row after row after row of bottles covering every wall except the glass front of the bar. Half the fun of grabbing a drink here is looking around!
Selection: Jack Rose has the largest collection of whiskies in the United States. So, yeah, good selection. The selection is so large that their whiskey list is called the whiskey bible, and it warrants the name. Online, the menu is broken into categories and subcategories. After selecting, for instance, single malt scotches, you then pick a region (e.g., Islay), and then get a list longer than your arm broken down by distillery. Even years ago, this bottle featured more than 2,000 unique bottles, which is simply incredible. Bill Thomas, the bar's owner, has become "whiskey-famous" (yes, trying to make that happen), with features written about his wheeling and dealing to expand the collection in the Washington Post and on blogs like Distiller.
One thing I really appreciate, and which you can only find in true whiskey bars, is the ability to taste multiple versions of a serial limited release. For instance, the bar has multiple iterations from the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof series, and many Four Roses Private Selections, both of which represent the high water mark of value and quality in the bourbon world right now. Being able to taste different releases gives a whiskey fan a sense of how the distillery's product has evolved over the seasons and the years.
Rare Bottles: Again, largest whiskey selection in the United States, maybe in North and South America. If you want to find something rare, I'd bet on it being at Jack Rose before looking anywhere else in the country. I tried a hard-to-find expression here, Laphroaig Origin, the distillery's 2012 Cairdeas annual special release for Feis Ile. There were many, considerably more expensive, rare options available here. The distillery has such a collection that it even relegates many exceptionally rare bottles to its regular list, while reserving yet another category for "Rare Bottlings" that are so hard to find that I haven't even heard of most of them. I'm pretty sure they have one bottle that dates from the 1930s, i.e., Prohibition.
Value: Here's the slight pitfall of Jack Rose, and DC whiskey bars in general. It's expensive, and there aren't going to be incredible deals on this menu. There are whiskies that, relative to their peers, are great values, like the aforementioned Four Roses Private Selections, and those will be your best bets here if you're not looking for something specific. Nonetheless, this is not a cheap place to visit. They have to pay those high rents somehow.
***
Best whiskey bar in DC? Try in the U.S. Jack Rose really is that good.