IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL, YOU'D expect your seat at the bar to give you a good view of history. The fact is, the most celebrated bar in Washington, D.C., has not only witnessed history but has made it.
Known today as the Round Robin Bar, the discreet and civilized thirst parlor at the Willard Inter Continental, two blocks from the White House, has been a well-known hangout for over a century and a half, since the days when it was called the Gentleman's Parlor. It was there that the seductive mint julep was conceived by the Kentuckian famous for his booming oratory, Senator Henry Clay. A few decades later, when defeated Union officers flooded Washington to drink after the Battle of Bull Run, the Willard bar was immortalized in poem by Walt Whitman exhorting the exhausted legions to go back to the front lines.
I fancy the Round Robin Bar not for its history alone but for its resident historian and mixologist, Jim Hewes. While many bartenders today have the personality of a plank, Hewes regales guests with expertly crafted cocktails, tasty presidential factoids, and fascinating Washington tales. 
He remains the consummate diplomat — he declines to say which commanders-in-chief graced the Round Robin while in office — as he serves up his tidbits. But he will disclose that, for example, President Bush and the first lady prefer lemonade, and "Lucy's Lemonade," named after the wife of tee-totaler Rutherford B. Hayes, was a popular drink 100 years ago. Hayes banned alcohol from the White House, Hewes says, but at state dinners and other presidential functions, the Washington press corps bribed the White House staff to spike certain glasses of Lucy's namesake drink and to inject fresh oranges with rum.
When FDR's first vice president, "Cactus Jack" Garner, wanted to adjourn a cabinet meeting, Hewes continues, the whiskey-loving, poker-playing Texan would roar, "Boys, let's go strike a blow for liberty," which was code for "Let's go over to the Willard for a drink." The Round Robin is off the lobby of the beaux arts-inspired Willard. The bar is richly paneled in polished mahogany, and 20 barstools encircle Hewes' "libational laboratory."
Mmm, Vodka
Jim Hewes' vodka of choice is Smirnoff, which is 100 percent neutral grain spirits. It topped more than 20 pricier vodkas in a blind tasting by The New York Times in January. Second choice: Ketel One.
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The clientele, a few more men than women and more locals than out-of-towners, come from politics, government, lobbying, the media, and the corporate world to imbibe, as well as to indulge in the bar's sandwiches, salads, and fine cigars.
It's the drinks, however, that make the place an oasis for purists. My bourbon old-fashioned was hand-muddled with a perfect three dashes of bitters. The bar's "Classic Martini" uses 94 proof, bone dry Tanqueraygin, shaken vigorously. Hewes puts two drops of fresh vermouth in an ice-chilled stemmed glass, swills it around, throws it out, plops in a large chilled Spanish queen olive, and pours from the silver shaker. He also faithfully re-creates vintage cocktails. Senator Clay, he says, "loved to tell Northerners how to make a proper southern-style mint julep." The original recipe: 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2 ounces of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey (he uses Maker's Mark), and 8 to 10 fresh mint leaves hand-muddled in a glass. Fill the glass halffull with crushed ice and remuddle the mixture. Add equal parts bourbon and natural branch water or soda. 
Garnish with a sprig of mint and add a light zest of fresh lemon. Dust the top with sugar. Price $10.
"It's a light libation of extraordinary character that scintillates the tastes," Hewes rhapsodizes, "a fitting showcase for a unique American invention, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey."
Round Robin Bar, Willard Inter-Continental, 1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.202.628.9100; washington.interconti.com. Open daily.
- Chris Barnett
