Barrel, located on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., is a sophisticated neighborhood bar that features plenty of whiskey, bourbon and beer along with Southern inspired cuisine from a scratch kitchen. Barrel also offers a wide array of craft cocktails from its’ critically acclaimed cascading barrel aging program. We spoke to Parker Girard, the Beverage Director for Barrel DC about their extensive Whiskey Collection.
Parker, what is your background?
PG: I started working in restaurants in August 2013 at this wonderful little farm-to-table restaurant that’s since closed in Charlottesville, VA called “Brookville,” where I was promoted to head bartender about a month and a half after I started there. I was completely over my head. Somebody asked me for a martini with a twist, and after a couple confused minutes, I handed him a martini and told him I couldn’t do the twist. I hated being unprepared, so I decided to do everything I could to learn about cocktails to save myself the embarrassment. I moved to DC with my girlfriend in March of 2014, interviewed at Barrel two days later, and got hired on the spot.
Funny story Parker, guess it happens to the best of us. So just to get into it, how did Barrel get started? What was the vision behind the project?
PG: I can’t speak too much into how we got started, but the vision has always been “let’s be a really good bar with really good food,” and everything else has just fallen into place after that. I think the vision that guides most of the “should we do this?” questions about what we’re doing here at Barrel is that we are, and always have been, a bar first and foremost, and that we want to be a neighborhood bar with a really good whiskey selection. Not a lot of pretension over here, we hire people that we think are good people and do our best to teach them about whiskey as we go
(Photo Credit: Jeff Martin)
That’s a really great mentally. We support that notion completely. Can you give us the play by play of your typical day at Barrel?
PG: I think it’s fair to say there’s no such thing as a typical day at Barrel, especially for me, as my current 5-6 day week can vary wildly depending on what’s coming up and what our needs are at the moment. I currently do three administrative and management shifts per week, as well as two closing bar shifts later in the week, and I’ll pick up an additional shift every couple of weeks if somebody needs a favor or has friends coming into town. I can say the typical week for me is about 50-55 hours, during which I’ll do inventory, cocktail development for upcoming menus, barrel-aging cocktails, and two ten hour bar shifts in addition to all the unpredictable obstacles associated with running a restaurant.
How do you stay current with all the latest whiskies? With all the independent bottlers?
PG: If we didn’t have a great group of sales reps coming up and telling me when stuff becomes available, I think I wouldn’t have a handle on it at all. The independent stuff is a little easier to keep in stock, as there’s less demand, and a case lasts much longer than, say, a case of Eagle Rare or Buffalo Trace. Stuff passes us by, as well, but usually I’m none the wiser. Very happy with our current list, I just wish it were easier to keep the more in-demand stuff on the shelves.
How many different types of whisky do you have available at your venue?
PG: About 300 or so, and that list fluctuates around that size. We’re getting SKUs in about as fast as we’re running out, and we’re about at the peak of what we can store and keep on the menu at any given time, so it’ll probably stay at that size for a bit.
(Photo Credit: Jeff Martin)
Whisky is becoming a global phenomenon, do you believe countries like Taiwan, India and Japan will become impact players in the Whisky market?
PG: If they can keep up with demand, absolutely. It seems just as America is getting hooked on products like Hibiki 12, it becomes unavailable or disappears forever, I can’t even keep track anymore. I know the NAS stuff that they’re producing is very good, but it’s hard convincing customers that the stuff without an age statement is just as good as the age statement whiskey. The big whiskey whales we have in here seem to be obsessed with age statements, which is a hard habit to break.
When it comes to making the classic cocktails like the Old Fashioned, how do you determine which whiskey to use?
PG: If somebody asks for an Old Fashioned, we’ll almost always ask if they’re thinking about bourbon or rye. A lot of people won’t have a preference, at which point we’ll usually just pick Bulleit, but if they’re looking to try something new, we’ll pick something fun for them.
What are you most excited about in the whisky scene?
PG: A more stable and plentiful supply from the suppliers once demand goes down a little bit. Also, I wanted hopped whiskey to go away forever. Keep your hops out of my whiskey.
Is there any particular type of whisky that sells more than the other?
PG: It’s hardest to keep the Sazerac/Buffalo Trace portfolio in stock more than anything, but that’s just as much about supply as it is about demand. We sell more Bulleit than anything right now.
(Photo Credit : Jeff Martin)
How big is the whisky scene in DC?
PG: The whiskey scene in DC is big. Any time you have a city with people who have too much money that they don’t know what to do with, you’re going to have a great whiskey scene. The private market scene in particular is mind boggling. People seem pretty knowledgeable, but also willing to learn if you have something to talk to them about.
What was your proudest moment of working at Barrel?
PG: If you’re talking whiskey acquisition, we recently stumbled into a collection of some antique whiskeys, which is something we haven’t really done up to this point. We’ll be rolling them out soon, but getting our hands on those was pretty awesome. In general, it would be getting interviewed by Voice of America’s Chinese affiliate about our “Trump Bar” we put on in our downstairs bar before the election last year, specifically about a cocktail I designed called “I Beat China All The Time. All The Time.” It was a real twilight zone moment for me that anybody, let alone people in China, would care about a cocktail I designed.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of Tastethedram?
PG: Not really. I guess this is the part where I ask you to come in and check us out, right? See you in DC.
For More information on the BarrelDC Venue Please visit the following:
website: http://barreldc.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barreldc
