The Trump administration's staffers are settling into their new homes in the nation's capital, and Washington, D.C., bars are taking note. The change from Democratic staffers to Republican ones has brought with it a change in the choice of after-work booze:
In the three weeks since the Trump administration moved into town, business at Bullfeathers, a Capitol Hill watering hole popular among Republican staffers, has climbed 55 percent. Old Ebbitt Grill, across from the White House, has reported an uptick in sales of Fireball whisky shots. [The Washington Post]
The change is nothing unexpected for longtime local bar owners, with Moran and Clyde's president, Tom Meyer, recalling the same shift from Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton. "It's a cliche: You went from martinis to draft beer — like that. It was like a switch," he told The Washingtonian.
At Capitol Lounge, co-owner James Silk reported noticing Bud Light and Tito's vodka becoming more popular. “A lot of new, young, eager faces” are coming around, Silk observed to The Washington Post. At the same time, the difference in drink choice has narrowed somewhat between the parties in recent years: Old Ebbitt told The Washingtonian that they sold 56 shots of Fireball on Inauguration Day, and 27 during the subsequent Women's March protest, while the average on a Friday or Saturday is 10.
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Learn more about how the new administration's staffers are expected to change the D.C. scene, below. Jeva Lange
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