Author: Jennifer

Sippin’ On Founding Spirits at the RAMMYS

Last modified: January 17, 2020

Last night was filled with exciting festivities and celebrations at the 37th annual Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s biggest event of the year – the RAMMYS. Founding Spirits was happy to serve as event bar sponsor while supporting our town’s best restaurant industry revelry and awards ceremony.

Each year, RAMMY goers don their finest party formalwear to celebrate the best of the best on DC’s restaurant scene. This year’s event gala was held at the Walter E. Reed Convention Center, just blocks from our award-winning Founding Spirits distillery in downtown DC.   

Founding Spirits Distillery Director Jon Arroyo, Vice President Clyde Davis, Jr. and their team were on hand to share Founding Spirits with gala guests and celebrate a great year of exceptional talent and creativity, industry growth, and delicious food and drink. 

We were delighted to serve up two specially-crafted cocktails, made just for the evening’s festivities. Our:

These tennis-themed craft cocktail names have significance for our team, as: Founding Spirits has been named the OFFICIAL VODKA and the OFFICIAL WHISKEY of the Citi Open! 

If you weren’t able to make it to this year’s RAMMYS, come join us at the Citi Open, in DC’s Rock Creek Park Tennis Center from July 27 – August 4, for a chance to get a taste of these refreshing summer cocktails and all of our spirits, including our award-winning Founding Spirits Vodka.

Stay tuned to Founding Spirits on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more details. 

Get Dad into the Spirit this Father’s Day

Last modified: January 17, 2020

We have the perfect way to celebrate all the great dads in your life this Father’s Day: our handcrafted line of award-winning spirits. Founding Spirits has a unique, delicious selection of spirits many dad would surely love this June 16th. 

Our small batch line of spirits are made in-house in downtown Washington, D.C. at our custom-built, micro-batch distillery located within our restaurant, Farmers & Distillers. 

With many of the ingredients for our spirits trucked directly to us from our farmer owner partners at the North Dakota Farmers Union, we’re pretty certain our spirits will be a hit this Father’s Day.

Distilled and blended to preserve the true flavors of the ingredients we use, our craft spirits are meant to be enjoyed neat, on the rocks, with a twist, or poured in one of the cocktails handmade at home or at our bar. 

Pick up a bottle of our Founding Spirits Amaro, Dry Gin, Vodka, and American Whiskey, not only at Farmers & Distillers, but our spirits are also available at select fine retailers.

You can also pick up some great swag to pair with a bottle of our spirits. Our logo’d hats and t-shirts are available at Farmers & Distillers.  

For a special treat, give dad a great experience to enjoy in the near future by scheduling a behind the scenes distillery Tour & Tasting. Our distillery tours are available for up to eight people and includes: six spirit tastings, a cocktail, and a few delicious bites. Add brunch before or after your tour at Farmers & Distillers. Reservations are available here.

If you can’t make it in to see us or pick up a bottle, we make your Father’s Day gift giving easy. You can also purchase any (or all) of our Founding Spirits online. 

Cheers to all the great dads out there!

Celebrating Derby Day with Our FS American Whiskey

Last modified: January 17, 2020

America’s Greatest Race is coming to Founding Spirits. In spirit anyway. 

Join us April 29th through May 5th, as our Farmers & Distillers in-house distillery team celebrates derby day our way for another year of this American tradition. 

Sure, we love the hats, the horses, and the pomp and circumstance of the Kentucky Derby, but we’ve got to be honest… for our distillery team… it’s really all about the booze.

During derby season, that means our pot stilled, barrel aged, award-winning Founding Spirits American Whiskey.

Aged to perfection, our FS American Whiskey is rich and smooth, with an earthy taste that creates the perfect spirit to craft our cocktails, or feel free to sip our American whiskey all on its own. We serve it neat or over hand-cut ice.

If Julep’s aren’t your thing, we have you covered. Our bar menu features a great selection of handcrafted whiskey cocktails and tastes to temp you.

Come in and see us during derby season. We’ll be here to serve you. Stop by on May 3rd from 5pm-7pm for our Open House with a mini tour of our distillery to get a behind the scenes look at how we craft our proprietary spirits. 

Find our Founding Spirits American Whiskey for purchase at our bar or online on our website, to enjoy at home long after derby season has left the gate. All derby week long, you will receive 10% off your Founding Spirits American Whiskey bottle purchase and a complimentary Founding Spirits copper Julep cup, while supplies last. 

Supporting Best Buddies Prom Night

Last modified: April 8, 2019

Founding Spirits joined hundreds of happy partygoers on Friday night for one of the greater Washington, D.C. area’s best and biggest annual fundraisers, the Best Buddies Prom. 

Now in its sixth year, the gala was as festive and fun as ever as this year and was planned as two parties in one. Held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in downtown DC, local area students of all abilities danced the night away with their Best Buddies, while attending adults enjoyed delicious food and complimentary beverages, including our award-winning Founding Spirits Vodka, which we donated to the event. 

The evening’s festivities were hosted by our good friend and Best Buddies advocate, DC’s radio and TV celebrity Tommy McFly. And the region’s famed DJ Neekola had everyone moving to her fantastic beats. It was a very lively and successful evening for this life-changing organization.

The Best Buddies Prom has raised over one million dollars for the Capital Region chapter alone. Best Buddies was founded in 1989 and is the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to ending the social, physical, and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Having grown to nearly 2,900 chapters worldwide, working to support and positively impact the lives of over 1.25 million people, Best Buddies engages participants in all of our 50 states, in 53 countries, and in six continents around the world. 

Move Over Chocolates. Love on Your Valentine with the Bittersweet Taste of Our Amaro

Last modified: July 19, 2021

With Valentine’s Day just days away, get creative and break free from the traditional box of chocolates… give your love the bittersweet goodness of our limited edition Founding Spirits American Amaro.

This micro-batch amaro is a very special version of our quadruple award-winner that is distilled with honey from our very own urban apiary atop a building within the downtown DC campus of The George Washington University.

Delicious on its own or blended within an Amaro Daiquiri or Negroni Swizzle, our amaro makes for an unusually sweet and thoughtful gift. A perfect valentine.

Stop by Farmers & Distillers and pick up a bottle of our amaro today. We are sure it will wow your love more than chocolates ever could.

Join our Dynamic Founding Spirits Team

Last modified: January 17, 2020

Are you passionate about the art of distilling and handcrafted spirits? Do you have a knack for conversation and collaboration? Are you an organized, self-starter who likes to strategize and plan? Do you want to join a creative, motivated team shaking up the DC cocktail scene?

If so, our Founding Spirits team would love to talk with you and find out more.

Founding Spirits has won five industry awards for distilling, in our first year of operations alone. Our micro-distillery comes from the team that pioneered Farmers Restaurant Group, the DC metro area’s from-scratch, farmer-owned brand of restaurants, including Founding Farmers, Farmers Fishers Bakers, and Farmers & Distillers.

Building upon our commitment to handcrafted food and drink, and high quality, responsible sourcing of ingredients, Founding Spirits is led by the beverage industry’s award winning, Jon Arroyo. Jon and Distillery Manager, Bob VanLancker, have created a collection of spirits receiving international acclaim.

We are a creative, dynamic distilling team looking for a motivated, organized, collaborative, and knowledgeable new member. Our full-time Sales & Marketing Manager will be responsible for:

  • Growing awareness of the Founding Spirits brand
  • Expanding the brand’s evolving sales channels
  • Increasing product movement and development, and more…

We offer a competitive salary with performance-based bonuses and commissions; and company-supported health, dental, and 401k plans are available.

For more information and to apply, click here.

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity. Founding Spirits is already shaking up the local DC spirit scene, and looking forward to continued growth with the assistance of a new Sales & Marketing Manager.

A Spirited, Award-Winning Year in Review

Last modified: March 23, 2023

It’s been quite an amazing year for our in-house, micro-batch distillery.

Custom-built inside Founding Farmers & Distillers, Founding Spirits is the brainchild of our dynamic distilling duo, Distillery Director, Jon Arroyo, and Distillery Manager, Bob VanLancker. In our first year, Founding Spirits has received some of the most acclaimed international awards, been recognized by spirit connoisseurs across the world as a new distillery to follow, and has been featured at events in our nation’s capital and beyond. If that isn’t enough, we have also transitioned to selling our spirits online so you don’t have to live near one of our restaurants to get a taste of our award-winning spirits.

We know that part of what makes our spirits so special is that our farmer-owned, scratch-made, source-matters mission runs through all we do, even our craft spirits. Our family-farmed wheat is trucked to us from our co-owners, the North Dakota Farmers Union, for our award-winning Founding Spirits Vodka. The corn, wheat, barley, and oats come direct from our good friend and farmer, the late Billy Dawson, for our Founding Spirits American Whiskey. The honey for our limited-edition Amaro is harvested right here in downtown DC with our apiary partnership with The George Washington University.

This year’s awards & recognition have really put us on the craft spirits map. To date, Founding Spirits has won FIVE major industry awards. With Founding Spirits American Amaro winning four prestigious awards:

… and our Founding Spirits Vodka notably awarded BRONZE by the American Distilling Institute.

We were featured guests at the world-famous Tales of the Cocktail participating in two conference-sponsored tastings. We joined bartenders and spirit specialists from across the globe at the fourth annual Tiki by the Sea, teaching and training how to craft the best tiki cocktails. And we have enjoyed meeting, greeting, and serving our fans at events across the DC metropolitan area. Our Founding Spirits Vodka was the sponsored spirit for one of the nation’s biggest tennis events, DC’s Citi Open. We’ve served our famous Cucumber Delight to the delight of guests at DC’s biggest industry award gala, The RAMMY’s; hosted our very own Kentucky Derby celebration complete with our Founding Spirits Derby-inspired cocktails and a tasting with our award-winning team; and we served handcrafted cocktails and joined forces to support DC Central Kitchen, St. Jude, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance, and more.

We’ve been delighted to be able to offer our spirits for sale online this year too.

We couldn’t be more excited about the past year at Founding Spirits.

Come in and see (and taste) for yourself. Book a tour with us. Founding Spirits distillery tours and tastings are available Saturdays by reservations; walk-ins are also accepted pending availability. Or join us at Founding Farmers & Distillers and have one of our expert cocktail specialists make you a Founding Spirits craft cocktail.

Founding Spirits can also be purchased at Farmers & Distillers, through multiple local retailers, and ordered online.

A Very Merry Christmas with Our Founding Spirits Eggnog

Last modified: July 22, 2021

Try our delicious Christmas Eggnog featuring our four-time award-winning Founding Spirits American Amaro and Founding Spirits American Whiskey.

Stop by Farmers & Distillers on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, get a glimpse of our functioning in-house distillery Founding Spirits, and a taste of our scratch-made Christmas Eggnog. You can enjoy a glass in house or take home your very own hand-prepared bottle along with the necessary spirits to make this festive, holiday classic at home.

Our Christmas Eggnog is a delicious mix of pasteurized eggs, cream, milk, sugar, our special spice blend, and a bit of vanilla extract. It will be ready for pick up Christmas Eve or Christmas day for purchase. The spirits are also available for purchase at Farmers & Distillers.

Bring home these festive and delicious ingredients to make your own Eggnog with this recipe straight from our expert bar & distillery team:

Farmers & Distillers Christmas Eggnog, Featuring our Founding Spirits:

.75 oz FS American Amaro

.75 oz FS American Whiskey

3-4 oz F&D prepared Christmas Eggnog

You will love our take on the traditional tune of this We Wish You A Merry Christmas cocktail classic, as the bitter notes from the amaro and the high proof of the whiskey cut the sweetness and make for a light, delicious holiday treat. We think it’s the best Christmas cocktail in town. Merry Merry to you & all of yours.

The Perfect Christmas Cocktail Recipe

Last modified: January 17, 2020

Looking for great holiday cocktail ideas to try on your own? Look no further. Founding Spirits has plenty of holiday drink ideas beginning with a quintessential Christmas cocktail classic: the Hot Toddy. As the winter chill makes its way into the DMV, what better way to heat you & yours up than a special Christmas drink in the comforts of your own home.

Founding Spirits is happy to share one of our Farmers & Distillers favorite holiday drink recipes.

Hot Toddy

In a warm teacup or coffee mug, add:

Top off with your favorite tea. We recommend a breakfast-style tea. Garnish with some fresh lemon zest, or lemon slice, and a cinnamon stick.

This easy Christmas cocktail recipe is all yours to enjoy.

Invite some friends over for Christmas drinks, even swap Christmas drink recipes. There are so many great holiday cocktails, but we are pretty sure our Hot Toddy will be a crowd pleaser, especially if you make it with our very own Founding Spirits American Whiskey. Order it online. Or pick up a bottle downtown at Farmers & Distillers. If you are feeling particularly festive, we are selling Founding Spirit gift boxes at our Mt Vernon Square restaurant. We think they are a fantastic gift idea for any spirit lover, especially with our Hot Toddy recipe handwritten on a holiday card.

Christmas cocktails are a great way to celebrate the season.

Keep it cozy this Christmas with Founding Spirits at home using our holiday drink recipe. Or, if you would prefer to have it made for you, stop by any of our restaurants – Founding Farmers, Farmers Fishers Bakers, or Farmers & Distillers – and enjoy our Hot Toddy or any of our tasty winter cocktails.

Give the Gift of Founding Spirits

Last modified: July 22, 2021

Need a special gift this holiday season? Hoping to show up to that holiday party with something gracious and different? Want to impress your new boss or your in-laws?

At Founding Spirits, we have put together some very special holiday gifts this season: holiday boxes of our award-winning spirits. Choose from three different gift boxes – or pick up all three:

Founding Spirits American Amaro Gift Box

Founding Spirits Vodka Gift Box

Founding Spirits American Whiskey Gift Box

Founding Spirits gift boxes are only available at Farmers & Distillers. Stop by for a drink or a meal and pick up your holiday gifts. We are open every day throughout the holiday season.

If you can’t get to Farmers & Distillers, you can also order our individual spirits online, and they can be shipped across the country. Currently we are offering a very special edition of our quadruple award-winning amaro made with honey from our apiary atop George Washington University.

If you need additional gifts, we have other options. The Founding Farmers Cookbook, which is sure to make the chefs in your life happy, is also available for purchase online. Add one of our restaurant gift cards to create a great, personalized gift package.

At Farmers Restaurant Group, we have many ways to bring you & yours cheer this holiday season. Skip the Black Friday mayhem and seasonal angst, and get your holiday gifts from us. Check out our online holiday guide for celebrating your upcoming festivities with us, from gifts to feasts To Go, let us help you make this holiday season a little bit easier.