Category: Events

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. 

Fun & Fine Spirits at DC’s Dock 5

Last modified: July 22, 2021

Founding Spirits participated in the seventh annual Washingtonian Whiskey & Fine Spirits Festival on Thursday, November 15, 2018 at Dock 5 in DC’s Union Market.

Distillery Director, Jon Arroyo, and Distillery Manager, Bob VanLancker, served Vieux Carre with Founding Spirits American Whiskey, Founding Spirits American Amaro, bénédictine , and cognac to a sold-out crowd. This unusual craft cocktail was a smashing success.

Attendees also enjoyed sips of premium whiskey, scotch, bourbon, vodka, gin, tequila, and more from over 40 other local and national distillers. The event included live music and light fare from Ridgewells Catering, everyone enjoying what many say is one of the coolest event spaces in DC. Dock 5 is directly above the historic Union Market and features 12,000 expansive square feet with high ceilings and glass garage doors.

Sponsored by Washingtonian magazine, the entire event made for a classic DC evening.

Get Your Cocktail On with Founding Spirits

Last modified: July 22, 2021

Find our Founding Spirits front and center for this year’s annual DC Cocktail Week celebrations across our Farmers Restaurant Group of restaurants.

From Monday, November 12th – Sunday, November 18th, our teams at Founding Farmers DC, Farmers Fishers Bakers, and Farmers & Distillers will be participating, along with 60 other local area restaurant and bar teams, in DC Cocktail Week, a weeklong celebration of DC’s dynamic bartenders, mixologists, and bar and beverage teams from across our region.

Our teams have been working hard to create offerings of our scratch-made goodness to highlight what sets DC Cocktail Week apart – celebrating not only the art of creating delicious, handcrafted cocktails, but the nearly divine pairing of the perfect cocktail with the perfect bite. All for $15. Now that’s worth a special week of celebration.

Find our handcrafted Bridgetown Sour cocktail, featuring Founding Spirits Vodka, perfectly paired with our delicious Chips & Dips served with fresh guacamole, salsa, pimento cheese, and corn tortillas at Founding Farmers DC. At Farmers & Distillers, you’ll find our scratch-made, Savory Beignet paired with our handcrafted The American cocktail. This modern spin on traditional Irish Coffee, is served hot or cold, and features our very own, pot-stilled and barrel-aged Founding Spirits American Whiskey with an amaro cream finish. At Farmers Fishers Bakers, our team has our handcrafted Negroni Spritzer, made with Founding Spirits American Amaro, paired with a much-loved guest favorite, our Margarita Pizza.

Join us at these sibling restaurants during DC Cocktail Week for a taste of all that Founding Spirits has to offer.

Order our spirits online to get the same great taste at home or for the perfect holiday gift. Friends, colleagues, and family members will love the fine spirits we’re distilling.

Our Bloody Mary Adds Spice to a Great Weekend Festival

Last modified: September 25, 2018

Over the weekend, Founding Spirits joined Chesapeake Oyster & Wine Festival goers for much more than oysters and wine. Our team was on hand sharing all of our micro distillery’s spirits, and serving up our award-winning Bloody Mary made with our award-winning craft Founding Spirits Vodka.

The event included the first-ever Bloody Mary Pavilion, aka “We’ll Shake It and Make It – You Garnish It.” Our Bloody Mary – which has been named as DC’s Best Bloody Mary many years in a row – was the main attraction and could be tailored just how guests wanted it, with the many garnishes and hot sauces provided.

Every year, the Chesapeake Oyster & Wine Festival, run by TasteUSA, features top-rated American and International wines paired with the Chesapeake’s wild and farm-raised oysters, as well as other seafood dishes provided by local restaurants including jumbo lump crab cakes, lobster rolls, oyster po’ boys, lobster mac & cheese, and fish tacos.

Our Bloody Mary, and all of our craft spirits, was a great addition to the festival of tastes.

If you missed the weekend fun, our Bloody Mary is available at all of our restaurants. It is, of course, a crowd favorite at our weekend brunches but that isn’t the only time we serve it. Check out our menus and stop by Farmers & Distillers, Founding Farmers, or Farmers Fishers Bakers to see if you agree with Washington City Paper readers. Do you think we shake and serve the best Bloody Mary in town?

Annual Cocktail Conference Features Founding Spirits

Last modified: July 22, 2021

Founding Spirits joined the global cocktail community last week descending on New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail.

Every summer for the past 16 years, The Big Easy has hosted this well-known, annual gathering that is equal parts cocktail conference and family reunion, featuring a spirited schedule of seminars, tastings, and competitions.

Since Founding Spirits won three prestigious awards with the American Distilling Institute this year, we were invited to be featured guests at two tasting events. The first event was held at the House of Blues on Thursday, July 18th, where we served our Boulevardier cocktail made with our FS American Whiskey, FS American Amaro, and campari. We also provided guests with tastes of our gold medal winner amaro, our bronze medal winner vodka, and our American whiskey. The second event took place on Saturday, July 21st at the epicenter of Tales of the Cocktail, the French Quarter’s historic Hotel Monteleone.

Tales of the Cocktail benefits the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, a leading, non-profit organization working to educate, advance, and support the global hospitality industry through programs that make a lasting impact on the communities that host their events.

Founding Spirits Mixing it Up at Citi Open

Last modified: January 17, 2020

Founding Spirits is the spirit sponsor of DC’s biggest annual tennis week, the Citi Open. Throughout the weeklong tennis competition, from Saturday, July 28th– Sunday, August 5th, Founding Spirits will be mixing up our specialty cocktail, the Founding Spirits Mule (mint, ginger, lime, FS Vodka), as well as other cocktails made with Founding Spirits Vodka, Founding Spirits American Whiskey, and Founding Farmers Rye Whisky.

This year’s Citi Open includes a special 50th Anniversary Kickoff party on Friday, July 27th from 7pm-10pm at the Rock Creek Tennis Center, featuring sponsor Founding Spirits. We will be serving our Farmer Jon cocktail and serving our famous Glazed Bacon Lollis from Farmers & Distillers. Tickets are available here.

In addition, on Friday, August 3, from 6:30pm-9pm, Founding Spirits will be holding a special tailgate mixology contest for the best classic Tom Collins, featuring our Founding Spirits Vodka. Participating bars include Farmers & Distillers, Service Bar, The Salt Line, Colada Shop, Archipelago, and Copycat Co.

Citi Open, formerly known as the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, has been part of summertime in DC since 1969. Each year, proceeds benefit the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation, which works to improve the lives of DC-area youth, particularly those from lower-income communities, through educational and community-based activities, including tennis. Farmers & Distillers also participated in the kickoff event last year.

Tiki Training & Tasting by the Sea

Last modified: January 17, 2020

Our Founding Spirits team spent six days over the past two weeks teaching and training the art of tiki cocktails. Distillery Director, Jon Arroyo, and Distillery Manager, Bob VanLancker, joined bartenders from across the globe at the fourth annual Tiki by the Sea in Wildwood, NJ.

An educational and immersive cultural experience into the traditions, spirits, and drinks of the tiki era, attendees learned all about sugarcane distillates and explored classic cachaça tiki application. Tiki by the Sea is held every June at the Barcelona Motel in NJ and every September in Fregene, Italy. This year, Jon and Bob led a seminar on The Art of Blending Frozen Drinks, hosted by the Avuá Cachaça team.

We do have quite a knack for all things tiki, as anyone who has visited our bars knows, and as the press often cites. If you have never tasted our masterful Fisher’s Tikis or shared cocktails at Farmers Fishers Bakers or Farmers & Distillers, it couldn’t be a better season to enjoy them. Many are made with our very own Founding Spirits.

You can also sip smartly knowing you aren’t hurting the environment. We are leading a charge for change across the DMV to eliminate single-use plastic straws with the Our Last Straw coalition. We have made the switch to biodegradable paper straws – or no straw at all – across Farmers Restaurant Group.

So, there are more reasons than not to come on down to one of our restaurants and get a great cocktail crafted by some of our beverage wizards, using our very own craft spirits, and help us spread the word to #StopSucking, one tasty tiki at a time.

Negroni Week Just Got Better with Our Amaro

Last modified: July 22, 2021

June 4th marks the start of a very special season: Negroni Week. Thanks to our award-winning Founding Spirits American Amaro, it just got even more amazing.

We are pretty psyched to wow Negroni lovers, as well as newbies to the Negroni scene, with a few of our spins on this classic cocktail. While a traditional Negroni is made with gin, a bitter aperitif (such as Campari), sweet vermouth, and finished with an orange twist, our Distillery Director, Jon Arroyo, has come up with some very special handcrafted alternatives.

Our Negroni cocktails use our very own Founding Spirits, including our award-winning Founding Spirits American Amaro. We will be serving three Negroni-inspired craft cocktails from June 4-10 at Founding Farmers, Farmers & Distillers, and Farmers Fishers Bakers:

Negroni Sour is a smooth and creamy mix of our Gold Medal Winner, Founding Spirits American Amaro with Campari, lemon, orange, and egg white.

Negroni Swizzle is a delightful mix of Founding Spirits American Amaro with Campari, cinnamon, and lemon.

The Silent Negroni includes Founding Spirits American Amaro, Mezcal El Silencio Espadin, Campari, and Pamplemousse Rose.

If this trio of taste isn’t enough to get you out and about, perhaps and you can have a Negroni Week party of your own and order some of our award-winning Founding Spirits online. Sponsor Imbibe Magazine has lots of recipes online and even Negroni week t-shirts to order.

At Farmers Restaurant Group, we love this annual opportunity to serve delicious cocktails for a cause. This year’s benefit is No Kid Hungry, which is a movement of teachers, chefs, community leaders, parents, lawmakers, and CEOs with one shared belief: No kid in America should go hungry.

Negroni Week is an annual international fundraiser put on by Imbibe magazine and Campari. To date, they have collectively raised nearly $1.5 million for charitable causes. No Kid Hungry is ending childhood hunger through effective programs that provide kids with the food they need.