Chacho Spirits

D.C.’s Chacho Aguardiente Opens a New Distillery and Cocktail Bar in Manor Park | Eater DC

"I followed a trail of stenciled red llamas up to a new aguardiente distillery and bar in Manor Park (6031 Kansas Avenue NW) that produces a clear, Colombian-style sugar-cane liquor with a hot pepper kick and a growing cult fanbase. Named after the llama founder Dan Ziegler rode during a visit to Bogotá, Chacho is a jalapeño-infused spirit born from Ziegler’s five-year, self-funded effort — until recently he was distilling in Iowa and flying back and forth to D.C. — and the tasting room and bar above an unassuming industrial strip mall now offers cocktails and tours by reservation starting Friday, May 14. Translating to “fire water,” the spirit is bright and vegetal on the nose, earthy with wafts of chile heat and a subtle sweetness that rounds the spice; there’s also a warming barrel-finished version that pulls vanilla and oak from used bourbon barrels, and the original bottles at an easy-drinking 35% ABV with little alcohol burn. A neat pour is the purest way to enjoy Chacho, but the bar riffs on familiar combinations (a citrusy Chacho-rita, a gingery Medellín mule) and serves cocktails from around D.C. like the Dalai Parton (barrel-finished Chacho, Catoctin Creek rye, pineapple, honey, lemon, and homemade chipotle) while La Fonda Paisa of Silver Spring provides a small food section. The colorful, homey interior (complete with a wooden llama photo op) will display rotating Colombian artwork to support artists, and the production area down the hall is set up for bottling, demos, tastings (including pairings of Chacho’s two varieties alongside a well-known Colombian aguardiente) as the operation transitions from importing a 180-proof cane base to completing more of the distilling locally." - Travis Mitchell