Welcome back to Eater Scenes, where photographer Rey Lopez captures a restaurant at a specific time and day. Here, Lopez visits Barrel, which has transformed itself into a Trump-themed satirical bar this Election season.
For the past several weeks, the basement of Barrel, normally known as the Elixir Bar, has been transformed into something else entirely. The bar created a pop-up speakeasy with the theme "Make Cocktails Great Again." While the bar has a Trump theme, the team behind it has noted that it is meant to be satirical rather than a pure tribute to the candidate, who won the presidency in an upset last night.
That means the bar has been decked out with Trump cut-outs, themed cocktails, toupees hanging from the ceiling, and much more. Lopez visited the place earlier in the evening last night, from 6:30-8 p.m. or so — before the election's outcome was certain. But the D.C. insider crowd that spent the evening there appeared to be leaning in support of rivaling candidate Hillary Clinton.