Dupont Cocktail Den Addendum Celebrates Year Two With More Drinks and Less Fuss

Addendum, the bar-in-another-bar that debuted a year ago inside Dupont Circle’s Eighteenth Street Lounge, rolled out a new booze menu on February 22 that aims to appease the everyday drinker while keeping unique and adventurous options in play.

The dim drinking den built for 20 has pivoted from its short life as a hyper-specific bitters and amaros destination after its founding team of Lukas Smith and J.D. Quioco left last fall.

“Even though that concept was good with the large international crowd here, there’s still lots of students and people who don’t know about amaros,” says Sadira Biv, a seven-year bartender at ESL who now helms Addendum’s cocktail program. ESL, a cavernous maze of mini bars sprinkled across three floors, considers Addendum its quiet downstairs respite.

“The energy is different here, while it’s crazy in other places. You can sit, have a conversation, and relax,” she says.

There’s also unique spirits inside Addendum that ESL doesn’t stock anywhere else, like mezcal (Ilegal Joven) and homegrown picks like Filibuster Rye and Jos. A. Magnus & Co.’s Royal Seal Vodka. And unlike before, beer is now in the mix.

Amaro is still a starring spirit in cocktails, but she’s expanded the selection to include a craft cocktails lineup that caters to drinkers that maybe haven’t acquired a taste for the Italian herbal liqueur.

A one-year anniversary special running through next week includes a $5 Peychaud’s apertivo spritzer and $19 Amaro flight to “get acquainted” with the spirit.

“I like taking time with people and I love that intimate one-on-one experience versus the obscene rush of everything,” she says.

Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

The space was first dubbed Studio Bar as an ode to local act Thievery Corporation, which recorded its first tracks there in the 1990s. Addendum opens at 8 p.m. daily.

Tierney Plumb/Eater DC