The Willard Hotel

in Washington, DC, was once among the most celebrated hotels in America. Opened in 1847 by Henry Augustus Willard of Vermont (1822–1909) and completely rebuilt in 1853, the hotel played an important part of diplomacy before the Civil War. The current Willard (erected on the same site in 1901) has a plaque out front commemorating the Peace Congress that was held there in 1861 in an attempt to avert the Civil War. (Another historical legacy of the Willard is that Julia Ward Howe penned “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” there.)A large part of the hotel’s popularity was due to its bar, which, although “located in a retired part of the building” (as an 1853 article noted), was a locus for some of the most famous figures in early American life. Among those who drank there were Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Abraham Lincoln. According to the hotel, it was also there where early American statesmen Henry Clay, of Kentucky, introduced Washington, DC, bartenders to the Mint Julep. While this is not true—in 1836, the Mint Julep was already one of the drinks for which the city’s bars set a fixed price (12 ½ cents)—the julep was certainly the Willard bar’s signature, and many a person first encountered it there.

Today the hotel, part of the Intercontinental chain, hosts the circular Round Robin Bar, located off the side of the lobby, where hang portraits of historical figures. The bar is still well known for its Mint Juleps and for its legendary barman, Jim Hewes (1953–), who has worked there since 1986. In 2010 Hewes was awarded the DC Craft Bartender Guild’s Silver Shaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Bartending, and he has often been tapped to discuss presidential drinks. The Round Robin Bar also houses an extensive scotch collection and a list of locally invented classic cocktails.

See julep.

“Established Prices of the Washington City Refectories.” Washington Globe, October 2, 1836, 3.

“A Place in History: The Story of the Willard Intercontinental.” n.d. http://washington.intercontinental.com/files/pdfs/WillardInterContinental-History%20Sheet-Oct2015.pdf (accessed April 4, 2016).

“Willard InterContinental’s Jim Hewes receives DC Craft Bartender’s Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.” FB Confidential Blog, December 13, 2010. http://www.fbconfidential.com/2010/12/13/willard-intercontinental%E2%80%99s-jim-hewes-receives-dc-craft-bartender%E2%80%99s-guild-lifetime-achievement-award (accessed April 4, 2016).

“Willard’s Hotel.” Washington Union. November 23, 1853, 2.

By: Derek Brown