Derek Brown is a wine and spirits professional whose passion for cocktails, spirits, and classic bartending has made him a leading voice in the new cocktail renaissance.

Derek has developed celebrated beverage programs as a bartender and sommelier at Washington D.C.'s finest bars and restaurants. His latest project, The Passenger, a bar co-owned with his brother was named one of the 10 best new cocktail bars in the nation by Bon Appetit magazine. The Passenger houses the Columbia Room, Derek's intimate cocktail club and laboratory. Derek also conducts seminars and events, and entertains drinkers throughout the country through Better Drinking.

Derek has received numerous accolades for his bartending, teaching and wine stewardship, including "Sommelier of the Year" for 2008 by DC Modern Luxury magazine, one of the five top new sommeliers in the country for 2007 by Wine & Spirits magazine and "Bartender of the Year" for 2009 by Washington City Paper. This year, he was the only bartender to be nominated for the James Beard Foundation Awards "Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional" and has appeared in a diverse array of publications and media including the Rachel Maddow Show, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Food & Wine and Details magazine.

Within the past year he had the great honor of crafting cocktails at the White House for the First Family's holiday parties, as well as serving as the first ever mixology chair for Taste of the Nation D.C. and speaking about the reinvention of the cocktail at TEDx Penn Quarter.

When Derek is not behind the bar, he writes for the Atlantic Food Channel and is on the board of directors for the Museum of the American Cocktail as well as a proud member of the D.C. Craft Bartenders Guild.


Learn more about the Columbia Room
Read more from Derek Brown for the Atlantic Food Channel
Learn more about the Museum of the American Cocktail
Learn more about the DC Craft Bartenders Guild



Photo by Jim Webb, photographer http://snacksize.com