The occasion is the first in a series of events called "Drain This Bottle," which will feature Columbia Room founder Derek Brown and special guests opening bottles of rare and expensive spirits, tasting them with a crowd and making a few cocktails. "I think for some people, they're very happy to have these prize bottles on the shelf," Brown says. "For us, the fun is opening it up and enjoying it."

AD

AD

The inaugural bottle is supplied by Sother Teague of New York City's Amor y Amargo bar, who will be coming to Washington for the event. There are only 20 tickets for the event, which includes a one-ounce pour of the vintage Old Overholt served alongside an ounce of the current Old Overholt, and two Old Overholt cocktails created by Brown and Teague.

"I know it's expensive," Brown admits, "but I think you're getting something out of it. You're not sitting by yourself in a corner, asking yourself 'What am I tasting? Is this what it's supposed to taste like?' You can sit [in the tasting room] and talk to whiskey experts – we're big fans of Old Overholt – about what we have. If we taste radical differences, we'll tell people. And if you want to stand up and tell everybody you hate it, you can do that too."

Brown admits that the event is a roll of the dice: The bottle is sealed, and there's no way of knowing how the whiskey has aged. "I've never had this bottle," he says. "It will be as new to me as it is to the guests." If the bet pays off, it will be a night whiskey lovers talk about for a while.