We know, we know. When you walk up to a bar on a sweltering summer day, and the maître d’ asks if you prefer inside or outside, the obvious answer is to get in that chilly AC. But there’s something about sipping al fresco, amidst the city’s classic summer sights and sounds—neighbors walking their dogs, a parade of 12 O’Clock Boys—that feels like a rite of the season.
The outdoor patio becomes the point. Gathering with friends you haven’t seen in a while, with a beautifully garnished drink in your hand, becomes a special occasion. And if you know where to go, you’ll find that the city’s seasonal craft cocktail offerings are worth breaking a sweat for.
Case in point: Sugarvale in Mt. Vernon. Its outdoor seating consists of small café tables, picnic tables, and benches installed during the pandemic, which have become a go-to spot to post up and people-watch near the Washington Monument.
Beverage director Collin Schnitker has been excited about the warm weather for months. “We’re a craft cocktail bar, but, to me, we’re a neighborhood bar above everything else,” he says.
Nearly a decade into his tenure, Schnitker still approaches each new menu the way a chef does. He looks at which ingredients are in season, and pursues the unexpected.
“It’s a creative thing,” he says. Outside of Sugarvale, he produces music and film through his label Shiny Boy Press, now approaching 50 releases. He uses those same artistic instincts to show up behind the bar.
He breaks his menu philosophy down into three sections. The first is “the big swing,” a strong concept usually borrowed from food. Previously, he’s used pho and tacos al pastor as inspo for drinks. This summer, Schnitker is featuring the “Uncle Albert,” which spotlights broccoli juice (he promises it tastes better than it sounds) with Uncle Val’s botanical gin, Pangur Irish Poitín, ginger honey, lime, black pepper, and ranch powder tinctures—all garnished with olive oil droplets to tease its savory flavors.
The second is the classic riffs, where he takes something familiar and pushes it somewhere new. The last is simple: find an ingredient he’s never worked with and figure out how it can appeal to customers.
This summer, these goals are showcased in new drinks like the Mai Taigo, a riff on the Mai Tai that wasn’t complete until Schnitker took a walk around the corner to see his friends at neighborhood restaurant My Thai Go. He went over, explained what he was thinking, and came back with Thai tea and Thai chilies. The result is cold, bright, and built for a warm evening outside.
Another is the Telenovela, a cilantro-forward cocktail that gets its name from a connection Schnitker couldn’t resist: cilantro, soap, soap opera, Mexican soap opera. The drink fuses tequila, a wheat-based spirit from the company Empirical made with cilantro, and a house-made roasted coriander syrup that gets blended fresh with cilantro every day. There’s a little pepper liqueur. A little aquavit. It’s approachable, but strange in the best way— something that sounds like a margarita but drinks like its own thing.
That balance is welcoming and adventurous, as is the whole vibe at Sugarvale. The menu is built to have something for everyone, including NA versions of all the shaken cocktails. Schnitker designs each menu to span the full range: savory drinks, easy-sippers, and “drinks your mom could order.” He wants people to feel comfortable asking questions, admitting when they don’t see what they want, and letting the bartenders take them somewhere new.
Nine years in, he still talks about the bar like it’s a living thing—something that gives back what you put in, that belongs to the neighborhood as much as to anyone who works there.
“There is something for everyone here,” he says. “I just want people to feel welcome.”
Now that we’re all in the summer sipping spirit, here are a few more local bars to hit for refreshing libations before the season passes us by.
The Coral Wig
Tucked in an alley near Mt. Vernon’s Hotel Ulysses, this concept—lauded by Bon Appétit—draws on owner Lane Harlan’s childhood in the Philippines and her husband Matthew Pierce’s upbringing in St. Kitts, giving the drink menu a tropical, rum-forward sensibility perfectly timed for warm weather. Inside is tiny, dark, sexy, and sumptuous, while the outdoor patio is small and feels like a secret, which is part of the appeal.
The Dive
We don’t know about you, but, to us, cocktails taste better when served in a vintage cartoon glass with a crazy straw. This is the kind of nostalgia you can expect at The Dive in Canton, which pours signatures like the cucumber gin and melon-forward Pinball Wizard and blue-hued Mermaid’s Tale with rum and amaretto. Don’t leave without ordering a pizza and a swirl of house soft-serve.
Fadensonnen
In Old Goucher, this courtyard at natural wine bar is a popular spring-summer hangout. Recent upgrades include a roster of all-Spanish bottles “designed for long afternoons and evenings in the garden.” It’s also a known venue for community events, so be sure to peep the online calendar of live music, markets, and other programs before you visit.
Golden West Cafe
At this nearly 30-year-old institution on the Avenue in Hampden, beverage director Dee Acosta builds her drinks around ingredients that trace back to her New Mexico roots—prickly pear, agave, lavender, peppers, and nixta (corn). “Using traditional ingredients is an act of cultural preservation and resistance,” according to Acosta, who connects the bar’s approach to Indigenous food sovereignty and a broader effort to help modern communities reconnect with ancestral knowledge.
Go for the Spaghettini, an Aperol and High Life pony poured into a coupe glass, or the Espresso Tonic, made with La Colombe coffee and the NA spirit Pathfinder—proof the NA program gets the same level of care as everything else on the menu.
Pink Flamingo
Set in the longtime home of dive bar The Dizz in Remington, the space is now a rum-forward tropical tavern from Brendan Dorr and Eric Fooy of Dutch Courage in Old Goucher. The cocktail list, developed with bar manager Nick Pikounis, leans into a lineup of more than 150 rums.
The signature Dizzy Flamingo is a two-rum daiquiri with lime and sugar, while the Whirlybird riffs on a Jungle Bird with black pot-still rum. For something lighter, the Road Less Traveled is a spirit-free amaro mule. Vivid tropical murals and a patio make it an easy add to a summer crawl.
Spirits of Mt. Vernon
Employee-owned since 2024, this North Charles Street staple is stocked with a carefully curated selection of wine, spirits, and beer. But regulars know the cocktail program running behind the counter is the real draw, especially on a sticky summer evening when the patio fills up. Order a chilled glass of Vinho Verde or an icy shaken martini to help cool off.
Tiki Garden
Boozy slushies are the stars of the show at this island hideaway on East Cross Street Federal Hill. Icy iterations include a classic pina colada or rum runner, plus mango daiquiris and prickly pear margaritas. In keeping with the theme, there are also a variety of tiki-inspired cocktails and shots. But if you’re out with a crew, consider the Volcano Bowl of rum punch topped with a flame.