The seasons are changing. Not matter what happens to the planet — and no matter how much global warming shifts when warm and cold months arrive — different seasons keep coming. And with that passing comes an uplifting movement: seasonal pop up theme bars.
Yep, spring themed bars are here, and the Cherry Blossom Pub in Washington D.C is a seasonal pop up you don’t want to miss. It’s located in the Shaw neighborhood of the nation’s capitol, and it’s open from now until April 15.
The Cherry Blossom Pub is the brainchild of Derek Brown and the team behind the Christmas-themed bar Miracle on Seventh Street. But what is a spring theme? For this bar, spring means drawing inspiration from D.C., Japanese, and even Super Mario Bros.
“We couldn’t just make it literal,” Brown told The Washingtonian. “We had to keep it weird.”
The bar features three themed rooms. One is a cherry blossom garden, and one is a Super Mario World (complete with pipe-bound Piranha Plants and King Koopa) theme. Every room will dish out Japanese whiskies and beers, tiki-style cocktails, and cocktails like the Press Start + A, which is a mix of Japanese whisky, amaro, and Cynar. And don’t forget the food: dumplings and pork cutlets to name a few.
Washington D.C. knows it’s cherry blossom themes. The city holds an annual, month-long Cherry Blossom Festival that celebrates the blooming of the trees around the Tidal Basin. As for how that tradition is handling the shifting seasons? Well, it’s been a mad scramble to move the ceremonies up by five days because the cherry trees are blooming earlier than ever. There likely won’t even be any cherry blossoms left on the trees by the time the festival parade happens on April 8, USA Today reports.
But there will be the Cherry Blossom Pub. If you happen to be in D.C. any time in the next two months, make time to celebrate the ephemeral natural of spring in drink form.