Welcome Bo & Ivy, D.C.’s Newest Brand of Distilled Spirits

If you’re looking for a new spot this holiday season to try some local potent potables, look no further than Bo & Ivy, D.C.’s newest brand of distilled spirits. 100% veteran owned, they’re in Ivy City in the old Jos. A. Magnus space on West Virginia Ave, NW. 

Owners Julia Fletcher, her husband Michael Curcio, and business partner Vincent Bridgeman are spirits enthusiasts and customers of Jos. A. Magnus; they even purchased a private barrel from them. When Magnus shuttered and the facility came up for sale, these spirits aficionados saw a golden opportunity to turn their love of “liquid gold” into a business. They made it happen and named the place after both the adjacent B&O rail line and their home in the Ivy City neighborhood. 

Like any new distillery, they’re only serving up clear spirits right now — whiskey takes years to mature, and while they’ve got literal tons of the stuff sitting in barrels, it won’t be ready for a while. They do barrel picks, too, for those inclined to get themselves a special something (well, a hundred special bottles of something).

Right now they’ve got three main spirits offerings: a corn whiskey, a gin, and a corn vodka. The corn whiskey clocks in at 100 proof, with creamy notes and a mellow character unusual for what people call “white lightning.” Their gin, a 90 proof spirit full of nine different botanicals, serves as the base for their gin and tonics — Julia’s favorite. Their vodka, an 84 proof offering, has some definite characteristics to it. This isn’t that tasteless, watery stuff…it’s got a slight creamy character to it that’s quite welcome. 

I might be letting the cat out of the bag here, but Bo & Ivy’s cocktail room is one of the more hidden ones in D.C. Unlike those not-so-secret “speakeasies”, which are simply bars attached to restaurants, the cocktail room at Bo & Ivy is hidden deep inside the distillery, accessible through winding staircases from a nondescript door. You don’t need a special password to enter, but the location is remote enough that you’re not just going to stumble in. 

The cocktail room, a long and narrow space with broad windows overlooking the distillery, is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Joe Rivera is the maestro behind the bar, and he and his team have developed some pretty neat cocktails, including the “Hawaiian Hailstorm”, a heady mix of falernum, coconut-washed house gin, green Chartreuse, pineapple, and lime. It’s fantastic and a great example of how their craft spirits can really jazz up a cocktail.

As spirits enthusiasts, Julia, Vincent, and Michael all bring a passion and a love for craft distilling to the table, and they’ve built a relationship with a team of experienced industry staff to help make their vision happen. On the production side, they’re backed up by D.C. industry experts Zach Dratch and Harrison Scott. Together, they’re making good juice, supporting the neighborhood by providing jobs with benefits, and putting the extant Magnus equipment and space to good use. Sure, they’re not yet as recognizable as the big brands (or even D.C. distilling mainstays) but they’re well on the right track. Head on down, grab a cocktail, and take home a bottle or two. And don’t sleep on their corn whiskey, either — it’s perfect as a substitute for white rum in a cocktail. 

Bo & Ivy: 2052 West Virginia Ave., NE, Suite 202; boandivy.com // @boandivy

James Liska