Award-Winning Cocktail Bar Columbia Room Will Soon Be Replaced by a Legendary NYC Bar

But the bar’s pioneering non-alcoholic offshoot, Disco Mary, will live on as an online platform dedicated to non-drinkers and wellness.

After 12 years at the helm of DC’s cocktail bar scene, Columbia Room will permanently close its doors later this month.

Owner Derek Brown’s ambitious space for top-notch drinks will be taken over by NYC’s Death & Co, which has a national reputation for delivering top-notch watering holes, including outposts in Los Angeles and Denver. And Disco Mary, the bar’s non-alcoholic pop-up run by Brown’s partner Maria Bastasch, will look online to find new life as a digital wellness platform focused on herbalism and non-alcoholic beverages.

But last call isn’t quite as soon as we think. Initial reports said the bar was closing on February 11, however, Bastasch confirmed Tuesday that the bar’s last day of operation will be Saturday, February 12, with reservations going quickly for Columbia Room’s final few tastings.

Death & Co plans to renovate the space and take over in the fall, marking the iconic bar’s fourth location in the US, according to Washingtonian.

But one piece of the Columbia Room concept will live on: Disco Mary. Bastasch’s game-changing concept focused on low- and no-proof recipes and herbalist drinking is shifting to an online platform for non-drinkers with a goal to “expand this interest in nonalcoholic cocktails and have a larger conversation about herbalism and self care,” she says.

Disco Mary
Disco Mary | Photo by Jen Chase

Bastasch says she plans to channel the success of Disco Mary into a website offering products like herbal remedies, non-alcoholic cocktail classes and recipes, and more—a natural next step for Bastasch and Brown as they focus on wellness.

“What I hope to create is a different type of lifestyle brand,” Bastasch says. “Because wellness and lifestyle are synonymous with a very singular notion of what it means to be healthy ... based on consumerism. What we are trying to do is something very different.”

Along with supporting the expansion of Disco Mary, Brown recently penned a comprehensive guide to no- and low-alcohol cocktails with over 60 different recipes to try at home Mindful Mixology and will continue working as director of education for Spiritless, a company that produces a zero-proof bourbon called Kentucky 74.

“The next phase [of Disco Mary] will advance our personal aspirations because neither one of us wants to be in bars late at night,” she says. “This is an incredible and poetic opportunity that’s emerging at a pretty rapid pace.”

Those who want to follow along can sign up to stay informed on the latest developments on Disco Mary’s website. Bastasch said there are also plans to build out the community across social media, like TikTok.

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Tim Ebner is an award-winning food, drink, and travel writer. He lives on Capitol Hill and has a weakness for Old Bay Seasoning. Follow him on Twitter: @TimEbner.