One Eight Distilling

Like Sam below, I hate to be harsh on a local business and I’d love to see a small batch distillery succeed, but the District Made Vodka was almost undrinkable. We had a blind vodka tasting last night and comments of «smells like gasoline» were most common. It was everyone’s least favorite drink. Even when mixed, its smell made it unbearable.
Hopefully it’s a work in progress and feedback is appreciated, but for now our only plans with this bottle are for vodka compresses and counter cleaning. Definitely not what we hoped for from the local underdog.

Lia M. be knowin’. For real.
Lia suggested doing some day drinking for her birthday celebration and I couldn’t have been happier with the idea! Also, because I am not cool in the least bit (not because I don’t want to be, but because I live in Centreville, and there is no coolness there) I had no idea that DC had distilleries.
I arrived at One Eight and immediately, I saw parking across the street from it. YES! When you first step in, they check your ID. Not because you look young (get over yourself, k?), but because that’s what they do. You are given 3 tokens for tasting.
Let me talk about the interior — I like it. You will too. Nuff said.
The liquors were magnificent. You’ve got to put great care in making sure your liquors don’t taste like hairspray and these definitely did not. The spice in the gin was everything! The pourers were pretty damn awesome and gave us the backstory on everything and recommended other places to go in the area.
I decided to try a cocktail — the Buzzer Beet-​er. Because healthy. Seriously, it did taste a teensy bit like beets, but in the best way possible. I enjoyed the hell out of my beet drink. Again, because healthy.
There are hella complaints that this is far from the Metro. Not everything can be RIGHTNEXTDOOR to the Metro. There are parts of DC that aren’t Metro-​accessible and they are still great places to be. This would be one of them. This place is most def worth the trip. Grab a bunch of your friends, hop in an Über, and get here!

They don’t serve food. Many wineries don’t either, but wineries have fridges where you can buy a cheese board and fresh baguette. You can’t be a bar without food if you want people to stay long. Other than that the liquors had a nice flavor and the cocktails were good. The bartenders were very friendly and talkative. I liked that they had a coat rack. The free tastings were very generous.

Only one year old, but this place is already doing everything right. If it’s your first time at One Eight, the bouncer will give you three wooden chips good for three free tastings of their house vodka, whiskey and gin. The distillery was formed by a west cost biochemist and east coast attorney — so you know they’ve got all their bases covered. The spirits are spot on, the marketing is great, the vibe is relaxed, and the tours are FREE. No pretentious bartenders here, just some dudes wanting to create a new and unique product. I definitely recommend a stop here if you’re in Ivy City. I can’t wait to see what else comes out of this distillery.

Awesome spot — a must do if visiting DC. Of the distillers in DC this one is my favorite!

Cool distillery with a good tour and full size shot glass tastings of three different spirits. They are new– I hope they succeed so I can try some of their aged stuff one day!

Muy terrifico tour led by one of the co-​owners who loves his craft… It completely sealed the deal for me on this place. The booze is good and the tour was great. Hearing about the community of local brewers and coffee roasters that One Eight works with makes me think there is hope for our town to MAKE stuff again. Will for sure be back for the tasting room and the delicious cocktails.

Pros:
Staff is warm and friendly
Three free half-​shot samples (Gin, Whiskey, Vodka)
Liquor is meant more for well mix drink
Cons:
The liquor was OK but does not compare to top shelf

The customer service is horrendous. Serious training is needed. Servers are completely oblivious to what’s going on tight in front of them. Saturday August 15 So sorry we wasted our time.

So I came here for one of the Unilocal Elite events. I must say that the alcohol really left an impression on me. I am now at the point where I am starting to crave the locally made Ivy Gin and white whiskey.
I am not usually a whiskey drinker, but the white whiskey kept me interested. Luckily I found the white whiskey in Maryland and was able to pick one up. Now, I need to go out of my way to go to Dupont to find the Ivy Gin. Maybe more time is needed to have them more accessible, but either or, the alcohol here is delicious!

Don’t buy the vodka. I bought a bottle of the District Made Vodka (batch 5, bottle 231), and it was undrinkable. I hate to say this about a local business that I really would like to see succeed, but it truly was bad (someone else who tasted said, «notes of gasoline»). I hope to be proven wrong in the future, but it was today’s $ 30 mistake.

Yes. Whisky Gin and vodka amazing. And they host amazing events. You can rent the space. Nice addition to DC booze scene

Cool and unique!
Their product (I tasted 3 straight.
Vodka: I usually don’t drink Vodka much. So I don’t know what to say but it tastes richer.
White whisky: White? It’s super clear and aromatic for me. I don’t know about whisky much as Vodka.
Gin: I know a little bit more than above two. Unique flavor. Manly?! I don’t know what kind of herbs or spices they use but I taste a barrel flavor somehow.
Tour
About 30 mnts. I didn’t know about how to make them and their originals. Also their eco water system is neat. They share some barrels with other local companies like breweries. Many cool ideas here!
The founder and staff
Everybody is really enthusiastic about their products. I respect their passion for their products.
Interior
I love it! Industrial chic.
Parking lot
In front of the building for 3 cars and street parking for unlimited…
Thank you for the wonderful Unilocal event there;)

Another hidden gem in Ivy City. FYI all of DC’s distilleries have to be in this section of the city so that is why you have several near each other.
I’m not a huge whiskey person but wanted to check this place out after reading several reviews and actually looking in their windows when they’ve been closed. They make a whiskey and vodka and have just released their first batch of gin. The whiskey was smooth and not overbearing. I’m not a whiskey person so that will be the extent of my whiskey review!
Their vodka has undertones of vanilla and a few other spices which make it unique. I wish they had it chilled but sadly it is at room temperature.
They are only open on Saturdays for tastings and tours. The tours are free and include tastings of their products. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable about their craft and the passion shows. My tour was led by one of the founders, he still does the tours almost every Saturday.
They sell a variety of t shirts and other items along with bottles of vodka and whiskey. You can also get True Tonic mixers here also.
Visit and take the tour, buy local booze!

This place is really cool. It’s a small operation staffed by people who really know about what they’re making and care about it. When you go for a tasting, they’ll explain the thought process that went into making their vodka and whisky, as well as what flavors you can expect to taste. I am not a fan of drinking hard alcohol straight up like that, but I could still appreciate the flavors (in small doses). The tour offers an opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes in the distillery. Our tour guide was the head distiller and you could feel his passion for the craft. If you’re interested in distilling, brewing, or any aspect of the processes, you’ll really enjoy the tour. And a bonus feature is that the Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken food truck is parked outside and you can buy food from the truck and bring it inside with you. Above all, the staff really make this place a great destination!
Side note: they’re debuting their Ivy City Gin soon, and $ 1 from the purchase of every bottle goes to Habitat For Humanity to help with their Ivy City building efforts.

What a fun, cool, new, hip, tasty place to visit!
PROS:
–large wide-​open stylish space
–free walking tours
–free tastes of white whiskey and vodka
–very friendly staff
–well organized operation
–additional food trucks and other nibbles parked outside
–merchandise and booze for sale
–water option available to hydrate
CONS:
–a bit of a walk/​short über from any metro
–tours and tastings only offered Saturdays 1−4pm
–TOO popular so it can be packed :)
Very well worth the trip and I highly recommend it! Just opened too, on January 8^th (one — eight)! :)

Awesome experience. Come in and get a free tour ticket three free drink tickets. It’s a great place to go with friends on the weekend and you’ll definitely dig the vibe. It’s really chill and has a great ambiance. Definitely roll through.

The man and I went on Saturday around 2:00 pm. The place was PACKED. The set up is very inviting and I love the décor and feel of the distillery. The warehouse is large but their production scale is quite small still. The tour was informative and not too big, so you have plenty of chances to ask questions. We received 3 tickets, which gives you three ½ shot tastings— or full shot depending on who’s pouring. :-). they are still waiting for the Gin’s perfection so we only go try the vodka and whiskey. I’m not quite familiar with white whiskey, and I love vodka so naturally we got a bottle of vodka to bring home. The vodka was verrry smooth and had a buttery note at the end. I am definitely a fan.

Nice layout. Love the décor. Fun place to hangout. A little far from the metro and parking is free if you can find it.
The tour is fun. You’ll get to see the raw ingredients and the mash area and the distilling area and the barrel area. Then we got to taste some of the spirits. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have the gin to taste. Of the vodka and whiskey –liked the whisky better…
They also have a lot of merchandise for sale… and check out the pictures of the bar area…
Oh and asked them the origins of their name– if you’re a lawyer you might already know…

My wife and I went to One Eight’s preview night and had a blast. They have three things going for them: 1) The first DC made vodka and whiskey (and it tastes good!). 2) A cool location. It’s in a restored brick factory building behind Union Market and feels very trendy. Warning: You can’t take the Metro there but that adds to the feel of «I just stumbled upon a hidden gem.» 3) The founder is a good guy. He gave free tours himself and knows the industry well, is smart, and a passion to give his customers a great product. I hope he does well and if you’re a DC restaurant reading this, call them and stock your place with One Eight’s vodka and whiskey. After all, it’s local!