Amazonia’s Tónico Citrico cocktail draws influence from an ancient Inca tea. | Rey Lopez for Amazonia Amazonia’s co-owner Glendon Hartley hopes his thoughtful liquid lineup takes the D.C. bar “to the world stage.” Vet D.C. mixologist Glendon Hartley is so obsessed with Peruvian pisco that he carts the spirit around in his “pisco mobile,” a gunmetal Volkswagen Tiguan that sports a license plate with one word: “PISCO.” As co-owner, beverage director, and resident “pisco curator” of Shaw’s tropical sensation Amazonia, his mission is to educate drinkers about the versatility of Peru’s national spirit. “There’s a pisco for everyone, straight up,” Hartley tells Eater. Rey Lopez for Amazonia Amazonia’s massive pisco portfolio hovers over the stylish bar. Nearly three years in, the rainforest-themed respite is now home to the largest pisco library in the country. At any given time, there are over 100 bottles of pisco, which Hartley expands on every time he returns from a trip to Peru. Amazonia’s vast and rare pisco collection benefits greatly from D.C.’s liquor laws, which allow him to sell servings from the bottles he brings back. On Tuesday, December 17, Hartley debuted an all-new cocktail menu at Amazonia that showcases the grape brandy in seven of the 11 drinks. And every single detailed cocktail tells an interesting story about Peru and its past (920 Blagden Alley NW). Rey Lopez for Amazonia The Old Fashioned-styled Enamorado del Coco combines Peruvian cacao husk tea, cacao bitters, and three whiskeys (two from Japan and one from Peru). Rey Lopez for Amazonia The clarified Queimada Claro cocktail features lemon, apple juice, coffee beans, orange peels, cinnamon, Torontel pisco, and Mijenta Reposado tequila with a merengue drop finish. Tónico Citrico honors a tea the Incas made with cinchona bark, the source of quinine. They started sipping the tea in the 1400s to ease fevers that were later associated with malaria. In the 1630s, the Countess of Chinchon (the wife of the Spanish Viceroy to Peru) caught malaria, according to an article in Antimicrobe. She was near death when her husband consulted with a Jesuit priest, who advised him to ask the local Incas for help. The countess made a miraculous recovery after drinking a tonic that included the Incas’ quina bark. Quinine has been the main treatment for malaria for centuries. Peru isn’t widely recognized for this contribution to international medicine, notes Hartley. His light, bubbly homage in a glass marries bright citrus fruit with ‘quina’ or quinine tintcure, muña to add a bit of savory herbs, and Torontel Pisco, which produces a citrusy floral. “This is another way for us to put something Peruvian into people’s hands that wouldn’t drink pisco,” says Hartley. Rey Lopez for Amazonia Amazonia’s new cocktail menu showcases co-owner Glendon Hartley’s passion for pisco and Peruvian history. The Nikkei drink represents the balance of cultures in Peru, and the drink is an interpretation of ingredients from China and Japan. The citrusy drink uses pisco from Torontel and Italia grapes, as well an in-house sherry blend, yuzu sake, and bijao, an Amazonian leaf represented as bitters to bring herbal tea-life flavors and aromas. Hartley’s passion for pisco started in 2012, after chef Carlos Delgado invited him to consult at Ocopa, a now-closed Peruvian restaurant on 13th and H Street NE. Hartley already knew a bit about the spirit, but working at Ocopa helped him dive deeper into pisco. Celebrated Colombian artist MasPaz designed Ocopa’s interior. For Amazonia, Hartley, Delgado, and their business partner, Chad Spangler, got the popular artist to design an interpretive label for Amazonia that wraps around its Negra Criolla cocktail. Rey Lopez for Amazonia The Negra Criolla cocktail smolders at Amazonia. The tall vessel uses glass from veladora prayer candles to recognize the missionaries who brought Negra Criolla grapes from Spain and created an entire South American spirits industry. The cocktail is designed to evoke the natural flavors and aromas of the first Peruvian pisco grape. It’s made with hibiscus, a blend of two Negra Criolla piscos, and a base of canela and emoliente, a traditional Peruvian tea with medical properties. One of the piscos featured in that cocktail is Macchu Pisco, the first pisco Hartley ever sipped. “I loved the florality of it,” says Hartley. “It was very floral, and it had the depth of flavor that I had not tried before.” Hartley garnishes the tropical cocktail with cat’s claw, an Amazonian bark that a staffer sets on fire. The three partners are on fire, too. Causa, the team’s critically acclaimed Peruvian tasting room down below since 2022, retained its single Michelin star last week. The French tire company’s Young Chef of the Year award for D.C. went to Delgado, who hails from Lima and co-owns Causa and Amazonia. Earlier this year, Service Bar, which Hartley and Spangler opened in 2016, snagged the No. 22 spot on North America’s 50 Best Bars. Hartley says it’s time for Amazonia’s cocktail program to make its mark. “I want Amazonia to be on the world stage and I think we have, first off, the staff for it, the dedication, and we have the product for it,” says Hartley. “There’s nothing like Peruvian Amazonia on the world stage, and that’s what we want to do.” Rey Lopez for Amazonia The herbal-and-citrusy Huacatay Trópica stars Peruvian black mint alongside lime juice, homemade falernum, and two Peruvian rums. Rey Lopez for Amazonia This dark rum-based sipper follows flavors of Peru’s Turrón de Doña Pepa dessert with anise notes from matacuy, nutty Amontillado sherry, and sweet chancaca syrup, all topped with an edible coin of candied sprinkles. —Tierney Plumb contributed to this report