A fun place for catching the game and some drinks, The Prospect also offers a mean frozen cider cocktail.

Ambiance: ****

Decor: ***

Service: ****

Cocktails: ***

Overall Rating: 3.5

Because what more do you really need, right?  So it was Wednesday and a big Caps/Penguins game was on my must see list. The sports/cocktail dilemma is a real one – usually, good sports bars don’t feature cocktails, and good cocktail bars don’t have many TVs. Tortured by that paradox, I hunted for a good synthesis and found it at the Prospect, a nice, roomy sports bar off of U Street. You certainly won’t want for screen space, as nary an inch of wall is visible with all the flat screens. Didn’t matter how many tall people were around, there was always a viewing angle open. Service was good. It also has an second floor section that I wasn’t able to make it to – stairs are surprisingly challenging after some cocktails!

The Prospect offers a nice, simple cocktail list – of the six drinks tasted, I thought two were standouts. The menu is anchored by several cider cocktails, an interesting take that distinguishes the Prospect and mostly works well.

I started with the straightforward “Cider Cocktail” with gin, strawberry, lavender, and dry cider. A straight-forward drink, the taste is soft with only a tinge of gin – the other ingredients don’t register much, ceding most of the cocktail to the strong cider. Then the “AppleJack Highball” with Applejack Brandy, lime, ginger, cranberry, and cider. An interesting little drink, I thought the combination here of cranberry and brandy was very good and played well with the ginger echo. I was a bit wary of teaming the brandy with some light citrus and cider flavors, but in the end I thought this worked very well. Good stuff.

We went sans cider in the next one, the “Fastball” with Rujero Singhani brandy, ginger beer, chile cranberry syrup, lime, and grapefruit. I like most of these ingredients but this combination was sort of strange and off – I thought the grapefruit, which I’m not a huge fan of in cocktails, was a bit too stringent and overwhelming. The burn is just a little too citrusy, which is a shame because I thought it covered up some nice ginger, brandy, and spicy syrup hints. Up next was a standout, the “Dirty Bird” with vodka, strawberry, lemon, mint, and sherry. This was very heavy mint taste but luckily for the Prospect my thirst for that blessed leaf is downright ravenous. A nice relaxing sipper, I loved the easy drinking the strawberry-on-sherry taste provides, sugared up with the strong mint burn. Just a pleasant, simple mix.

My favorite drink was probably the simplest, the “Frozen Cider” with….frozen cider, gin, and lemon. Not much to say about this really enjoyable treat – a nice apple frozen ice taste stiffened with a tint of gin and some nice citrus. A great, great warm weather drink, I’d really recommend sitting outside with friends (or alone) and drinking five of these. I ended on a shot, as is custom – the “Prospect Bomb” with bourbon, lime, allspice dram, and cider. This was a very resonant taste, perhaps a bit too rich, with a heavy allspice cut that throws a real heavy sweetness into the mix. I did like it though, and the bourbon/cider combo was good enough to make me ponder some related cocktails to try at hopme. All in all an enjoyable night at the Prospect; as the NBA and NHL playoffs heat up, I’d recommend making it out for a cocktail or six.