12 Spirits Tavern

If you're in Capitol Hill, take time to have a drink in the wonderfully restored comfortable wood and leather ambiance of the 12 Spirits Tavern (located in the carriage house of the Patterson Inn). In particular, I'd recommend the (I know it sounds odd, but it was so good - and interesting - that I came back the next day to have it again) the Cap Hill Carrot (with bourbon, of all things). (My wife favored the Aviator.) Chris Chiari, the gracious owner of the Patterson, will keep you fascinated with all manner of stories and you'll leave thinking of him as a friend. There's something about the spirit of 12 Spirits that gets everyone there talking - we went there two nights and felt like we'd been visiting with friends both times.

Hell of an old fashioned! Good vibe, solid bar selection. Chris is amazing. Plus, ya know, ghosts!

What a nice place to have in Capitol Hill!! It's very cozy, in the basement of that old mansion at Penn and 11th (the Patterson Inn for the new folks). Four seats at the bar, and plenty of comfy/cozy chairs throughout. It's very intimate. Nice little app menu, which we'll definitely be back to try! See pics. The bartender was quick with a couple cocktail recommendations, and I'm sure their offerings will grow/change based on experience and interest. They have some inventive stuff on the menu now, and I enjoyed my coffee old fashioned well enough. Overall, nice new place! Would be happy to go back. The entrance is on Pennsylvania, just off 11th. Look for the sign (or the grey door).

Extremely rude staff. Place was serving 15 people but made a snide comment when our group entered that it was obvious they were closed? Lol

The experience at 12 spirits had potential but missed the mark. We went on what felt like the coldest night possible and not knowing what to expect from this establishment, we made the mistake of thinking there would be parking. There is no parking available. There is street parking but it was completely full for several blocks in every direction on a Friday night. We ended up finding parking about a quarter mile away. It was paid parking but not terribly expensive for after 6 pm. It took a while to find the correct entrance but we finally found it after picking several wrong doors. There was a sandwich board with an arrow to help us find the entrance. They try to give directions on the website, but it was not intuitive. We had made reservations online but it didn't really seem to matter because there was no hostess stand or anyone to greet us when we entered. The tiny tavern has just a few tables and a small bar. We stood in the cold entrance for some time with then walked around aimlessly looking for someone to help us with no avail. We stood at the bar for some time and didn't get an acknowledgement of our existence. We finally just sat ourselves in a table. We finally saw a woman delivering small plates of food and she didn't acknowledge us as she passed us many times. Finally the bartender walked over to deliver another table their drink and finally said hi to us. We had been sitting there probably 20 minutes or more by then. We asked a couple of questions and ordered drinks and some food. Luckily the table had menus so we had time to look them over. The drinks came out quickly and were very good. They didn't have anything warm like a coffee, cider or tea, which would have been great, but our cold drinks were very good. We ordered the "pies". These are not pies. They are the size of a pop tart. For $9 I was expecting something that looked like a little pie. We also ordered the pretzel bites. Those were really delicious. After a couple of rounds of drinks and disappointing amounts of food, with very little service from the staff, we paid and left to get some real food. The check before tax and tip was close to $70. Expect $12 drinks and $9 bites. I'm not sure if they were just missing staff because maybe folks called out, or they are having issues hiring in a really expensive area. I will give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I would go back for the drinks and pretzels but not the service or the pies.

We hoped to start our date night celebrating at 12 spirit tavern with some drinks and appetizers, we made reservations for 7pm. We arrived 5 minutes prior and were not even acknowledged as we stood at the door. After waiting for a few minutes and having the server walk by us a few times we went to the Bartender who let us know to pick a seat and someone would be with us shortly. We patiently waited for 25 minutes before we walked out. It's a really cool spot, dark and moody, a little intimate. Maybe we'll try again another time.

Whiskey sours - Top notchOld Fashions - Top notchSpotify playlist - Top notchThe venue moved from the basement to an another portion of the building but the high quality service and stellar ambiance remains!

What a lovely bar to be at! Very cozy and the drinks are amazing. Great service and love hearing the stories of the haunted mansion!

Great hidden little spot in Capitol Hill! Drinks are creative and spot on. The owner is very friendly and makes an effort to make a connection with everyone who comes in! If you're in the area, highly recommend stoping in for a drink or small bite!:)

I wanted so badly to say nice things about this place but unfortunately I interacted with the bartender/owner while visiting and just have nothing good to say about the place. I have never encountered someone so bitter and so resentful of people coming into his bar before. I literally saw the bartender chase a group of people out of the bar and scream at them on the street. We all get it, you're miserable because your business is failing. Is that any reason to chase people out screaming at them? We get that you are sad about not being able to be a marijuana consumption site but seriously dude your customers don't want to hear you whine about this. Your hours are terrible. 4 to 9? And you wonder why your business is failing. There were 15 people in the group you ran out of your bar. I heard your interaction with the person who brought those people in. They just wanted to buy drinks but you lost your mind on them. Why wouldn't you want their business? Oh yeah its because you have no business behind a bar and cant handle more than 2 customers at once. My date and I never encountered someone so sweaty and stressed out from helping approx 6 customers. The bartender is unhinged and should really get his cocaine habit in check. If you don't want people coming into your speakeasy because they saw the sign out front, maybe don't put a sign out front. After watching the bartender scream that that group of people we will definitely not be returning to this bar nor will we be staying at The Cooke Patterson