Jim Hewes

Jim Hewes is an American bartender and cocktail historian who has worked at the Willard InterContinental Washington's Round Robin Bar for over 30 years, making him the longest serving bartender in Round Robin's over 180-year old history.

Career

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. - Jim Hewes Prior to working at the Willard, where he started in 1986 upon the hotel's reopening, he worked at the Buxton Inn in Ohio.

Hewes has served drinks to numerous United States presidents, including Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush, and Gerald Ford. In 1987, Hewes witnessed the dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse have a fatal heart attack outside of the Round Robin.

Hewes offers history programs at the Willard about craft cocktails, prohibition and other related subjects, specifically historical subjects pertaining to Washington. A collector of Washington and cocktail history ephemera, Hewes owns a Mint Julep recipe handwritten by Henry Clay.

In 2013, Hewes created a cocktail program by creating a cocktail for all 44 presidents, based on cocktails that presidents have historically consumed or that are thematic to a president's life. Presidential beverages include Madeira wine, which George Washington used to drink, hot buttered rum in honor of John Quincy Adams, and a twist on the Blue Hawaii, which uses tequila rather than rum, as a tribute to Barack Obama, which honors Obama's life in Hawaii.

Personal life

Hewes has lived in Washington DC since 1977. He is an avid book collector.