BUY YOU A DRANK

Peak dates for the District's Cherry Blossom Festival are today, March 27 through April 3. The festival starts this Saturday, so get a move on and check out the flowers! Or just get celebrate the only way we know how...

From the Washington Post Express:

IT’S SPRING IN D.C., and that means it's kickoff time for tourist season with the Cherry Blossom Festival.

But don't get mad at the invaders; get drunk. Forget the festival, forget the flowers and head to your favorite bar or restaurant to undergo a cherry-themed haze of cocktails.

Recognizing the cherry blossom trees' Japanese origin, Hank's Oyster Bar is offering a vodka-and-sake cocktail. Splashes of lemonade and cherry juice, both house-made, and a cucumber garnish finish off Hank's Cherry Stone Blossom.

The Latin-Asian Zengo, which means "give and take" in Japanese, provides a Cherry Blossom Saketini: sake mixed with the tropical fruit lychee and sake-cherry syrup.

At Oya, the Blossomtini celebrates spring with a concoction of cherry vodka and sparkling shiraz. Coeur de Lion in the Henley Park Hotel blends cherry-flavored schnapps, 7-Up and cherry vodka for its White Cherry Martini.

Mojito fans won't have to wait until the summer to get their rum fix. The new Asia Nine shows off its blossom spirit with a mojito made from infused cherry rum, fresh mint leaves and cherries. Georgia Brown's turns exotic with a cherry mojito made of cane sugar, ginger, cilantro and a cinnamon swizzle stick.

If you'd rather celebrate the blossoms with beer, District Chophouse and Brewery already tapped their own Cherry Wheat Ale, brewed with 500 pounds of dried cherries and finishing with a high alcohol content (hence the small glasses it's served in). To combine your love of beer and bubbly, Belga Cafe will mix St. Louis Cherry beer with champagne to create their Belgians Royal Cherry.

And for a literally intoxicating dessert, Firefly serves Tahitian vanilla ice cream, house-made bing cherries and vanilla soda, cherry liquor and white rum in its Cherry Blossom Float. Urbana also caters to the sweet tooths with a Cherry Gelato Float made with two Italian sparkling wines.