Bars & Breweries

For the past two years, the Miami Marlins have been undertaking what one might call an aggressive refurbishing. New ownership, led by former New York Yankees great Derek Jeter, has done everything from making hot dogs cheaper to improving the uniforms/logo to replenishing the entire minor-league system to sending Billy the Marlin to the best plastic surgeon in South Florida.

The holidays are the most wonderful time of year. But after hours of chaotic shopping and days with neurotic relatives, you’ll likely need a Christmas drink to revive your holiday spirit.

While family up North sips mulled wine and eggnog, Miamians enjoy coquito, the traditional Puerto Rican drink made with coconut cream, spices, sweetened condensed milk, and plenty of rum. Though many Miamians make their own from recipes handed down for generations, you can also find coquito at some of the city’s best bars…

Coquito is a traditional gift, and some people save glass bottles for months to package the creamy libation as presents. In Miami-Dade, you can find coquito at restaurants, bakeries, and bars. Here are some of the best places to buy it.

Named one of Hop Culture magazine’s 15 Best Breweries to Watch in 2019, Unseen Creatures Brewing & Blending is set to open in the next few weeks. According to husband-and-wife team and cofounders Marco and Victoria Leyte-Vidal, construction is wrapping up at the taproom, which is projected to open in mid- to late December.

Thanksgiving is almost here, and unless you live in a Publix commercial or a Hallmark movie, things don’t always go so well when the whole family gathers under one roof.

Serving great vibes in a laid-back yet upbeat and friendly atmosphere has become Sweet Liberty’s specialty, garnering the South Beach hangout a collection of local and international awards. In the four years since the bar debuted, the menu has seen small changes here and there, but now Sweet Liberty has overhauled its offerings, including 14 new cocktails and seven new dishes.

One year ago, Wynwood Brewing Company announced it had been acquired by Craft Brew Alliance (CBA). Soon it will have a new parent.

If you can’t get to Santo Domingo to sip rum under a canopy of live oaks while ancient church bells ring, simply head to Living Room in Miami Beach, where general manager and head mixologist Jonathan Rodriguez prepares a bevy of cocktails using Ron Barceló.

Seed has tapped Jules Aron as its mixology director to curate the cocktail program for the festival. Aron, also known as the Healthy Bartender, is a beverage consultant, holistic nutritionist, and author who has been lauded nationally for her dedication to wellness within the cocktail culture.

Thanks to a Wynwood-based business, you can drink organic alcoholic beverages on the beach. A new line of wine-based canned drinks was created to taste just like a freshly shaken cocktail.

Miami restaurants are offering beer, wine, and cocktail specials in charming spaces serving plenty of good food to soak up the discounted booze.

Named one of the top ten beer festivals in the United States earlier this year by Men’s Journal, WakeFest Invitational is set to celebrate its fifth year at Mana Wynwood from noon to 5 p.m. February 15, 2020.

Craft Beer Cellar, a craft beer bar and bottle shop, has quietly opened in Fort Lauderdale. Situated in a small strip mall alongside Egg & You Diner, the 1,500-square-foot bottle shop and taproom offers rare beers to take home and to drink onsite. Owned by Amy and Eddie Abralde and Marta Urra, it’s the first South Florida location of the Massachusetts-based chain of specialty beer stores.

Vandalo debuted mid-September in Wynwood with a street art theme.  On its website, the restaurant and lounge, created by the team behind party spot, Dirty Rabbit, calls itself, “a gangsta-sophisticate experience, demonstrates that the destruction of something, including one’s self, is also the creation of something new. Something better.”

Craft breweries from West Palm Beach to Key West have teamed up to brew beers to help relief efforts in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian in early September decimated some of the 700 islands in the archipelago nation.

Say so long to summer’s fruity libations and welcome a collection of cocktails rich in cinnamon, coffee, and smoke. From sherry-based concoctions to spicy old-fashioneds, go beyond the pumpkin spice latte and explore South Florida’s most creative fall cocktails.

As a kid, Beat Culture Brewery cofounder Alan Espino remembers drinking Ironbeer from a can. The fun was pretending he and his siblings and cousins were drinking the boozy kind of beer. That’s why, years later, Espino was inspired to pay homage to the beer of his childhood at his Miami-based brewery.

Grovetoberfest has switched locations in Coconut Grove over the years but now it’s back in Regatta Park on October 12 to accommodate more breweries this year, said organizer Tony Albelo of Swarm, Inc. Now in its ninth year, Grovetoberfest is one of the biggest and most anticipated beer festivals in Miami and this year it will include more than 500 beers all wrapped in a Star Wars theme.

American Icon Brewery Kitchen & Taproom owner Mike Rechter has a clear vision of his brewery’s fan base. He pictures boaters and fishermen enjoying a day on the water, and they’re listening to the classic-rock hits that turned American rockers into legends. That’s why the brewery, which opened a second location, at 911 NE Fourth Ave. in Fort Lauderdale, is decorated with the likenesses of Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix

Halloween is almost here.Sure, most people still consider it a holiday for kids, but remember — the origins of Halloween aren’t quite as cute as dressing up as a bunny and begging for candy.