Coquito: A Puerto Rican Holiday Tipple

Nothing says holiday in the States like “Egg Nog.” In Puerto Rico, we drink Coquito. It is a coconut cream cocktail spiked with light and coconut rum, enriched and sweetened with condensed milk, and spiced up with warming, sweet baking spices. So give this holiday tipple a try and liven…

Gaston Gonzalez: Area 31’s Resident Tippler

Gaston Gonzalez is the resident tippler and head bartender at Area 31. After years of traveling through South America, he finally chose Miami as his home. And thank goodness at that… The Buenos Aires native currently creates seasonally inspired libations that combine savory spices with fresh fruit and artisan spirits…

Svedka Vodka Bash at STK Miami Recap

It’s always a wonder when the city’s top mixologists get together under one roof. But wait, don’t call them mixologists…they still want to be called bartenders. Call them what you like, some of Miami’s finest vodka slingers played front and center in Svedka’s Annual Vodka Competition hosted by STK Miami…

Tonight: $5 Craft Beers at Books & Books Café in Coral Gables

The Café at Books & Books is holding a happy hour tonight featuring its new menu of craft beers. Starting at 4 p.m., Heineken and Amstel Light types will cost $3, while craft beers such as Magic Hat # 9, Holy Mackerel Panic Attack, Lagunitas Pale Ale and Brooklyn Brewery…

Morton’s Sparkling Sleigh Ride Crashes & Burns

Miami is quickly developing its own cocktail culture. There are bar chefs at the W South Beach (Elad Zvi and Gabriel Orta from Bar Lab), Mercadito Midtown (Paul Tanguay and Paul Carducci from Tippling Bros.) Club 50 at the Viceroy (David Ortiz and Julio Cabrera from Alambiq) and many others…

Get Jazzy at B Bar with Drinks and Debbie Orta Quintet

If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter, here’s a taste of what you’re missing. Click here to subscribe.Party like an A-lister at The Betsy Hotel’s B Bar, where on Thursday, the uber-swanky watering hole with its black vinyl ceiling and hand-cut Parisian crystal lamps plays…

LIV’s Blue Vice a Cocktail for Hipsters and Smurfs

Who named LIV’s new Hpnotiq-inspired signature cocktail? I did! And who’ll drink this blue beverage made with a blend of vodka, cognac, and tropical fruit juices? Some say Smurfs and Avatars. Others think it’ll probably be the Pitbull-and-his-entourage-look-alike crowd. I didn’t create the monster, I only saved it from a…

John Martin’s: Miami Welcomes A Draft Master Table

Forget about waiting at the bar for your next beer. John Martin’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Coral Gables just installed the first Draft Master table in Miami which makes it a piece of cake (yuck yuck) to keep the beer flowing. The Draft Master is an “all-in-one beer tapping…

Thanksgiving Wines Under $25

If you have no desire to spend Thanksgiving gulping beer like a Pilgrim and would prefer to swirl and sip some vino, here are some great suggestions we discovered while out tasting with fellow oenophiles. All of the choices are under $25 and available at a number of local wine…

Pumpkin Beer for Thanksgiving? Crazy, Man!

What do Thanksgiving and beer have to do with one another besides pumpkin ‘n’ spice and everything nice? It is well documented that the Pilgrims landed in Cape Cod in 1620 because of numerous hardships – rough seas, stormy weather and sickness. Back then, water was certainly not the drink…

Single Serving Shots: A New Way to Wasted

Juan Echeverri did not start out selling frozen alcohol to overzealous college students. This Medellin-born entrepreneur first started a non-profit venture producing frozen treats that single mothers could sell in the summer for some extra money. But then he noted the popularity of his frozen pops on the beaches of…

Check Out Mai Tardi’s New Menu During Happy Hour

The Place: Mai Tardi 69 NE 39th St., Miami305-572-1400maitardimiami.comThe Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.The Deals: Enjoy $4 beers, $5 wines by the glass, and $6 specialty cocktails.The Scene: This week the Design District’s Mai Tardi got a revamp. The outdoor area went zen with Buddahs, serene…

Five Drunk Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving

That time of year is approaching again — the day we get to stuff our faces with a large amount of heavy food and have the luxury of napping afterward. However, we must not forget about the festive cocktails. Forget about the wine. Get your hands on a drink intended…

Taqueria Tacontento Serves Free Tequila

Taqueria Tacontento debuts its new tequila bar — Bar Agave. Bar Agave features handcrafted tequila cocktails that utilize fresh fruit and natural purees, herbs and spices. No sweet crap here. They ix-nayed the sugar and their libations use exclusively agave nectar. The spirit Tequila originates from the state of Jalisco, Mexico,…

Upscale Sports Bar at the Mandarin Oriental

If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter, here’s a taste of what you’re missing. Click here to subscribe.It’s not the humidity, it’s the heat.Miami Heat, that is. At the Oasis Pool Bar at the posh Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key, that is. Well, okay, it’s…

Sip On This: Alcoholic Chocolate Milk

The slogan is “Re-taste your youth. At 40 proof.” What adult wouldn’t want to bring back childhood memories sipping on chocolate milk while getting a buzz? That’s what the creators, Tracy Reinhardt and Nicki Halbur, from Orange County, California thought when they came up with Adult Chocolate Milk last month.”It’s…

HDNet’s Drinking Made Easy Hits South Florida November 10

Just when you thought there couldn’t be another show about people gallivanting around the country eating and drinking, along comes Drinking Made Easy, a 24-episode show that travels the country in search of local libations and tippling traditions.Zane Lamprey and his drinking buddies, Steve McKenna and Marc Ryan, are actually…

Town Kitchen & Bar’s Bar: Solid But Missing Details

When the tables in the dining room and out on the patio are taken, and the hostesses don’t offer the bar tables, there’s a problem. But it’s not as if the bar menu at Kitchen Town & Bar stinks. Granted it’s limited to a hodgepodge of appetizer-type selections such as…