Imagine this. It's Miami Beach circa the late 1940s. You're sitting at a rustic, yet elegant beach bar, enjoying one of those daiquiris you've heard are all the rage with a writer named Hemingway in a little island town called Havana. A warm breeze softly shakes the lights strung up between the palm trees as you sip this glorious, exotic mix of rum, lime, and sugar.
That's the inspiration behind the Rum Line, a new bar set to open adjacent to Lure Fishbar at the Loews Hotel Miami Beach sometime this fall. The outdoor bar, decorated in teak furnishings and strung lights is designed to invoke visions of Ernest Hemingway in Cuba or Bogie and Bacall having a drink and witty banter in Key Largo.
See also: Lure Fishbar's Nautical Cocktails: We Try Them All
The team behind the Caribbean-inspired bar are New York restaurateurs John McDonald, Joshua Pickard, and Josh Capon of Mercer Street Hospitality, the same people who brought Lure to South Beach almost a year ago, and local restaurant operators Seth Alexander and Sol Alvarez.
The cocktail program, designed by Lure Fishbar's lead mixologist, Robert Ferrara, will feature a rum-forward drink menu, featuring both original recipes and those resurrected from the classic days of Miami Beach's resort heydays. Over 100 different kinds of rum will be featured in the bar's impressive collection. Ferrara will continue his duties at Lure Fishbar, in addition to heading up the bar program at the Rum Line.
Cocktails include punches in scorpion bowls, hand-shaken daiquiris, and nautical-inspired libations made with housemade mixers. Featured drinks include a dark & stormy with spiced Santa Teresa añejo, fresh lime, and ginger beer; the All Hands on Deck with Scarlet Ibis rum, falernum, honey, pineapple, mint, lime, and a Fernet Branca floater; and the Donkey Kong, a barrel-of-monkeys-inspired creation.
To complement the cocktails, the Rum Line will offer a menu of small plates and raw bar offerings created by Lure's culinary team with items including jerk chicken lollipops, crispy oysters, and mini lobster rolls.
Although the menu and prices aren't finalized, expect the hand-crafted libations to run in the $12-14 range. It's anticipated the Rum Line will open in time for Art Basel.
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