Editorial
Miami's bar scene has grown up well past its 2000s rooftop-pool reputation. Broken Shaker put serious cocktailing on the map, and Sweet Liberty gave the city a craft home base. The eight below cover South Beach, Wynwood and Little Havana, the drinking corners of modern Miami. We cut two that have closed since the last guides ran.
Sweet Liberty Drinks and Supply sits in Collins Park on Miami Beach and has been the city's craft cocktail home base for years, closure rumours notwithstanding. The Pina Colada is the one to order, built on Planteray Pineapple and Cruzan Coconut rather than the slushie version. The daily happy hour is the value play. Best on a weeknight, before the Beach crowd arrives.
Broken Shaker hides behind the Freehand Hotel on Miami Beach, a poolside courtyard bar that put serious cocktailing on the Miami map and has the World's 50 Best nods to show for it. Seasonal drinks run 16 to 18 dollars. It opens at 5pm and the courtyard fills by sunset. Go early and poolside, before the line forms.
The Corner sits on North Miami Avenue downtown and runs late, a dive-meets-cocktail bar with a 150-year-old reclaimed-wood bar and live jazz some nights. It opens at 4pm and does not really get going until most places have shut. This is the after-hours seat. Best late, when you want one more and the room is still loud.
Freehold runs a big courtyard in Wynwood with three bars and a 1970s New York pizza counter, the kind of place that works for an afternoon and a night. Day-drinkers and remote workers take it over early; the crowd thickens for weekend brunch. Nothing here is overpriced. Go on a Saturday afternoon and stay as long as the courtyard holds you.
Ball and Chain on Calle Ocho is the one Little Havana bar worth the trip, a restored 1930s room with Cuban mojitos and live salsa most nights. Thursday brings a free salsa class and the Little Havana Under the Stars night. It runs late, to 1 or 3am. Go Thursday, learn the steps, and drink a mojito the way the city intended.
Bar Lab runs the drinks at the Goodtime Hotel on Miami Beach, the team behind Broken Shaker bringing the same craft to a flashier address. The rooftop pool bar trades as Strawberry Moon and leans party rather than purist. Prices match the postcode. Go for a poolside cocktail in daylight, before the DJ and the bottle service take over.
Lagniappe sits in Buena Vista and is more wine-and-jazz garden than cocktail bar, with 200-plus mostly organic bottles, a cheese and charcuterie counter, and live jazz out back every night. It is a date-night room, easy on the wallet for what it is. The garden fills after 9pm. Get there earlier midweek for a table near the band.
The Basement under the Miami Beach Edition is the novelty entry, a nightclub with bowling lanes and an ice rink attached, which is either too much or exactly enough depending on the night. It runs DJ-driven and 21-plus after 8pm. Not a spot for a quiet drink. Go at the weekend, with a group, when the gimmicks are the point.
Most visitors do Miami wrong by sticking to the South Beach hotel circuit. Wynwood is where locals drink, with Freehold and Lagniappe forming the core. South Beach keeps Broken Shaker and Sweet Liberty for serious craft. Little Havana's Ball and Chain is essential for the Cuban side and the live salsa.
Tom Callahan covers pubs and pints across the UK, Ireland and beyond. Value-conscious, suspicious of anything overpriced, and always with one eye on the match.