The New Period of Craft Cocktails in Southwest Florida

“Chefs use fire; bartenders use ice,” says Leo Nail, head bartender at Fort Myers speakeasy Escondido Lounge, which welcomed a Cape Coral location in August. The bar’s ice is purified with a reverse osmosis system, creating glassy cubes that chill drinks with out affecting their taste. At Seventh South Waterfront’s new location in Bayshore, bartender-owner Barry Larkin chisels slow-melting whiskey rocks by hand and pulverizes crushed ice with a picket mallet.  

An obsession with minutia—like the perfect form, composition and dilution charge of an ice dice—is simply one of many hallmarks of the realm’s rising sophistication behind the bar. Led by bartenders with the audacity and experience to tinker with method, taste and sourcing, a brand new wave of spirit-forward institutions is difficult wine’s long-held place in Southwest Florida’s ingesting tradition.

The preliminary surge of cocktail innovation hit in 2012, when Cape Coral’s Nevermind Awesome Bar & Eatery opened with bartender Brittany Bowman (now at Prime 239) on the helm. Her sudden taste mixtures, mad scientist method and emphasis on native substances supplied a recent take a look at spirits. In 2014, The 86 Room opened its doorways in Downtown Fort Myers with a devotion to Prohibition-era cocktails served in vintage glassware and made with period-accurate spirits like gin, moonshine and absinthe. That similar 12 months, Bar Tulia opened as the primary true craft cocktail program on Naples’ Fifth Avenue South. These pioneers stood in stark distinction to the pub pours, sugar bomb tiki drinks and dive bars comprising the regional normal on the time. 

Now, greater than a decade in, the native palate has gained extra depth and nuance, spearheaded by the consultants behind the bar. Nick Drohan and Stan Worrell minimize their tooth at Bar Tulia, poring over up to date cocktail tomes like Death & Co. Now, they maintain courtroom at two of Bonita Springs’ greatest bar applications: Nick mans the bar at Chartreuse Cocktail Lounge, and Stan oscillates between there and The Bohemian. In Naples, Sidebar’s inventive lead Angela Dunn and Le Colonial’s beverage director Steve Tindle spend months every year touring to cocktail facilities like Chicago, Miami and Boston in quest of en vogue methods to weave into their menus. In Cape Coral, Jungle Bird Authentic Tiki’s Jeremy Vincent appears to historical past for his inspiration, drawing on the legacy of tiki legends like Trader Vic’s and Don the Beachcomber as a jumping-off level to modernize and reclaim the style. 

Naples hotspots are additionally tapping main expertise to up their behind-the-bar cachet. Le Colonial commissioned Danilo Dacha Bozovic, behind New York and Miami’s cultish Employees Only, to create its unique cocktail checklist, whereas The Perry Hotel’s rooftop spot Easy Tiger introduced within the James Beard-recognized Lynette Marrero to craft trendy, Asian-inspired drinks. At The Vine Room, Fifth Avenue South, the Old World cosmopolitan ambiance and theatrical shows are impressed by iconic bars in New York and Europe. Last 12 months, the lounge launched a grasp class collection, with supervisor Máté Laurinyecz leveraging his business connections to convey expertise from international business icons, like Barcelona’s Paradiso and Brooklyn’s The Clover Club, to Naples for one-night-only visitor shifts. 

To elevate stalwart sips, bars are honing in on considerate spirit sourcing. At Chartreuse, Nick and bar supervisor Rainier DeCastro concentrate on boutique labels and provenance, delving into the backstory behind small-production makers, like a generational mezcal made on a Mexican mountainside. “I’m looking for a spirit that has a connection to place and some level of authenticity,” Rainier says.
“We become ambassadors for these people.” If you discover Sidebar proprietor Marty Kenney behind the bar, he’ll let you know which areas of Central America have the richest historical past and purest expression of agave-based spirits. In preserving with its French-Vietnamese delicacies, Le Colonial is exploring the world of French spirits. “Cognac, Armagnac and Calvados have a deep history in France,” Steve says.

With a powerful backbar to attract from, bartenders are additionally tinkering with how they deal with substances to raise drinks past the Nineteenth-century templates laid out by pioneer Jerry Thomas. Sidebar and Seventh South are experimenting with clarified punches, a centuries-old course of that makes use of milk to provide a silky texture and translucent look. Flavored foams and flaming shows are widespread within the high-end bar world. Chartreuse pushes issues additional. The staff not too long ago added a centrifuge—which makes use of high-speed spinning to separate and clean liquids—to their lineup of shakers and jiggers. “It adds another layer of texture with these very tiny microbubbles,” Rainier says. They’re additionally enjoying with molecular gastronomy and carbonation methods. 

Blending disciplines is fertile floor for creativity, with cocktails taking cues from culinary preparations. Escondido Lounge tops its guava-and-rum-based Thomas Edison with a cream cheese foam for a nod to Cuban pastelitos. Easy Tiger’s drink checklist mirrors the Cantonese flavors of its adjoining restaurant with substances like pickled shiitake mushrooms and fiery Sichuan peppercorns. Likewise, Bar Tulia weaves savory parts into drinks, just like the not too long ago launched Caprese Me, a salad-inspired sipper with delicate white balsamic vinegar.  

The aesthetics of latest craft cocktail lounges sign a shift towards extra thought of tastes for nightlife, as effectively. Downtown Fort Myers newcomer Hogwash delivers a sultry vibe with a maximalist Art Deco design, silent movie screenings and a dramatically backlit bottle of Louis XIII on the mirrored bar. Nearby, Escondido Lounge’s crimson lighting, velvet furnishing, beaded chandeliers and vintage bookshelves sit someplace between a haute Miami pop-up and a nod to River District nostalgia—all hidden behind a mock freezer door at the back of Taco Works. Fellow speakeasy Staff Only (the newest challenge from Sidebar’s Marty Kenney) channels Old World glam as does The Vine Room, with its inexperienced velvet banquettes, honeyed onyx bar and artwork nouveau prints.  

As Southwest Florida’s craft cocktail scene evolves, the ritual of assembly up for a nightcap appears to hold extra weight. Conversations across the bar deepen into considerate explorations of taste, historical past and craft as you decelerate and savor the second. “I want you to have a conversation,” Marty says. “Maybe you don’t know the people next to you, but all of a sudden, you become friends.”