There really are no good whiskey bars in Miami.  At least not many.  In a way, that’s a microcosm of Miami’s gastronomic identity relative to some of the other major cities I’ve been to. The dark wood bars, tight spaces, and chalk-written menus, strewn with catchy or exotic names of brown liquor from the cradles of barley and sour-mash civilization. Manhattan has DBA, Idle Hands, Death and Company, and a ton others I’ve never been to or even heard of when I do a quick search online.  The West Coast, as I’ve come to appreciate it for, does a nice mix of highbrow homegrown from local distilleries like McMenamin’s in Portland, to seedy spots like The Alembic and Whiskey Thieves in San Francisco. 

But we down here in the 305 are just catching up.  Really, Miami’s foodie scene has been growing up for a few years now, and the thirst for that throat-warming sting that accompanies a neat serving of my preferred booze is driving the subtle yet very real growth of South Florida’s whiskey scene.  After all, the bourbon beckons.

So we want to go on a wild whiskey journey and we want to take anyone that’s crazy enough to join us right alongside.  Since our beloved city is still in its infancy when it comes to places to get good booze, we’re gonna need to get loose with some boundaries here.  Relax, no nudity, yet.  It’s just that we’ll need to compensate for the shortage of self-described “whiskey bars” or places where the bartenders call themselves “mixologists” by finding the spots that just might have a great scotch or bourbon selection where you can catch a taste of variety beyond your standard Maker’s Mark, Glenlevitt, or Jameson.  And sometimes those spots might take us a little out of our comfort zones and take us to far off lands like Fort Lauderdale and even Palm Beach.  And sometimes, we’ll just get a bottle of something nice, get really shitty off it, and tell you about how deliciously awesome it was.  And we’ll get to know our booze, ourselves, and our city, a little bit better in the process.