The “ABCs” of Cocktails in the southern Caribbean

Since our last couple of posts have been focused on Florida (including about as far south as you can go – Key West) we thought we’d go even farther south – to a few of our favorite islands in the Caribbean!

We’ve been fortunate enough to take numerous cruises over the last decade to some amazing places, but some of our favorite spots are found in the “ABC Islands” – that’s Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. Those Dutch Caribbean islands are quite a sail from the U.S., just off the coast of Venezuela. The weather is always warm and there’s no shortage of beaches and water adventures. 

But what about a great cocktail? Yes, there’s more than Pirate’s Punch to be found!

We’ll just go in alphabetical order on our latest adventure. Keep in mind these are from the perspective of cruise passengers, so we may be missing something! (Feel free to share as always).

So let’s start with Aruba. 

There are any number of good places in the port city of Oranjestad. If you want a great view of the water and a lively atmosphere (including some fun placement of dollar bills) check out The Paddock. It’s a true dive bar to grab a local beer like Balashi!

But for a true cocktail experience that’s #offthetipsypath, seek out Apotek! It’s a speakeasy-style cocktail bar along a side street – yes, they ask you to keep the location secret. We had more than a few smoked old fashioneds, along with other original drinks in a very creative and cozy atmosphere. They have a “prescription pick up” wall with drinks listed that aren’t on the menu. Just grab a “prescription” and head to the bar! Definitely a #tipsypick.

Bonaire is the “B” in ABC. It’s the smallest of the islands. Kralendijk is the town where the cruise ships dock. It has a quaint downtown area with a street market (where we found the local Cadushy distillery with a table and free samples). Tiki & Co bills itself as the only authentic tiki bar in the Dutch Caribbean. It’s the kind of place where you could spend an hour or an evening. We enjoyed letting Eddy make us something to our taste! We even found some glassware from another of our favorite bars, Death & Co. It was meant to be! Another #tipsypick.

Also on Bonaire is the Bonaire Blond brewery where you can get a refreshing blond ale made with local Aloe Vera flowers! The pub fare is also worth a stop, especially after a long walk around the island.

And finally, Curacao is probably one of our favorite islands in the region. It’s a wonderful mix of island and Dutch culture, including food and drink. Unfortunately, some of the wonderful places we visited before the pandemic did not survive the shutdowns. However, one place that seems to live on in the capital of Willemstad is Netto Bar. Yes, that’s the home to the famous green rum! It’s also the oldest bar on the island, dating back to 1954. The man who pours it behind the bar today was trained by the original owner, “Netto” himself. It’s definitely #offthetipsypath from the port, but walkable if you know where you’re headed. 

For great views and tasty cocktails right on the water (and the beach), checkout Schooner Bar! And the other can’t miss spot is the distillery that makes the drink named after the island itself – Curacao! Tours are offered most days and it’s a short car ride from the port. Curacao (the liqueur) is made from dried fruit that grows on the island. The original settlers got creative with all the leftover peels and made alcohol! The Blue Curacao is the most well-known (it’s the stuff that makes most blue drinks blue), but our favorite is Tamarein, made from the Tamarind fruit. It’s a taste of the tropics for us!

One side note – on a separate cruise recently we enjoyed a couple of breweries worth mentioning near the port on St. Thomas (clearly not an ABC)…  Leatherback Brewing is just up the street from the port in Charlotte Amalie. The owners were very kind and they had a great variety of brews AND cocktails. And Rock City Brewing is within eyeshot of the port, so we had to visit. Just a little extra for you #offthetipsypath.

ABC  Tipsy Picks:

Aruba – Apotek

Bonaire – Tiki & Co
Curacao – Netto Bar and Curacao Distillery

Have a totally DUSHI summer (that means sweet, nice, or good in the ABC islands) and let us know what you think! We will bring it back closer to home in our next post…

🏖️ 🌞 Miami – Go Off the Tipsy Path for Great Cocktails in South Beach 🏖️ 🌞

 

We’ve spent a lot of time in Miami in the last decade or so. We love South Beach, except when the spring break crowd turns it in to a street party complete with all the crime. That said, there are lots of great cocktails to be had on Ocean Drive and beyond if you’re willing to go Off the Tipsy Path!

Most of the places we’ll talk about are off of Ocean Drive (which is worth visiting if only for the art deco architecture and Versace Mansion) with one exception – the lobby bar at the Betsy Hotel. This boutique hotel is on the north end of Ocean Drive but seems like a world away from all the sports cars and giant margaritas. We visited at the recommendation of friends and are very glad we did! The lobby bar is like a step back to old South Beach. The cocktails were excellent (yes, we found a great Manhattan on Ocean Drive!) and it was a great place to have a conversation. Definitely a #tipsypick!

You know we love a good speakeasy, but there aren’t many that qualify in South Beach, unless you know to go behind the porta-potty door at Bodega Taqueria and Tequila! That’s right, this neighborhood taco stand has a dramatic two-story industrial speakeasy behind a not-so-obvious door. As you might expect, they specialize in tequila drinks, which are strong and tasty. This is worth taking a walk or car to the other side of the island for!

Another place that is fairly hidden but one of our favorites - Swizzle Rum Bar & Drinkery is in the basement of the art deco Stiles Hotel. It’s an intimate space for a date night or a night out with fantastic cocktails (heavy on the rum …) We’re told they’re expanding the space and adding another bar, so we’ll have to visit again soon! Another #tipsypick!

Minibar proves that you don’t need a big space to make a big impression. This cocktail spot located on a quiet side street is about the size of a cantina lunch counter. But the drinks are inventive and totally worth seeking out #offthetipsypath. This is one of the places we keep coming back to when we’re in town!

The ScapeGoat is another intimate space in the South of Fifth area with great cocktails and a world away from Ocean Drive. Space is a premium, especially late, so try their happy hour for a little breathing room. You won’t regret it!

We often look to other blogs and lists when we’re deciding where to visit. Sweet Liberty is consistently on the list of Best Bars in North America! It doesn’t take long to see why when you try their drinks (check out the coconut Sazerac). Along with inventive originals, Sweet Liberty has classic cocktails down to an art. The atmosphere is “less intimate” than some of the other venues, but it’s great for a fun night out!

If you really want to step away from all the glitz of South Beach – AND have a good cold beer or glass of wine, then Abbey Brewing Company is the spot! They’ve taken a fairly plain storefront and turned it into the closest thing to an old-world beer tavern you can find in Miami. And they’ve been around since 1995! It’s a great spot to drop in and cool off.

And believe it or not, you can find dive bars on South Beach!  Mac’s Club Deuce is one of the best. It’s also Miami’s oldest bar, dating back to 1926.

Before we finish, we’ll mention a few places you should try at least (or maybe just) once, to say you did! Nikki Beach Miami is what you would expect from a club right on Miami Beach. You can even hang out in your swimwear and get some sun. And The Clevelander draws partygoers from around the world. Check it out before you get dressed up for a night out. If you’re a fan of the movie The Birdcage, check out the Birdcage Café in the Carlyle Hotel, where the movie was filmed! And if you haven’t been to a drag brunch at The Palace, have you truly lived?

We also have a few places on our list for next time, Kill Your Idol and The Drawing Room. We’ll let you know what we think!

Bienvenidos a Miami y Salud! (Welcome to Miami and Cheers!)

Miami is one of those places where it’s hard not to have a good time. South Beach in particular is so full of history and lots of great places for a cocktail. But starting in 2020, it became a not so fun place for Spring Break unless you had a bulletproof vest. So, we went looking for fun in other neighborhoods. And we found Wynwood! (We’ll cover South Beach in another post soon.)

This neighborhood just north of downtown Miami is exactly our vibe – a former industrial area now full of bars, restaurants, breweries and lots of street art! A first visit to this area should always include the Wynwood Walls.

But this is a blog about finding fantastic, local drinks, so let’s move on …

First, there are breweries everywhere in Wynwood. We’ll save that for another time, but a few worth mentioning here are J. Wakefield (total Star Wars theme including a fantastic “carbonite” table) and Cerveceria La Tropical (one of the oldest in the area and a very cool space). Check them out and all the others!

Our top #tipsypick for Wynwood is on the edge of the area, but worth a little walk. Lagniappe House is an indoor/outdoor wine bar that calls itself “New Orleans” style, which we appreciate. They have live jazz inside most nights and a massive outdoor space filled with mismatched furniture. The wine selection is incredible! Basically, you pick out a bottle from the shelf or cooler, then pick some meat and cheese and they turn it into amazing charcuterie! This is our favorite spot for sure.

 

One of our #tipsypicks for a date night would have to be Spanglish. The food, drinks and atmosphere (think art deco meets street art) are all top notch – classy and authentic Miami! Make sure to try the Cafetera Old Fashioned.

If you want to dress up a bit (maybe after dinner at Spanglish) then The Sylvester is a good choice in Wynwood! No shorts allowed at night here, guys! They have an excellent list of classic cocktails in an upscale environment – including an excellent Rob Roy. Lots of photo ops! Definitely gets busier as it gets later in the evening.

Beaker & Gray is an excellent cocktail bar with some very inventive cocktails. The Midnight in Paris was a favorite … almond-infused cognac and whiskey with a piece of marzipan on the side. Take a bite, take a sip … next level!

If you like rooftops, Copal is a cool space in the heart of the #Wynwoodjungle. Don’t go for the view, because the building isn’t that tall, but definitely go for the drinks! In the middle of a menu full of tequila and mezcal, Christy found an authentic Select Spritz, one of the few we’ve seen since Venice, complete with an olive garnish! Kudos to the bartender for knowing that one.

Gramps is basically the backyard bar you wish you had in your neighborhood. The indoor space is what you would expect, but the outdoor space is what sets it apart. Lots of cool tables, chairs and spots to just hangout and chill. It reminds us of a bigger version of one of our favorite bars in Carolina Beach, the Fat Pelican. It’s an excellent spot just to hang out with no pretention – and the cocktails are actually quite good too!

Speaking of later… if you like a club atmosphere with indoor/outdoor spaces, even in the middle of the afternoon, check out Dirty Rabbit. They’re open late for you to get your Latin dance on!

Wynwood is a neighborhood we keep coming back to because there’s always something new and more places to try. A few on our list for next time – Coyo Taco (a taco shop with a speakeasy in the back) and Dante’s Hi Fi (a vinyl listening bar).

Did we miss any that you would recommend? As always, we appreciate your feedback!

🤐 🌸 🍸 Secrets and Superb Cocktails in our Nation’s Capital 🤐 🌸🍸

As our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. is full of history – politicians and businesspeople mix with tourists all day long! But at night, there are some fun and creative places to get some good cocktails - It is a big city, after all!

Here are a few things we note if you’re planning a night out in DC:

·       The district is very walkable and the Metro makes it even easier to get around.

·       Those city blocks look much smaller on a map, and you’ll spend half your time waiting for lights at crosswalks.

·       You can grab a taxi or ride share pretty easily if you don’t want to walk off your drinks.

 We’ll start with what we think are the two spots at the top of our #tipsypicks from our recent visit.

Allegory is labeled as a speakeasy inside the Eaton Hotel library. But the secret is definitely out!  We tried one evening to get in and were put on a wait list just so we could get a table to wait in the library to get in!  We came back the next night before dinner and managed to get in after a short wait (and a small welcome cocktail) in the library. And was it worth the wait for sure! This is one of the most creative spaces we’ve seen… and the menus take it to another level. We won’t spoil it all for you… but let’s say the menu is a storybook featuring Ruby Bridges, the courageous six-year-old who helped integrate New Orleans public schools, but with illustrations set in Alice in Wonderland. We were having so much fun reading the menu we almost forgot to order drinks! The menu changes often but the two we ordered were creative and delicious. A #tipsypick for sure! 

We should also note that the Eaton rooftop bar Wild Days is another great option if you want a cocktail while you are waiting to get on the wait list for Allegory, or just as a night out. It’s more of a club atmosphere, but the drinks are good and so is the view. We would consider staying at the Eaton for these options!

Our other #tipsypick is Off the Record – another hotel bar! This one is in the basement of the Hay Adams Hotel across the street from the White House. It has a reputation for being a “tourist bar” but we found mostly locals on a date night during our visit. The atmosphere is classy with lots of red leather seating and a classic menu. Don’t miss the political caricature drawings on both the walls and the coasters! The Maple Bacon Old Fashioned aka “Smoking Mirrors” was quite tasty!

There are a few other speakeasies worth mentioning before we move on to other spaces. The Gibson has been around for nearly a decade, even before speakeasies were suddenly everywhere. And they’ve lasted this long by doing it right – solid drinks behind an unmarked black door near the bustling U Street Corridor. We were able to make reservations, which was helpful! The Black Manhattan we ordered off menu was spot on! It’s definitely a #tipsypick for any visit to D.C.

And for a completely different experience, The Mirror is an underground bar with more of a club vibe hidden behind… (wait for it) a mirror. The music was loud with lots of heavy bass when we were there, but it was fun and the drinks were better than we expected - the Old Fashioned and Sazerac in particular! Very cool!

On our way to the Gibson, we took at walk up 14^th Street in Northwest DC to make a few other stops. 14^th reminds us of a walk up 1^st Avenue in the Lower East Side NYC. Lots of options. We tried to get into Jane Jane, which is known as an intimate cocktail bar, but there was a two hour wait. It must be good. So we went up the street to Left Door, which turned out to be a fantastic move! Our good friend Natalie, who lives in D.C., described it as “drinking in my grandmother’s attic”… with a live music venue (yes, the music was fairly loud rock from speakers above our heads). It’s a “cozy” space, very eclectic, literally in the upstairs of an old house. The drinks were fantastic and the staff was upbeat and friendly! It’s #offthetipsypath for sure.

And finally (but not least) if you are anywhere near the convention center or Chinatown, we highly recommend checking out Morris American Bar! It could easily be called Morris “Neighborhood” bar because it’s definitely full of locals, despite being around the corner from, and on the footprint of, the convention center. The décor is classic art deco and retro, with lots of cool spaces. The drinks are tasty and the staff can definitely make you something you’ll enjoy.

A couple of honorable mentions – the coconut Old Fashioned at Farmers & Distillers and the Old Fashioned flights at Immigrant Food +…  you can find those for yourself!

 

Our #tipsypicks for this trip (if we have to choose just 3):

1. Off the Record
2. Allegory
3. The Gibson