In the 1968 film “The Swimmer,” Burt Lancaster sets himself a challenge: Can he make it all the way home from a friend’s cocktail party by swimming from one neighbor’s backyard pool to the next? The movie is set in Connecticut and is meant to be a scathing satire of midcentury suburban materialism, but from where the Biscayne Tippler sits, it might as well be the itinerary for a weekend on the town. A pool-centric pub crawl, as it were.
Miami’s certainly got enough poolside bars to make this happen. (And like Lancaster’s character, we’ve all got some recent hard times to swim away from.) Now that our favorite watery watering holes have begun opening again, we asked a few of their top mixologists to recommend their favorite drinks to sip while taking a dip. Get a towel (optional), get a designated driver (not optional) and get ready to dive into summer with these cool cocktails.
TAKEN FOR GRANTED
Our first stop next pool: SLS South Beach. Our order: Taken for Granted, a citrus cocktail created by Miguel Lancha.
SLS South Beach (as opposed to the nearby SLS locations in Brickell, Nassau and, er, Dubai) is well known by all the chlorinated carnival cognoscenti as the site of the SLS Pool Party. This regularly recurring bash requires a table reservation to enter, so gather a group of friends before making your way over to 1701 Collins Ave. Or, replicate a smaller-scale version of this South Beach bacchanalia on your patio back home with this recipe. Just keep a clear head while mixing this one – it relies on two “fancy” ingredients: cinnamon syrup, made with 1 1/2 tablespoons crushed cinnamon stick heated in 2 cups each sugar and water until boiling, then strained; and citrus ash, made from dried citrus hulls from juicing, charred in the oven until black, then pulverized and strained like confectioners’ sugar.
INGREDIENTS
· 1 1/4 ounces Buffalo Trace or Bulleit bourbon
· 1 1/4 ounces Maestro Sierra 15 oloroso sherry
· 1 1/4 ounces fresh orange juice
· 1/2 ounce passion fruit purée
· 1/2 ounce cinnamon syrup
· 2 mint sprigs, for garnish
· 2 orange half-wheels, for garnish
· Citrus ashes, for garnish
METHOD
· Combine liquid ingredients in shaker and give no more than three energetic slings with ice. (“You want some dilution, not full dilution,” says Lancha.) Fine-strain into an empty rocks glass and pack with crushed ice until it mounds a bit over the top.
· Gently smack mint sprigs and place on drink. Add two orange half-wheels, sprinkle with citrus ashes and serve.
PURPLE REIGN
The next pool: The Pool at Strawberry Moon at The Goodtime Hotel. Our order: Purple Reign, a crisp, Asian-inflected drink that’s as colorful as it is refreshing.
(Courtesy of The Goodtime Hotel)
A Purple Reign at The Goodtime Hotel’s Pool at Strawberry Moon seems almost too pretty to drink, but it’s too tasty not to.
Open since April, the Goodtime – a collaboration between singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams and nightlife impresario David Grutman – is a haute couture hangout at 601 Washington Ave. in South Beach. The hotel’s Pool at Strawberry Moon has quickly established itself as a place to be seen as much as it is a place to relax, and this drink is nothing if not Insta-ready. Said hotel rep Katerina Salgado: “Not only is this Pharrell's favorite drink, but the bright purple hue is sure to catch the eye of everyone around you – which is never a bad thing when you're enjoying the rooftop pool at The Goodtime Hotel.”
INGREDIENTS
· 1 1/2 ounces shochu
· 1 ounce Avion Silver tequila
· 1/2 ounce Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
· 3/4 ounces lemon juice
· 1/2 ounce yuzu juice
· 1 ounce butterfly pea and lavender syrup
· 3 dashes Fee Foam
METHOD
· Mix all ingredients well in a shaker and pour into a modern hurricane glass.
THE LOREN
(Courtesy of The Vagabond Hotel)
The Loren, poured at Aqua by Sebastian at The Vagabond Hotel, gets sweet seductiveness from locally grown watermelon.
Our final splashdown: Aqua by Sebastian at The Vagabond Hotel. Our order: The Loren, as sweet and pleasantly piquant as a certain Italian celebrity.
This poolside bar looks like one where Lancaster’s backyard swimmer would feel perfectly in his element, located as it is in the renovated jet-age motel at 7301 Biscayne Blvd., an old haunt of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest of the Rat Pack. Mixologist Sebastian Millan’s cocktail menu pays respects to Aqua’s location with Florida fruit flavors and herbs grown on-site, and to The Vagabond’s midcentury roots with drinks named after icons of the 1950s and ’60s.
INGREDIENTS
· 1 1/2 ounces tequila
· 1 ounce fresh Florida watermelon
· 1/2 ounce lime juice
· 1/2 ounce curaçao
· Tajin seasoning
METHOD
· Lightly shake all ingredients 20 seconds and strain into a rocks glass rimmed with Tajin seasoning; garnish with a watermelon triangle.