South Pointe Tavern - A Bar Review
Made it to South Beach after work to try the new whiskey bar in town, South Pointe Tavern. This bar is located at the very southern tip of Miami Beach, literally at the end of the road. There was a fun whiskey bar farther north called Commonwealth open for about a year, but it just closed last month. South Pointe Tavern is now the only self-identified whiskey bar on the Beach.
Atmosphere and Service: South Pointe's vibe is very Miami beach -- it's a mix of casual and upscale, with lanterns on the bar and an elegant, hipster-who-makes-a-good-living vibe. It's attractive, without a doubt. If South Pointe was a man, he would wear Ralph Lauren Black Label; if South Pointe was a woman, Roland Mouret. Look for yourself:
The bar was a little quiet when I got there at around 5:30 on a Wednesday, during happy hour. A few people trickled in and out, but I often had the bar to myself. As a consequence, service was great! I got whatever I wanted to drink, as soon as I wanted to drink it.
Selection: South Pointe has a respectable selection -- maybe even better than the Beach's former best whiskey bar, Commonwealth. Going from right to left, the bar has a shelf of bourbons and ryes, then another shelf solely consisting of single malt scotches. The shelf on the far left contains blended whiskies, a few more single malts, and Irish and Japanese whiskies. Unfortunately, the bar doesn't yet have a whiskey list online. And when I visited, they didn't even have one printed out yet!
Rare Bottles: There are a few unusual or hard-to-find bottles here, but nothing truly rare. On the scotch side, I don't often see Longmorn at a bar (bottom row, sandwiched between the Aberlour A'bunadh and the Glenlivet). I also spotted a bottle of Laphroaig's Cairdeas 2015, the 200th anniversary bottling, which is a superb scotch. I have a bottle at home and guard it jealously. On the other side, they have several varieties of Whistlepig, which isn't at just every bar. There's nothing truly eye-boggling, but it's a solid selection.
Value: I'm a little disappointed, the bar's website and some of the local media reviews suggested that Wednesday's happy hour was called "Whiskey Wednesdays," and all the whiskies were half off. When I got there, they informed me the half-off applied only to beers and wines, and to one whiskey: Jim Beam Pre-Prohibition Rye. I tried that one, as well as a Russell's Reserve Single Barrel. The price of that drink ($15 for a 2 oz pour) was a bit better than the regular price at Taurus ($18), so it's not overpriced for Miami, particularly the Beach. Taurus, however, puts all of its whiskies on sale (30% off) every Monday and Wednesday, which means it's the better deal on those days.
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South Pointe's a good change of pace from the usual Miami Beach loud music and watered down drinks. I'm a little disappointed that their website didn't accurately represent their current specials, but I hope the place fares well!