Here in the Magic City, we already love celebrity chef and restaurateur Scott Conant for bringing his award-winning Scarpetta {4441 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach; 877.326.7412}—and its magically-perfect Spaghetti—to the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. But now we have a second reason to love him: his own pop-up cocktail lab and infusion bar in his famed Italian restaurant. Originally unveiled during the 2017 Food Network and Cooking Channel South Beach Wine and Food Festival, today, Sorso by Scott Conant sits inside Scarpetta’s lounge and on its terrace. It serves cold-brew infusion cocktails and sodas made with house-infused spirits, shrubs, and syrups, all brewed in two large glass cold-brew towers that look like they came straight from a fancy chemistry lab.
Named after the Italian word for “sip,” Sorso isn’t just any place to grab a drink. It serves craft cocktails and Italian bites you want to take your time to enjoy. For one, its chefs and bartenders use only the highest-quality, seasonal herbs, flowers, fruits, nuts, spices, and more to make sure the flavor of their creations really shines. Second, you can choose from a menu of their own expert creations, or ask one of Scarpetta’s skilled bartenders to make a bespoke alcoholic or non-alcoholic infusion just for you… like pineapple-vanilla infused Bacardi rum, orange-infused Campari, or raspberry-grapefruit soda, to name a few.
After a long day, belly up to the bar and order a Garden High Ball, which infuses Stoli vodka with cucumbers, basil, and tomato and adds Yuzu tonic, and is one of only two carefully-crafted drinks made in the infusion towers themselves. Other cold-brew infused cocktails include the True Bleau, a mix of Barr Hill gin, grapefruit soda, and a pea flower-infused ice cube, or for something with a kick, get the En Fuego. It combines jalapeno-infused Corazón tequila with sauvignon blanc, St. Germain, lemon, and agave. For me, Crave—a watermelon-infused Russian Standard vodka cocktail with Aperol, cranberry, lime, and mint—was the standout of my night there. Pair it with bites like Scarpetta Stromboli with caponata, an Antipasti Board, or Wild Mushroom Arancini with a truffle aïoli, throw in Scarpetta’s dazzling Fontainebleau pool views, and you’ll be living la dolce vita in no time.
Sorso by Scott Conant is open from 6 p.m. to close everyday. Get $12 cocktails during Social Hour, which runs from 6 to 7 p.m. daily.
Happy dining!
By Jennifer Agress | Miami Editor