Best Bar Renovation in Miami: Abbey Brewing Co.

Abbey Brewing Co.

1115 16th St., Miami Beach, FL 33139

(305) 538-8110

Living in Miami sometimes feels like fighting a failing battle against collective amnesia. Every couple of months, nightclubs shut down and reopen under new names. Politicians come and go with the tide, leaving the city a bit dirtier each time. Hell, even our baseball team has a new name, stadium, and uniform. But if there's one place that we go to remember, it's the neighborhood bar. That's why there is nothing scarier to a barfly than the word renovation. Countless watering holes have closed for "renovation" only to never reopen or, worse, transmogrify into cocktail lounges full of black lights but with no draft beer. So imagine our terror when the Abbey Brewing Co. — one of the only good bars in Miami Beach — announced it would shut down for several months beginning last September. Thank Bacchus that when the place finally reopened this February, it was still recognizably the Abbey. In fact, owner Raymond Rigazio simply expanded the place. It's still a dark, smoky, wood-lined cave where you can chat up a stranger or sip away your sorrows. And the laid-back bartenders still pour 13 different beers on tap, including the aptly named Immaculate IPA and a new Maybach with hints of toffee. But now you can actually find a place to sit. Plus there's room to throw darts without grazing customers as they pass through the doorway. So sidle up to the new bar — made out of the former counter, an old shuffleboard table — and have a drink. Each pint is a Pyrrhic victory over the powers of forgetfulness.

Source: Miami New Times