Craft Cocktails in Edgewater: The Spirit-Forward Side

Most searches for craft cocktails in Edgewater end with a list of places and very little about what's actually in the glass. So here's the other half of the answer. Kaona Room is a 45-seat tiki speakeasy hidden inside The Leinster at 1600 NE 1st Ave, and while plenty of people come for the coconut and the umbrellas, there's a stiffer, more spirit-forward side of the menu that cocktail nerds tend to find on their second visit. This is a guide to that side, plus why the late end of the night is a good time to drink it.

What makes craft cocktails in Edgewater worth the trip

"Craft" gets thrown around a lot, so it's fair to ask what it means at a tiki bar. For us it mostly comes down to what gets made in house before you ever sit down. The orgeat in the Mai-Tai is homemade. So is the falernum that spices the Zombie and the Aku Aku Lapu, and the pineapple ginger shrub in the Pineapple Daiquiri. The Aged Mai-Tai uses rums aged in house by a few different methods, and the Polynesian Pearl Diver gets its butter through fat washing, which keeps a famously fussy recipe clean in the glass.

Then there's clarification. The Ghost is our Zombie, doubled in size and clarified with whole milk, and the Phantom is its smaller, chilled cousin served up. Both drink silkier than you'd expect from something that strong. None of this is showing off for its own sake. It's how you get a drink that tastes like the bartender cared, which is really the whole point of seeking out a craft cocktail bar in Edgewater instead of ordering a well drink anywhere else.

Behind all of it sits a collection of more than 50 rums from across the Caribbean, Latin America and beyond. You'll see a few of them named on the full cocktail menu: Pusser's Navy, El Dorado 3 and 5 year from Guyana, Planteray O.F.T.D. overproof, and our own Kaona Rum Blend #3.

The spirit-forward side of a tiki menu

If you usually order a Negroni or an Old Fashioned and assume tiki isn't for you, this is the part to read. Several drinks on our menu are built for exactly that drinker, and a couple of them aren't even rum-led.

Akapulko Dayz ($24) is the white Negroni you didn't know you needed: Patron Blanco, bitter and vermouth bianco with a hint of coco. It's stirred, bracing and a little tropical at the edges, which makes it a great first drink if you want something that wakes your palate up rather than coating it.

Tropical Old Fashioned ($24) is our house Old Fashioned made with Kaona Rum Blend #3, a mix of Guyana, Barbados and Jamaica. If you'd rather pick the rum yourself, you can, at market price. Ask the bartender to walk you through a couple of options and you'll learn a lot about how different rum styles behave in a simple, spirit-heavy build.

Tahitian Itch ($26) combines Jameson Irish Whiskey, Guyanese rum and overproof rum, with passion fruit easing you in. It's a natural pick for whiskey drinkers, and it's limited to two per guest, which tells you something.

The Bastard ($24) brings aged rums and Hendrick's gin together with a few drops of Absente absinthe, topped with ginger beer. It's sharp and moody, and it's one of the better drinks on the menu for people who think tiki is always sweet.

And for the classicists, the Aku Aku Lapu ($24) is a 1960s original from Aku Aku Las Vegas with El Dorado 5, O.F.T.D. and dark Caribbean rums, homemade falernum, citrus and pineapple. The menu calls it not for the faint of heart, and it's a house favorite for a reason. The Zombie ($24), a Donn Beach recipe from 1934, sits in the same territory. Both are limited to two per guest.

Late night cocktails in Edgewater: timing your visit

Kaona Room is open Wednesday and Thursday 6PM to 1AM, Friday and Saturday 6PM to 2AM, and closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. That makes it one of the easier answers if you're after late night cocktails in Edgewater, especially after a show or dinner nearby. Edgewater sits between Wynwood and the Design District, just north of downtown, so it's roughly 5 minutes from Wynwood, 10 from Downtown and Brickell, and 15 from Miami Beach over the Julia Tuttle Causeway. Free street parking on NE 1st Ave and the side streets helps too.

A good late-night order looks a little different from an early-evening one. If you're arriving after a big dinner, the Akapulko Dayz or Tropical Old Fashioned sit well on a full stomach. If you're starting the night with us, the Pineapple Daiquiri ($17) or the Lychee Nut Daiquiri ($22), a Trader Vic recipe from around 1960, are cleaner openers, and you can work your way toward the stronger drinks from there. Pace yourself on the overproof stuff. The Sexy 69 ($24) is a colada built on 69% Planteray O.F.T.D., and it's smoother than that number suggests, which is exactly the problem.

If there's a group of you, a bowl is still the friendliest move late at night. The Rapa Nui Nui and The Founders Volcano Bowl are $59 each and serve two, so one bowl for every pair keeps the table happy without anyone counting rounds.

Getting in

There's no sign, and we won't tell you exactly where the door is inside The Leinster. Finding it is the first chapter. What we can tell you is that 45 seats is the whole room, and Friday and Saturday regularly sell out a week or more ahead. Walk-ins are welcome when there's space, but entry is never guaranteed, especially on weekends. The room is 21+ with valid ID, and the dress code is smart casual with tropical elegance, so Hawaiian shirts are encouraged and flip flops and athletic wear are not.

So if a stirred white Negroni, a rum Old Fashioned or a properly built Zombie sounds like your kind of night, reserve a table at Kaona Room. Online bookings take parties up to 6 with instant confirmation, and bigger groups can go through private events. We'll keep a seat warm and the falernum ready.