Bacardi on the Beach- A SOBWFF Event
By Maritza Daman-Carles
How awesome and exciting winning last minute tix to my first ever SOBE Wine & Food Festival!! To have those tix be the Bacardi on the Beach event, #superawesome!!
Bacardi on the Beach was on the sand behind the Delano hotel with the entrance at 1 Lincoln Road. My fiancé and I surprisingly found parking easy enough at the lot on Lincoln and took a leisurely stroll over to the event entrance. I should begin by mentioning the entertainment for this event was Rev Run from Run DMC fame and DJ Ruckus who I’ve never heard of which gave me slight reservation into how good the event would be. By the time we got to Collins it was about 10ish and we could hear the familiar sounds of old 80’s hip-hop, “It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time, It’s Tricky, it’s Trickyyyy” my reservations vanished!!
The event was listed as starting at 9pm so we arrived at what I thought was the perfect time as the vibe was obviously jumping and there was absolutely no line to get in. We made it through the polite staff check points, scanned our tix, got our wristbands and we were let loose to explore! It was a marvel for the senses, smells, sounds, sights, the feel of the sand through your toes (thank goodness I wore my flip-flops, some other girls apparently didn’t get the memo and quickly became part of the entertainment as we watched them navigate the site like Bambi’s in their tall wedges or stilettos).
There were at least 20 food stations with mostly impressive offerings at Bacardi on the Beach. A few Miami staples like Azucar Ice Cream from Calle Ocho and my absolute favorite all-star of the night: Versailles Cuban Restaurant serving up the most delectable croqueta preparada sandwich and mamey milkshake I have ever experienced in my life!!! Seriously, these late-night snack sized versions of the classic was everything you’d want and need it to be: warm toasty, crisp yet soft Cuban bread, sweet ham, savory Dijon mustard, mayo, unbelievable melty Swiss cheese and of course the focal point, the ham croqueta all together in one blissful union. The mamey milkshake, light and creamy, sweet but not overbearing.
Some other noteworthy contributions were made by Olla Miami with their short ribs huarache, Dr. BBQ and their smoky brisket potato chip nachos and SoCal Taco and Cantina’s yummy San Diego Taco.
As for the alcohol, thanks to Bacardi of course for keeping the social lubricant flowing from start to finish! As soon as we walked in I was greeted with a killer mojito and kept switching it up till I found a ridiculously succulent banana concoction I ended up having to chug on the way out! Throughout the entire time, Rev Run and DJ Ruckus did a bang-up job of working the crowd, giving us all what we wanted, kept everyone bopping and singing along, nonstop super high energy while lighting effects set the Miami nightlife party mood.
All in all, I’d say the Bacardi on the Beach event was a total success and definitely worthy of the SOBEWFF title and the $100 price tag. I look forward to attending Bacardi on the Beach again next year, only this time, I’ll try to arrive right at the start time instead of my usual fashionably late Cuban time! For now you can find me detoxing and working off all this food and booze with my Sweat Nation coaches!