SoBeWFF's Garden to Glass: Hardworking Emeril, Herbology and Copious Cocktails

Hannah Sentenac

BAM! Cocktails.

While the festival may have "wine" in its moniker, cocktails have a prominent place in the South Beach Wine and Food Festival (SoBeWFF), particularly this year. In fact, Miami's mixology scene has become so significant that Garden to Glass was born.

The event, hosted at the lush Miami Beach Botanical Garden, was hosted by Emeril and featured local all-stars Bar Lab and My Ceviche. Attendees sipped copious quantities of creative concoctions, from ancho-chili infusions to herbed up gimlets.

Emeril took his bartender duties seriously. Guests were greeted by the BAM! man, pushing cocktails and posing for pictures. His signature drink: Emeril's Tohouptail, was a fruity mix of Sammy's Beach Bar rum, Liquore Strega, thyme & citrus juice, fresh lemon juice, elderflower syrup, orange flower water and pasteurized egg white.

Don't mix your liquors was an adage soon forgotten, what with the myriad of concoctions being stirred, shaken and poured throughout the garden.

There was Zuma's fig and vanilla caipirissima: Botran Reserve, vanilla syrup, fig puree and lime -- and their potent watermelon and fennel martini: 50 Pounds London Dry gin, fresh watermelon and fennel.