Tucked neatly inside the first upscale hostel in the United States, Broken Shaker is a bar that works perfectly within its environment, helping to amplify the antithetical approach to the typically frenetic Miami nightlife that one finds at Freehand.
When one thinks of Miami, and in particular South Beach, visions of high-energy nightclubs and super-sleek ultra lounges come to mind. This is a city that built its nightlife reputation around sultry nighttime temperatures and spirited influences of the Cuban and Latino cultures that have called it home for so long. Miami is a spicy dish of decadence, with plenty of flash to go around.
But even amongst all that frenzied revelry, it is possible to have a relaxed experience in the streets of South Beach, and never more so than with the arrival of Freehand Miami, the first upscale hostel in the United States. Beyond The Fontainbleu and the W, Freehand offers young travelers a place to stay at a lower cost, and, more importantly, introduces them to one of the best bars in America, Broken Shaker, a 2013 James Beard Award semi-finalist.
“We fit in well here because there is so much of the nightclubs and the lounges and the velvet ropes and the vodka sodas in Miami, and it’s just about volume, volume, volume,” says Gabe Orta, Food and Beverage Partner at Broken Shaker. “Here, you can be yourself. You can come in wearing sandals after the beach or come here before you go out to a club or to dinner and be all dressed up—whatever. We see a lot of industry people who come in on their night off or when their shift ends too. So it’s kind of a laid-back vibe.”
