This Is Florida’s Only Seltzer-Focused Bar, Serving Low-ABV Spirits Distilled Next Door

Miami Vice ended in ’89, but in Pensacola, it’s still very much alive in the form of slushies with flamingo-patterned drink umbrellas. The Florida Room, a bar dedicated to its ephemera, carries on the show’s slick, sun-soaked energy.

Opened on June 30, 2024, by Brett Reid and Thomas Grier — beer brewers, Miami Vice disciples, and certified neon enthusiasts — The Florida Room is the Sunshine State’s only open-air, cocktail-focused lounge built entirely around distilled, low-ABV seltzer and unrelenting nostalgia for mall food courts, tanning beds, and Pac-Man video games.

“I love the ’80s, the fashion, and most importantly, the music,” says Reid. “Miami Vice incorporates all of those things so seamlessly into something iconic. I deeply appreciate the show’s art direction, the set design, and the ability to turn these seemingly discarded spaces into a set filled with neon lights and pastel colors.”

The bar serves up a fever dream of checkerboard floors, teal accents, actual chairs from the Miami Vice set, pink wallpaper, and a glowing neon palm tree. Ropes of blue neon wrap around the top of the walls like an ’80s version of crown molding. There’s a curio shelf stacked with tchotchkes scavenged from every flea market south of Palm Beach, and a TV behind the bar plays Bob Ross painting “Happy Little Trees,” which feels like the most grounded aspect of the experience.

Over 2,000 programmable neon lights flashing patterns add to the drama of the space. As Reid says, “There’s something about staring at a pulsing baby blue and hot pink light show when you’re three Mai Tais deep.”

And then there’s the bathroom, which has become almost more popular than the bar. You walk through a dramatic arch, enter a swirling neon portal, and emerge in a room drenched in moody lighting and black porcelain.

“We had the idea to turn this boring, mandatory room into something people could have fun in,” says Reid. “The neon lights make it the ultimate selfie spot, there’s a classy black toilet that you never see anymore, and what ’80s bathroom is complete without a ceramic black panther?”

The drinks are just as unhinged…in the best way. Reid and Grier distill 18-20% ABV uncarbonated seltzer at their brewery, Alga, next door, and flavor it like tequila, gin, and rum. It’s basically liquor cosplay.

There are tropical drinks and classic cocktails, but why play it safe when you can go for Miami Vice-inspired beverages like the Power Suit,  a frothy blend of gin seltzer, aperitif, coconut, lemon, and egg white. It slaps like a shoulder pad in a boardroom. And the Golden Triangle, a saucy libation based in a gin-rum-citrus seltzer laced with a Szechuan shrub, transports you to a faraway land via its Chinese takeout container serving vessel and tongue-numbing spices.

The Florida Room isn’t just a bar. It’s an immersive Vice-infused alternate reality, a shrine to ’80s excess filtered through blenders and LED.

Come for the jello shots, stay for the Miami Vice Easter eggs hidden throughout the space, the constantly evolving menu, better-than-bar food from the Brown Bagger truck stationed outside, and the community Reid and Grier foster daily in this little Pensacola pocket neighborhood where residents outnumber tourists, families show up for art nights, and well-behaved furry friends are always welcome.

Reid adds, “It’s a pseudo-tiki bar in a linen suit. What’s not to love?”