The Manor Bar’s Bookish New Menu Debuts in Montecito

Talk about a hot new cocktail menu — one of the highlights at the clubby Manor Bar at Rosewood Miramar Beach is literally smoking. And perhaps I should have said “literately,” as this inventive and inspired list is all based upon works of literature.

That hot cocktail is the Fahrenheit 451, which arrives at your table in a smoke-filled lantern of sorts — you get to reach in and pull your old-fashioned glass out. The smoke, from dehydrated white sage, is redolent of the hills and the Bradbury novel about a dystopian future where firefighters burn books (hey, that could never happen). In some ways, the cocktail is a take on a Paper Plane, but this burning cocktail gives you so much more than just Buffalo Trace bourbon, Amaro Nonino Quintessentia, and the richness of a lemon and orange oleo saccharum.

Other highlights include The Monk — a delicious, deep dive into mixologist geekery with both green and yellow Chartreuse (there are your monks!), peaty Laphroaig 10-Year whiskey, maraschino liqueur, and some peach bitters to round it out even further — and The Crossing, an amped-up margarita with both mezcal and tequila, extra zip from Ancho Reyes Verde, lime, and mole bitters. Plus the daintiest rimming of a piquant mix of dehydrated, pulverized Hatch chile, lime zest, and salt. All the details of these drinks are spot on.

The dress code is sophisticated, as are the tasty small plates like hummus with baby radishes and their greens to dip. Around 7:30 p.m., live music kicks in on weekends — think bossa nova trios whose chanteuse can pull off a muted trombone solo on Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love” — but the acoustics make conversations still easy. Every night, there’s a view of the ocean from the comfortable, library-esque sitting room. It’s not a cheap night out — each drink is $24 — but it is transporting.

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