The Cocktail Room at Manifest Distilling in Downtown Jacksonville will open Sept. 3, the company announced Aug. 23.
Manifest said the passage of the Florida craft distilleries bill allows it to sell its products directly to customers in cocktail form. Senate Bill 46 took effect July 1.
“When we opened in Downtown Jacksonville in 2016, our goal with the tasting room was to create a sense of place within our community and give guests a relationship with our spirits through hospitality,” Manifest Distilling co-founder and President David Cohen said in a news release.
“Thanks to recent developments within Florida’s craft distilling laws, we can now fully realize that vision by creating a destination cocktail bar that delivers an exceptional, full-service experience.”
Manifest Distilling is at 960 E. Forsyth St. next to Intuition Ale Works and near 121 Financial Ballpark.
The Cocktail Room hours are 2-10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 2 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.
The Cocktail Room will serve a rotating menu of cocktails using Manifest Distilling organic spirits. They include non-genetically modified potato vodka, Florida citrus vodka, organic gin, barrel-aged gin, Florida botanical gin, organic rye whiskey and 100% rye whiskey and other spirits only available for consumption at the distillery.
Beverage managers Ben Golden and Corey Gros will lead The Cocktail Room’s menu development and operations.
“Our menu reflects a modern minimalist approach that allows the flavor of our spirits to shine,” Golden said in the release.
“Each recipe is carefully designed with the base spirit in mind to offer the guest a unique sensory experience. We want The Cocktail Room to be a place to expand your palate and experience the care that goes into every Manifest product.”
The Cocktail Room’s debut menu includes classic cocktails, ranging from a highball and milk punch to an Old-Fashioned and flip. Prices range from $8 to $12. Customers also can order mixed drinks and tasting flights of Manifest Distilling spirits. Prepackaged cocktails and ice will be available.
The Cocktail Room will offer live music weekly, starting with its grand opening Sept. 3 and continuing with Jazz Night every Thursday in September.
Programming will be curated by Ulysses Owens, artistic director of Don’t Miss A Beat, a local nonprofit that blends music art, academic achievement and civic engagement for children and teens. Owens is a Jacksonville native and a professor at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Throughout September, a portion of all sales from The Cocktail Room will be donated to LIFT JAX, a nonprofit composed of business and community leaders working to eradicate generational poverty in Jacksonville.
Proceeds will support LIFT JAX’s ongoing efforts to implement the Purpose Built Communities model in the Eastside neighborhood.
