Sweet legacy
Friends toast memory of mixologist John Lermayer.
To friends and family of the late John Lermayer, co-founder of Miami Beach libation haven Sweet Liberty, the man did more for Miami than just helping to usher in its modern mixology movement. The 45-year-old was a bon vivant, a bartender, a father, a workhorse and a uniter of people, his friends say.
The life and legacy of Lermayer, who died June 6 in his Miami Beach apartment, will be toasted by close friends, family and members of the public today at Miami Beach Botanical Garden.
The free food-andspirits gathering is being assembled by Laura Cullen, Lermayer’s friend of 20 years, and will feature an evening of Lermayer’s favorite local dishes and cocktails prepared by chef guests Jeff McInnis of Stiltsville Fish Bar, Jon Nguyen of Tran An at St. Roch Market, Brad Kilgore of Alter, Peter Vauthy of Red, the Steakhouse and others.
Cullen, owner of the late South Beach pub Clarke’s, says she’s comfortable admitting she wouldn’t have had a South Florida career without Lermayer, who tirelessly “talked up” Clarke’s to any friends who would listen.
“I think we wanted to ensure that his legacy, his memory, wasn’t onedimensional,” Cullen says. “When you have a rep for owning a bar, people think it’s always a party atmosphere. But he brought people together, and he was a loving father who cared deeply about his son’s future, and we wanted to unravel some of those layers with this event.”
Details about dishes and spirits are still being finalized, but Cullen says the event will accept donations for a college-fund GoFundMe set up for Lermayer’s son, Radek. (The campaign has within six days raised more than $73,000 of its $100,000 goal.)
After a stint working in New York’s rising cocktail scene, Lermayer in 2004 moved to Miami Beach, where he persuaded South Beach’s fashionable set to trade their vodkaRed Bulls for complex libations. Lermayer was handpicked by Lenny Kravitz to create the cocktail menu at the Delano’s old basement lounge, Florida Room. In 2015, he partnered with restaurateur David Martinez (husband of chef Michelle Bernstein) and nightlife maven Dan Binkiewicz (Blackbird Ordinary, Purdy Lounge) to open the craft-cocktail bar Sweet Liberty in 2015.
The Celebration of Life for Lermayer will take place 7-10 tonight at Miami Beach Botanical Garden, 2000 Convention Center Drive. Admission is free. Call 305-763-8217 or go to MySweetLiberty.com.
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