Flagler Village’s first liquor store is hiding a big secret
We like hurling axes at wooden targets as much as the next lumberjack, but — wait a second — what’s with the giant 400-pound bulletproof vault door labeled “Armory” in the back of Chops + Hops Axe Throwing Lodge in Fort Lauderdale?
The answer: It leads straight into Fort Liquordale.
Not to be confused with the city of Fort Lauderdale’s scurrilous nickname, Fort Liquordale is the name of a 3,000-square-foot entertainment village quietly — and if you ask its owners, secretly — taking shape in the warehouse next door to Chops + Hops.
For now, Fort Liquordale is a slick-looking bodega and liquor store from Chops + Hops partners Ryan Lavernia, Clay Rusch and Chase Walton. The 1,200-squarefoot shop at 702 NE First Ave., which opened in early April, replaces Rank & File Social Club, a short-lived bar that closed during pandemic lockdowns and never reopened.
Through its front entrance on Northeast First Avenue, Fort Liquordale is a cocktail-maker’s paradise, stocked with bartending tools and homemade simple syrups, clear-ice molds and cocktails to-go, local craft beer and premium brands from Dom Perignon to small-batch Casamigos. Two giant refrigerated cases are stocked with beer, including local suds from Barrel of Monks, Copper point and Funky Buddha, along with premade charcuterie trays.
“It’s not just a liquor store but it’s sure starting out that way,” Lavernia says. “We want this to be a fun homage to the city that we live in. I mean, look at us. Do we look like a traditional Spring Break place to you?”
He says Fort Liquordale is inspired by a popular cocktails-to-go program he ran out of Chops + Hops while it was closed during lockdowns. “Liquor sold really well last year while my bar was closed,” he says. “Plus, there are no liquor stores in Flagler Village, which helps.”
The storefront is also a red herring, he says. A second bulletproof vault door (here labeled “Whiskey Vault”) inside Fort Liquordale leads to a kitchen and future speakeasy-themed lounge. The 1,000-square-foot lounge will feature 30 seats with an island bar and warehouse bay door that rolls up for alfresco drinking. Lavernia says the speakeasy will be open by reservation only this summer and include guest bartenders, tastings, wine samples and cocktail dinners made in a 800-square-foot kitchen it will share with Chops + Hops.
“It’s so easy to throw up old-looking bookshelves and hire a guy with a swizzle mustache to serve you cocktails and call it a speakeasy,” Lavernia says. “But what separates us isn’t just the knowledge of our bartenders but the world-class vibe you’ll feel.”
And, of course, the secrecy. When his speakeasy opens, Lavernia doesn’t plan to announce it to the public.
“We’re not even going to advertise it,” Lavernia says. “We just started interviewing bartenders. We’ll just open and not really tell anyone. Maybe we’ll say to the ax-throwers next door, ‘Hey, when you’re done, there’s a nice bar next door.’”
The name Fort Liquordale, he says, is a tongue-in-cheek throwback to Fort Lauderdale’s rollicking Spring Break heyday in the ‘70s and ‘80s. But the name is also a backlash against the recent sprawl of midrise residential lofts and boutique hotels in Flagler Village and downtown, as well as Lavernia’s keen desire to keep the city local and unpretentious.
“The three of us are lifelong South Florida people, and we don’t want Flagler Village to be commercialized,” he says. “We want to preserve the soul and character with mom-and-pop places, not with rooftop bars.”