From the looks of things on last Saturday night, you'd think the multiple Memorial Day Weekend shootings in Miami hadn't happened. Kill Your Idol was packed and pumping with the roar of Rebel. The crowds in front of Cameo and Dream were thirty, forty, fifty thick. There wasn't a table to be had anywhere on Lincoln Road. And at the intersection of Washington Avenue and 17th Street, where The Fillmore faces New World Center, Primus and Dirty Vegas were making their respective rackets. Hardly the kinda scene you'd expect after gunfire left one dead and seven injured.

This eccentric authority on all things boozy is more than just your average bartender. For the past 16 years, Thomas Merolla has been mixing it up, creating sweet and savory cocktails that transport his patrons beyond your average bar experience. His cultivated skills have earned acclaim from the Miami New Times, and have won him a People's Choice Award for Ultimate Cocktail for a Cure. Currently, you can find Thomas developing his innovative ideas as the Mixologist and Creative Director at B Bar at the Betsy Hotel in Miami, while still finding time to create cocktail menus for various restaurants around town. With a host of mouth-watering specialties up his sleeve, Merolla is ingraining himself into Miami nightlife lore.

● Hakkasan (South Beach) - Inventive Chinese import by way of UK. ● The Betsy (South Beach) - Where history and luxe, sexy, SoBe debauchery can live under the same colonial roof. ● Vince Neil's Feelgood's Rock Bar (South Beach) - The kind of naughty rock ‘n roll bar you see in the middle of a Vegas casino, but worlds better. Viva hair bands.