The Scapegoat Has a New Look, but the Cocktails Still Come First
The Scapegoat’s latest chapter starts with hunter green walls, amber lighting and a healthy dose of 1980s South Beach. Eight years after opening in South of Fifth, the intimate, 30-seat cocktail den has debuted a reimagined interior and refreshed identity that looks to the decade’s after-dark spirit for inspiration.
Led by internationally acclaimed bartender Tom Lasher-Walker, the refresh is less reinvention than evolution. The team traded the bar’s dark brown-black walls for rich hunter green, swapped high-tops for standard-height wood tables and introduced a new logo with an unexpected lineage: The Strokes’ 2001 debut album, Is This It, and the retro cigarette branding that inspired it.
Glossy green tile, dark wood and leather-toned seating round out the new look, while the easygoing neighborhood-bar feel that has defined The Scapegoat since 2018 remains intact.
Behind the bar, Lasher-Walker brings two decades of experience spanning some of the world’s most influential cocktail bars, from The American Bar at The Savoy in London to Attaboy in New York and several celebrated Miami spots. At The Scapegoat, that pedigree translates to serious cocktails without the ceremony, pairing meticulous technique with the ease of a neighborhood haunt that never takes itself too seriously.
For its transformation, Lasher-Walker and the team looked to the 1980s, when South Beach nightlife was carving out an iconic chapter in Miami’s cultural identity. But the decade’s influence didn’t stop at the velvet rope. “Coupled with the fact that the decade also gave birth to some of the greatest bands and music of the last 50 years, alongside the emergence of modern cocktail culture through drinks like the Espresso Martini, Cosmopolitan and Tommy’s Margarita, it made sense for us to really lean into that aesthetic and identity,” he said.
Tom Lasher-Walker
The interiors may transport you to ’80s Miami, but the cocktail menu takes its cues from early-2000s New York. The beverage program taps into an era of equal-parts cocktails, Milk & Honey-era contemporary classics and recognizable pours designed to be approachable enough for cocktail newcomers and alluring enough for seasoned barflies.
The lineup moves between modern standards and Lasher-Walker originals, each pulling from a different chapter of his bartending career. The Hidalgo, created at The Scapegoat in 2025, shakes up mezcal with pomegranate amaro, lime and orgeat, while Beny’s Daiquiri takes a tropical turn with aged rum, Velvet Falernum, banana, lime and Angostura bitters. For a little heat, the Hollywood Margarita, first created during his time at Mae’s Room, pairs blanco tequila with triple sec, Ancho Reyes Verde and lime.
And if you needed an excuse to clock out a little early, $12 cocktails should be convincing enough. From 5 to 8 p.m. daily, The Scapegoat’s happy hour serves up daiquiris, gimlets, Palomas, Tom Collins, Manhattans, mojitos and Moscow mules for just $12. Your boss will understand. Probably. Find The Scapegoat at 100 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach, where drinks are flowing daily from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.