Cabo San Lucas is a warm, beautiful, and relaxing destination. From lounging on the beach to boat cruises, para-sailing, ATVs, and burro safaris, there are many activities for any and all interests. There are a handful of places within Cabo that I love going for food, but drinks are a whole other story. Everywhere you go, drinks are made with mass-produced syrups and juices, not to mention well liquor. To really find quality food and drink you need to venture out of Cabo. And one of our favorite places to go is near the Puerto Los Cabos Marina, a hidden oasis in the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains, Flora Farms.
About Flora Farms
Flora Farms is a 25-acre organic working farm growing fruit, vegetables, flowers, and herbs, which all go to the restaurant. The meat for the restaurant is raised nearby at their 150-acre ranch where all the animals are humanely treated and given a diet free from hormones and antibiotics. Plus, they have taken great care to not only make a beautiful location, but also make the food they produce sustainable and intentionally work with the land they have there. For example, they do not serve beef at the restaurant because there isn’t enough water in Baja to sustain cows.
The farm surrounds the restaurant, grocery store, and bar. The main areas, restaurant, grocery store, and bar, are all open-air. And to add to the relaxing atmosphere, spread throughout the grounds are small areas with benches or tables and chairs to take in the beautiful surroundings.
The attention to detail they have in producing the food shows in how they present it. The same goes for the cocktails at the Farm Bar. A farm-to-table, and even, a farm-to-bar experience you will long for after your very first visit.
Flora’s Farm Bar
The Farm Bar is an open-air brick building that sits alongside their growing crops. Just like the food served in the restaurant, the cocktails showcase the quality and freshness of the produce straight from the farm. Recently, they were awarded the 2019 Culinary Awards Los Cabos Bartender of the Year and Bar of the Year.
Their cocktail menu changes every five to six months with the availability of crops. New recipes are a collaborative affair with the owner Gloria Greene, Antonio – the head bartender, and the bar staff. Gloria comes up with an idea for a cocktail. Then she and the bar team create the cocktail experimenting with tweaks here and there until they ultimately land on a recipe. Antonio has a few of his own personal recipes on the menu as well.
The key to any good cocktail is using great spirits and fresh ingredients, and Antonio and his bar staff make all the bitters, syrups, salts, juices, and infusions. Every morning starting at seven a.m., the bar staff juice more than 60 liters of juice (e.g. watermelon, orange, carrot, lime, lemon, etc.). One of their most ordered drinks is their Farmrita that uses heirloom carrot juice. Sitting at the bar you can watch platters of ten or more at a time being made.
Farm-to-Bar Made Ingredients
They have somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 different bitters including mint, thyme, tomato, jalapeno, orange, damiana, sorghum, and many more. What’s really impressive is that Antonio makes all the bitters. He is constantly tinkering with the recipes to get the best possible flavor from the produce and botanicals he is using.
They are always evolving at the bar, from trying out new techniques for making their bitters to testing out new flavor profiles from the produce available on the farm.
And, they make specialty salts to garnish some of their drinks. They have a passion fruit mezcal cocktail called Spring Rabbit that they rim with habanero and pumpkin salt. Their Smokey Mezcal Hibiscus Margarita is rimmed with a beautiful red hibiscus salt rim. And if you find something you really enjoy, their bitters and salts are available for purchase at the nearby Farm Grocery.
I always pick up new bitters when we are at Flora Farms. This year I picked up their Sorghum and Damiana bitters.
Sorghum Bitters
Sorghum is a drought tolerant flowering plant grown for grain. They use the tops or the flowering part of the sorghum for the bitters. It has a sweet somewhat funky smell to it. Sorghum is the main grain in Chinese Baijiu. I was drawn to the sorghum bitters because of their Old Fashioned recipe which includes Maker’s Mark and simple syrup along with the sorghum bitters.
Damiana Bitters
The Damiana bitters jumped out at me. Damiana is a small shrub and “is said to have a strong spice-like odor somewhat like chamomile, due to the essential oils present in the plant.” I use a damiana liqueur for a margarita recipe I learned of in Todo Santos and thought this would be a great way to add that damiana flavor without adding sweetness to a cocktail. Let the experiments begin!
Farm Bar Cocktails
We had our fair share of cocktails. Going with a group lets you taste a multitude of drinks without the effects of having a multitude of drinks. Their farm cocktail menu consists of eight of their classics. And while we were there, they also had their seasonal spring cocktail menu, which also had eight drinks.
It’s hard to pick a favorite drink with so many good ones on the menu, but their best selling drinks are their Farmtini, Farm Julep, Wild Hibiscus Margarita, and Farmrita. The Old Fashioned with sorghum bitters and Maker’s Mark is classic, but the bitters really take it up a notch.
Personally, the Farm Julep and Smokey Mezcal Hibiscus Margarita are my favorites from their classic menu. On the spring cocktail menu, I really loved the Spring Rabbit, El Viejo, and Wild Hibiscus Margarita.
Antonio was gracious enough to give me the recipes for a couple of their cocktails. As for the rest, you’ll have to head out to Flora Farms and experience them for yourself.
El Viejo by Flora’s Farm Bar
Ingredients
2 oz Mezcal
.5 oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz fresh orange juice
.5 oz simple syrup 1:1
3 pineapple chunks
3 cilantro leaves
2 slices of serrano pepper
Instructions
- In a shaking tin drop in pineapple chunks, cilantro leaves, and slices of Serrano pepper.
- Muddle those in the tin.
- Add the rest of the ingredients.
- Add ice and shake till well chilled.
- Strain into an old fashioned glass with ice
- Garnish with a sprig of cilantro and a chunk of pineapple.
Wild Hibiscus Margarita by Flora’s Farm Bar
Ingredients
2 oz Patron Silver
1 oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz triple sec
.5 oz fresh orange juice
.5 oz hibiscus simple syrup 1:1
Instructions
- Combine everything in a shaking tin with ice.
- Shake till chilled.
- Rim old fashioned glass with hibiscus salt and regular salt.
- Strain into the glass with ice.
Finding Flora Farms & the Farm Bar
Carretera Transpeninsular San José del Cabo Km. 30 Las Ánimas Bajas, 23407 San José del Cabo, B.C.S., Mexico
Hours
Monday closed
Tuesday through Saturday 9am – 2pm & 5pm – 10pm
Sundays 10am – 2pm.
Make a reservation on their website: www.flora-farms.com
The bar is a wonderful beginning and end to your visit to Flora Farms.
A Little More About What Flora Farms Offers
It is a very relaxing and chill atmosphere. Feel free to roam around and take in all the natural beauty. If you are visiting with kids be sure to stop by the play area and turtle pond. They have turtle food available at the grocery store so the kids can feed the turtles. There is also a small swing-set for younger kids to play. And, be sure to stop by the ice cream cart for some amazing ice cream made with the local ingredients. The mint was out of this world; made with fresh mint grown on the farm. There are also small shops that sell everything from fashion, art, jewelry, body care, to even beer and wine.
Additionally, Flora Farms offers tours and classes. On some of the tours, you can take a quick tour of the farm with a guide and learn about how and what they grow before you sit down to your meal. If you are interested in learning how to make some of the food from the restaurant, you can book a cooking class. Classes include a tour, a craft cocktail, and lunch. This season (2019), they also offer a painting class and a medicinal herb walk. We will definitely be booking classes on our next visit.
And we can’t forget to mention, the farm is also available for weddings and events. It is a beautiful setting and would be an amazing backdrop for any celebration.
And, by the way
This is not a sponsored post. We genuinely love Flora Farms and felt inspired to write about our experience. We set up an interview with them the last time we were there because we knew we wanted to share how incredible we find their bar and restaurant.
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