The craft cocktails that have become popular imbibes in St. Petersburg will soon be poured in Downtown Sarasota. Cask and Ale CEO Jeff Catherell expects to open a location for the luxury bar and restaurant on Main Street in about two months. And he hopes the opening of the establishment will only further the reputation of downtown as a hot spot for a night out. “We’re all working together to make downtown the destination spot,” he says.

Cask and Ale, which opened its first location in St. Petersburg almost three years ago, takes special pride in the cocktails it pours, Catherell says. The bar earned a Best in the Bay award last year for largest whiskey selection, and Cask and Ale bartenders regularly compete for personal honors as well. The cocktails can run anywhere from $10 to $30 a pour, so expect a refined and distinguishing patron ordering this mix. “They want stuff they’ve never heard of that is the most wonderful thing ever,” Catherell says. “It’s about the quality of spirit, but also about the education. Our bartenders are highly knowledgeable about our products.” 

Catherell says one of the drinks in high demand in St. Petersburg has been the Spring Fling, which includes muddled strawberries and cucumbers, as well as lemon juice and cucumber vodka. Barracks each night spend hours juicing fresh ingredients. “We’re not just giving out a vodka cranberry and saying, ‘give us 10 bucks.’ It’s a quality product and a luxury product,” he says. A menu from Cask and Ale also showcases dining offerings including Korean skirt steak tacos, tempura-battered oyster mushrooms and beer-poached shrimp. 

Establishment owners were waiting for approval to open from the Sarasota City Commission before ordering much of the new furniture and other inventory. That approval was obtained last night after Cask and Ale made a number of stipulations aimed at keeping noise levels under control. Catherell acknowledges a public hearing presented an image of young professionals fighting against retirees living downtown, but he plans to serve all of those groups. The people buying condo units upward of $700,000 are very much part of the audience Cask and Ale wants to serve. “We have a wide mix of types of people up in St. Petersburg,” he says. 

At Starflower Organic Spathecary, nature-seekers can exhale: all of the Sarasota-based company’s essential oils are certified organic, in some cases “wildcrafted”—composed of ingredients gathered from their natural “wild-grown” state—and of food-quality grade. This trio of Starflower’s most popular essential oils—Seven Trees, Magi and Cool Cirtus—comes from the brand’s Synergy line, meaning each contains a mixture of several potent ingredients working in tandem. In the Seven Trees formula, distilled essences of seven tree species—including pine, cypress and eucalyptus—boast detoxifying powers. Take a deep breath of concentrated forest: inhale spicy whiffs of pine, notes of musky mint and dewy evergreen. Frankincense, myrrh and monatomic gold make the Magi potion a focus-increasing aromatherapy tool—although its Yuletide fragrance may give you the urge to buy a Christmas tree in July. Cool Citrus, an energizing blend of lemon, red mandarin, orange blossom and bergamot, fights midsummer lethargy with invigorating intensity.  

Pictured: Starflower's essential oil trio. Photo by Heidi Stone.

Starflower Organic Spathecary, 415 South Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, 941-554-4292

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System welcomed Eric Suescun, former US Air Force colonel, as a new general surgeon to the health system’s First Physicians Group (FPG) network and community. Dr. Suecun is a board-certified general surgeon and military veteran who spent years caring for injured soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan and other war-torn countries. He is fluent in Spanish and provides a full spectrum of general surgery services, from routine to emergency and critical care, to pediatric and adult surgical patients. 

Sarasota Memorial's First Physicians Group

Willis Smith Construction announces the ground breaking for the Oaks Country Club Wellfit Center to be completed February 2017. The facility will be approximately 7,500 square feet and will include a group fitness room, spin room, open gym for free weights and cardio equipment, two massage therapy rooms, a juice bar and refreshment center, men and women’s locker rooms and an outside terrace for the members to relax. 

Willis Smith Construction

Carey Beychock, broker-associate of RE/MAX Alliance Group has earned the Certified New Home Specialist (CNHS) and Residential Construction Certified (RCC) designations. The CNHS and RCC designations are recognized as the premier real estate certifications representing professionalism in the field of new home construction and indicate an understanding of today’s new home buyers as well as important elements of new home contracts. 

RE/MAX Alliance Group