provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille hailed all things rum during National Rum Day, selling hundreds of Doc’s Old Fashioned Mojitos and dozens of rum flights, and awarding rum barrel infusers and flight boards to lucky winners at its four locations. Customers who ordered the mojito or rum flight during the Aug. 16 celebration received raffle tickets for the prizes.
“National Rum Day was a huge success and a great opportunity to highlight our exclusive rum selections and create a new mojito for the event,” said Joe Harrity, a partner with HM Restaurant Group, which owns and operates Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille. “Many people don’t realize there are premium rums meant to be sipped and savored, and National Rum Day allowed us to introduce the concept to new connoisseurs.”
The Fort Myers Beach restaurant sold 52 Doc’s Old Fashioned Mojitos and nine rum flights, closely followed by the St. Petersburg Pier location with 49 mojitos and eight rum flights. Borrowing from its whiskey relative, the old-fashioned-meets-mojito features premium Flor de Cana aged rum muddled with lime, mint, orange, bitters and simple syrup, and soda water.
Flor de Cana Rum in partnership with Republic National Distributing Company created the tabletop rum infusers, small wooden aging barrels designed to add personalized flavor to rum. Ideal for rum enthusiasts, users age the spirit for several days or weeks to develop enhanced character and complexity for a custom-aged experience. The accompanying rum flight boards showcase multiple rums for tastings and entertaining. The barrels and rum flight boards were branded with the Doc Ford’s logo.
The winners at each restaurant location were Brad Sitton, Sanibel; Chad Gehrs, Fort Myers Beach; Michael Mendoza, St. Petersburg Pier; and Miranda Porterfield, Jungle Terrace St. Petersburg.
Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, a popular venue for Caribbean Rim-inspired cuisine, offers a variety of rums and rum-based cocktails – from classic rum punch to rum runners and Mai tais – and 15 sipping rums, available in flights.
The award-winning, family friendly restaurant features food with a unique balance of flavors and is known for its sauces, spices, passion and signature Yucatán shrimp served daily.
Beloved by locals and visitors alike as a spectacular seafood restaurant delivering a legendary guest experience, Doc Ford’s is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Established on Sanibel in 2003, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille has expanded from its original location to Fort Myers Beach, the St. Petersburg Pier and in Jungle Terrace in St. Petersburg. The restaurant is a perennial Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice winner. The pier location was named the country’s No. 1 restaurant for Best of the Best Restaurants for Everyday Eats in 2023.
Philanthropy and community outreach are engrained in HM Restaurant Group’s company philosophy. Proceeds from specialty cocktails at Doc Ford’s have raised over $133,000 to support children’s hospitals in Southwest Florida and St. Petersburg. HM Restaurant Group also supports local nonprofits dedicated to conservation, community, education and the environment. The “Ding” Darling Doc Ford’s Tarpon Tournament has donated over $1.57 million for conservation and water-quality research at Sanibel’s J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge since its inception in 2012. The 14th annual tournament is May 15, 2026.
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