The New Year’s Eve ritual

Honoring the past, celebrating the present, and welcoming the year ahead.

New Year’s Eve has always carried a certain weight — not just as a celebration, but as a moment of pause. It’s the rare night when time feels intentional. We look back at what we’ve built, who we’ve shared it with, and what we’re ready to carry forward. In cigar culture, that ritual of reflection has long been paired with smoke, spirit, and conversation.

Cigars are, by nature, unhurried. They ask you to slow down, to be present, to savor a moment rather than rush toward the next one. That’s why they’ve become such a meaningful part of New Year’s Eve traditions — marking the close of one chapter and the beginning of another with intention instead of haste.

At Empire Social Lounge, we see New Year’s Eve not as a countdown, but as a crossroads. It’s where stories from the past year resurface over shared pours, where laughter fills the space between reflections, and where anticipation quietly builds for what lies ahead. Every year, the lounge becomes a place where people reconnect — with friends, with goals, with themselves.

This past year has been one of growth, evolution, and community. From everyday moments at the bar to milestone celebrations inside the lounge, Empire has continued to be a place where people come together not just to smoke or sip, but to belong. That’s what we’re most proud of — not the cigars on the shelf or the bottles behind the bar, but the experiences created in between.

As we look ahead to the new year, the spirit remains the same: elevate the experience, deepen the connections, and continue building a culture rooted in craftsmanship and hospitality. New traditions will be formed, familiar ones honored, and the lounge will remain a place where time slows just enough to matter.

Ring in the New Year at Empire

This New Year’s Eve, we invite you to celebrate with us at Empire Social Lounge Las Olas and Empire Social Lounge Brickell.

Both locations will host New Year’s Eve house parties featuring:

• Live music

• Party favors

• A midnight champagne toast

At Empire Las Olas, we’re also proud to partner with Rockafellar Cigars, bringing an extra layer of celebration and indulgence to the evening — because this year, we’re ringing in the new one Rockafellar-style.

However you choose to welcome the new year, we hope you’ll do it surrounded by great company, meaningful conversation, and a moment worth savoring.

Here’s to the year behind us — and the stories still to come.