Taste Test: Booze-Free Cocktails
Restaurants have added a bar cart full of non-alcoholic “soft” drinks—fancy fizzes and zero-proof mocktails—to their craft-beverage lists. Drink up.
Next Door Eatery
4573 N. College Ave., 317-643-3480
Can’t decide? Try a flight of liquor-free libations at Kimbal Musk’s SoBro spot. The tang of the Next Door Rickey hits your tongue before you realize there are no spirits in this sipper. Orange bitters and lime are mixed with an equally crisp gin replacement: ginger ale.
Punch Bowl Social
120 S. Meridian St., 317-249-8613
A complicated concoction poured into a wide-mouth jar, the Chef’s Cup—a soda-water riff on the Pimm’s Cup—sweetly pulls together the flavors of muddled cucumber and lemon with housemade cardamom syrup and currants that float in the mix.
Conner’s Kitchen + Bar
350 W. Maryland St., 317-405-6100
For the slightly sweet, herbaceous Blackberry Thyme Lemonade, the namesake ingredients are muddled with lemon juice and strained into a tall glass. A whiff of the garnish—a sprig of thyme and a few plump berries—guarantees a little aromatherapy with every sip.
Hedge Row American Bistro
350 Massachusetts Ave., 317-643-2750
A sprig of rosemary garnishes the frothy BFF, its effervescent base perfumed with grapefruit and rosemary-lime syrup.
Rize
2721 E. 86th St., 317-843-6101
The brunch destination at the Ironworks hotel offers fresh-pressed juices mixed with sparkling water, including the Strawberry + Mint Fizz, an icy combo that conjures a summer day any morning of the year.
