Zero-Proof Cocktail Bars in Minneapolis, MN
Craft cocktail bars and lounges in Minneapolis that take their zero-proof cocktails as seriously as the rest of the menu. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have a real, if hard-won, alcohol-free scene. Minnesota's first non-alcoholic bottle shop, Marigold, anchors South Minneapolis, and the metro's first kava lounge, Zen Room, sits in downtown St. Paul. The deepest spirit-free menus, though, live inside the Twin Cities' celebrated restaurants: chef Ann Ahmed's Khâluna and Gai Noi each run dedicated zero-proof lists (Khâluna's is famously longer than its cocktail menu), Earl Giles literally began as a non-alcoholic elixir company, and Gavin Kaysen's Demi and Spoon and Stable, North Loop's Dario, and Sean Sherman's Indigenous Indígena by Owamni all treat zero-proof seriously. Craft bars Parlour, Stargazer, and Bar + Cart round it out. Several of the best rooms sit across the river in St. Paul.
6 cocktail-style venues listed · Not in Minneapolis? Zero-proof cocktail bars near you →
Craft cocktail bars with zero-proof menus
- NA Program Strength: 4 of 5?
Bar + Cart Restaurant and Lounge opened in the former Khyber Pass Cafe space on Grand Avenue in St. Paul's Macalester-Groveland neighborhood, a partnership between longtime collaborators Ralena Young and Brian Riess. Young, an accomplished Twin Cities beverage director, anchors a serious drink program — and that extends to one of the metro's deepest zero-proof lists. The "Free Spirit" menu currently runs six house non-alcoholic cocktails spanning smoky to sweet — White Fox (coconut water, orange blossom, banana, egg white, cherry-bark vanilla), Up In Smoke (coconut water, grapefruit, jalapeño, basil, smoked salt), Hibiscus Punch, Fruit of the Desert, Devil in the Garden, and Lucky Me — alongside bottled St. Agrestis Phony Negronis in both the classic and mezcal styles. Axios Twin Cities named it the most expansive non-alcoholic list in its January 2026 Dry January roundup. The food leans elevated-comfort, from Coney Island dogs to fresh oysters.
Signature NA drinks- White Fox (coconut water, orange blossom water, banana, egg white, lemon, cherry bark vanilla)
- Up In Smoke (coconut water, grapefruit, jalapeño, basil, lime, smoked salt)
- Hibiscus Punch (hibiscus flowers, winter spices, citrus peel)
- Fruit of the Desert (grapefruit, lime, agave nectar, Jarritos grapefruit soda)
- Devil in the Garden (acid-adjusted Concord grape, lavender, lemon, pomegranate)
- Lucky Me (coconut juice, pandan, lime)
- NA Program Strength: 4 of 5?
Parlour is a craft cocktail and burger bar in Minneapolis's North Loop, opened in 2013 below sister restaurant Borough by the local restaurant group Jester Concepts. Originally conceived as a waiting room for the upstairs dining room, it became a destination in its own right, known for the cult-favorite Parlour Burger and a serious classics-forward cocktail program built on fresh-squeezed juice, house-made syrups, and bitters. The bar maintains a dedicated "Non-Alcoholic Cocktails" section rather than a single token mocktail, using NA spirits alongside the same botanical and bitter techniques as its full bar. Named zero-proof builds include the NA Parlour Old Fashioned (NA bourbon, NA spiced spirit, piloncillo, bitters), a Phony Negroni, a Gin & Apricot Sour (thyme, lemon, apricot jam, egg white), and a Perfect Matcha made with an NA botanical spirit. It sits among the North Loop's marquee craft-cocktail venues.
Signature NA drinks- NA Parlour Old Fashioned (NA bourbon, NA spiced spirit, piloncillo, bitters)
- Phony Negroni (bitters, juniper, citrus and floral notes)
- Gin & Apricot Sour (NA gin, honey, thyme, lemon, apricot jam, egg white)
- Perfect Matcha (NA botanical spirit, matcha cold brew, coconut puree, lemon)
- Cilantro Mojito (cilantro, ginger, lime, soda water)
- NA Program Strength: 4 of 5?
CrowBar is the cocktail lounge and tasting room for Voliere Spirits, an all-women-owned distillery that opened in December 2025 in the former blacksmith shop of the historic Hamm's Brewery complex in Dayton's Bluff. Grete Bergland leads the drinks programme, and the zero-proof column is built with the same culinary approach as the rest of the list and priced at $8 — a flat rate across every non-alcoholic drink. The builds are savoury as often as sweet: one runs roasted strawberry and tomato with balsamic and champagne vinegar, caper, basil, aquafaba and prosciutto; another is charred citrus with baking spices, rosemary, lemon and soda water. House-made French and Italian sodas sit alongside.
Signature NA drinks- Once she asked me how to spell 'ORANGE' (orange, oat milk, vanilla, lemon, frozen Greek yogurt balls)
- Like...if I were wearing sweatpants today, I'd be sitting over there with the art freaks (roasted strawberry and tomato, balsamic and champagne vinegar, caper, basil, aquafaba, prosciutto)
- I was half a virgin when I met him... (charred citrus, baking spices, rosemary, lemon, soda water)
- Hump Day Treat (strawberry-lemon-rose slushie)
- French Soda (handcrafted soda with cream)
- NA Program Strength: 4 of 5?
Emerald Lounge is a small cocktail and wine bar on West 7th Street in Saint Paul, in the stretch between downtown and the Fort Road neighbourhoods. It keeps a named temperance menu alongside the full-strength list, carrying non-alcoholic beer and wine as well as house-built zero-proof cocktails. The two the city's visitor bureau singles out are the Crimson Breezeberry Shrub, made with raspberry, ginger, champagne vinegar and soda, and the Captain Jack Sparrow, built on milk-washed pineapple with coconut syrup, lime acid and mint — both using techniques, shrub acidity and milk-washing, that a bar reaches for when it wants a spirit-free drink to have structure rather than just sweetness.
Signature NA drinks- Crimson Breezeberry Shrub (raspberry, ginger, champagne vinegar, soda)
- Captain Jack Sparrow (milk-washed pineapple, coconut syrup, lime acid, mint)
- NA Program Strength: 3 of 5?
Stargazer is an intimate, walk-in-friendly cocktail bar in Northeast Minneapolis that opened in December 2024 in the former Dangerous Man Brewing growler room. It's a collaboration between the Travail Collective owners — Bob Gerken, James Winberg, and Mike Brown — and Robb Jones of the James Beard-nominated Meteor, who serves as beverage director and describes Stargazer as "a slightly more polished Meteor." The galaxy-themed space pours roughly 50 scratch-built drinks (no batching) organized into "constellations," alongside Italian-inspired small plates. Its non-alcoholic program is a genuine, named "Spirit-Free Sector" on the menu rather than an afterthought: zero-proof builds like the Purple Phase (Three Spirit Social, pineapple, coconut, lime), Fireless Squad (Dhos Orange, Three Spirit Livener, pomegranate, lime), Negroni Stylie, and It Was All Yellow, plus house botanical ferments and a local spirit-free sparkling option. Menus are delivered via an interactive star-map QR app.
Signature NA drinks- Purple Phase
- It Was All Yellow
- Fireless Squad
- Negroni Stylie
- NA Program Strength: 3 of 5?
Meteor is a cocktail bar in the Hawthorne neighbourhood of North Minneapolis, opened by Elliot Manthey and Robb Jones in a former dive on North 2nd Street and since recognised well beyond the city — a 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bar, and listed by the World's 50 Best Discovery guide. Its reputation rests on a seasonal cocktail programme built across mezcal, aquavit and other less-obvious spirits, and the same bar team applies that thinking to drinks with nothing in them: the standing non-alcoholic reference point is a wild rice horchata, a Minnesota reworking of the drink, alongside rotating seasonal zero-proof builds. Hot dogs are the food.
Signature NA drinks- Wild rice horchata
Other bars in Minneapolis with serious NA programs
These aren't classified as cocktail bars, but their NA programs are extensive enough to be worth a stop.
What separates a good zero-proof cocktail bar from the rest?
A great non-alcoholic cocktail bar isn't defined by whether it stocks Seedlip on the shelf. It's defined by whether the bartenders treat alcohol-free drinks as cocktails — built with the same logic, the same balance, the same care for mouthfeel and presentation as the alcoholic side of the menu.
The signal: a printed NA section on the menu with named drinks, an NA-spirits row on the back bar (Lyre's, Seedlip, Wilderton, Ritual, sometimes Monday Zero Alcohol Gin or Wilderton Lustre), house-made shrubs and bitters available for NA builds, and staff who can talk through what's in a drink without defaulting to "we can do something with juice."
The opposite: a generic "mocktail" line item priced at $8 with no description, or worse, a Shirley Temple by default. We rank cocktail-style venues here by NA Program Strength and lead with the venues that have published named NA drinks on their menu.
Frequently asked about zero-proof cocktail bars in Minneapolis
6 cocktail-style bars in Minneapolis run non-alcoholic programs we've verified. Top picks include Bar + Cart, Parlour, CrowBar.
Yes. The best NA cocktail bars use the same techniques as their alcoholic side — fresh juices, house syrups, bitters, infusions, NA spirits (Lyre's, Seedlip, Wilderton, Ritual) — to build drinks with comparable complexity. The difference is in execution: a good NA cocktail program treats the menu as a first-class offering, not a "we can make something" afterthought.
Common NA spirits at craft cocktail bars: Lyre's (full line of alternatives), Seedlip (Garden 108, Spice 94, Grove 42), Ritual Zero Proof (gin, whiskey, tequila), Wilderton (botanical), Ghia (aperitif), and Monday Zero Alcohol Gin. Many bars also use house-made shrubs, verjus, and tonics as cocktail components.
The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have a real, if hard-won, alcohol-free scene. Minnesota's first non-alcoholic bottle shop, Marigold, anchors South Minneapolis, and the metro's first kava lounge, Zen Room, sits in downtown St. Paul. The deepest spirit-free menus, though, live inside the Twin Cities' celebrated restaurants: chef Ann Ahmed's Khâluna and Gai Noi each run dedicated zero-proof lists (Khâluna's is famously longer than its cocktail menu), Earl Giles literally began as a non-alcoholic elixir company, and Gavin Kaysen's Demi and Spoon and Stable, North Loop's Dario, and Sean Sherman's Indigenous Indígena by Owamni all treat zero-proof seriously. Craft bars Parlour, Stargazer, and Bar + Cart round it out. Several of the best rooms sit across the river in St. Paul. We list cocktail-style bars (and adjacent lounges and wine bars) with a verified NA program rated 3 or higher. We don't list bars without a documented NA offering, even if they're great cocktail bars otherwise.
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