1Watson

1Watson is the rooftop at the AC Hotel San Antonio Riverwalk on Soledad Street, a few blocks from the river in the heart of the downtown hotel district. Visit San Antonio names two of its non-alcoholic drinks: the Pina Breezy and the Spicy Pal No Ma.

The second one is worth unpacking, because the joke in the name conceals a good decision. A Paloma is grapefruit, lime, salt and soda with tequila — and of the classic tequila drinks it is by far the most forgiving to build without alcohol, because its character lives in the grapefruit and the salt rather than in the spirit. Add chilli heat, as the "spicy" suggests, and you have a drink with bite, acidity and a savoury edge, which is precisely the combination that stops a zero-proof drink reading as a soft one. In Texas, where the Paloma is closer to a default than a cocktail, it is also the most culturally natural thing a non-drinker could be handed.

The hours are better than most hotel rooftops manage: 4pm to midnight through the week, to 1am on Friday and Saturday, with weekend brunch service from 10:30am. That gives it a longer useful window than High Praise, which is closed midweek entirely.

What San Antonio has downtown, taken together, is unusual: three rooftop bars — this, High Praise and The Moon's Daughters — all with named alcohol-free drinks, all within walking distance. For a visitor who is not drinking, that is a materially different experience from having to hope the one rooftop in town can improvise something.