Bar Julian

Thompson Savannah anchors the Eastern Wharf development downriver from the historic waterfront, and Bar Julian occupies its top floor — the highest rooftop bar in the city, with the river running directly below and the bridge to the north. The room went through a Mediterranean-forward refresh that reworked both the space and the food menu, and the bar programme was rebuilt with it.

The alcohol-free drinks sit under a heading that tells you how the bar thinks about them: Booze-Free, printed on the cocktail list rather than segregated onto a separate card. All four are spirit-led. Perfect Timing, at $12 the cheapest, runs a zero-proof agave spirit against acidified pineapple, agave and saline — a salted, sour drink rather than a sweet one. Turning a Page is the most involved: a zero-proof London dry with clarified chai concentrate, raspberry and lemon, a build that requires actual bar technique to clarify and hold. Caribbean Firewater takes a zero-proof aperitif with a fermented fruit blend, citrus and tonic, and lands closest to a bitter highball.

One drink on the section needs a plain flag. Sunrise Highway is built on Lyre's cane spirit with watermelon juice and a lime CBD seltzer — the CBD is in the mixer, not the spirit, and anyone avoiding cannabinoids should order around it. The rest of the list is free of them.

The hours are the other reason to know about this place. Bar Julian opens at 7am and stays open to 11pm on weekdays and midnight at weekends, so unlike most of Savannah's better zero-proof lists it is not a 4pm-onwards proposition. The food is shareable and Mediterranean — flatbreads, kebabs, wood-grilled oysters, lamb shoulder.