BODHI

BODHI sits at 922 Massachusetts Avenue, at the quieter northeast end of Mass Ave past the cultural-district signage, and is one of the few bars in Indianapolis where three generations of the same family are behind the counter. Taelor Carmine owns it and runs the bar; her mother Nicky Carmine and her grandmother Pen Phojanasupan, both of whom worked years in Thai restaurants, run the kitchen. The result is a pan-Thai bistro attached to a genuine craft cocktail program — the room is industrial-chic and small, it is 21-and-over, and the food is family recipes rather than a menu assembled around the drinks.

The zero-proof drinks get the same treatment as everything else on the list, which in a Thai context means the aromatic ingredients are already there. The Water Lily Dessert is the signature: Lyre's Dry London Spirit and Fre Rosé layered with coconut water, a strawberry shrub, lychee jelly and soda, so it drinks long, floral and slightly savoury rather than as a sweet mocktail. The rotating Secret Garden is built around whatever fruit and vegetables are in season, and Seedlip turns up in the seasonal builds alongside the Lyre's range. Because the bar keeps its own house shrubs and cordials for the full-proof list, the alcohol-free drinks draw on the same store of components rather than a separate shortcut. Practical notes: the bar stays open an hour past the kitchen, to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 11pm on Friday and Saturday, and the whole place is closed on Tuesdays. Ball & Biscuit, The Fountain Room and Sundry & Vice are all within a few minutes' walk down the same street. BODHI is also the easiest of the Mass Ave rooms to eat a full meal in without drinking, which is a different proposition from having one good mocktail at a bar. The pan-Thai menu is built for sharing and the heat levels are real, so the zero-proof drinks have something to do — the coconut and lychee in the Water Lily Dessert works against chilli in a way a gin and tonic does not. It is worth calling ahead at weekends: the room seats fewer than most Mass Ave bars, it does not take a large party comfortably, and the 21-and-over policy applies to the whole space including the dining side, so this is not an option with children.