Cannon Ball Lounge

Hotel Indy is a Tribute Portfolio conversion on East Washington Street, a block from Monument Circle and across from the old City Market, and Cannon Ball Lounge occupies its sixth floor with 180-degree views over downtown. The pitch is Indianapolis-specific rather than generic rooftop: the room is named for Erwin "Cannonball" Baker, the local motorcyclist who rode in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911 and spent the following decades setting coast-to-coast driving records, and the menu carries local reference points through the cocktails, the Indiana craft beer list and a kitchen of reworked Midwestern classics.

For non-drinkers the relevant fact is that the zero-proof drinks are a standing printed section, not a request. I Miss My Spritz is the flagship — DHOS Bittersweet Aperitif, an Italian-style non-alcoholic amaro, lengthened with non-alcoholic sparkling wine, which lands genuinely bitter rather than sweet and is the closest thing downtown to an Aperol spritz without alcohol. Good Graces is the long, complex one, running lemon, guava and honey against New Orleans non-alcoholic bitters, orange and ginger beer. The Tail of Thyme is built on a house plum-lavender syrup, which tells you the bar is making its own components rather than buying in mixers. Visit Indy, the city's own tourism body, lists the lounge in its Buzz-Free Drinks guide on the strength of that menu.

Practicalities: it opens at 4pm every day and runs to 1am on Friday and Saturday, the indoor-outdoor design means it works in February as well as July, and it takes reservations through OpenTable — worth using on a weekend or around a Colts or Pacers game, since the hotel sits in the middle of the downtown event footprint. This is a hotel rooftop, so expect a mixed crowd of visitors and locals and a price point to match; the zero-proof drinks are costed in line with the cocktails.