Copper & Kings Rooftop Bar

Butchertown is the old meatpacking district east of downtown, now one of Louisville's better eating neighbourhoods, and Copper & Kings occupies a distillery building on East Washington Street in the middle of it. The distillery makes brandy and gin rather than bourbon, which already makes it an outlier in this city, and its rooftop — a bar and restaurant on the third floor with views across downtown and out to the Ohio River — is consistently ranked among Louisville's most-visited things to do.

For a non-drinker the rooftop is one of the more comfortable rooms in the guide, because the alcohol-free drinks are named on the menu and built rather than improvised. The Lavender Sky is a vanilla lavender lemonade, which sounds simple and lands aromatic. Movin' To The Country is the substantial one — peach purée with pineapple, lime and ginger beer, so it has the length and the bite that a tall alcoholic drink would. The Jazz Ensemble is the interesting structural choice: a Topo Chico built with flavours the guest picks, which means the non-alcoholic guest gets to make a decision rather than accept whatever the kitchen sends. Very few bars in any city extend that courtesy.

Practical considerations. This is a rooftop in a city with real winters and real summer humidity, so the experience varies sharply by season and rooftop hours are published separately from the rest of the building — check before travelling. The distillery below runs tours, which are worth knowing about in both directions: they are interesting, and they are tastings, so if a distillery tour is not something you want to be inside of, go straight up. Butchertown puts three other entries in this guide within a few hundred metres — Cultured Cheese Shop and Pizza Lupo are both walkable from the door.