Elsewhere Cocktail Bar

Elsewhere is an intimate craft cocktail bar tucked under the Design Center water tower in Charlotte's Historic South End, co-founded by Wooden Robot Brewery CEO Josh Patton. The location is a landmark — the water tower is one of the most recognisable objects in South End — and the bar itself is deliberately small in a district that has otherwise filled up with large, loud rooms.

What distinguishes it for this directory is that the non-alcoholic programme was not retrofitted. Elsewhere has prioritised an inclusive spirit-free list since it opened, running a rotating menu under the heading "For the Pilot" — the designated-driver framing done with some wit rather than apology. The headline build is the So Fun, a non-alcoholic margarita made with Ritual zero-proof tequila, pineapple, orange, lime and jalapeno, which puts real heat and acid into a category that too often defaults to sweetness. Alongside it sit the Moscow Midnight and the Greyhound Rescue, and the bar stocks non-alcoholic Guinness and Athletic Brewing for anyone who would rather have a beer. Guinness 0.0 is a particularly useful thing for a bar to carry, because it is one of very few non-alcoholic beers that looks completely unremarkable in the hand.

Queen City Nerve captured the register the bar is aiming for better than a description could: "These aren't beverages that will earn you a seat at the kid's table, but they also aren't going to cause you to dance on the table either." That is the whole proposition of a good spirit-free list in one sentence — adult, considered, and not a punishment. The bar runs late on weekends, to 2am on Friday and Saturday, which makes it a genuine night out rather than an early stop. Closed Mondays.