Nightshade

Nightshade opened in Asheville's South Slope at 32 Banks Avenue, and it describes itself as redefining nightlife in the city — a space where the energy is high, the vibes are welcoming and the experience is entirely alcohol-free. On its own terms that is accurate and the room delivers on it: a proper nightlife venue rather than a café that stays open late, built around curated music, DJs and live shows on a BASSBOSS sound system, open Thursday and Friday from 5pm to 11pm and Saturdays until 1am. Food comes from a partnership with Plant Bar, so the kitchen is plant-based. The zero-proof cocktails are genuinely made: a Matcha Blossom ($12) infusing matcha with pineapple, sakura and Roots Divino; a Lemon Pop Drop ($11) built on lemon, rosehip, walnut-fig bitters and toasted poppy seed; a Butterfly Gin & Tonic ($12); a zero-proof Old Fashioned ($11); and a Spring No-Jito ($9) with mint, cucumber and a choice of non-alcoholic spirit. A separate Mertails range is crafted by The Nohm.

What has to be said plainly is that alcohol-free is not the same as substance-free, and at Nightshade the gap between those two things is unusually wide. Alongside those cocktails the menu carries a section headed "Catch a Buzz" — seven cannabinoid drinks on draft at $7, dosed and labelled by the venue itself: Uplift and Mellow are CBD and CBG blends, Bliss is 5mg THC, Green Man 10mg, Cosmic 15mg and marked potent, a Yerba Mate at 25mg THC with 100mg of caffeine, and Elevation at 50mg THC, marked very potent. Fifty milligrams is a substantial dose by any measure. A shots list adds $3 and $4 pours of HHC, delta-9, kanna honey, blue lotus and kava extract, and there is a separate kava section with bowls from $8. The only warning printed anywhere on the menu says that items marked with notes may contain caffeine or are not recommended during pregnancy. If cannabis is what you want, this is a well-run room built for it. If you are in recovery, subject to drug testing, or simply want a drink that does nothing, order from the signature or classic cocktail sections by name and say clearly that you want nothing infused.