Nitro Beverage Lounge

Nitro Beverage Lounge sits on West Washington Avenue a few blocks off the Capitol Square, and runs as a coffee bar through the day and a craft cocktail lounge into the evening — a format that is becoming common and that happens to be ideal for non-drinkers, because a room already geared to making espresso drinks properly has the equipment, the syrups and the staff patience that a good alcohol-free drink actually requires.

The evidence is in the technique. BRAVA Magazine's survey of Madison mocktails singled the bar out for using lapsang souchong — the pine-smoked Chinese black tea — to put smoke into The Woodsman, which is the sort of move a bartender reaches for when they are trying to replace what a peated whisky would have contributed rather than trying to make something sweet. The rest of the list holds that standard. The Rose Spritz is restrained: rose essence, lemon, soda. The Arbol Bloom sets pomegranate and hibiscus against chilli de árbol and lime, so the heat and the tartness carry it. I'd Rather Be On The Beach is the maximalist one, layering pistachio creme, banana, lemon, honey and coconut milk and finishing it with banana leaf.

Practically, the hours make it one of the more flexible entries here: it opens at 10am on Saturday and noon on Friday and Sunday, runs to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and closes Mondays. That means it works as a morning coffee, an afternoon working session and a Saturday night out, which very few venues in this guide can claim. It is also walkable from the Capitol Square cluster — Merchant, Settle Down Tavern, Lucille and Eno Vino are all within about ten minutes on foot — so it slots easily into a downtown evening built around not drinking.