Sneak CLT

Sneak CLT is tucked at the back of the Pecan Point shopping centre at East 7th Street and Pecan Avenue in Elizabeth, next door to the long-standing Bang Bang Burgers, and co-owner Jamil Whitlow has a precise word for what it is. We're not a speakeasy, he told Queen City Nerve, we're a sneakeasy — a speakeasy is historically a hard place to find, and if you do find it you have to know someone who knows somebody to get there. The distinction is the point: Sneak is hidden but not gatekept. Whitlow is a spirits-industry veteran with more than a decade behind him, and what started as a deli-bar concept became a high-energy lounge with a hip-hop and R&B music programme. The room balances soft, vibrant wall treatments and gold accents against brown leather and moody lighting, and the kitchen keeps bar bites — fresh focaccia, a snack mix, D'Artagnan caviar. It opens at 5pm daily except Mondays, running to 2am Thursday through Saturday, with reservations through Resy.

The non-alcoholic cocktails are priced at $15, the same as much of the full-proof list, and three of the four are built on real zero-proof spirits rather than juice. Green Thumb uses Seedlip Garden with cucumber, honey, mint, lime and egg white — herbal and textured rather than sweet. Slinking to Sicily is the most elaborate, layering Lyre's Pink Gin and Lyre's Italian Spritz with an orange rosemary syrup, lemon, club soda and a non-alcoholic sparkling wine, so it drinks like a proper aperitivo. Sneaky Link combines Lyre's Blanco, Seedlip Agave and Lyre's Orange Sec with a spicy oleo, which is about as close to a full margarita build as a zero-proof drink gets. Midnight Bramble is the one made from scratch ingredients alone — lime, pineapple, blackberry, simple syrup and mint. Ordering one here does not mark you out: the same bartenders make them, at the same price, from the same station.