Valkyrie

Valkyrie has been the reference point for cocktails in Tulsa for a decade, in a dark room on Reconciliation Way at the edge of downtown, and it is one of the few bars in this guide that was thinking about alcohol-free drinks before the category became fashionable.

The evidence for that is in the archive. When Tulsa's drinks writing first made the argument for zero-proof cocktails, Valkyrie's contribution was Don't Text Your Mex — a spicy house ginger beer with strawberry syrup, lemon and basil, built entirely from the bar's own components. The current entry is the NWA, an orgeat, cream and lemon build, which is a much harder drink to make well than it looks: cream and citrus want to split, and holding them together is a technique problem rather than a recipe one.

The argument for why any of this matters was made best by Nathan Young, a long-time Tulsa bartender who had been sober six months when he put it to The Humble Garnish: hospitality is hospitality, people are at a bar to enjoy the environment and have conversations, and a bartender should make sure those who are not drinking feel just as included. That is the whole case for this directory in two sentences, made by someone standing behind a bar in this city.

The practical value is the hours. Valkyrie runs 4pm to 2am Tuesday through Sunday, closed only on Monday, which puts it alongside Saturn Room and Starlite as the three downtown rooms where a non-drinker can still be out at one in the morning.

This entry records the current named build only. The earlier drink is described above as evidence of a long commitment rather than as something to order — the list has moved on in the years since, which is what a live programme does.

One practical note about the address. Reconciliation Way was renamed in memory of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and the bar sits at the edge of the Greenwood district, with the Greenwood Rising history centre a short walk away. It is worth knowing what neighbourhood you are drinking in, and it makes Valkyrie an easy pairing with an afternoon that was not built around alcohol in the first place.