Verdigris

Verdigris is a cocktail bar and lounge at 5245 W 116th Place in the Park Place development in Leawood, opened in 2020 by David and Noelle Manica under their Exit Strategy group — the team behind The Monarch Bar, The Mercury Room and Jade Jaguar. The move across the state line was deliberate: so many bars with good cocktails on the Kansas side are still restaurant-focused, the team said before opening, and Verdigris was built as a drinking room first. It bills itself as Johnson County's premier cocktail bar and lounge, and prints the definition of its own name on the menu — the bright bluish-green patina that forms on copper by atmospheric oxidation. Bennett Hofer directs operations with Abigail Lee as head bartender. Food is bar food done well: whipped goat cheese with honey and blackberry compote at $13, birria tacos at $15, a two-patty cheeseburger at $15, smoked popcorn at $5. Happy hour runs every day from 3pm to 6pm, and parking is free on the street or in the adjacent covered garage.

The non-alcoholic approach here is different from most bars and worth understanding before you arrive, because it is easy to misread. There is no separate mocktail list. Instead, five cocktails on the seasonal menu are printed with the note "available non-alcoholic" directly beneath their ingredients, meaning the bar will rebuild those drinks zero-proof to order: Green Maiden ($16) with cucumber, snap pea, green tea, ginger and lime; Ibisco ($16) with hibiscus, pineapple, lime and orgeat; Aqua Regia ($15) with orange, turmeric, aperitif and strawberry seltzer; Whiskey Bramble ($14) with blackberry and lemon; and El Diablo ($14) with crème de cassis, ginger beer and lime. The advantage is that you get a full seasonal cocktail rather than a short fixed list. The limitation is that the standing "Spirit Free" section on the printed spirits list holds only a Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher at $5 and a Mexican Coke or Sprite at $4 — so ask for one of the five by name rather than asking generally what is non-alcoholic.