Verjus, the juice of unripened wine grapes (vert jus is French for “green juice”), is a game-changing ingredient for alcohol-free cocktails, according to bar manager Matt Chavez. The softly acidic, wine-like juice is one component of his Amedeo drink, named for Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani. Chavez is a visual person, which becomes clear upon learning not only of this eponym, but also of his commitment to developing a stirred alcohol-free drink worth seeking out amid the labyrinth-like Manhattan West development. Stirred nonalcoholic drinks are particularly challenging, as the general rule of thumb is to stir heavy, silky, spirituous ingredients, but Chavez’s rendition looks like a martini and tastes subtly floral from Amass Riverine, a nonalcoholic gin-like spirit, with chamomile and lemongrass notes from Lyre’s nonalcoholic dry vermouth. Pineapple gum syrup bumps up the drink’s body. “I wanted a clear cocktail that appeared sophisticated and like it belonged on a table in our dining room,” Chavez says.

You may not think of an agua fresca as a cocktail, but consider beverage director Yana Volfson’s approach: The water component of all of her aguas frescas is meant to add another layer of flavor, not simply to dilute fruit juice. Case in point, her cucumber-yuzu drink with palo santo-infused water, which has been on Atla’s menu for years. While the staff at Atla burns palo santo in between services — so, hit the restaurant at the right time and you might get a double dose of its woody musk — to make it ingestible, Volfson’s team also steeps it in boiling water, being careful not to let the sticks sit too long, lest the liquid turn bitter and sappy. Timed right, the infusion becomes citrusy and piney, operating almost like bitters to make the drink stand at attention and to unite the cool cucumber and floral yuzu flavors. The drink’s finishing touch? Strategically placed groupings of black basil seeds, which appear like dappled lily pads atop the drink’s ice cubes and, much like chia seeds, swell as they absorb liquid to become a not only striking but also textural garnish. “I would enter this agua into a beauty pageant if I could,” Volfson says.

While Death & Company’s Denver and Los Angeles locations launched with alcohol-free options on their menus when they opened in 2018 and 2019, respectively, the flagship New York City location officially added them just this spring after fielding an uptick in requests for nonalcoholic drinks during the pandemic, according to head bartender Javelle Taft. At fifteen years old, Death & Company has still got it, and Taft’s four current alcohol-free cocktails may be the best and most balanced in the city. The Moneyball is a particular standout, especially given how difficult it is to create a bracing kind of beverage without alcohol. Akin to a smoked Negroni (it would be fair to liken it to a mezcal Negroni), it’s mainly a mixture of Brooklyn-based distiller St. Agrestis’ first alcohol-free product, the Phony Negroni; Pathfinder, a Fernet-esque nonalcoholic amaro made from fermented hemp; and housemade lapsang souchong tea concentrate. Taft lets the Phony Negroni — which is more like an Italian bitter soda than a Negroni — sit to remove the effervescence, while the tea concentrate acts as a smart way to bring in smoke. A little bit of passion fruit juice and vanilla syrup level things out.

It would make sense if you read the description of the Gungan cocktail — “very dry pineapple tonic” — on the menu of this bar above Downtown Brooklyn institution Gage & Tollner with some skepticism. The phrase sounds almost oxymoronic, as pineapple juice has a relatively high sugar content, but this deceptively simple mixture of the fruit juice, pineapple gum syrup, Tomr’s tonic water, and fresh-grated cardamom is, in fact, pineapple-y and dry. Unchecked sweetness is often a complaint made about alcohol-free drinks, especially those of the tiki variety, but head bartender Garret Richard, who worked with pro Dave Arnold at the late, great Existing Conditions, doses the pineapple juice with citric and malic acids for a refreshingly crisp result. “It brings up the acid level — in fact, you can swap it for lime juice in any of our recipes and it will hold the balance — and is a way to squeeze more pineapple into a cocktail without making it too watery or flabby,” says owner St. John Frizell.

The Negroni is one of the most popular classic cocktails to try to approximate in a nonalcoholic context, and methods vary widely. (See Death & Company above.) Leyenda head bartender Leanne Favre has stayed committed to hers since she put the No-groni on the Latin American-inflected bar’s menu a few years ago, and for good reason. It may veer slightly sweet, but bitterness is also present thanks to what Favre calls hibiscus bitter, a house-made concoction of hibiscus tea, dried gentian root, and orange peel, and the flavors are clean. Favre also uses Grove 42 in her No-groni. It’s a distilled nonalcoholic spirit made by Seedlip, a UK-based company that is responsible for helping break open the now-growing conversation about moderation, and it has notes of orange, lemon, lemongrass, and ginger. It’s a nice companion to Leyenda’s chicharrones dusted with chile piquín.