Watermelon Mockarita, Please. Make It Large…

There’s something missing from a new wave of bars opening around the world: Alcohol. Aimed at the growing number of people exploring sobriety, bars pour adult drinks like craft cocktails without the booze. At 0 per cent Non-Alcohol Experience, a futuristic bar in Tokyo, patrons can sip a mix of non-alcoholic white wine, sake and cranberries from a sugar-rimmed glass. On a recent evening at Sans Bar in Austin, Texas, customers gathered at outdoor tables, enjoying live music, bottles of alcohol-free IPA and drinks like the watermelon mockarita, which is made with a tequila alternative.

Sober bars aren’t a new phenomenon. They first appeared in the 19th century as part of the temperance movement. But while previous iterations were geared toward non-drinkers or people in recovery, the newer venues welcome the sober as well as the curious, reports the Associated Press. Chris Marshall, Sans Bar’s founder, has been sober for 14 years, but estimates 75 per cent of his customers also drink alcohol outside of his bar.

Abstinence challenges like Dry January—which began in 2013—and a growing interest in health and wellness are behind the trend, said Brandy Rand of the IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. Last year, alcohol consumption in 10 key markets—including the US, Germany, Japan and Brazil—fell five per cent, IWSR said. Consumption of low- and no-alcohol drinks rose one per cent. Drinkers in those key markets consumed 9.7 billion nine-litre cases of alcohol in 2020, compared to 292 million cases of low- and no-alco­hol beverages. But Rand notes that global consumption of low- and no-alcohol beer, wine and spirits is growing two to three times faster than overall alcohol consumption. An explosion of new products is also fueling sales. There are drinks from smaller makers like Chicago’s Ritual Zero Proof—which opened in 2019 and makes no-alcohol whiskey, gin and tequila—and big companies like Anheuser-Busch, which introduced alcohol-free Budweiser Zero last year. Douglas Watters, who opened Spirited Away, a New York shop that sells non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits, said the pandemic lockdown caused him to rethink his usual pattern of ending each day with a cocktail. He started experimenting with non-alcoholic beverages, and by August he had decided to open his store.

The coronavirus “warp-speeded” the change in many people’s drinking habits. But it has hurt the nascent non-alcoholic bar scene. Some bars, like The Virgin Mary Bar in Dublin and Zeroliq in Berlin, have temporarily closed their doors. Getaway, a non-alcoholic bar in New York, transitioned into a coffee shop. Billy Wynne, the co-owner of Awake in Denver, is also selling coffee and bottles of non-alcoholic spirits out of a carryout window. But he plans to open the doors to a non-alcoholic bar next month.