SOBER and Still at the Party

We have so many reasons to be alcohol-free–our health, mental wellbeing, athletic performance, pregnancy, history with addiction, religion–yet we live in a culture that celebrates drinking at every turn. This is changing, slowly, with options for community in sobriety expanding beyond alcoholics anonymous, and alcohol-free bars, bottle shops, and events popping up, and brands promoting zero- and low-abv beverages growing exponentially in the past year. It is still difficult, however, to navigate our booze-soaked society as sober people. We eat at restaurants, celebrate with friends, live alongside loved ones who drink, and generally participate in life, and we do it often having to say “no” “no thanks” “nope I don’t drink” and “do you have anything non-alcoholic?”

Frustrated with feeling like I was missing part of life, I began to search for what I could drink that was alcohol-free and that I actually liked (never bring me a bottle of Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider, for instance. Early in sobriety I almost punched someone who did that. I admit that may have been an overreaction.) I started with pre-bottled zero-proof cocktails, discovered NA beer that actually tastes good, and began to experiment with alcohol-free spirit alternatives and my own cocktail recipes. I’m sharing my recipes and my adventures with booze alternatives here. You can also find me on instagram @the_drytender, and on tiktok @the_drytender.

What goes in a mocktail, anyway?

LOTS OF FUN STUFF! I have recipes you can make with stuff from your local grocery store all the way through show-off recipes with specialty ingredients. Non-alcoholic spirit alternatives make creating complex and delicious booze-free cocktails much easier, so I use several standard spirit alternatives in many recipes. See my article Getting Started with Spirit Alternatives for suggestions on what to buy first, and what you can use instead if you don’t have an infinite budget for fancy booze-free bottles.

Non-alcoholic Beer, Wine, Spirits

As I make my way through new non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirit brands, I’ll be writing about what I discover. Visit my Review section for the growing list.

Best Bars Serving Mocktails?

I’m based in Brooklyn. As New York opens back up (curse you, delta variant), I’ll be writing about the best NA drinks I’ve had around the city, the best bars and restaurants to visit if you are booze-free, and sober events around the boroughs. Visit the ‘life’ section of this site for reviews and recommendations for booze-free cocktail books, accounts to check out on instagram and tiktok, and other #soberlife stuff.