FOLIO
Words by Kaili Cochran
Since COVID-19, non-alcoholic beverages have become something more commonly seen day-to-day and are only becoming more popular as time goes on.
During the recent Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9, Michelob Ultra Zero made an appearance in “The ULTRA Hustle” ad that aired during commercials. Just two years before, Heineken 0.0 made history as the first Super Bowl ad to promote non-alcoholic beer during the commercial “Heineken: No Shrinking and Drinking.”
From a more local standpoint, Jacksonville has its very own non-alcoholic bars popping up with Wildcrafters that opened in 2020 and Kava and Company that opened in 2019.
Wildcrafters is a mocktail bar located in Riverside, just blocks from 5 Points, with multiple alcoholic free cocktails, coffee mocktails and kava beverages.
The idea of these booze-free bars is to provide the community with a welcoming space and bar-like environment, keeping the social aspect without the effects and consequences of alcohol.
When it comes to sober drinking, some come for the familiar flavor of their favorite cocktails and others come for the similar buzz they long for while still being in their sober mindset.
Mike M. is a regular at Kava bars and had turned to Kava mocktails when his friend had taken him out to a booze-free bar for the first time. Mike used to bounce from bar to bar and soon found himself to be an alcoholic. Booze-free bars gave Mike the alternative he needed to still be able to go out without the temptation of drinking.
“[Kava] still gives me that feeling of when I used to drink or smoke when I was younger but it doesn’t give me a high or the ‘wompy’ feeling like drinking will give you,” he said. “When I used to go to all the bars around town a lot, it was always chaotic. But [the atmosphere in kava bars] is really chill, super calm. Like you never hear about anything really crazy going on.”
Kava and Company is another alcohol-free bar and has two locations: San Marco & Mandarin. Both provide kava and kratom alternatives to alcohol.
Scarlet Tarcea is a “kavatender” at Kava and Company’s San Marco location. Tarcea was a bartender in Riverside for four years prior to her position at Kava and Company. With her experience in both types of bars, she noticed that the difference between the bars wasn’t only the alcohol.
“The number one thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that a lot of people are healing, and a lot of people are going through phases where they’re trying to get over all these different milestones in their lives that have involved alcohol or addictions or anything like that. And I think that is probably the biggest thing that I realized while being here,” Tarcea said.
Booze-free bars provide a safe and relaxing environment for the community to turn to and booze-free bars have proven to help people going through addictions.
Although not personally affected by addiction, Maxim Kurochkin has been a regular at Kava and Company for two years. After bringing some of his friends to the location, he said he’s seen it change the way his friends approach alcohol and smoking.
“I have noticed that a lot of my friends admit that they either can’t smoke because they know it has a negative effect on them, or they can’t drink because they get hooked on it all the time. I know a few of them have tried to drink and they have preferred this as an alternative,” Kurochkin said.
According to a recent study by NIQ, there has been a 26% increase in sales of non-alcoholic beverages over the past year. Not only have sales been increasing but so, too, has the output of non-alcoholic beverages. Between mid-July of 2021 and mid-July of 2022, 72 new non-alcoholic drinks were put into the US market.
Ryan Lemmon is a kavatender at Kava and Company in Mandarin. He turned to Kava when he was in college at Florida State University and was looking for a social hangout that didn’t involve alcoholic drinking. After discovering his first kava bar in Tallahassee, he decided to pursue being a kavatender in his hometown of Jacksonville. Every day he meets new people and believes that kava is bringing people together in a way alcohol never could.
“I think there’s going to be a new norm of how we go about celebrating or spending time with each other. There’s more than just going out and having a drink and just all centering around alcoholic beverages. You can really connect with people here,” Lemmon said. “I’m really interested to see how big this goes because I do think there is a big future for non-alcoholic drinks and it could be something for everybody.”
Follow FOLIO!