Rather than create another CBD seltzer, we set out to make a drink that we would enjoy, one that replicated the cocktail experience but without the alcohol,” said John. “Chris and I are fans of bold flavored cocktails and craft beers. The company is currently expanding into the Midwest, with plans for national expansion in late 2022. Using a recipe that John concocted in his Montauk home, jeng hit the shelves in The Hamptons, Manhattan and Brooklyn last Summer. Jeng is the brainchild of John Enghauser and Christopher Lackner, old college friends who reconnected with an idea right before the pandemic hit. This cocktail which can be enjoyed in an array of classic cocktail flavors like the Moscow mule, the paloma, and the gin & tonic- is brining a new twist to the ever-demanding non-alcoholic beverage market. My hope for the future is that one day there will be as many zero-proof options as there are alcoholic options in liquor stores, such that I will need a much bigger store and a much more deliberate organizational system.What? You may be asking…hemp-infused? Well, yes. There’s very little rhyme or reason to it. I arrange bottles on my shelves based on what’s the best use of my very limited space! I’ve never run a retail store before, so I’m still learning and shifting things around constantly based on what works. IH: Liquor stores can categorieze their wares by fairly well-defined categories - gin, whiskey, etc. Many include ingredients like hemp and other functional adaptogens and nootropics. It’s a grey line, but I wanted to focus on the types of things you drink at the end of the day, socializing with friends in the evening and celebrating occasions.īut I cast a wide net and stock everything from beers, wines and spirits to mixers, bitters and even Italian-style leisure sodas. InsideHook: How do you define “booze-free” bottles?ĭouglas Watters: I stock my shelves based on two loose rules of thumb: One, is it less than 0.5% ABV, and thus can be considered “non-alcoholic”? And two, is it an “evening beverage”? I love kombucha and Recess and other bougie, expensive drinks like Spindrift, but I drink them during the daytime. “This whole category of non-alcoholic spirits has really just arisen in the past few years, and only very recently were there enough options to warrant a dedicated space,” he explains. Seeking some sober clarity, we spoke with Douglas Watters, the founder of Spirited Away, New York City’s first (and from what we can tell, only) booze-free bottle shop. It’s hard to find a “name” brand in this space outside of Seedlip, launched a few years back consumers and bartenders have seemingly embraced the “world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirit.” With its success, dozens of new brands have followed into this no-booze, spirits-free space.īut there’s little consensus on categories, ingredients or even what to call these safe-driving tipples (no-booze, spirits-free, non-alcoholic spirits, etc.) What does this growing booze-free drinks category actually entail? The idea here is that you’re simply foregoing the booze, not the taste or complexity.īut then things get tricky. Dry January doesn’t mean you can’t have a good drink or a cocktail.
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