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Dry January will soon be over, but these Seattle spots offer zero proof year round

caption: Kamp Social House in Seattle advertises drinks that range from boozy to unboozy.
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Kamp Social House in Seattle advertises drinks that range from boozy to unboozy.
KUOW Photo / Ruby de Luna

Thinking of extending Dry January beyond one month of the year? You’re not alone. More and more people are embracing it — only to find non-alcoholic options at bars and restaurants limited. But some Seattle-area businesses are changing that.

Raise your hand if happy hour was a regular thing for you during Covid lockdowns — when five o’clock rolled around, the laptops shut, and the cocktail shakers came out.

“I was one of those folks,” said Marceil Van Camp. “I took an entire year off drinking. I needed a big reset.”

Van Camp and her wife opened the restaurant Kamp Social House in Madison Valley in the summer of 2022. Before opening, Van Camp visited different places to see where one could go to be sober and social. Often the non-alcoholic cocktails left her wanting.

“Everything was really sugar forward,” Van Camp recalled. “I was offered a lot of “kiddie cocktails,” for lack of a better term, which to me wasn’t representative of what I was looking for in an alcohol-free cocktail.”

RELATED: Alcohol-free beer is gaining popularity, even at Oktoberfest

It inspired her to provide an array of drinks at Kamp Social House, from fully boozy to un-boozy, or something in between. Van Camp says one of the fan favorites is called “Don’t Scare the Chickens,” their take on mezcal margarita.

“We use an NA (non-alcoholic) mezcal, NA tequila that really leans heavily on pink peppercorn," she said. "So you got a lot of that smoke, a little bit of spice, and the mouth feel is what you might expect when drinking a boozy margarita.”

Van Camp said non-alcoholic offerings have exploded in the last few years. And as more people embrace the ritual beyond Dry January, it’s only going to grow.

RELATED: Starting 2023 off alcohol-free with 'Dry January'

In Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood, Mark Paschal, Nyannah Jackson, and their colleagues are working to open a new bar called Rosette that will focus on zero- or low-proof drinks.

“For so long it’s been restricted to people who drink," Paschal said. "You don’t have to become inebriated or you don’t have to have alcohol in order to meet people.”

Paschal and Jackson are part of the employee-owned restaurant Jude’s Old Town, which is two doors down. They hope to open Rosette in March. It will showcase well-crafted drinks for those who want something less syrupy and more sophisticated.

Paschal adds, non-drinkers have always been around, but have been underserved.

“It’s just been like largely ignoring a large swath of people so it’s more like a whole swath of consumer that has become visible for the first time,” he said.

And current trends continue to feed that. According to the last Gallup Poll, drinking has declined among young adults over the past two decades. And more recently the Surgeon General warned about the cancer risks associated with drinking, even moderate amounts.

caption: The "Lightning Bug" at Herb & Bitter, a non-alcoholic beverage, made with spiritless tequila and Sanbitter soda, rather than Mezcal and Campari.
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The "Lightning Bug" at Herb & Bitter, a non-alcoholic beverage, made with spiritless tequila and Sanbitter soda, rather than Mezcal and Campari.
Jason M Burrows for KUOW

Meanwhile, a spot in Phinney Ridge has ingredients to help customers make their own non-alcoholic libations.

Kirstin Vracko poured a sample of her favorite botanical elixir for a customer at Cheeky and Dry. Vracko and her husband opened their store a little over a year ago, the first dedicated non-alcoholic bottle shop in the city.

“Drinking was ingrained in us, and just part of our lives," Vracko said. "And I couldn’t imagine not drinking.”

But that changed when her husband went into rehab. She wanted to support him when he returned. But she also missed the cocktails. After talking to a friend who opened a non-alcoholic bottle shop in Virginia, it was clear what she wanted to do.

“I knew that Seattle needed one,” Vracko said. “And we didn’t have one.”

The shelves are stocked with options ranging from ready-to-drink cocktails to non-alcoholic spirits to de-alcoholized wines.

“We’ve tried everything in this shop," Vracko said. "We never bring anything that we don’t like.”

Vracko said she’s excited to help people explore these options — many of them crafted locally. That way, no one will feel left out.

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