Wisconsin's first nonalcoholic bottle shop opens as going booze-free trends upward (2024)

Linda Hill poured cup after cup of something “curious” for several dozen visitors who lined up Wednesday evening outside the door of what’s to be Wisconsin’s first nonalcoholic bottle shop when it opens full-time in July in Middleton.

Hill, of Oconomowoc, mother of owner Kristi Tanner, who couldn’t be at Sober Social’s “soft” opening due to an illness, poured nonalcoholic co*cktails from the New York-based Curious Elixirs brand — one of the 35 brands of nonalcoholic spirits, wines and beers Sober Social carries at its 677-square-foot space at 1814 Parmenter St.

In a separate interview, Tanner, of Middleton, said that, until July, Sober Social will have limited hours — noon to 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.

“People are delighted to have something delicious and interesting to taste when they are not choosing alcohol,” Hill said, describing the Wednesday event as party-like.

Not only did the Sober Social space echo with laughter and upbeat conversation over nonalcoholic beverages and music; the shop’s soft opening was also part of a larger celebration of the rising trend of sober living, or being “sober curious.”

Curious Elixirs, which founder J.W. Wiseman said has been in business for just under a decade, helped organize the celebration along with 99 other booze-free parties Wednesday in 100 cities across the United States. Last year, Wiseman said, Curious Elixirs held 50 parties in 50 cities.

Trending upward

Sales of nonalcoholic beverages are on the rise in the Madison area as more bars and restaurants include booze-free spirits on their menus — in a state that’s home to some of the hardest-drinking cities in the country.

At Madison’s Blind Shot Social Club, which opened in 2021 and has sold nonalcoholic beverages since then, owner Michelle Duvall said booze-free drinks now make up 20% of bar sales.

“I am 10 years sober tomorrow,” she said. “We wanted to have wares on the menu that represented me as a person.”

Joshua Berkson, CEO of Rule No. 1 Hospitality Group, which owns Madison restaurants Lucille, Merchant, Amara and Todofresco, said in an email that “sales (of nonalcoholic co*cktails) have doubled across all of our stores” in the past year. The group, he said, added nonalcoholic drinks to its menus two years ago and started creating in-house recipes for such drinks.

According to a 2022 Forbes report, sales of no- and low-alcohol beverages that year grew by more than 7% in volume across 10 key global markets, surpassing $11 billion in market value, up from $8 billion in 2018.

Curious Elixirs sells its handmade nonalcoholic concoctions infused with various herbs, spices and other flavors to 3,000 venues across the country and millions of individual customers, Wiseman said. He started Curious Elixirs as part of his own sobriety journey — he woke up one morning after having 20 drinks the night before, he said, and decided he needed to radically change his drinking habits and help others do the same.

“Life can be more fun with less alcohol,” he said. “I’m living proof of that.”

‘I was an alcoholic’

Tanner wants to have the Sober Social’s grand opening on July 6 — the five-year anniversary of the start of her own sobriety journey. She’s still finalizing the details of that event.

“I was an alcoholic,” Tanner said. “I found myself a stay-at-home mom to four small kids. I was really spiraling down this scary path. I got two DUIs in one week. After I got those two DUIs, my parents bailed me out of jail and I went to rehab for two months.”

Tanner said it was the hardest thing she has ever done.

Then the pandemic came. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings shut down, and Tanner needed a way to keep herself accountable. She started an Instagram account, @mocktailmommy, and told her now 12,500 followers that if they saw her drinking, “you need to call 911.” Tanner continues to use that account to be “just brutally honest about my unhealthy relationship with alcohol.”

Tanner became a certified recovery coach last year. In January, Tanner attended the Sans Bar Academy, run by a nonalcoholic bar owner in Austin, Texas, where she learned how she could bring her business idea to fruition.

“I got my keys for the (Sober Social) space on March 18,” she said.

Ten days later, Tanner found out she won a party sponsored by Curious Elixirs.

“My personal motto is to keep no secrets and carry no shame,” she said.

“When we are honest about what we are going through, we find other people that went through the same thing and realize we aren’t alone. I am hoping this store is so much more than a bottle shop. Getting sober can actually enhance socializing.”

“I’m so proud of daughter,” Hill said.

Show of support

The people checking out the nonalcoholic beverage scene at Wednesday’s Sober Social event were supporting someone embracing sobriety, were sober themselves or just wanted to see what all the commotion was about.

Melanie Mason, of Fitchburg, said she was at Sober Social to support a friend. Mason said she works in the mental health field and was gathering recommendations for those she works with who are in recovery.

“People our age are (drinking less) now too,” Mason said, adding that she doesn’t like hangovers and “I don’t know what’s out there.”

“I’m 14 years sober,” said guitarist Jage Nichols, of Oregon, the musical entertainer for the evening. Nichols is a veteran who has “seen others go down the bad path” and wanted to support Tanner, his friend.

“She’s doing something very great here,” he said. “Sober Social is bringing a hipness to not drinking alcohol.”