Seventy-two degrees, barely a breeze, gossamer blue skies—it’s an exceptional autumn afternoon in San Francisco’s Ocean Beach neighborhood, which hugs a broad strand of golden sand along the Pacific shore.
“Not the usual weather,” observed Joshua James, owner of the district’s Ocean Beach Cafe, as he waters plants outside his compact establishment on La Playa Street. A foggy, drizzly locale most of the time, its balmy character today is an intriguing allegory for what the café itself represents.
Here, all the libations contain no alcohol—not the handmade “cocktails,” nor the bottled beverages that mimic the flavor and aspect of beer, wine, and spirits. Shelved along the walls for customers to browse, at first glance they appear to be what you'd find in any liquor store or supermarket booze section. Same bottle shapes. Same artful, alluring labels. Same metaphorically descriptive names: Cut Above Mezcal, Three Spirit Nightcap, Free Spirit Elixir. Along the bar inside the store and outside at sidewalk tables, a dozen customers enjoy Ocean Beach Cafe’s stock in trade.
“Things are going great,” declared James, who has been sober for five years and has become something of an icon in the non-alcoholic (NA) drinks industry. “It’s been four years now for Ocean Beach Cafe, and as you see”—he indicated a bountiful collection of press clippings posted throughout the shop—“we’re being noticed. Seventy articles and counting.”
James stocks more than 100 different NA products at Ocean Beach Cafe, and he said he believes that his business is helping usher in a sea change in American social gathering customs.
“Here, alcohol isn’t the main ingredient for bringing people together and sharing an amazing drink,“ he said. ”At the same time, people don’t gather over water, and most aren’t looking for overly sugary mocktails. Desirable adult non-alcoholic beverages do more than scratch the itch—they’re paving the way to shape how we socialize and will be an expected option in the very near future.”
His café is thus a spearhead in a cultural tide sweeping American society, the “sober curious” movement. The Ocean Beach Cafe menu offers a compact selection of eight cocktails, six NA wines by the glass, an assortment of coffee and tea drinks, plus bistro food items. Store shelves offer bottle sales of several dozen NA beers, wines, spirits, and canned cocktails, along with traditional sodas.
Finding the Good Stuff
There are hundreds of NA brands and beverages. But the fact that something is new and attractively packaged doesn’t mean it’s actually good. As a pioneer in this space, James is happy to be outspoken.“Being a sober bartender gives me a unique perspective—I deeply understand the need for more exciting and thoughtful NA choices,” he said. “Every day, I see the NA category bursting with energy, excitement, and curiosity. It offers just as much satisfaction and enjoyment as the traditional cocktail world.”
His own journey to this point was triggered by the usual addiction-pattern spate of firings during a long career in bar management, and a DUI conviction. Eventually, he decided to abandon alcohol for a year as an experiment and wound up in a San Francisco residential sobriety center called Friendship House.
“My best idea ever,” he recalled. “Even though I knew a ton about alcohol, I was shocked at how much I didn’t know about its effects on the body.”
Although James said he’s “not typically inspired by NA beverages that mimic alcohol,” he retains a fondness for the classic flavor pairing of red wine with food and so is a big fan of the Zeronimo Leonis red wine blend.
“It’s the holy grail of NA wines,” he said.
Among beers, James favors Best Day Brewing, Athletic Brewing, Sonoma-based Barrel Brothers Brewing, and Berkeley-based Fieldwork Brewing Co.—all artisan brewers whose NA businesses represent the leading edge of the industry.
As for spirits, a difficult corner of the industry, James reports that Three Spirits Nightcap is the bestseller at his café and a key ingredient in several OBC cocktails.
“It’s just hard to replicate whiskey, but Three Spirits is a rich, complex blend of valerian root, lemon balm, hops, chamomile, and maple syrup,” he said. “Dromme Calm is great, too; these are helping people not drink alcohol before bed.”
Alex Fletcher, a Texas-based beverage industry consultant and cocktail expert with a personal catalog of more than 3,500 drink recipes, has been sober for three years. He reports similar challenges finding great NA spirits but has found a reliable winner in Ritual Zero-Proof Aperitif.
“[It] does wonders for NA cocktails. You get some grip and layers to play with,” he said.
Its complexity and bitterness add depth to NA cocktails that are otherwise one-dimensional fruit juice concoctions. For example, Fletcher’s “Cozmo-Not” blends equal measures Ritual’s gin and aperitif alternatives with orange oil, cranberry cordial, black pepper tincture, and citrus.
For wine, Fletcher is a fan of Lyre’s Classico sparkling wine, which he calls “visual and rewarding.” Like James, he’s fond of San Diego’s Athletic Brewing, whose “Dark and Gourdy” is their fall special Porter-style “beer.”
Former Texas bartender Robert Bjorn Taylor, now a hospitality consultant, also cites Athletic Brewing products, along with Guinness NA beers, as the best choices in this ever-growing corner of the beverage industry. And in his local market, Austin, Ritual joins Seedlip as the best and most popular hard liquor analogues.
When it comes to wine, Taylor is a fan of Oddbird, a Swedish company that was a pioneer in the industry. He highlights a de-alcoholized dry red wine the company calls GSM, made with a blend of grenache, syrah, mourvèdre, and carignan from southern France. Oddbird’s catalog includes many other whites, reds, and sparkling NA wines.
Do experts such as Taylor find it odd to be pioneering an industry that turns upside down one of humanity’s oldest pursuits—a pursuit that he’s left behind?
Drink Up! An Alcohol-Free Menu Recommended by Experts
Guinness 0.0
The Irish makers of what may be the world’s most famous beer use a proprietary cold filtration method to remove all the alcohol from their famous dark stout. It’s got “the same dark, ruby red liquid and creamy head, hints of chocolate and coffee, smoothly balanced with bitter, sweet, and roasted notes,” according to the brewer.
“It’s been three years without booze, and I got to enjoy Guinness the other night. That was a treat and a half,” Alex Fletcher said.
Zeronimo Leonis Blend
A de-alcoholized mix of Austrian wines, this hearty red uses blaufränkisch, Zweigelt, and cabernet sauvignon grapes and is aged two years in French oak barrels. It’s dry with notes of berry, cherry, and fig leaf.
“With 70-year-old vines, two years in new French oak barriques, and a wine brimming with aroma and texture, it’s truly the greatest of all time,” Joshua James said.
Dr. ZeroZero AmarNo
Robert Bjorn Taylor’s recommendation for an after-dinner botanical bitter incorporates sage, Chinese rhubarb, wormwood, and quassia, tonics long used as digestives. Made in Italy, it’s a no-booze version of Amaro.
“I have a soft spot for the bittersweet creations in the NA space,” Taylor said.
Three Spirit Nightcap
This blend of 15 different plant essences long used for relaxation includes valerian, hops, lemon balm, and ashwagandha. Its makers describe the elixir as “calm, woody, and mellow.”
James calls it rich and complex and said, “You can put [this] drink in your hand at the same time in the evening you usually wind down.”
