A pleasure-seekers’ guide to crafty cocktails with low to no alcohol

It's much easier to be a "social butterfly" without the "buzz" in Atlanta

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Mehrnush Saadat of Soberish
Mehrnush Saadat of Soberish sees zero-proof and low-ABV drinks as stylish and desirable, rather than an afterthought.

Photograph courtesy of Soberish

Go to any establishment with a progressive bar program in Atlanta these days, and you’ll find drink options with little to no alcohol. Typically, they are labeled “low ABV,” “nonalcoholic,” “zero-proof,” or “0 ABV.” Sometimes there is a “spiritless” cocktail section on the menu. Regardless of their categorization, these sober offerings now bookend their boozy counterparts.

“It’s an underserved market,” says Charles Freeland, a bartender at Vesper, the James Bond–inspired bar in Glenwood Park. “There are definitely people who want to come out and enjoy the social aspects of being at a bar, but often they don’t have the same options. The drink selections can be very limited.”

Knowing this, the Vesper team created several choices for its “00 Proof Cocktails” menu. Bartenders use the brand Ritual Zero Proof spirits to assemble their takes on bar classics such as the Paper Plane. They also use them in original recipes such as the Bonito, a nonalcoholic version of their popular cocktail, the Bonita, a tequila-based sour with prickly pear syrup, lime, and ginger beer.

Mehrnush Saadat, owner of the bottle shop Soberish, echoes the sentiment that the nonalcoholic market is untapped. She believes people are embracing good social experiences without the hangover.

“It’s about enjoying the experience and the flavors, not just the buzz,” says Saadat. “And who doesn’t want to sip something sophisticated while still feeling fabulous, coherent, and fully present? These drinks are all about making socializing fun and inclusive for everyone.”

Saadat opened her bottle shop in the Kirkwood neighborhood in 2023 and now has a second location in Serenbe. The store features a curated collection of zero-proof spirits, aperitifs, and mixers, along with CBD and nootropic liquors (with herbs, vitamins, and amino acids that may improve brain health), beers, wines, and nibbles.

While some bars prominently feature “no and low” cocktails on menus and boards, at other places, you have to request them. Take Whoopsie’s, for example. The intimate and compact restaurant in Reynoldstown has a well-known off-menu item in its back pocket. The NA French 75 is its brilliant take on the classic, made with Winestillery Hyper Low Gin and One of One zero-proof sparkling white wine. The profile of the cocktail is surprisingly like the boozy original—full of botanical, bubbly goodness.

What connects most of the cocktails served in locales around Atlanta is bartenders’ adherence to using a spirit—even a nonalcoholic one.

The Sober Social, a nonalcoholic cocktail bar in the Castleberry Hill neighborhood, touts an impressive menu of traditional, original, and frozen daiquiris—all using spirit alternatives. Drinks such as the Social Butterfly, a cocktail containing an alternative gin, passion fruit, lemons, and bitters, are a testament to pushing the boundaries of what a zero-proof cocktail can be.

Freeland reasons this as doing what you know as a bartender and not making a juice-fueled mocktail.

If somebody tells him they like an old-fashioned and other whiskey drinks but don’t feel like drinking, Freeland explains he can get somewhere in that neighborhood without merely offering a bunch of orange juice and syrups. “They don’t have to be exact, but they’re close,” he says.

This article appears in our January 2025 issue.

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