Photo courtesy of Umbrella Dry Drinks
The Lady Marmalade mocktail features a gin alternative from Ritual Zero Proof, a rosemary & grapefruit marmalade sourced from Manse, lemon juice and rosemary simple syrup.
Dry January, which involves giving up alcohol for the first month of the year is growing in popularity, and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many people to re-evaluate their relationship with alcohol and the reasons why they drink. More restaurants have been adding non-alcoholic alternatives to their menus that go beyond soda, juice or water.
Old Town resident Sam Kasten has been sober for three and a half years. She began drinking heavily in college when she said she was unprepared for the excessive drinking culture she encountered there. The drinking continued through her late 20s when she worked in the restaurant industry. A DUI charge in 2016 and experimenting with different paths to sobriety led her to give up the bottle for good in 2018. Her boyfriend, now fiancé, Trevor, went sober with her.
Just because they are sober doesn’t mean that Kasten and her fiancé don’t like to go out with friends.
“When we do go out we like to enjoy ourselves, we really enjoy the experience and unfortunately there really aren’t that many restaurants that offer elevated non-alcoholic options,” she explained.
While Kasten has noticed an increase in non-alcoholic options in Old Town over the past few months, it’s still not where she would like it to be. “Personally I would love to see very single restaurant and bar offer a sophisticated non-alcoholic option because I’m personally at a point in my sobriety where I can go out to a bar with girlfriends and it doesn’t bother me, I don’t get triggered,” said Kasten, although she admits that was not always the case for her, and comfort levels vary from person to person.
Friends who have followed Kasten’s journey to sobriety frequently reach out to her with questions about going dry, even if only temporarily. Her best friend gave up alcohol while training for a half marathon. She missed the ritual of having a late night drink and reached out to Kasten for dry drink ideas. At the end of last year, Kasten took a 10-week long course on starting a zero-proof business through Sans Bar Academy led by Chris Marshall, who owns Sans Bar, a non-alcoholic bar in Austin, Texas.
Kasten decided to launch Umbrella Dry Drinks a month ago. “The concept behind Umbrella Dry Drinks is to provide sophisticated non-alcoholic options for those who wish to stay dry, so anyone who is not drinking, for whatever reason,” she explained. The idea initially started to do pop-up events in collaboration with local Old Town businesses like Mint Collective (where Kasten works full time) and King’s Ransom. Some of her cocktails feature ingredients from Old Town shop Manse and Greenheart Juice Shop in Vienna.
Due to the positive response she has received, the concept of Umbrella Dry Drinks is now evolving into a non-alcoholic bar and bottle shop that sells non-alcoholic liquor, beer and wine alternatives. Kasten is opening a pop-up location as part of the Seedling Collective (121 S. Royal St.) for the month of February where she will serve cocktails that can be served with or without a spirit alternative and she will sell a variety of non-alcoholic products.
“I realized that even though these products were available they weren’t really out there, and people didn’t really know about them unless you were sober and were really a part of the sober Instagram community,” said Kasten.
Depending on how the pop-up goes, Kasten hopes to have a more permanent space by the summer or fall and a permanent physical location by the next holiday season. “I want to have a space where people can come and feel included no matter what they’re drinking,” she explained. Feeling left out or singled out in social settings is a challenge for anybody who wants to be sober, and Kasten hopes she can help change the stigma and make non-alcoholic drinks more mainstream.
Kasten is excited to launch her business in Alexandria where she has lived for three years.
“This community is just so strong, and there are so many passionate people who live here and I just love everything about Old Town,” she said enthusiastically. She has witnessed this first hand while working at the local and women-owned shops Mint Condition and Mint Collective. Alexandria is the perfect spot to start and eventually expand to reach the greater DMV area (including her native Bethesda).
Follow Umbrella Dry Drinks on Instagram @umbrelladrydrinks.
