Why I Released a Non-Alc Drink

🥃Hint, hint: I really missed whiskey!

I’m Tawny, author of Dry Humping and co-author of The Sobriety Deck, co-host of the Recovery Rocks podcast, and co-founder of the vinegar-based botanical beverage, (parentheses)

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Entrepreneur Life

Hola everyone! Above is a photo of me leaving my apartment building with a rolling bag filled with bottles of my new drink, table decorations, glassware, and copies of my book. I was headed to Minus Moonshine, an NA bottleshop in Brooklyn, to host a tasting of (parentheses).

Hubby and I often do tastings and hear many of the same questions. One of which is why, as an author, I launched my own NA drink. So, I figured the best way to answer this question is right here, in my newsletter.

From bag to table: Our tasting booth at Minus Moonshine last weekend

Why I Launched a Drink

I was a whiskey drinker back in my party girl days. As someone who’s reported on the sober curious and mindful drinking movement since 2015 (I even wrote this book!), I’ve tried just about every NA drink on the market. None of the current whiskey alternatives have the bite that I crave.

My husband, Nick, has an artisanal cooking vinegar line called Sour Humanoid. The more he taught me about vinegar and fermentation, the more I realized that the bite I craved could be achieved with vinegar's acidity.

So Nick got to work fermenting small-batch vinegar using organic seaweed from Maine, and then adding botanicals to said artisanal vinegar. Now we have (parentheses)!

I drink (parentheses) on the rocks or neat, the same way I drank whiskey. If you’re a normal human who was never into straight liquor, treat (parentheses) like any spirit: elevate your seltzer, ginger beer, NA wine, or follow these recipes.

Rachelle Robinett, RH (AHG)

wrote this great piece about oxymels, the ancient elixir that inspired our drink, (parentheses).

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Robert Riese Photography

Fun fact: When you add one serving of (parentheses) to a cocktail shaker with ice and strain it into a glass, you’ll get a nice foam on top—this is from the seaweed reacting to the ice!

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Indie Bottle Shops vs. Target and Whole Foods

I love hosting a tasting at indie bottle shops because these shops are crucial to the NA industry, especially as chains like Whole Foods, Target, and Sprouts integrate large NA sections in their stores. Part of me is happy that big box stores finally see the value in non-alc because these stores introduce our industry to a broader market. Underdogs need visibility. The other part of me knows that the brands who can afford to be in a big box store no longer qualify as underdogs.

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Want to find an indie bottleshop or booze-free bar near you?

Laura Silverman

created this incredible global map just for you!

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Indie NA bottle shops can intentionally curate drink selections in the same way that indie liquor stores or indie bookstores curate their inventory. Small businesses typically want to support other small businesses. You won’t see our drink in Target or Whole Foods because we’re a small-batch drink company (We also don’t want to give Bezos a dime, but that’s another story). We don’t have the capital, infrastructure, or labor to scale our drink enough to be distributed nationwide. Scaling to this size means we’d lose control over production—one of the many processes that make our (parentheses) so special.

To learn more about the business side of the NA world, I recently wrote this piece about the importance of indie bottle shops and this live interview about VC-funded brands vs. indie brands.

Support local NA bottleshops! (me & aqxyl, owner of Minus Moonshine)

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When I’m not doing drink tastings, I teach book proposal classes! There are still a few spots left for next week’s boot camp. Sign up below 🤓

Have a great week,

Tawny