Rethinking relationship with alcohol, growing crowd carries ‘Dry January’ movement into a new year

The way Heather Krause sees it, a woman not drinking alcohol while socializing prompts one of the following conclusions:

She’s pregnant.

She’s trying to lose weight.

Or she’s a recovering alcoholic.

“Why are those my only three choices for not having a drink?” asked Krause, who lives in Sioux Falls and works remotely for a health care organization.

“The assumption is you automatically should be drinking unless you have a reason not to. It’s so strange. Culture is changing, but you still have to explain yourself.”

If it’s Dry January, observing the growing period when many people go alcohol-free also might cause others to nod in understanding, she continued.

But otherwise? It’s still somewhat a “radical choice to not drink in a culture obsessed with alcohol,” she said, pointing to the book “Quit Like a Woman,” which points out “wherever you go – weddings, when it’s your birthday you go out and drink, Friday night you’re having a cocktail, even baby showers everyone but the mom is having mimosas. Everything is around drinking.”

But like most everything else affected by the pandemic, the decision to drink also appears to be changing.

For Krause, who hasn’t given it up entirely, it began with cutting back.

“I chose to stop and reframe my relationship with alcohol,” she said. “Like many people, the pandemic spurred on this stress and anxiety, and at the end of the day, you pour yourself a glass of wine or say I’m going to have a beer because there’s a lot happening in the world and it feels good to relieve that stress with a beverage at the end of the day.”

All the time at home made it too easy to have another beverage while binge-watching shows. When her mother became critically ill, the stress compounded, and alcohol became a convenient coping mechanism.

On Dec. 1, “I made the choice that this isn’t helping me,” Krause said. “I’m not choosing to drink because I’m having a nice dinner with friends enjoying a glass of wine. I was choosing to drink to mask my own frustrations and anxiety.”

And once she began drinking less, she realized she had company.

“When you bring it up, more and more people are openly saying, ‘I’ve been trying to do that,’ ” Krause said. “The more you start talking, you realize a lot of people are actually interested in it, but the spectrum is wide.”

Kyle Doeden counts many of those people as subscribers in an email newsletter he recently began focusing on the nonalcoholic beverage scene in Sioux Falls.

“I just have lots of thoughts on the NA drinks, and I like making recipes,” he said. “Basically, I decided that drinking was not good for me. So I stopped drinking, and I’ve just been trying to find fun ways to continue the social aspect of it, or just at home. Especially in South Dakota and in the Midwest, drinking is a big part of the culture, and you feel a little left out if you’re not drinking. But if you have an option that feels fun, you still feel part of the celebration or part of the group.”

He also bartends at Look’s Marketplace and has seen customers gravitate more toward the alcohol-free options.

“It’s going up,” he said. “People are more health-conscious and realize even moderate drinking, if you’re doing it consistently, is really not good for your health.”

Doeden even thinks there’s a business opportunity in it for him. While he’s focusing on a new job for now, he plans to eventually launch a company centered around tea-based alcohol-free beverages.

“I’ve got a couple blends I’d like to do, and I’m still figuring out logistics,” he said.

To sign up for his newsletter, click here.

Alcohol-free beverages also slowly are becoming more mainstream in places such as adult-beverage stores and cocktail bars.

At JJ’s Wine, Spirits & Cigars, “we’ve seen it and embraced it,” owner Tom Slattery said. “About six months ago, we started featuring alcohol-free items on our menus, about the time some of the alcohol-free spirits were hitting the market.”

If you have an open mind, “the flavor profiles they’re trying to achieve work,” he added.

“There are different textural components to alcohol-free spirits and beer that people who truly enjoy those beverages miss, but … we’re experimenting with utilizing these items in traditional cocktails like a gin and tonic or whiskey Coke and encouraging people to not judge by the taste of the spirit but the taste in connection with everything else.”

At The Hello Hi, which has a section of its menu for alcohol-free drinks, co-owner Sara Benson said January brings double the sales of most other months.

“Last year versus this year in January, we definitely did sell more,” she said. “But I think ultimately it’s just the idea that just because somebody doesn’t drink doesn’t mean they’re not curious about unique flavors and just wanting to try something different.”

Her staff puts the same focus into crafting an alcohol-free cocktail, complete with a fun presentation, and there will be new offerings coming with a menu revision soon.

“I’ll notice sometimes people will order them in between cocktails almost as a buffer,” Benson said.

“Some of these rum tiki drinks tend to be a little spirit-forward, so having something in between to pace yourself a bit is something I’ve noticed, and I think with the N/A drinks and people coming out to drink them, it does seem like it’s a younger crowd.”

For Krause, who has mostly gone two months barely drinking, the options for alternatives are good ones, she said.

“A year ago I did Dry January, and there were literally three times as many options this year,” she said. “Our favorite is Lagunitas hop water. It’s super refreshing and curbs your appetite or craving for a beer.”

“I feel great,” she said. “I’ve lost weight, so that feels good, I’m more hydrated, and I’m sleeping a lot better, which has been a huge bonus. I don’t miss it, to be honest. Every once in awhile, I’ll have a craving, but our alternative options have done a really good job.”