Sober curious trend takes hold in Cleveland’s alcohol-free spaces

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Sober curious is a popular phrase nowadays to describe people who don’t drink, and it’s the optimal way to describe a changing mindset about alcohol. Whether it’s wanting to avoid waking up with a hangover or looking to explore socialization without a substance, people are saying no to booze and welcoming a wave of non-alcoholic products new to the market.

The rising trend of sober curiosity can be seen both in social circles and on the internet. NC Solutions reports that people who identify as sober-curious cite saving money and addiction concerns as reasons for abstaining from alcohol, although drugs like marijuana and nicotine have risen in popularity. The study found that 34 percent of Americans in general planned on drinking less in 2023, and one in three stated they were interested in the sober curious movement.

“I think it’s just an experience everyone has to have for themselves to go out with friends and not drink and be like, ‘Oh my gosh I still had a great time, I felt great, and I like prefer to wake up feeling clear-eyed,’” Molly Cheraso, the owner of Verbena Free Spirited bar in Ohio City, said.

Challenges like Sober October or Dry January have become popular trends for people to abstain from drinking for an entire month out of the year. Online resources like Sunnyside or the Reframe app provide plans, tips, etc. for people to build healthier drinking habits, whether or not their overall goal is to quit altogether. Instagram pages like Sober Girls Society attract tens of thousands of followers for their tips for quitting drinking and leading a fulfilling sober social life.

Cheraso opened Verbena with sober curiosity in mind. She spent 13 years working for Key Bank but always had an underlying drive to open her own business. When her husband decided to cut back on his drinking after the pandemic, Cheraso ended up following suit. It led her to seek a variety of up-and-coming non-alcoholic products that became available on the market. Her husband noticed an improvement in his physical health and mental clarity, and it helped that so many alcohol alternatives that Cheraso was purchasing were so tasty.

“He’s never really drank since,” Cheraso said.

The idea behind Verbena is to provide a space for people to access non-alcoholic products, many of which were not available in Cleveland before the Hingetown shop opened. Additionally, the café-bar provides a social setting for those abstaining from drinking for one reason or another to connect with like-minded folks.

Verbena’s product range includes functional spirits that include plant-based supplements and tasty non-alcoholic drinks that mimic traditional alcohol offerings. The market sells non-alcoholic versions of beer, wine, spirits, liqueurs, ready-to-drink cans, and beyond. Brands like Ghia, Three Spirit, Ritual, and Seedlip might not be household names, but they’ve helped to revolutionize the non-alcoholic spirits industry.

The market sells non-alcoholic versions of beer, wine, spirits, liqueurs, ready-to-drink cans, and beyond. The nightly bar offers options for someone looking to try a non-alcoholic version of their favorite classic cocktail, like a dirty martini, or an inventive sipper like a glitter-infused cotton candy refresher.

Some of Verbena’s products can even be mixed with alcohol to lower the overall ABV of a drink, such as using non-alcoholic sparkling wine from a brand like French Bloom in a spritz. In general, Cheraso’s goal with Verbena is to make people more conscious and thoughtful about their alcohol consumption.

“I think it’s really eye-opening just to think about just taking a step back and (asking yourself): ‘Why am I at a yoga event and they’re serving me a mimosa? Or why at the end of this race are we drinking beer?’” Cheraso said.

Non-alcoholic beer is a category of booze all of its own, with both major companies and small craft brewers offering brews containing less than .5% ABV, which is the legal level of alcohol a drink can contain and still be labeled non-alcoholic in the U.S. A few popular companies include Athletic Brewing Co. And WellBeing Brewing Company. BrewDog is one brand with a local presence that began making non-alcoholic versions of its beers in the U.K. in 2008.

Brew Dog first created its low-alcohol Nanny State beer in protest to a protest. The company received backlash for releasing an 18% ABV beer, so responded by releasing a non-alcoholic option that stuck around. Now, the brand cans several options for non-alcoholic versions of its core lineup, and the Ohio bars will typically have two to three options on draft, Ben Chambers, BrewDog U.S.’s director of operations, said.

“The blossoming of the non-alcoholic world in craft beer is coming from people having that availability and those choices,” Chambers said. “It’s not the tired old standard for non-alcoholic beer.”

Brewing non-alcoholic beer is a bit different, as less sugar is needed to create the alcohol. Many brewers will add an extra step at the end of the brewing process to strip all of the alcohol from the batch. Another method is to dilute the alcohol or stop the fermentation process to keep the booze low, but flavor, foam, and mouthfeel on point with regular beer.

“As non-alcoholic beers get better and more reminiscent of actual beer, people are kind of opening their minds up,” Chambers said. “It’s really for someone who wants to enjoy the flavor of the beer and not have the effects of the alcohol for many reasons.”

Outside of Verbena, which is ahead of the trend, kava bars are popular spaces for sober curious folks to gather. Kava comes from the western Pacific Islands and is utilized in medicinal and ritualistic practices. A member of the black pepper family, the roots are dried before being ground into a powder or brewed into a tea. In Western culture, it’s become a popular supplement to address anxiety, insomnia, and beyond.

It’s proven that alcohol can have a negative impact on a person’s mental health. As mental health becomes a more societally accepted topic, it provides people the opportunity to seek out social events with wellness in mind.

Lindsay Kronk opened Kava Sol in Willoughby after personally seeing the negative impacts that alcohol can have on a person. When her mother got sick in January 2021 with kidney failure, it led to a mental health spiral. Kronk, who had always liked to drink socially, realized that alcohol was amplifying the anxiety she was experiencing at the time.

She was reminded of kava, something she had tried years ago in Hawaii. She began purchasing and drinking kava-infused seltzers in lieu of alcohol and loved the effect it had on her. Kronk, who is a full-time realtor, felt a passion to explore bringing a kava space to Cleveland.

Unfortunately, around the same time, her mom’s mental health continued to decline. Her mother started drinking again after more than 20 years of sobriety. She ultimately died by suicide in July 2022.

Kava Sol is Kronk’s love letter to her mom’s memory. Kronk credits her mom as being the first follower of her kava business on Instagram and always supported her. In return, the Kava Sol space is full of her mother’s artwork and the home of her beloved easel.

Kronk felt more compelled than ever to introduce kava, which can have positive mental health benefits, as an alternative to alcohol, which is classified as a depressant. She decided to cultivate a community space centered on kava to introduce and educate people about plant-based products and provide a social setting without drinking at its center.

Kava Sol opened in June 2023 to serve one kind of kava, sourced from the Vanuatu islands, and two kinds of kratom.

Kratom comes from a plant native to Southeast Asia. Its leaves are dried and ground into a powder or steeped into tea. Kronk describes kava as having a calming and anti-anxiety-inducing effect, as it touches on the brain’s GABA receptors that impact a person’s anxiety levels.

Kratom, on the other hand, has an anti-inflammatory effect as it touches on the brain’s opioid receptors. Depending on how the kratom is dried and processed, its effects can range from increased focus, pain relief, and a sedative effect, Kronk added.

“Our focus is more on the breadth of the flavor options and the ways to use the product rather than the depth of the kava and kratom itself,” Kronk explained.

Kava Sol looks like a feminine cocktail bar, with plush couches and woven rugs. The space hosts a variety of events, from open-mic nights to astrology readings. In general, Kronk thinks it provides a space for non-drinking folks to cultivate deep connections.

“My goal was to elevate the kava bar experience,” Kronk said. I want to create and mimic almost a cocktail bar setting.”

David Kovatch is another kava enthusiast who is 10 years sober from alcohol. He first discovered kava in Florida, a popular state for kava bars while visiting an old college drinking buddy who had also quit consuming alcohol. His friend took him to a kava bar, and it changed Kovatch’s path.

“I immediately fell in love with it,” he said. He came home, found the space in Lakewood, and opened the first Sacred Waters location. The second spot in North Olmsted came in the fall of 2022.

Sacred Waters sells both kava and kratom alongside espresso drinks and teas, which can be infused with either or both supplements. Kovatch remarked that some people use kratom as opposed to drugs like methadone or suboxone to quit abusing opiates. However, it’s also commonly sold at gas stations and smoke shops, and he added that a small number of people will abuse it.

“Our most important responsibility here is education and harm reduction,” Kovatch said of Sacred Waters. “Like anything, if people are using something to escape their reality because they don’t want to be in it, then it’s going to become an issue.” He explained that ingesting too much kratom would likely make someone sick to their stomach, which is why dosage is a large part of the business model.

Sacred Waters is another community space with customers of all ages looking for an alternative social setting or participating in events like yoga classes, sound baths, and more.

“People come here and talk about solutions, unlike regular bars where they’re talking about the world’s problems. That’s the big difference,” Kovatch said.

Kava cafes and non-alcoholic cocktail bars aren’t the only spaces for sober-curious people to get together. Spaces like Tabletop Board Game Cafe or Superelectric Pinball Parlor might sell alcohol but also offer non-alcoholic options and a fun gaming spin on the traditional bar experience. Unbar Café is another alternative space selling smoothies, refreshers made with green coffee extract, and espresso drinks that also hosts events from karaoke nights to costume contests.

Kava Sol also relies on the “third space” concept to cultivate a diverse clientele of people, sober or not, through events and community gatherings.

“I lived in the bars for a long time, I’ve never seen connections like people have established here,” Kronk added.

While Kronk will still drink on occasion, kava has totally changed her habits. In particular, she likes the option of being able to get a bit of a “buzz” without overdoing it or waking up with a hangover the next day. She hopes to expand education about kava and kratom by inviting customers in for a chance to learn through experience.

“I unintentionally drank for a very long time and felt like crap and I intentionally use these products,” Kronk said.

Part of the charm of Verbena is that same freedom to not drink without being confronted with questions from other people about why a person is abstaining. “Because drinking is such a social pressure and so deeply built into our culture, it’s something that people don’t really talk about the fact if they don’t drink,” Cheraso said. “It’s the one drug you have to explain why you don’t want to use it.”

Cheraso isn’t strictly anti-alcohol but rather focused on providing other options for people. Verbena is a location to find resources, like its annual book club that discusses topics like the history of alcohol marketing, the societal pressures of drinking, and alternative ways to approach a sober or sober-curious lifestyle.

“My focus is really the more positive side of these products taste really good and basically you can have that same sense of celebration and fun and lightheartedness and enjoyment and it’s going to feel really good,” Cheraso said. “I want to support you if you’re not drinking for one drink, one night, or one month.”