Photos by Adam DeTour

Pat Dooling, founder of Dray Drinks nonalcoholic bottle shop in Boston’s South End, says folks constantly express how silly they think his store is. But that comes with the territory, he says, and they’ve got plenty of regular customers to make up for that skepticism.

Dray Drinks sells exclusively nonalcoholic beverages—from beer and wine alternatives designed to look and taste like the real thing, to zero-proof spirits for making mocktails, to ready-to-drink seltzers with functional ingredients like adaptogens, caffeine or CBD.

The shop opened in late 2023, and not a moment too soon—the nonalcoholic (N/A) industry has seen explosive growth in recent years and is projected to keep expanding. Dooling says that as the first of its kind in Boston, his bottle shop struggled to find a location. But now, less than two years later, they’ve just opened a second location in Cambridge.

Dooling’s decision to launch Dray Drinks was two-sided, he says. On the one hand, he says, his business background gave him the insight to know that the N/A industry “is an incredibly burgeoning space,” with new and higher-quality products emerging left and right. And on the other hand, Dooling himself is sober.

“You go to an event sober, and a lot of times the choices are water or Diet Coke, or sometimes a mocktail with a bunch of fruit juices,” he says, “but what I quickly discovered was there are thousands of [N/A alternatives] out there.” So he set out to make them easier for consumers to find.

Dray Drinks carries dozens of N/A wines, beers, seltzers and spirits, and caters to the sober, the sober-curious and the I-have-no-idea-what-this-stuff-is crowds alike. And then there are the “seasonally sober.” Dry January continues to increase in popularity, with 27% of U.S. adults saying they were “highly likely” to participate in 2024, up from 23% in 2023, according to a Civic Science poll, mostly driven by Millennials’ and Gen Z’s pared-down drinking habits. And Sober October gets bigger each year, too, says Dooling.

He says about 80% of Dray’s customer base still drinks to some extent. Maybe they’re looking to cut back, or maybe they’re going temporarily sober for a pregnancy or to train for an athletic event. Some are looking to mimic the taste of real alcohol, while others (typically the younger crowd, he says) like the functional drinks. Whatever a customer is looking for, they can try it firsthand at the store.

“With an emerging category like this, you have to be able to trial and taste things,” says Dooling, and that’s what he aims to make easy for in-person customers—although the store did just launch an e-commerce branch of their website, through which folks can order ahead online. The shop holds plenty of community events, too, like chocolate pairings and sober dating events. And while Massachusetts doesn’t have ID requirements for nonalcoholic drinks, it’s worth mentioning that Dray’s policy is that if someone appears younger than 16, they won’t sell without a parent or guardian present.

At the time of publishing, Dray Drink’s Cambridge location was slated for an early November 2024 opening. And next door to the second shop, they’re building out a full N/A bar, slated for an early 2025 opening. It’ll be one of a handful of nonalcoholic bars in the entire country—others include Hekate in New York, Sans Bar in Austin and Wildcrafters in Jacksonville.

“Having these spaces really says something about the city and the area,” says Dooling. “We’re on the cutting edge of food and beverage. We’re promoting these better-for-you alternatives.” He admits that Boston has a bit of a reputation when it comes to booze—but he says a quieter minority still desires more N/A alternatives, and a chance for “fewer social experiences that revolve around alcohol.”

draydrinks.com

This story appeared in the Winter 2025 issue.