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Looking for zero-proof drinks and you’re too lazy or busy to make your own?

Jesse Willis has a few ready-made suggestions.

“On the wine side, some of my favourites include Leitz, Noughty, Sovi and Zeno. I also think there are some great non-alcoholic cocktails, including locally made gems like Wildfolk, along with the Phony Negroni from St. Agrestris in Brooklyn, New York. I also find the Ghia Aperitivo canned cocktails really interesting.”

“Lastly the Bibi Spritz was my first discovery and still one of my favourites - if you serve it in a large wine glass filled with ice and an orange wheel, it delivers a great experience that feels like a classic cocktail.”

Santé Dry Bottle Shop in Calgary offers online shopping 24 hours a day/seven days a week, or stop by the booth at the Crossroads Market or Greenbriar Market to shop the excellent selection in real life. drinksante.ca

JoAnne Pearce woke up one morning a few years ago and knew she was done with alcohol. “I quit drinking on a whim,” she says. “But I still wanted to have something good to drink at happy hour.”

She couldn’t find what she wanted, so she headed to her kitchen and began to experiment, pulling ingredients out of the cupboard and seeing what she could create. “I started boiling everything in the house and turning it into simple syrup,” she says. “I didn’t know much about bartending but did become an expert at crafting flavour without alcohol.” She began posting the recipes online, earning the nickname “the potions witch,” she says with a laugh. “Now it’s my preferred title.”

One thing led to another, and now she’s the co-owner with Andrew Paul and Keenan Pascal of Spilt, Edmonton’s first zero-proof cocktail bar. The cozy Jasper Avenue space, which seats just 12, offers catering, classes and menu consultation for other bars and restaurants.

And it serves up a rotating list of creative alcohol-free cocktails to customers who avoid alcohol for reasons ranging from religion to health and beyond.

While Spilt is the first of its kind in Edmonton, it’s part of a growing international trend toward alcohol-free

living. In 2023, according to NielsenIQ, non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits sales in the US reached $510 million US, up $121 million from 2022. Keeping in mind our population differences, Canadian statistics are similar, according to NielsenIQ: $199 million total sales between June 2023 and June 2024, a 24 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The co-owner of the Vine Arts Wine and Spirits shops in Calgary and Edmonton, Jesse Willis has seen that skyrocketing demand firsthand. “When we first opened Vine Arts in Calgary 12 years ago, there were almost no options for qualitynon-alc drinks, and now the selection has exploded,” he says.

Back then, zero-proof customers were typically pregnant women. “But now there really is a wide breadth in terms of age and reasons to seek out non-alcoholic options,” says Willis, also co-owner of Proof Cocktail Bar and Donna Mac restaurant in Calgary, plus Fifth & Vermouth, an online cocktail supply company. “Some have stopped drinking altogether for various reasons, or others just like to mix in non-alcoholic options with their alcoholic drink of choice to moderate.”

A favourite mocktail at Spilt is the Whoops-a-daisy. Served in a coupe, it contains an elderflower and orange blossom liqueur, with lemon, tonic and non-alcoholic sparkling wine. Another favourite, Summer’s Not Over Yet, contains a house-made pear and cardamom horchata with a Thai chili and cane sugar shrub, ginger syrup and lime. “It scratches all the itches: It’s spicy, sweet and sour,” says Pearce. “Flavour is our number one goal at all times.”

Perhaps not surprising to hear then, Pearce and her team are typically inspired by culinary trends when they’re creating a new recipe. The week we spoke, they were at work creating something with pho from a nearby Vietnamese restaurant.

Salt is a key component of many Spilt drinks, layered in with other ingredients: salty ponzu is one favourite and this winter, Pearce says, watch for salted butter in a hot winter sipper.

“I’m not in the business to make 10-calorie drinks that have no flavour,” she says. “Good flavour starts in the kitchen.”

She encourages people to experiment when making and ordering mocktails, and step out beyond, say, asking for a boozefree old-fashioned. “I don’t think we have to copy the same old classic cocktails but without alcohol. Those drinks, frankly, are disappointing when they’re non-alcoholic. The only thing that tastes like alcohol is alcohol, and we can’t do that,” she says. But we can come up with new things and new flavours. Where mocktails get truly delightful is when they start in the kitchen and combine unusual flavours into something new.”

That’s certainly a reason why the category is growing. People create cool stuff to drink, and drinkers don’t feel punished for making zero-proof choices. “Someone isn’t just stuck with a soda water anymore,” Willis says. “The zero proof trend is here to stay.”

Drink this!

Check out the following zero-proof drinks from top bars in Calgary and Edmonton

The Pick Me Up - Espresso, white chocolate, chipotle and chai cream, tonka bean. At Proof in Calgary.

Mocktail No. 3 - Sobreo Non-Alcoholic Spirit, juniper, lacto-fermented orange, lemon, gochugaru. At Shelter Cocktail Bar in Calgary.

Jackie Rose - Undone Whisky, blueberry, pomegranate, orange blossom and lime. From the Temperance Cocktails list at Clementine in Edmonton.

Pear Lavender Fizz - Pear, lavender, oolong tea, simple syrup, lemon, tonic and soda. From Fu’s Repair Shop, Edmonton.