Sober Furious

Desperate Scenes from the Hunt for a New Third Place

The tides are a-turning, my friends. And alcohol is ebbing. 

The growing popularity of “Dry Feb” means it can no longer be written off as fundraising rhetoric. Many “Sober Curious” folks are redefining their relationship with alcohol permanently. The numbers don’t lie: Store-bought non-alcoholic sales in the US were up 33% in 2021 from 2020. Online sales of the same were up 315% (vs 26% for alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits). 

Here in Victoria, local liquor stores are starting to catch on, with a trickle of new offerings making their way into newly-minted ‘alcohol-free’ shelving sections. Room for improvement, but it’s a start. So why are Victoria’s pubs and bars lagging—instead of adapting to serve this growing market segment? 

The question can legitimately be asked: ‘Why go to a pub if you’re not going to drink?’ Short answer(s): ‘That’s where my friends are.’ ‘That’s where I’ve always gone.’ And then there’s the long answer…

The pub stands for more than just group inebriation and wretched toilet stalls. It’s a cultural institution. A fortress of friendship, ambience, and social expression—in other words, it facilitates our natural state as mammals. We are social animals. How much of that natural state comes from imbibing liquor? None, actually. The enduring relevance of the pub isn’t really about the booze—it’s about the importance of simply sitting, relaxed and joyful, among friends. 

And the truth is that pubs and bars have, for most of us, become ingrained into our lives as a “Third Place”. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, the theory runs that ‘home’ is our “First Place”. The workplace, where the majority of people spend the majority of their waking lives, is our “Second Place.” Now, the “Third Place”…these are the engines that keep the whole mass of human machinery from unraveling.

Third Places can be any type of space, really: a church, café, local club, public library, barbershop, or park. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Soon, a set of people will come. And come back. Again and again. They are called ‘regulars’. We need them. They make us feel safe in the world. Like we can rely on something. Usually other people will come, but not regularly. We need them too. They are called tourists. They keep the scenery interesting. Et voila. We have created a Third Place.

For myself, and most of the humans I know, our Third Place serves alcohol. So if you want to stay social, you’re going to be around booze. And for the alcohol-conscious amongst us, that means finding alternatives, which in our little town—and I can only assume the world at large—is pretty fucking difficult. For the most part you find yourself at an unpleasant crossroads between pop, which is loaded with sugar—or the flavor bomb of a club soda with a couple of sad rinds of depressed citrus floating among your slushed ice. 

Anyone who’s looking to slow down their alcohol intake without impacting their social life is desperate for a non-alcoholic alternative at their favorite drinking hole—one that won’t mark us with a Scarlet Letter whenever we order the alc-free option.

There is hope, friend-o’s. I’m writing this—yes, this very word—seated at the end of the bar in Phillips Tasting Room, sipping on an icy cold, draught-poured, glass of malty goodness. It just happens to have zero alcohol. And damn, it feels good to be out of the house. In a familiar, welcoming, social space. A Third Place. 

This is literally the only place that I know of in Victoria that I can come and enjoy a “beer” in the ambience to which I‘ve grown so accustomed—while maintaining my temporary abstinence. So it’s as much a ‘thank you’ to Phillips, as it is a call for more venues to see the inevitable: people are going to start drinking less alcohol—but they still want to enjoy their preferred rituals and social outlets. 

This is the challenge: Get ahead of the curve and seize the opportunity to serve this high-growth segment. And quickly. Please.