Non-alcoholic spirit sales grew more than 100% in the last year. So for the annual All Things Considered holiday cocktail interview, we’re visiting a completely alcohol-free bar in D.C.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
I have had the honor for the last several years of conducting the annual ALL THINGS CONSIDERED holiday cocktail interview. It is that time of year again, friends. So we have come to a cocktail bar. Except fewer of us are drinking cocktails. According to one survey, non-alcoholic spirit sales grew more than 100% in the last year they could measure. So we have come to a bar that is zero-proof, zero-alcohol. Let’s check it out.
GIGI ARANDID: Hi.
KELLY: Hi.
ARANDID: How are you folks?
KELLY: Vergie?
ARANDID: Yes.
KELLY: Mary Louise. Nice to meet you.
This is Binge Bar. It opened this past February – the first completely alcohol-free bar in the nation’s capital. We step inside, head down narrow stairs into a cozy basement space where Gigi Arandid is waiting for us. She’s the founder and owner. And I start with the basic question – why? Why open a bar with no booze?
ARANDID: It is an extension of my lifestyle. I’m going on seven years sober, and…
KELLY: Congratulations.
ARANDID: Thank you so much. And in the beginning of my sobriety journey, I knew going to AA meetings was not going to be enough to manage my sobriety and healing to recovery just because of the type of person that I am. I realized, once I opened the space, that there are people like me who didn’t think the same way – not that there’s anything wrong with AA. I feel like we all have respective phases, and…
KELLY: You needed more.
ARANDID: Exactly.
KELLY: And this may be – it may be such an obvious answer, but I’m curious – what’s different about creating this that you couldn’t have at any bar in D.C. where you can obviously walk in and order a Coke or a pretty cocktail with no booze in it?
ARANDID: My concept in particular is that I just wanted for people to…
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