Loveland-based mixologist Han Cassera takes the lid off his shaker and strains out the contents. A mix of mango, lime juice, coconut water, ginger beer and passion flower pour into the wide-rimmed glass. He tops it with some edible glitter.
“Wow, that looks even more snazzy,” he says.
He’s trying out a new signature drink, called More Passion, More Energy. But this sparkly, yellow drink has a twist - there’s no alcohol. He calls it an “elixir.”
He’s been making more mocktails since he decided to be sober almost two years ago. He used to be surrounded by drugs and alcohol when he was a DJ in the Denver area.
“I had my jaw broken from a night out drinking a couple years ago because I just could not protect myself,” Cassera said. “And that wasn't even enough to get me to stop drinking.”
It was not long before his drinking landed him in a local county jail, where he started questioning his lifestyle.
“I had 36 hours to really think about, ‘What am I going to do with this second chance?’” he said.
The 34-year-old stopped drinking. Cassera still wanted to be social and enjoy a good tasting mocktail, but he felt unsafe even at bars with non-alcoholic menus.
“I am double checking and making sure I'm watching them mix that drink, because I would hate for my sobriety to be compromised,” he said.
That’s when he decided to raise money to create the first completely sober bar in Loveland, called the Love Shack. It’s a homage to the hit song by the B-52’s, a song his mom always played for him as a kid.
"It was just a fun place where everybody felt like they belonged and they were dancing and having a good time and the sign said ‘Stay Away Fools,’” he said. “I just love that concept of a place where everybody felt included."
Coloradans are thirsty for it
The popularity of mocktails and non-alcoholic beverages is soaring. The drinks brought in more than $500 million in revenue nationwide last year – more than a 30% increase from last year, according to Nielsen IQ.
Even in Fort Collins, the bar Social saw a nearly 50% increase in the net amount of non-alcoholic cocktails sold between 2022 and 2023, and they expect to see an increase again this year. There was a 63% increase in sales between last January and this January.
“We definitely are selling these non alcoholic cocktails every single day,” said Morgan Reddick, Social’s general manager. “People for whatever reason may not choose to engage and drink alcohol, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't cater to them. They're going to make that choice and we need to be available.”
It’s not the majority of their sales, but it is a growing category, just like it is for the owners of CopperMuse Distillery, just down the street. They added a non-alcoholic menu in 2021.
Jason Hevelone, one of the owners, believes Fort Collins has always been on the leading edge of trends that are growing. He mentioned how the city was the first in Colorado to pass a comprehensive smoking ordinance in 1984, which required bars and restaurants to have non-smoking sections.
“Bars were like, ‘No way we're gonna get rid of smoking, that'll cut off a bunch of our customers,’” he said. “(But those bars) were so busy, because so many people were so tired of coming out smelling like an ashtray…I wouldn't be surprised if someone could have success in that (mocktail) market.”
But for Cassera and many others investing in mocktails in Northern Colorado, it’s not just about providing a drink with no alcohol – it’s about creating a safe and fun place for those in the sober community, so that people can have their mocktail and enjoy it too.
“A lot of people come up to me and they say, ‘Oh, yeah, this is really trending right now,’ and I'm just like, ‘Yeah, but it's not [just] a thing that I'm doing,’” he said. “...People are catching on that, ‘Hey, we are healthier and happier. And it feels good to be able to still do these activities where we don't feel like we have to stay at home or be left out of the fun nightlife environments.’”
‘Mocktails aren’t lame’
Taylar Stultz wanted that happier and healthier lifestyle, too. Stultz wasn’t an alcoholic, but she never liked the taste of alcoholic drinks, as they were “so syrupy and gross.” She called it quits after she had a little too much to drink at a friend’s wedding in 2018.
But during her sobriety, she found that when she would go out, she usually would only have the options of water, lemonade or soda. She felt peer pressured to drink.
“People just assume you don't know how to have fun when you don't drink, like that's the stigma is that you’re no fun anymore,” she said.
Stultz wanted to give people a more creative and fun beverage that truly tasted good. She started making recipes from scratch using natural ingredients. Soon she sold drinks under her business, Herbal Mocktails, at farmers markets across Northern Colorado in summer of 2022.
She’s seen a lot of success in the first couple years, with many people showing appreciation for her business.
“Some people have been deeply, deeply appreciative of the fact that they're seeing that this is a reality, that they've wanted this for so long,” she said. “It's like the Napa Valley of beer here (in Colorado), it's everywhere. It's harder to find places that aren’t alcohol friendly than there is.”
Safety in sober spaces
Millennials and Generation Z are the biggest sector of this popularity. Last year, Gallup found that 62% of adults under the age of 35 drink alcohol – down ten percentage points over the last two decades.
The most common answer for why people chose not to drink was that they had no desire to do so or didn’t like the taste. Another common response was health concerns.
“Any reduction in the amount that you drink is a good thing to do,” said Joseph Schacht, a clinical psychologist at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz campus. “It'll have benefits like reducing your blood pressure, reducing your weight, and it’s associated with improvements in relationships in work satisfaction, and kind of general, healthy psychological functioning.”
Many people venture into mocktails during Dry January, a period where people choose to drink less or stop drinking. A study from the American Psychological Association found that those who partook in Dry January drank one less drink a day on average for the rest of the year. Schacht said mocktails can help ease the transition and break that habit.
“If you can have a non alcoholic drink and have a lot of the same kind of characteristics of having a drink, having something in your hand, putting it in your mouth, being in a social environment without the high, the drunk aspect of alcohol, that is a great thing to learn,” he said.
Now Stultz provides her mocktail cart option at corporate events, caters weddings, and even teaches classes. One of her most recent mixology classes at FoCo Cafe sold out. She taught students how to make drinks like Lilac Berry Bliss – a mix of Blackberries, Lemon, Water and simple syrup made with lilacs out of her garden.
Lacey Mally, a millennial from Johnstown, was one of the class attendees. She hasn’t had alcohol for over a year, and she just started venturing into the mocktail space.
“I'll get emails about different alcohol-free meetups,” Mally said. “Most of the time, they weren't really interesting. But when I saw this one, I was like, ‘That looks fun.’”
Mally wouldn’t have considered being around jiggers and shakers early on in her sobriety, as it could be a temptation. But now, she’s happy she’s not missing out on the fun.
“It's really important that people start to realize that there's more options,” she said. “Just because you want to go out doesn’t mean alcohol has to be involved.”
That’s the experience Cassera wants to create with the Love Shack. In addition to several mocktails, his venue will have a dance floor, comedy shows, live music and more. It will also be open during the day as a workspace for groups. He’s excited to give himself and the sober community a space to hang out and belong.
“To have an environment where we can still listen and dance to music and not have to worry about people, you know, throwing up on us… we all deserve a space like that,” he said.
Cassera is currently at a quarter of his fundraising goal on GoFundMe. He hopes to open his sober bar this fall.
If you or someone you know struggles with alcoholism, call the Colorado Addiction Hotline at 866-210-1303.
