You likely know someone who is giving Dry January a go this month. Perhaps that someone is even you. As part of this trend, imbibers eschew alcohol for the first four weeks of the year—or at least cut back in a more forgiving version dubbed Damp January.
One might assume that the Dry January concept alarms those who make a living in the adult-beverage biz. That’s not the case for Christa Cotton, CEO of the New Orleans–based El Guapo line of cocktail bitters and originator of cocktails for hospitality clients across the country. “People are just trying to start off the year more healthily and thoughtfully after maybe going a bit wild over the holiday season,” she says. “The number of alcohol-free customers is on the rise in general, and more bars and restaurants are open to curating an innovative, elevated list of spiritless cocktails. Adults don’t want a Shirley Temple.”
Cotton never calls these zero-proof libations “mocktails,” a term she and many of her fellow mixologists find juvenile. During Dry January and beyond, she is inspired to create spiritless sippers so delicious and satisfying that drinkers won’t miss the booze. Even if you haven’t signed on for a month-long detox, the three below are worth mixing up.
