Don't call it a Mocktail

Happy Thursday, Clubbies,

First, an announcement. The first-ever Club Soda Club meetups are happening — Cleveland starting end of September, Fort Lauderdale early October. More details towards the end of the email. Now, onto today.

🎉 Club Soda Club events coming near you. Many of you've been asking, so we're doing it. First-ever CSC meetup will be in Cleveland at the end of September, then Fort Lauderdale in early October. Dates and locations are still getting worked out, but figure a week day evening, 6 to 8 pm. There's no date that works for everyone, so we're picking one and letting the rest sort itself out.

We're also lining up partners. Not naming names, just manifesting: a club soda brand, a non-alc beer, and/or a non-alc spirit. If you've got a guess, you're probably right. And if you happen to know somebody at one of those companies, hit reply. An intro from you beats a cold email from me every single time.

I used to say the word mocktail without thinking about it.

Then I sat in a seminar at Tales of the Cocktail and watched a bartender walk through a drink he'd built. Six ingredients. Three weeks of R&D. When asked what he called it, he said:

“Not a mocktail.”

So if not a mocktail, then what? Nobody agrees on what to call it instead.

Spiritless. My least favorite. Sounds like a diagnosis. It evokes absolutely nothing and I want it gone.

Non-alc cocktail. Accurate, but try saying it out loud three times to a bartender in a loud room.

Zero proof. Precise, and it describes the liquid.

Alcohol-free. My pick. It describes a person, an approach, and a menu, and it doesn't apologize.

I'm going with alcohol-free until something better shows up.

One thing worth knowing before you order: "non-alcoholic" and "zero proof" are not the same thing. Non-alcoholic can legally carry a trace, under half a percent. Zero proof means zero. If that distinction matters to you, and for plenty of people it does, ask. Most menus won't tell you which one you're holding.

I've been telling you for two issues now that the word has to go. This week I wrote the whole argument down. It's a long one. If you tend bar, run a bar, own a bar, or just spend a lot of time sitting at one, this is the one to read.

What's the best alcohol-free drink you've been handed at a bar, and did they have a decent name for it? Reply and tell me. I'm collecting the good ones, and I'd love to have a better word by January.

📍 Check out Zero Proof Nation. Built and curated by Laura Silverman, who's been living the lifestyle for 19 years. You get a directory of zero-proof drinks (beer, spirits, and, you guessed it, club soda) plus a global map of bottle shops and booze-free bars that's been used over 500,000 times.

🍺 Athletic Brewing becomes the first-ever NFL non-alc beer. Athletic signed a multi-year agreement to become the official non-alcoholic beer of MetLife Stadium, the Giants, and the Jets. Run Wild IPA and Upside Dawn go on sale in 19.2oz cans, with the brand plastered across video boards, concourses, and kiosks. First deal of its kind for all four.

produced by Scott Nixon

Jax has been part of the Club Soda Club since 2023, and just hit 1,111 days. In this episode, she talks about the cancer diagnosis that shifted her perspective, why she worried about missing out at first, and everything she's built since — opening a tattoo shop with her best friends, becoming a first-time homeowner, and getting to the healthiest version of herself yet. A powerful reminder that you don't need the right moment. You just need today.

Know someone who's thinking about it? There's no membership requirement.

Part-time members, full-time members, "I'm just curious" members. All welcome. So whether you've got a friend who's been saying "I should probably cut back" every Sunday morning for the last six months, or a friend who's already all-in on the alcohol-free life and just hasn't found their people yet — send them your link . They subscribe to the free newsletter, you both win. No pressure, no program, no weird pamphlets.

Basically, if they've ever ordered a club soda (or anything else non-alcoholic) and felt like they had to explain themselves... they're already one of us.

👇👇👇