Hey Clubbies,
Writing this off the heel of the first ever Club Soda Club meetup. We’ve been building this community together for the past year and IRL events were the natural next steps.
I was a bit nervous, but the Cleveland chapter showed up in a big way!
About 55 of y’all were able to make it, and I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate every single one of you. I also know several folks who really wanted to be there, but weren’t able to due to last-minute circumstances or schedule conflicts. We’ll see you at the next one.
It was so great meeting new friends, seeing old faces, and most importantly, watching everyone engage with one another, proving that we don’t need alcohol to have a good time.
For the numbers people: 52 RSVPs. 48 checked in. Several more walked in without an RSVP. At peak, we had 55 to 60 people in the room. On a Monday. Drinking club soda.
Free events usually lose a big chunk of the list to the couch. Not this one.
Thank you Q Mixers
For providing the best club soda and ginger ale on the planet. It was an open bar, all-you-can-drink affair and everyone love it.
The ginger ale was the surprise hit. As I’ve been saying all along… ginger ale, cola, tonic, etc. it’s ALL club soda. However you choose to drink differently is up to you.
Everyone went home with a swag bag: a Q mug, notebook, keychain, coasters and a few CSC stickers. We also tossed a can of Q Club Soda in each one. Sending you home with a new favorite mug and nothing to put in it felt wrong.
Bubble Bingo
Nobody likes standing in a corner holding a drink. So we gave everyone a mission.
Clink glasses with three people you didn’t come with. Log a session in the CSC app. Hunt down a rare sticker (Scott Nixon had intel, but you had to earn it). Name the turtle mascot. Add to the “Not drinking saves you cash” wall.
It worked. People moved. Strangers talked. By 7:45, the raffle jar was stuffed.
Some of the results:
Slogan vote: All Bubbles. No Troubles. was the winner, but Stay Sparkling was very close
Duckies in the jar: Thomas H. guessed the closest number
Raffle: a Carbonator for club soda on tap at home, plus a few CSC shirts and hoodies. Congrats to Dana and Ryan.
What would you do with the money?
We put up a big black board that said “Not drinking saves you cash,” handed out sticky notes and asked one question. What are you spending it on instead?
Travel won by a mile. A trip to Jamaica. Travel the world. Travel more often. A Browns game in Nashville. Take the kids to Disney World. Italy got two votes, including one person who already knows the tour company and the island: “Gate 1 travel agency trip to Italy, Sicily.” That’s not a dream. That’s a plan.
Food came in second. Nice meals. Splurging on fancy dinners. Go out for a nice meal.
Then came the stuff that makes you happy. Buy some art. Buy more video games. A new GoPro for content. Car parts. Books and stickers. Tattoos. A Pilates membership. A spa treatment. Run more races.
A few notes went bigger. More money to spoil the kids. Self-improvement: courses, gym, good food. Being a philanthropist.
And my three favorites:
“Spend more on Ninja Turtles.” No notes. Fully supported.
“Go see Endgame for the 6th time.” Respect the commitment.
“Learn to play hockey at 43.” That’s the whole point of all this, right there on a sticky note.
Nobody wrote “pay off my bar tab.” Nobody wrote “more nights out drinking.” When people picture the money they’re not spending on booze, they picture a life. Trips. Dinners with people they like. A hobby they always said they were too old for.
The money was always there. It was just going down the drain, one round at a time.
Our turtle needs a name
The clubbies took a shot at naming the CSC turtle. We got Sparky. We got Bubbles. We got Tubular Teddy, Turtly Cool and Broangela, which I’m still thinking about.
Nothing won outright, but several names got written in multiple times:
Sparky
Bubbles
Cosmo
Terry
Right now we are unvailing the new mascot at only at IRL events, but we will present it to the world here real soon.
Fashionably late, standing tall
Somewhere around 8:10 pm, Cleveland legend Mike Toth made his entrance. Fashionably late, as always.
If you don’t know the backstory: back when Club Soda Club was just an idea on a napkin, Mike was in the hospital recovering from a horrific car accident. We spent a lot of Saturdays in that VA hospital room, going through designs and ideas. Some of the stuff on the shirts you saw Monday got its first review from a hospital bed.
So watching him walk into the meetup, on his own two feet, wearing the shirt? That one got me.
What I took away
People want this. Not a support group. Not a bar crawl. A room full of people who drink differently and want to make new friends doing it.
Huge thanks to Q Mixers for keeping the coolers full, to BrewDog for hosting us, and to every one of you who showed up.
Next stop: Fort Lauderdale
Meetup #1 was Cleveland. Meetup #2 is Fort Lauderdale.
Monday, October 19 from 6 pm to 8 pm.
At General Provision Downtown Las Olas.
Same idea. New city. More duckies. More club soda and food.
Stay Sparkling,
Sorin
Join the Club Soda Club referral program
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 alcohol-free) and felt like they had to explain themselves... they're already one of us.
👇👇👇