Dry January offers a fix for the sober curious – Okanagan

Leaving the spirits out of the shaker doesn’t mean your night will be less lively. Interests in ‘Dry January’ are being stirred up after the usual boozy holiday festivities.

Julie Kirschke has been sober for almost five years and is a recovery coach who helps others explore sober lifestyles as well as walk them through their recovery journey.

“It’s kind of a reset for people. The only concern I have for people is if at the end of Dry January you’re just drinking a lot because you deprived yourself and that’s when you want to take a look at okay, that might be a problematic drinking situation,” said Kirschke.

In 2021, Stats Canada reported 15.6 per cent of Canadians consider themselves heavy drinkers, having slowed from years past. In 2016, the chief public health officer reported 80 per cent of Canadians drink alcohol and Dry January offers them an easy way to tap out of bad habits.

“[Whether] they want to take a detox or dip their toe into this whole sober curious thing that people are talking about and seeing how it feels, this way they do it when everyone else is doing it, it doesn’t seem weird it doesn’t seem like there’s a social stigma around not drinking,” said Kirschke.

With alcohol engrained in Canadian culture, going to a bar and staying sober can cause nerves to bubble. However at Born to Shake in Kelowna, they believe a mix of cocktails and mocktails is the perfect recipe.

“I think one of the stigmas around non-alcoholic drinks is when folks go out to have a beverage for the most part it’s just been sugar and juice and people are afraid to spend x amount of money on a mocktail and I totally get that,” said co-owner Shayne Labis.

“But if you come here …. it’s not just going to sugar and juice. It’s going to be balanced. It’s going to have complexity to it.”

With a rise in demand comes better options of non-alcoholic spirits and carefully curated mocktails to invigorate a night out.