The sober-curious lifestyle has moved beyond a January reset into a more sustained shift in how Americans approach drinking. According to a national survey from Circana, nearly half of U.S. adults say they plan to drink less alcohol going forward. At the same time, participation in Dry January continues to grow year over year, suggesting that cutting back is becoming the norm rather than the exception.

Joshua James, owner of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach Café and a former bartender and beer brewer, sees that shift reflected across age groups. “The big surprise was the industry didn’t get their guaranteed 21-year-old customer in this era,” he tells Observer, referring to the assumption that once someone reaches the legal drinking age, they become a reliable consumer. Instead, drinking patterns now diverge more sharply by generation, with younger adults opting out earlier and older groups reassessing habits shaped over decades, per James.

Alongside spirit-free cocktails built in familiar formats to traditional boozy drinks, many zero-proof bars now offer drinks made with adaptogens, kava or hemp-derived ingredients like CBD. That approach has helped zero-proof bars take hold as places people actually want to spend time, built around thoughtful drinks and social energy rather than abstinence alone. From San Francisco to New York, these are the zero-proof bars across the country leading that shift.

Long before “zero-proof” became a well-known category, Sans Bar was already operating as a dedicated non-alcoholic bar in downtown Austin. Founded in 2017, it’s widely regarded as one of the first of its kind in North........

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