1 of 6
Point 5 owner Jody Short
2 of 6
Located at 3435 W. Cary St., Point 5 sells nonalcoholic offerings from whiskey to wine and beer.
3 of 6
A fridge inside Point 5 is stocked with booze-free versions of canned cocktails, CBD- and hemp-infused offerings, and more.
4 of 6
An alcohol-removed rosé
5 of 6
6 of 6
In a world that has a zeal for drinking and the culture surrounding it, lauds the relief that comes from a post-shift drink or a lunchtime beer, and has coined popular phrases such as “wine o’clock” and “liquid therapy,” Carytown’s Point 5 offers a rare and refreshing perspective.
Last week, Jody Short opened the doors of her spirit-free bottle shop at 3435 W. Cary St., and while gin bursting with botanicals, rosés and crisp lagers fill the shelves and coolers, they're all nonalcoholic, zero proof or have had their alcohol removed.
“I want people to come in and leave with some sort of understanding of what it’s all about,” says Short, a UK native who moved to the United States in 1993.
The “it” she’s referring to? The sober-curious movement, an up-and-coming trend that encourages imbibers to explore alternatives to alcohol. According to Nielsen, nonalcoholic beverage sales represent one of the fastest growing sectors of the spirits world, increasing 33% last year.
In the brief time that Short has spent bringing her vision to fruition, she notes that she’s already witnessed the shift toward mindful drinking.
“So much of it didn’t exist when I first started thinking about this; it’s coming leaps and bounds,” she says of the growing numbers of products, stores and dedicated nonalcoholic bars.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Short says, she stopped drinking for five months. While trying to find options to replace her evening whiskey or a bold glass of red, she says that locally, the results were coming up dry. Heading online, she began to research nonalcoholic substitutes and spirit-free shops across the country.
“In Europe and England, most pubs you go into, they have a nonalcoholic beer, or gin and tonic,” Short says. “It was our pastime, and you have the same feel of something in your hand, you saw them pour the nice head, and it feels right.”
Similar to plant-based meat alternatives and dairy substitutes, many alcohol-free options tend to cost a tad more than their traditional counterparts. Bottles range from $20 to $60, and while skeptics may shake their heads at the price, Short says that for a number of the spirit-removed products, the cost simply reflects the lengthier process they undergo to reach that zero-proof point.
“Nonalcoholic means it is built from ground up, basically finding things that mimic the same sort of flavors, while alcohol-removed goes through the same process [as alcoholic beverages], so you’re getting the same things, then removing the alcohol from it,” Short explains. “They hold a bit more of a truer flavor than the nonalcoholic options.”
Carrying over 100 different brands from the highly recognized Lyre’s and Seedlip — early nonalcoholic pioneers — to Free Spirits, which infuses the source liquid with B vitamins and amino acids and whose bourbon exudes the same oaky-caramel nose and malty brown sugar notes of traditional bourbon. Others such as The Pathfinder are fermented and distilled hemp-based liquids, while TÖST presents a lightly caffeinated, effervescent white tea similar to a natural wine.
Inside the shop, a fridge is stocked with sparkling cannabis drinks, canned Lyre’s that mirror G&T’s and Amalfi spritzes, along with alcohol-removed wines, and sips such as a Paloma Daydream, a canned beverage from Crisp & Crude that features botanical terpene flavor compounds. Point 5 also carries bar staples such as cocktail cherries, bitters and jiggers.
Wanting to meet drinkers where they are, Short, who describes herself as sober-curious, emphasizes that she’s not preaching teetotalism, rather introducing a different approach to imbibing.
“You can do an ounce of, let’s say, the fake stuff, and an ounce of the regular stuff and just automatically cut alcohol intake,” she says. “I think more and more people are seeing it as a healthy option, whether its because you’re active, sports-minded, pregnant — really, you don’t have to have a reason.”
Sipping on spirit-free beverages allows people to re-create the comfortable familiarity of a cocktail in hand, while hindering the questions that commonly come up in social settings when one abstains. A decade ago there were few booze-free alternatives, but the same can be said about other alternatives. Take a look at oat milk, which has soared to the top of coffee shop menus as the "it" dairy substitute, or Beyond and Impossible meat substitutes, which have gained ground in grocery store freezers and fast-food chains. As the world grapples with climate change and examines the long-term effect of our everyday habits, alternative options and hybrid approaches to our lifestyle are rising to the surface.
Another major focus at Point 5 — the name a reference to the maximum ABV level a nonalcoholic drink is allowed to have — is beverages spiked with nootropics, adaptogens and botanicals that claim to help process stress, enhance cognitive functions and improve memory. They may contain saffron or lavender, others hemp and CBD, while a number of the beers pack Vitamin B. Many naturally contain half the sugar of traditional alcoholic drinks, in addition to being vegan or gluten-free.
“Some will have ingredients to give a mood elevation, some will make you more chill,” says Short, who suggests mixing Lyre’s absinthe, which features notes of verbena and anise and fine herbs, with a soda for an ideal aperitif. “Functional spirits all have those added ingredients that will elevate the mood. We know alcohol is a depressant, so [these alternatives] kind of boost you.”
Short says she plans to organize tasting events in the future and that she hopes to build a community through her newly debuted shop, as well offer a mainstream place for those trying to take steps toward a more mindful lifestyle or imbibers who want to explore the creativity of the spirit-free approach.
"Quitting drinking or even cutting back is incredibly hard,” Short says. “I want people to feel good, that there’s no judgement whether [they’re] 100% sober, or sober-curious, or if they drink 10 beers a night and want to switch it up. Like anything in life, you’re giving it that little extra thought than just going out and doing it without thinking about any consequences, and I think that's where this comes into it, just making a healthier choice.”
Point 5 is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on Mondays.
