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When Kerry Tuttle went sober two years ago, it felt like she was on an island when ordering a drink in a bar or a restaurant.
“I was ordering a lot of club soda and a lime,” she said.
But in the past year, Tuttle said, quality options have grown exponentially and in all directions, from elaborate nonalcoholic cocktails on restaurant menus to nonalcoholic craft beer that tastes amazingly close to the real thing at dive bars.
“It’s at the point I can go to CVS and find options,” she said.
That burst of quality nonalcoholic choices gave Tuttle an idea: a beer, wine and spirits festival — just hold the alcohol.
The inaugural NA Day will be Jan. 14 at Chicago’s Loft on Lake (1366 W. Lake St.), featuring about 20 nonalcoholic beers, wines, spirits, canned cocktails (or, in this case, mocktails) and even an aperitif. Tickets are $25 for the four-hour session.
The event is meant to tie into the annual ritual known as Dry January, a booze-free 31 days to start the new year. For Tuttle, 29, it also ties into a personal journey that began with her last sip of Champagne on New Year’s Eve 2020.
Alcoholism runs in her family, she said, and the first winter of the COVID-19 pandemic led to more drinking.
“I was tired of hangovers and feeling behind,” she said. “It was very clear moderation wasn’t going work for me.”
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She initially struggled not with alcohol cravings, she said, but integrating sobriety into her life, especially in social situations. She became involved with Chicago AF, a nonprofit Tuttle described as dedicated to “building sober social spaces and helping people foster alcohol-free connections.”
Launched two years ago by nurse practitioner and sobriety coach Carrie May, Chicago AF serves as an alternative of sorts to 12-step programs (though some members of Chicago AF are also in 12-step programs). It hosts weekly meetings, plus monthly social events including brunches, Cubs games and holiday parties.
Seeing the number of nonalcoholic options spiking in recent years, Tuttle proposed Chicago AF stage NA Day, which she believes is the city’s first nonalcoholic beer, wine and spirit festival.
May, who lives in Arlington Heights, said she didn’t hesitate to endorse the idea, which reflects an evolution in what it means to be sober since her last drink more than six years ago. At that time, May said, sobriety felt stigmatized and with little support beyond 12-step programs.
“It’s amazing what’s happened over the last couple of years,” she said. “It’s an NA movement that is seriously all over the U.S. Having lived through it, it’s now on fire.”
That has included May launching Chicago AF and its series of social events, which included its signature event to date, a “no-booze cruise” in August that sold out.
“There wasn’t much opportunity to engage with other sober people,” she said. “I always wanted that elusive party kind of vibe, having a blast and having fun.”
She sees NA Day as an extension of that movement.
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“I talk a lot about creating space, the concept of bringing people together for some reason where you’re doing something and have the opportunity to mingle,” May said. “It’s just about getting people in the same room together.”
NA Day has attracted enough attention that it is turning away new applicants, May said. Those on hand will include beer brands Gruvi and Visitor; wine brands ISH, Starla Wines and TÖST; spirits companies Seedlip, Everleaf and Chicago’s Ritual Zero Proof; and canned “mocktails” Lyre’s, AVEC and Mocktail Club.
It will be a small affair; just 150 tickets are available. Tuttle and May said they hope to grow the event as more products roll out and interest potentially continues growing.
Tuttle said she’s hopeful people who aren’t sober, but perhaps “sober curious,” will also attend.
“We’re trying to be open to anyone in a casual, low-pressure setting,” she said. “The more we normalize it, it’s my hope restaurants and bars will pay attention and there will be consumer-led demand for these options.”
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