Cheers, but hold the booze: Why interest in sobriety is rising this holiday season

A few years ago, before he and his wife started their family, Benson Mutalemwa pondered what he could change about himself to become a better father.

His answer was to stop drinking alcohol.

“I had a destructive relationship with alcohol,” admits Mutalemwa, now the father of two young children. “I was the type of person who would go for drinks after work and the next thing you know, I’m stumbling into my house at 2 a.m. With kids on the way, I didn’t think that was appropriate.”

Still, Mutalemwa craved beverages that mimicked the taste of beer, spirits and wine, minus the inebriation and health risks. He was intrigued by non-alcoholic drinks that he saw online but had a hard time sourcing them or felt penalized by shipping fees for bottles bought on spec.

His frustrations led him to think there was a business opportunity as a retailer of non-alcoholic drinks. In May, he left his job at a Crown corporation and opened Knyota Non-Alcoholic Drinks. His small, brightly lit business on Bank Street near Albert Street is Ottawa’s only store that focuses on selling non-alcoholic spirits, wines and beers, which Mutalemwa brings in from producers around the world.

As the holiday season picks up steam, so too is Knyota’s business, says Mutalemwa.

For one thing, hosts are more conscious of what they can offer designated drivers and abstainers so that they don’t feel left out at get-togethers, he says.

But more generally, interest in sobriety has been fermenting in recent years. It’s gotten to the point that in Ottawa, there’s a loose community of advocates and entrepreneurs, some of whom now shun booze themselves, that advances the case for not drinking.

“After a couple years of building an online group of like-minded people during the pandemic, it’s overwhelmingly fulfilling to see it flourish in real life,” says Genna Woolston, who in 2019 co-founded Ottawa-based Silver Swallow, a maker of high-end kombucha that substitutes for champagne.  

Mutalemwa says his business spiked following a troubling warning this summer from the Ottawa-based Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.

Previously, Canadian guidelines released in 2011 suggested that women should limit their alcohol intake to 10 drinks a week, while men should limit drinking to 15 drinks a week. But the CCRE’s revised position, released in late August, held that all drinking poses health risks. It called the risk posed by up to two drinks weekly “negligible to low,” while the risk of between three to six drinks is “moderate.”

Alcohol is now recognized as a risk factor for an increasing number of diseases, including breast cancer, colon cancer and at least five other cancers, the CCRE said. The CCRE also called for mandatory labelling on all alcoholic beverages that would spell out health risks, and last month Senator Patrick Brazeau introduced Bill S-254, which is meant to bring in such labelling.

At Mutalemwa’s store last weekend, Jill Daigle, who is undergoing chemo therapy to treat breast cancer, was a first-time shopper. “I’ve eliminated alcohol in my life. But I still like to have a nice fancy drink,” said Daigle.

Also browsing was Crystal Martel. “I’m very excited this is here,” she said, before stocking up on non-alcoholic beers. “I really liked the idea of lowering alcohol content, but having some good quality drinks that aren’t pop.”

One shopper, a man who grabbed two bottles, quickly paid, and left, said on his way out: “We’re swearing off alcohol. It’s poison.”

Soon after the CCRE released its new guidelines, Megan Campbell began holding sobriety-centred get togethers in Ottawa.

Since September, Campbell, a veteran yoga instructor and restaurant server, has staged what she calls monthly “sober socials” at different locations with the goal of “normalizing” sobriety. She uses an Instagram account, to get the word out about her meetings. The account has 241 followers so far.

“These events are for people who are sober-curious, not yet giving up drinking but who want to try being in an environment where we take out alcohol. It’s for people who are sober, and also for people who are in recovery,” Campbell says. “We try to involve everyone in the community.”

Campbell says the meet-ups have inspired her and kept her accountable while she tries to give up drinking. “I noticed myself saying, ‘I’m drinking too often.’ It no longer aligned with who I am,” she says. Four months ago, Campbell said she would abstain from drinking for 30 days. She met her goal, and has so far stayed sober an additional three months.

Her get togethers involve “movement, mindfulness and mocktails,” she says. First might be a yoga class or a fitness class, followed by meditation or journaling, and finished with socializing with non-alcoholic beverages in hand.

In October, Campbell had Mutalemwa lead a tasting session for some of his wares. Her next event will be on New Year’s Eve, in the early evening. “We are going to pop some non-alcoholic champagne,” Campbell says.

One venue that has supported Campbell’s efforts is Pure Kitchen, the Ottawa vegetarian restaurant chain with strong connections to yoga practitioners.

Pure Kitchen’s co-owner Dave Leith has not only given up drinking himself, after 30 years in the restaurant business, “constantly drinking.” He says the recent introduction of canned non-alcoholic beverage options has increased revenues at his restaurants and at its sister cocktail bar, Charlotte on Elgin Street.

“We’re embracing what our clients are looking for from a health perspective,” Leith says. “We should be on the cutting edge of non-alcoholic drinks.”

One of the non-alcoholic options at Pure Kitchen is the rosé kombucha from Silver Swallow, the Ottawa company launched by Woolston and her partner in business and in life, Andrew Roberts.

Silver Swallow, which is marketed as “the champagne of kombucha,” sprang from Woolston’s efforts to reduce her drinking, beginning in 2016 when she was pregnant. During the pandemic, she gave up alcohol completely and says her mental health and resilience are better for it.

Roberts, a food scientist with a background in blending tea, crafted recipes for Silver Swallow’s three offerings, which are brewed in Canada using a rare organic white tea hand-picked once a year in Yunnan, China.

Silver Swallow has made the jump from a local product  — it’s available at more than a dozen Ottawa-area restaurants and stores  — to being sold across Ontario and Quebec.

“The (sobriety) community is definitely building,” Woolston says. “As more people explore alternatives — from drinks, to socials, to relaxation routines— and realize life with less alcohol can be just as gourmet, fun or calming, the movement keeps getting bigger.”

phum@postmedia.com