There’s no denying it: Americans—Raleighites included—are drinking less, and the NA bev scene in Oak City is flourishing. With mocktails, THC seltzers and the like becoming increasingly mainstream, a new local menu is catering to the ~damp~ experience.
Enter The Haymaker’s first-to-market “pick-your-proof” cocktail menu, letting imbibers sip the same flavors with a Goldilocks-style buzz factor: full-proof, half-proof or zero-proof in most every bev. (Some ’tails—like an old-fashioned—simply can’t be concocted half-proof unless it’s a half pour, notes the bar’s new owner, Glenn Shriver.)
Shriver—who recently reopened and revitalized the Fayetteville Street cocktail bar after a short hiatus—says the idea is simple: Meet drinkers where they are.
“One of the issues coming up for people who are drinking less is that going out and getting drinks is part of being social, even if it’s not about the alcohol,” says the mixology veteran. “They just end up going home, but we want people to stay and talk and meet strangers.”
Translation: The menu adapts to the bargoer’s preferences—not the other way around. And the price point reflects that proof point: $14 for full-proof, $11 for half-proof and $8 for zero-proof.
The Haymaker isn’t alone in embracing the shift. Other local bars like Dram & Draught, Killjoy and Watts & Ward have long been pouring a mean mocktail—proof that Raleigh’s spirits culture is expanding well beyond the traditional buzz.
Bottom line: Whether you’re boozing a lot, a little or not at all, a beverage—and a good time—are now on the menu for everyone.
Ditch the alcohol but still catch a buzz via Raleigh-based Groovewagon.
Drinking alcohol or not drinking at all aren’t your only options when it comes to imbibing. Enter Groovewagon, a Raleigh-based delta-8 THC bev that promises “more fun than booze, less psycho than edibles” (!).
Founded by married parents Reilly Dunn and Sasha Klimczak and debuted at Hopscotch in September 2022, the groovy brand is built on the MO of having an in-between option for those who don’t necessarily want to consume alc but don’t want to feel nothing either.
“We’re having this big sober-curious movement with euphorics and CBD [drinks], but they don’t do anything—and that’s fine,” maintains Dunn. “But I’m still here to have a good time. I’m down to catch a buzz.”
And catch a buzz you will. Dunn says the 7mg delta-8 cans (each clocking in at 10 calories and 1 carb, “if you care about that sort of thing”) deliver the same “curve” as alcohol, but not the same type of buzz. So, you’ll feel a little something after one—just as you might after a beer, cocktail or glass of wine—with the high ramping up the more you drink.
The self-proclaimed “Cali-Sober King” isn’t morally opposed to drinking though. “It’s actually more fun this way,” he emphasizes. “That’s our crazy-ass belief. It’s not just about cutting back on alcohol because that’s something good you should do, it’s actively more fun to do the California sober thing.”
Dunn gradually just started drinking less and less after having kids, “and things in my life got cooler and cooler,” he says. After trying a delta-8 drink he wasn’t too crazy about, he made it his mission to make a better one. And, so, Groovewagon was born.
The drink has slowly but surely began gaining, well, buzz. Its two flavors, the seltzer-esque Magnifico chinotto citrus and hoppy Fencehopping cit-hop shandy, can be found at ~63 locations, most of which are in the Triangle, including Bowstring, Tap Yard, Standard Beer + Food, State of Beer and Brookside Bodega.
“I want as many people as possible to know that drinking weed is an option,” says Dunn, “and it rules.” So if you haven’t already, it’s high time you joined the movement. thatdamnwagon.com
