Are bars flipping the menu for zero-proof drinks?

With the rise of 'sober curious', bars are trying to find the right balance, many pivoting to natural ingredients

- Arzoo Dina

How hard is it to find a good mocktail in a city like Mumbai? The answer is a struggle, as I inevitably learned. As someone who has always been a teetotaller, my biggest conundrum while dining out is to find a balanced, non-alcoholic drink. Most restaurants and bars tend to list the usual variety of tried and tested beverages like fresh lime soda, iced teas, virgin mojito or for the sake of nostalgia, pina colada—which get boring.

With the introduction of zero-proof drinks and spirits as well as the rise of the "sober curious", especially amongst Gen Z, one would think that restaurants and bars would be doing more. And while many are, with a significant shift towards organic ingredients and innovative flavour profiles, are they actually good enough to draw customers back?

Recently, I enjoyed a non-alcoholic cocktail at Ode, a European-forward restaurant in Mumbai. The drink, Apro Nuts, was well-balanced with the use of coconut water as the base, along with apricot brine, pickled apricot for a touch of tartness, and rosemary and lime to balance out the sweetness. It got me thinking about what establishments are doing to cater to sober drinkers.