When Brooklyn resident Lisa Aguilera, 55, embarked on a self-care summer journey that didn\u2019t include alcohol, she realized she couldn\u2019t find a liquor store nearby that offered an interesting selection of zero-proof wines and spirits. Noticing a gap in the market, Aguilera and her daughter, Sofia del Puerto, 21, burrowed into the south end of Park Slope and opened up a cozy little wine and spirits store with one simple catch: they don\u2019t sell alcohol.<\/p>\n
Dry Humour is the brainchild of the mother and daughter duo, catering to a growing demographic of alcohol-free drinkers. On Oct. 31, the shop had it\u2019s first day of business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aIt\u2019s a great neighborhood to open a [nonalcoholic] NA shop because of all the new parents and people who don\u2019t drink as much or want to start drinking less,\u201d said Aguilera.<\/p>\n
Park Slope ranks among the top 5% of neighborhoods in New York City for binge drinking rates, according to its community health profile<\/a>, and women aged 30 to 34 are among the highest percentage<\/a> of residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThere\u2019s a huge population of moms to be,\u201d said Aguilera, pointing to mounting evidence as to why the neighborhood was the best choice for them. Aguilera raised her children in Park Slope, and the new business anchored them back in the community they so deeply loved.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alcohol consumption rates in America are at an all-time low, according to a Gallup poll<\/a> that has tracked drinking rates in the U.S. for nearly 90 years. Fifty-four percent of adults say that they drink alcohol. Forty percent say it\u2019s been more than a week since they have consumed alcohol, the highest percentage on record since 2000. These numbers reflect a growing cultural shift in how alcohol is being consumed and thought of in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n Generation Z and millennials are among the most likely to cut back on drinking. In 2023, 59% of 18 to 34-year-olds reported that they drink alcohol. In 2025, that number had dropped to 50%.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Del Puerto is a born-and-raised Park Slope resident and doesn\u2019t drink. \u201c\u200aI\u2019ve never really been interested,\u201d she said. \u201cAlcoholism runs in my family, and it\u2019s something that I see people around me struggle with, especially at my age now.\u201d<\/p>\n Less than a mile north of Dry Humour is Mockingbird, a zero-proof cocktail bar in Park Slope celebrating its first anniversary in January. Two-and-a-half years ago, co-owner Coulton Vento stopped drinking. He had a health scare requiring him to cut the booze tap for six weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe first five or six weeks were hard,\u201d said Vento. As a lover of cocktails since turning 21, Vento realized how much of his life revolved around drinking. \u201c\u200aI started questioning my relationship with alcohol and, like, \u2018why am I drinking so much?\u2019\u201d said Vento.\u00a0<\/p>\n His test results were fine, but his dynamic with alcohol had changed. In collaboration with his business partner, Evan Clark, Mockingbird was born, and Vento hasn\u2019t sipped alcohol since that fateful medical visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n But when he quit drinking, Vento realized he was missing out on the social experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGoing into places that revolved around drinking was pretty isolating,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Going to cocktail bars can often be seen as a time to get out of the house, catch up with friends, and get dressed up, according to Vento. He says Mockingbird helps create that space for non-drinkers, especially in a world where the majority of U.S. adults still consume alcohol.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sam Bail, 40, founder of Third Space Bar, a New York City nonalcoholic pop-up bar, thinks that many people underestimate the role of community and experience in nightlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThere\u2019s so much more going on and going into the bar experience than just alcohol,\u201d said Bail.\u00a0<\/p>\n Almost three years ago, Third Space Bar had their launch event. Bail takes sips of alcohol here and there, but generally refers to herself as sober. \u201cI never had a problem with alcohol,\u201d she said, \u201cbut it cost me a bunch of problems, you know, I did dumb sh-t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As a young person growing up in Germany, Bail legally started going to pubs at 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a very extroverted person, and that [alcohol] was just like pouring fuel on the fire,\u201d said Bail. When she started Third Space, it was for the community, and to show people you can still have fun without alcohol.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThe most important thing is my focus on sober nightlife and sober partying, as opposed to the wellness side of sobriety,\u201d said Bail. \u201cThe sobriety to marathon pipeline is strong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Younger generations have been slowing their drinking for close to a decade now, but polls are starting to show that older generations are also changing their habits. Forty-eight percent of adults 55 and older say that drinking in moderation is harmful to their health, up from 21% in 2001, according to Gallup\u2019s latest poll.\u00a0<\/p>\n After walking by Dry Humour one day, Sheila Eckert, 60, walked in out of curiosity and a desire to support local businesses. \u201cGood as wine tastes,\u201d said Eckert, \u201cAlcohol\u2019s not great for you.\u201d She\u2019s been in Park Slope for 25 years, and had it not been for Dry Humour\u2019s location on a block she walks down nearly every day, Eckert might never have walked in. \u201cI was intrigued. I didn\u2019t really know anything about nonalcoholic wine,\u201d said Eckert.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since opening, she\u2019s been coming into the shop weekly, trying new bottles and reporting back to Aguilera on her findings. \u201cI need to cut back, and this is a fun way to do it,\u201d said Eckert.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mocktails and NA products are getting better, according to many industry professionals, including Vento, who notes that red wines are a challenging category. \u201c\u200aThe fake red wines just don\u2019t have it,\u201d agreed Eckert. Forbes reported<\/a> that 83% of NA sales are composed of beer, with NA spirits and ready-to-drink beverages having the most amount of growth between 2024 and 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t knock it until you try it,\u201d said Aguilera.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Brooklyn resident Lisa Aguilera, 55, embarked on a self-care summer journey that didn\u2019t include alcohol, she realized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-100331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-the-bronx","13":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","14":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}