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Inside, Bizzy’s — the newest bar on Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue — feels like any other trendy Bay Area watering hole. It’s got dim lighting, high-backed booths, bar snacks and a plethora of bottles lining the shelves.
There’s just one thing missing: Booze.
Bizzy’s is the first dedicated dry bar in the Bay Area, serving not just trendy kava or kombucha, but everything a non-booze drinker may want. Here, bartenders whip up cocktails made with botanical mixes, alcohol-free gin and whiskey and housemade shrubs. They also serve booze-free beers, de-alcoholized wines and wellness shots made with ingredients like carrot and turmeric.
Owners Jesska Hughes and Michelle Hill opened it last month, in the middle of post-holidays Dryuary. But they’re hoping Bizzy’s attracts more than just the sober-one-month-a-year crowd. Like Getaway in Brooklyn and Sans Bar in Austin, Bizzy’s is tapping into a growing demand for booze-free hangouts, where adults can mingle over mocktails without judgement.
Wellness is a driving force. Health-minded drinks like kava, kombucha and low-alcohol hard seltzer have practically paved the way for sobriety. And you need only glance at Bizzy’s menu, which features Heineken’s new 0.0 and Lagunitas Brewing’s IPA-inspired Hoppy Refresher, sans alcohol, to see that even major players are betting on booze-free bars.
For now, Hughes and Hill, who are both in their 30s, have kept their day jobs. So has the bar itself: Bizzy’s, at 2930 Telegraph Ave., shares its space with Black Spring Coffee, which is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. At 6:30 p.m. Thursdays-Mondays, it turns into what they hope will become “a cozy spot for anyone to hang out and enjoy a great drink,” Hill says.
We recently caught up with Hughes and Hill to find out the inspiration behind Bizzy’s and if booze-free whiskey still has the burn. (It does.)
Q: How did the idea for Bizzy’s come about?
Hughes: I am somebody who used to drink pretty heavily for a long time. Then in 2016, I cut it out almost completely and felt much better in general. I was talking to a friend who was in similar “recovery” and told her how I wished there was a place open at night that felt like a dive bar, but without the alcohol. She was like, “That’s a great idea. Why don’t you do that?”
Q: How did you develop the cocktails?
Hughes: After Michelle came on board, we tapped another friend, Lourdes Benavente, to help come up with the drinks. She started looking up recipes online, and she and I would meet up in her kitchen and try different combinations to see what worked. There are a lot of cool companies making spiritless products. Just last week, we were approached by Nickel Dime. They’re based here in Oakland and make a really great herbaceous syrup called Fairy Dust that we’re trying out.
Q: For the uninitiated, what do de-alcoholized wine and spirits taste like?
Hill: De-alcoholized wine tastes as close to regular wine as you’re going to get. It still has that fruitiness and backbone. Non-alcoholic spirits all taste really different. There are some whiskeys that taste like cinnamon and others, like Ritual, which is what we use, that still have that oakiness and burn, which is something they prioritize because they know that’s what people want. It’s just all way more diverse than we ever knew.
Q: What are your customers like? Is the clientele what you expected?
Hughes: This past Sunday, there were so many different people in the bar. People having business meetings, couples on dates, a group of bikers. We’re just going for a cozy bar vibe, so I hope that continues to attract a diverse crowd.
Q: Why do you think people are drinking less?
Hill: I think it’s a continuation of the wellness movement. It seems like people are more willing to take care of themselves. We’re all learning how to pace ourselves and make choices that serve us day to day. It’s about listening to your body. I stopped drinking almost four years ago. I just started asking myself: “Do I need to have a drink right now?” I started noticing it would almost always be in social situations where I was feeling anxious or relying on the drink. Since opening Bizzy’s, a lot of people who come here have shared similar stories, and it’s been really meaningful to have those conversations.