Mocktail Momentum

With Dry January now behind us, local beverage businesses are hoping warmer temperatures boost business. You're watching the Local News Network, brought to you by Sky Ute Casino and Serious Texas Bar-B-Q. I'm Connor Shreve. The days and weeks after New Year's can be some of the most difficult for breweries and bars, but the trend to not drink goes beyond individual months. That's why many alcohol providers have launched their own NA offerings, from sparkling waters to flavored hop teas. Tess Lynston opened Tesstastic Tonic Mixers in Macus last fall, with an equal dedication to both cocktails and mocktails.

I have seen more people starting to just, again, become more concerned about what they're consuming, okay, and that goes for artificial ingredients, and so naturally just lapse over into our beverage consumption.

As the population becomes more focused on individual health and more educated about alcohol's negative consequences, drinking less, or not at all, has become more accepted. In fact, the non-alcoholic market is valued at over $500 million nationally, and as a holistic practitioner, Lynston is happy to accommodate.

So what I make of it is that people are becoming not only more health conscious, but I think the generations that are coming in are just more evolved, aware, conscientious naturally, so they resonate with, okay, how much alcohol do I want to consume? And how do I feel consuming it?

We've seen brewers lean into the trend. Take Skaqua, produced by Ska Brewery, for example. Now widely distributed, it was once just a sparkling flavored water available at the tap room for guests who didn't want to drink a beer. Lynston opts to make her mixers for both options. She says her mockarita is perfect after a day in the saddle or on the slopes.

This as a mocktail is an electrolyte drink, okay? Has four different kinds of citrus in it, the very simple, simple syrup, sea salt. So the citruses are orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, okay? And it is also just very delicious.

And as spring rolls into summer, you'll be able to catch Tesstastic Tonic Mixers hosting cocktail events at Durango Sustainable Goods. Lynston plans on mixing up creative concoctions for various upcoming holidays as well. Check out her schedule on Facebook or through Durango Sustainable Goods' social media accounts. For more information on this and other stories, visit durangolocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I'm Connor Shreve.