The search is on to find Toronto's best mocktail

What do you drink when you don't drink alcohol?

Coffee or tea? Juice?

On Saturday, six mixologists will compete to prove non-alcoholic drinks don't have to be boring. The Sobar Social Club is set to host what it's calling Toronto's first mocktail competition at El Mocambo.

CEO Renesha Monaco founded the club last summer after she challenged herself to take a year-long booze break but found few social options that didn't involve alcohol.

"When you're not drinking, you don't want to be sitting at home by yourself," she said.

Sobar Social Club held its inaugural party in Toronto last summer. (Submitted by Sobar Social Club)

Sobar organizes non-alcoholic pop-up events around the city, but Monaco says Saturday's competition is particularly special.

"I want to create an event to highlight that you don't need to have alcohol to have fun," she said. "And I want to showcase the incredible non-alcoholic products that are out there."

A ticket to the competition includes six mocktails, live entertainment and a night of dancing. The crowd will vote on the city's best mocktail.

More people interested in alcohol alternatives

The competition highlights a growing trend in North America, as more people appear to be tempering their drinking habits.

More alcohol alternatives have entered the market in recent years, as Dry January has entered the mainstream lexicon andnew reports have suggested alcohol has higher health risks than previously thought.

In Ontario, the LCBO now offers 26 non-alcoholic products, and over 1,000 "lighter choices" with low-alcohol content. The LCBO says non-alcoholic beverage sales grew 67 per cent from 2022 to 2023.

In the United States, market research firmNielsen IQ reported a 20 per cent increase in non-alcoholic beverage sales in 2022, finding that younger people — Gen Z in particular — are consuming alcohol less than previous generations.

The LCBO says sales of non-alcoholic beverages jumped 67% from 2022 to 2023. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Quality of booze-free options improving

When Gail Lynch quit drinking about a decade ago, she said got lots of questions.

"When I stopped, people were like, ''what's wrong with you?'" said Lynch, one of the mixologists competing Saturday. Lately, she says those questions have stopped.

Lynch says she loves mixing drinks and going out, but she didn't like the way alcohol made her feel physically. So when the pandemic hit and she had time on her hands, Lynch opened Zero Bar to keep her passion for mixology alive while offering non-drinkers tastier choices.

Gail Lynch is the CEO of Zero Cocktail Bar in Toronto. (Some Good Clean Fun Blog)

Lynch says her goal has been easier to achieve lately thanks to an explosion of high-quality, non-alcoholic products that have come on the market in the past few years.

"The variety of products in the market are endless," she said. "I now have the flexibility to truly make a cocktail."

Lynch says mocktails now rival cocktails when it comes to the complexity of flavour available.

The zero-alcohol old-fashioned — a cocktail that is traditionally almost all whiskey — is Lynch's favourite drink to mix. She says some of her drinking friends have told her it tastes just like its alcoholic counterpart.

Non-alcoholic beverages are becoming more common in Ontario's liquor stores. (Yvette Brend/CBC News)

For those who prefer the taste of beer, a number of craft brewers are putting on the NO-LO Beerfest in Toronto this weekend to showcase their non-alcoholic and low-alcohol selections.

"People are just really, really grateful to have options that look and taste and feel like alcohol but don't have that ABV (alcohol by volume)," said Carmen Vicente, the head of marketing at Bellwoods Brewery, which is participating in the Beerfest.

The NO-LO Beerfest takes place before the mocktail competition, meaning keen non-alcoholic enthusiasts have the opportunity to check out both.

The mocktail winner will get a $500 prize from Cocktail Emporium, as well as a special cocktail shaker trophy and bragging rights for having made the city's best mocktail.

"But all attendees will win in their own way," Monaco said. "You can still go out with your friends and have a good time, hangover free."