BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – New year, new resolutions, and for some – that means going on a health and wellness journey.
Some people are taking the initiative to cut alcohol out of their lives. Mixologist with alcohol-free bar Tonique Lisa Danforth tries to help make it easier for people to meet those goals.
“Interestingly when covid hit and I was by myself — I started playing around with a bunch of things,” Danforth said.
“And I just started playing with syrups and shrubs just to entertain myself and really got into it, it was super exciting there were so many different things that you can make and have just been exploring ever since and a friend of mine,” she said.
And she says with Dry January underway, it’s exciting to see people learn more about these alcohol-free drinks.
“It’s been great, especially with Dry January, the holidays were a lot of fun,” Danforth said.
“One of my favorite parts is just watching people come in helping them shift their perspective,” Danforth said.
Her goal is to bring awareness to drinks like these and have them be more readily accessible throughout the Green Mountain State.
“There is no alcohol-free bottle shop in Vermont so to be able to bring this around — I do want to start bringing it around the state to make it more an accessible to people,” she said.
She hosts pop-ups to bring her creations to more people.
And as people are working on their mental health – she finds cutting alcohol becoming more common.
“But today there’s so much available and I see people get excited and grabbing a couple of things to bring home so they can have that ritual,” Danforth said.
And for some – making these choices can be scary. But Danforth is working on making a safe environment for those who want to limit their alcohol consumption or cut it out completely.
“Creating a more inclusive community where people feel comfortable to make choices that are in alignment with their goals and what they want to do,” Danforth said.
Lindsey Carter helped create Guinep which is a non-alcoholic cocktail made with 70 deep ocean minerals instead of alcohol and flavored with the essence of the Caribbean Guinep fruit. The drink has no sugar, calories, and nothing artificial.
“Looking for a cocktail that had no alcohol but a lot of flavor and really healthy ingredients so than rather than going to a bar and asking for a soda or a juice something high calorie wanted something that’s like really craveable and really taste worthy and had a functional ingredient, so we began developing last year Guinep,” Carter said.
The next pop up will be on Saturday, January 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the soda plant.
