No longer at the kids table. Fresno pop-up bar offers cocktails, community for non-drinkers

Ian Landis has always loved a good bar hang with friends.

When he stopped drinking almost two years ago, his social life took a hit.

“I immediately realized the hardest part was that I really enjoyed going to bars,” Landis says.

But traditional drinking spots have few, if any, options for non-drinkers, who can often end up feeling like they’re sitting at the kids table with their juice or soda.

“I am allowed in a bar. I am welcomed in a bar. But I don’t belong in a bar,” Landis says.

That’s something Landis is wants to change.

Last month, he and business partner Briena Poulter opened Bone Dry Sober Bar, to offer booze-free alternatives to craft cocktails you’d find at upscale drinkeries.

The business operates at events mostly, like Fresno’s Underground Supper club’s New Year Eve Bottlegger’s Ball, where they will be featured drink makers, alongside the Modernist. Long term, Landis and Poulter would like to open a brick-and-mortar spot, ideally in Fresno’s Brewery District.

But that is a year out, at least, they say.

For now, they are available for weddings and other private events, but the public can find them through pop-up events, posted on the bar’s Instagram account. Last month, they hosted an event at Studio Van Ness and they were at Fig and Honey on Fulton Street for December’s Art Hop. They will be outside Tower District Records from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, along with vegan food truck Plant Slayer.

Bone Dry Sober Bar creates non-alcoholic versions of what you would get a fancy bar, and Landis and Poulter started with the basics, mixing versions of classic drinks like an Old Fashioned or Lemon Drop, but with non-alcoholic spirits. Ritual Zero Proof is a brand they particularly like and use, though some spirits are harder to come by — vodka, for example — and they learned to make their own.

The “spirits” are mixed with an assortment of other ingredients like organic cider, herbs and spices, or fresh chili syrup, to create something that tastes and also feels like an alcoholic drink, Poulter says.

“We’re looking for that throat feel; that mouth feel,” she says.

“There has to be some weight to it.”

Landis’ first original mocktail — Wild Fire Season — was non-alcoholic whiskey mixed with organic ciders, bitters and cinnamon, smoked with a torch and encased inside the glass for flavor.

The Lamplighter is the bar’s house-made zero-alcohol vodka with cranberry juice, muddled rosemary and syrup made with Fresno chilies.

The Tequila mockingbird — pun intended — is non-alcoholic tequila with squeezed orange juice, ginger beer and orange spiced syrup.

Mocktails cost $6, though the bar also offers soda and spirit combos for those looking for more of a quick sample of the products.

Sober bars aren’t a new thing, though they have become a bit of a trend recently with an explosion of new products including beer —Budweiser Zero is now thing — and hip spots opening in cities like Tokyo and Austin.

In Fresno, there seems to be a demand, Poulter says.

Already, Bone Dry Sober Bar is seeing repeat customers who are eager for the drinks, but also the community that a sober bar offers.

“We just didn’t know how large of a base there was in Fresno,” she says.

“It’s very heartwarming. It’s not just fun, it’s rewarding.”