I didn’t get out much while in school and attended my first real “college party” just before I graduated. But I imbibed unholy spirits like many 21+-year-olds, had deep conversations with my roommate over wine, and occasionally took an Uber home after a night on the town. Many of my dear friends are bartenders who can play the roles of therapist, doctor, and security all in one night.
Alcohol can make us feel like we’re funnier, smarter, relaxed, on top of the world. It can also wind down a restless brain to a slower pace, ease burdens, and numb the pain. But like a potion, I’ve seen how booze can turn people from Jekyll to Hyde once they’ve thrown a few back. It was Charlie Chaplin who once said, “A man’s true character comes out when he’s drunk.”
I realized drinking was never something that made me feel good, in my body or mind, and started abstaining more. I stopped altogether just over two years ago. But when I go out with friends, I sometimes feel like a teetotaler. Most bars now offer a nonalcoholic beer or two, a kombucha, or a fancy soda. But often, their “mocktails” are soda with a splash of fruit juice that costs the same as something more spirited.
The week of Greensboro’s primary elections, it felt like Friday by the time Tuesday rolled around. So I headed over to Bitters Social House to try to relax.
Owned by Jocelyn Moon and Brian Hand, Bitters has an illustrated menu featuring cocktails, beer, and wine, plus six mocktails and other nonalcoholic beverages. I took a Punkin Patch mocktail infused with black tea, lemon, turmeric, and blackstrap bitters and settled into one of the couches to watch the results roll in.
Moon came over to ask how my drink was. This was the bar’s first night making it and the other new mocktails for customers.
Kind of earthy. Not too sweet. Tasted like a real drink. I even felt a little giddy.
Their menu changes with the seasons, Moon explained—it’ll shake up again in January, April, and August. And the bartenders have a hand in the menu’s creation.
“I want everybody to feel welcome,” Moon said. “Say you’re going out with your girlfriends and one of them is pregnant. Why is she relegated to a soda, right?”
Bitters’ nonalcoholic menu buzzes with two sparkling wines, THC, and Delta 9 options, an assortment of to-go mocktails, and several beers. It gives nondrinkers a place at the bar.
“Then they feel special,” Moon said.
Those of us in our self-imposed prohibition era are less alone than we think. A recent Gallup poll shows fewer people are drinking in the U.S. In 2023, 62 percent of Americans drank. That dropped to 58 percent in 2024, then 54 percent this year.
“More people are not drinking,” Moon said. “Especially the younger ages.”
My second drink, Grimhilde’s Brunch, took apple cider to another level with alcohol-free prosecco and spiced apple bitters.
At the end of the day, when the last call rings out, I think we’re all figuring out what’s best for ourselves.
The social house will be part of State Street’s fall festival block party on Oct. 25 from 12-6 p.m., filled with trick-or-treating, food trucks, and vendors selling oddities, etc. A DJ will be rocking family-friendly tunes. When Moon says everybody’s welcome, she means it.
“Kids are allowed in here, so we keep some sodas and stuff for them,” she said. “I just want everybody to have a good time and be social.”
Drinking With Intention at Bitters Social House
