Hi, my name is Chloé, and I don’t drink alcohol.

This isn’t a therapy session or my personal journal, so I’ll skip over the details and just say that I stopped drinking two years ago, and I’m not alone.

Worldwide, alcohol consumption is decreasing. It was down more than 1.5% in 2018, Forbes reported.
Bon Appétit reported that the market for low or no-alcohol drinks is expected to increase by 32 percent between 2018 and 2022.

These numbers may be what’s driving the idea of bars without alcohol, which national outlets such as CNBC + TODAY have highlighted recently.

“Sober curious”

Although there are 12-step and other programs for people who need help with addiction, a separate group of people who don’t drink for wellness reasons has started gaining more attention, Vox reported.

Sober curious is a response to alcohol becoming increasingly dominate in almost every aspect of life from work to social gatherings.
Almost 40% of global consumers reported a desire to drink less alcohol for health reasons, Vox also reported.
The movement is influencing some bars and alcohol makers to create mocktails or other no/low alcohol beverages.

Readers react

After we saw this TODAY piece, we asked our readers if they’d like to see a bar without alcohol in Chattanooga. Nearly 100 people weighed in via Facebook.

“I'm a bartender and I actually think this is a great idea. Mocktails are fun and challenging to come up with unique and tasty recipes. I wouldn't want to pay as much as a high end cocktail for what's essentially a glass of juice, but I would be curious and inspired.” — Kat B.

“Absolutely not.” — Jason L.

“I don’t want that kind of negativity in my life 🤣.... I think there should be spaces to go where there’s not a pressure to drink alcohol (aka restaurants etc...which there already are) but an actual bar should have alcohol 🤨”
— Whitney C.

“I think Chattanooga needs more non-alcoholic activities. So yes. My life became much more meaningful and productive after I gave up alcohol.” — Tom B.

Poll

(function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src='https://embed.playbuzz.com/sdk.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}(document,'script','playbuzz-sdk'));