To your health! Sober travel in style in Montréal
With dry tripping topping the 2024 travel trends, one thing is clear: you don’t need booze to have fun. More and more travellers are turning dry January into a year-long lifestyle, and by the same token, restaurants and bars are expanding their menus into new and exciting non-alcoholic territory. Teetotallers, straight-edgers and designated drivers, this one’s for you.
What’s dry tripping?
The growing global trend of sober living — and travel — is an extension of the wellness trend, whereby people are looking to preserve not only their mental health, but also their physical wellness wherever they might be in the world.
Dry tripping is the name the travel industry has given to people seeking out adventures when they travel that don’t centre around booze. That means eschewing the pub crawls, wine tastings and cocktail receptions — or does it? Not when the pubs, clubs and restaurants offer mouth-watering alternatives.
Montréal’s happening mocktail scene
The global shift towards non-alcoholic drink options is not just a passing trend but is gaining momentum worldwide. In Montréal, that translates to cool new businesses opening up, such as Apéro à Zéro in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood: a liquor-free liquor store where all the wine, spirits and beer are alcohol-free and flavour-packed.
Montréal also has a beguiling crop of alcohol-free drink brands to its name, including 1642, which makes unique sodas created with natural sugars, spring water and flavours, Bec, makers of fresh, organic sodas sweetened with Québec maple syrup, and Oshlag: they make a selection of alcohol-free seltzers and lemonade. Local distillery Romeo’s Gin also offers a tasty array of non-alcoholic gin-flavoured mocktails in attractive cans designed by local artists. Even the liquor board has a mocktail recipe section now.
Cheers to Montréal bars and restaurants!
Creativity is always in style in Montréal, and our food and drinks scene is keeping up with the sober living trend. Gone are the days of the Shirley Temple and the Virgin Caesar (because a glass of tomato juice just ain’t it)! Here are some of our fave spots for alcohol-free offerings.
Cicchetti
Lovers of Italian open sandwiches and devilled eggs topped with caviar already enjoy this little bar tucked off Parc Avenue in Mile Ex. The tasteful list of mocktails and wide range of boutique non-alcoholic drinks are other reasons to go. Try the Fumigène: a refreshing booze-free margarita whose layered flavour features liquid smoke.
6703 Avenue du Parc
Atwater Cocktail Club
This good-time spot in Little Burgundy caters to sober living needs with a couple of stunning mocktails. Saddle up to the bar and pick: maybe the Jitterbug Fizz? It’s an unexpected marriage of coffee and grapefruit that will give you wings. There’s also the Mercuri, a deeply refreshing flavour party featuring of pandan, pineapple and orgeat.
512 Atwater Street
Time Out Market
Everyone’s favourite food court in the Eaton Centre has an ever growing menu of mocktails, with recent releases that have got us salivating. Find your perfect meal du jour courtesy of some of Montréal’s best chefs, then pair it with a selection from one of the bars, whether it’s the sweet and snappy Passionatta (featuring the indulgent flavours of passion fruit and vanilla) or the fizzilicious Rosé Spritz.
705 Sainte-Catherine Street West
Notre Dame des Quilles
This Little Italy spot is a warm, homey hangout that comes with a couple of small-scale bowling aisles, yummy food and some nice non-alcoholic drinks options. The menu includes a couple of Italian style soda flavours as well as a homemade lemonade and a spicy ginger beer that has a lasting, warming kick.
32 Rue Beaubien Est
Les Enfants Terribles
The Place Ville Marie location of this small chain comes with such an extraordinary ambiance that it will add oomph to any celebration, no booze necessary. Raise a glass to beautiful Montréal with something delicious from their mocktail selection. Maybe their Enfants Terribles Iced Tea? It’s a complex concoction made with papaya, mulberry leaf, melon and elderberry.
3 Place Ville Marie
Living Room
The stylish lobby bar at the Marriott W Hotel is a great place for an after-work drink or a pre-dinner drink before you head over the Tbsp. next door. Teetotallers will have three delicious non-alcoholic cocktails to choose from, plus a wide selection of branded drinks. Try the Miami No Vice mocktail: a vacation-vibey mix of Seedlip Spice with a dash of coconut and hibiscus.
901 du Square-Victoria Street
Modavie
Live jazz, French fare and a delectable selection of mocktails made with fresh squeeze juices and herbs rather than syrups and flavourings: those are the makings of a good night out in Old Montréal. Peruse the drinks menu as you tap your foot to the live music. We recommend the Limonade à la poire, a delicious drinkable version of a pear drop candy made with fresh pear and lemon juices.
1 Saint-Paul Street West
Bar Bisou Bisou
Few bars offer a more creative and flavoursome range of non-alcoholic cocktails than this Old Montréal bar, and that’s not to mention their nice selection of low-ABV drinks as well. In terms of 100% non-alcoholic, you’ve got four delights to choose from, including the Good Move, providing the addictive zing of hibiscus and lime lifted with mint and pomegranate, and the savoury Giorgio: a sparkling mix of Italian bitters, olive brine and lemon.
416 Saint Vincent Street
La Distillerie
This small chain of cocktail bars in Montréal has been ahead of the curve in its offering of alcohol-free tipples, which range from non-alcoholic prosecco or Guinness to the fun DIY Spritz for two, where they provide you with fizzy water and all the makings of a flavoursome mocktail designed to your taste.
300 Ontario Street East
Cloakroom
This petite award-winning cocktail bar in the glittering Golden Square Mile knows how to please its sophisticated clientele, and that includes providing a world of beguiling options for those looking to avoid alcohol. One of Cloakroom’s signature features is that they don’t have a menu, so it’s all a matter of conversation: tell them what you’re in the mood for, and they’ll make it, their way. With or without booze.
2175 de la Montagne Street
Isa Tousignant
Isa Tousignant is a Montréal-based editor and storyteller with a curiosity that runs deeper than most. She has chatted life philosophies with celebrity chefs, gemologists, arena rockers and furries. (All were transformative.) Her free time is spent designing jewellery and laughing at her husband’s jokes.