A new shop has opened in East Dallas that jumps on a hot hot trend: alcohol-free. Called Dry Sips Bottle Shop, it's located at 9219 Garland Rd. #1105, near the Arboretum in the little shopping center that's also home to Urban Vines Wine Bistro and Well Grounded Coffee, where it's offering alcohol-free beer and wine, plus CBD and THC-infused beverages.

Dry Sips comes from Dale and Stacie Czech, best known as the founders of Lakewood Growler, the hugely popular growler bar on Mockingbird Lane.

"Dry Sips is East Dallas' first NA bottle shop, and we're super excited about it," Stacie says. "There's also a big buzz around THC-infused beverages, and Dry Sips lets us offer those as well."

They describe Dry Sips as being there for "the sober, sober-ish, and sober curious."

Alcohol-free drinks have been a growing trend, which the couple have seen first-hand.

"We've been offering NA options at Lakewood Growler for a while now, it's not just a trend, we've seen the demand," Stacie says.

At Dry Sips, they have a wide range of alcohol-free wine, beers, and spirits by purveyors such as Dallas-based Community Beer, whose Nada AF beer line includes alcohol-free Bock, IPA, and Pilsner; Sierra Nevada, whose non-alcohol beers include a golden and an IPA; and Athletic Brewing, maker of numerous award-winning zero-alcohol beers.

Their store also offers THC-infused seltzers and beverages which provide a little end-of-the-day buzz — but without the aftereffects some people experience from alcohol the next day.

"The shop started out as Thryv Organics, a CBD company we opened in 2020," Stacie says. "In the beginning, we saw a lot of interest in CBD products. But in the past few years, the CBD market has gone mostly the ecommerce route. We're still selling all those CBS items online." Those include gummies, oils, and drops, including CBD products for your pets.

"At the same time, customers started coming into Lakewood Growler, asking for NA beers, so we decided to turn it into an AF bottle shop, with a huge selection of THC-infused drinks, too," she says.

Most of the THC drinks have very low sugar or calories - "they're very clean," she says.

To sum up, you can choose from a range of gentle feelgood bevvies that include:

• alcohol free beer, wine, and spirits
• THC-infused seltzers and beverages, offering a relaxing buzz
• CBD drinks, without THC, that produce a calm effect

"We have something for everyyone, whatever their journey — maybe they're 'sober curious' or they just want to step back from drinking if they're not enjoying it as much," Stacie says.