New York’s best bars for non-alc cocktails don’t heavily rely on non-alc spirits, according to the Inaugural NYC’s Best Bars for NA 2025 Awards. The awards, announced this month by Boisson and NYC-based alcohol-free pop-up bar and events platform Bright Nights Social, are the first awards program recognizing excellence in alcohol-free hospitality across New York City. These accolades come at a time when adult non-alc (ANA) is pushing into the on-premise in the U.S., after most brands launched direct-to-consumer and then into retail. That’s a different path than in Europe, where ANA is more widely accepted – and that may be because the top bars there adopted pioneers like Seedlip and the trend trickled down into mainstream bars and retail. So what happens as the top bars here rely more on their own geeky innovations than the ones in the bottle? “We're milk punching, we're fat washing, we're using really interesting world ingredients,” said Sam Bail, founder of Bright Nights and one of the judges. “There’s a lot of foraging and distilling going on.” According to Bail’s research, non-alc spirits are not the main ingredients on the menus of what are now considered the pioneers of NA craft cocktails. That’s completely different from the actual craft cocktail movement, so is it a warning sign for the industry? Not necessarily, as most restaurants and bars don’t have the capacity to ferment their own pineapple scraps, and will be looking for easier solutions. But it does mean pressure is on for brands to identify their unique utility to bars, and as Bail said, be honest about their shortcomings so that bartenders can make better drinks. At some of the bars that were best known for their NA drinks, cocktails came out tasting flat, she said. Now, that’s going to be a problem for wider adoption. Read the full breakdown. | 
