CHICAGO -- Between Dry January and the recent call by the U.S. Surgeon General for additional warning labels on alcohol identifying it as a top cause of cancer, drinking -- or, more specifically, not drinking -- has been a hot topic of late.

But the sobriety movement is nothing new, even in a city like Chicago where alcohol can seem to be part of, well, everything.

What is new, however, is the apparent prevalence of sober Chicagoans who've stopped drinking completely and the sober curious who have chosen to drink in moderation and take a more mindful approach to alcohol. Low-alcohol cocktails have also become a trend in some Chicago bars and restaurants.

A quarter of Americans 21 and over participated in Dry January last year, which surpasses the 16 percent who avoided alcohol during Dry January 2023, according to 2024 tracking by CivicScience. And about 49 percent of millennials and 61 percent of Gen Z tried to drink less in 2024, according to a survey last year by research firm NC Solutions.

A 2024 culinary forecast by the National Restaurant Association listed low-alcohol cocktails as a top three trend and zero-proof spirits as an emerging trend.

Then there's the September survey from research group Datassential that showed 32 percent of all consumers who drink at least a few times a years were drinking less often in 2024 than before the pandemic, as cited in the New York Times.

More locally, the sober group Chicago AF (for "alcohol-free") is throwing is annual NA Day party Saturday at Loft on Lake, 1366 W. Lake St., offering noon and 3 p.m. sessions for its extensive non-alcohol tasting event. Last year, the event doubled its capacity after selling out in 2023.

The sober situation was a bit different when Mary Moss opened Beverly Dry Goods close to five years ago. She said the reaction to her South Side shop specializing in NA spirits, mixers and accessories varied. While millennials would come in and ask for specific NA brands by name -- like Seedlip and Ghia -- older visitors didn't get it, Moss said.

Now, she said, "My quickest growing demographic is my fellow Gen-Xers who are struggling with insomnia and know that alcohol isn't helping." The conversations happening around menopause have helped in this growth, she added.

Another area of change is the increase of available products as well as the types. "Right around 2022, there started to be an expansion in NA things that don't pretend to be other things," said Moss. "Naturally, we are creatures of comparison, so if you tell me this is NA tequila, my brain will start to think how is this not like tequila. The brands that are doing something different have fared better and are growing quicker than the brands that are imitations."

One recent addition to the NA playing field that Moss says is "testament to what a big deal it is": White Claw's non-alcoholic premium seltzer. "They realize there is money to be made," she said. Although the conundrum that NA seltzer is really just seltzer isn't lost on her, she said.

Chicago-based talent manager and entrepreneur Pat Corcoran, who founded and owns the popular No Fine Print wine line, has been sober for almost four years. Initially, he wasn't into NA beverages because he worried they could be a gateway beverage to drinking alcohol again, he said.

But once Corcoran started dabbling in the NA space, he embraced it, so much so that he launched his own NA brewery, Years Beer. Started in June, Years Beer became a collaboration between Pilot Projecting Brewing and Corcoran.

Even though NA beer has come a long way since the days of Sharp's and O'Doul's as the only options, Corcoran still saw room for improvement.

"Where NA beer has made a quantum leap into where we are today is by emulating what's been popular and working on the alcohol side: craft and hop-driven beer," he said. "Until NA brands like Athletic came around, pretty much you didn't have any hop-driven NA options. We all thought people who don't drink don't want to drink things that taste like alcohol."

Another change has been the makers of NA beers themselves.

"Athletic's founder is a sober guy like me," Corcoran said. "We are trying to bring NA beer options to the consumers that are brewed locally and craft made. We are proud of being able to make real beer that just happens to be non-alcoholic."

Currently, Years Beer makes a NA pilsner and classic pale ale.

Corcoran sees the NA movement as being more popular with the younger generation. "Health is something that enters into everyone's mind, and millennials have been some of the most health-conscious folks as we've grown up with Apple watches and all these health tracker devices," he said.

While for many abstaining from alcohol is about slowing down, for Corcoran it's the opposite.

"I wanted to stop drinking so I could speed up," he said. "I wanted to enjoy life more and be more social and I felt drinking was a vicious loop of being inebriated and then recovering."

Even though he's the mixology director at Folkart Management -- which includes Logan Square cocktail bar Billy Sunday, 3143 W. Logan Blvd., and Lakeview restaurant Mordecai, 3632 N. Clark St. -- Corban Kell doesn't really drink.

"The finer point of all of this is that so much isn't about long term, dogmatic or religious," he said. "It's people making very personal decisions. For me, it's semi long term."

One of the biggest recent changes he's seen to the NA movement is expansion to more drinking styles, including NA wines and even spirit-free amaro liqueur, both of which can be found at Billy Sunday.

"It's becoming a bit more comprehensive and really better quality,' said Kell. "It's moving into the margins of every single style of drinking."

Billy Sunday has been at the forefront of the craft NA cocktail movement in Chicago for some time. One of their most popular spirit-free cocktails is the Lupine Lady, made with lavender- and thyme-infused verjus, lime, mint, basil and sparkling water.

Employing natural fermentation processes, including for a variety of house-fermented sodas, allows Kell and his team to capture the products they believe in and employ zero-waste practices, he said. Although like kombucha, these beverages do contain a small amount of alcohol, between .2 and .5 percent.

"I'm seeing a lot of people jump into it where it's not a total teetotaler movement and it's not all or nothing," said Kell. "I love this spread of flavors and ABVs."

But while the NA movement has grown, there still are misconceptions about it.

"For a long time when someone said, 'I'm not drinking,' the common response was, 'Uh-oh, what happened?'" Corcoran said. "Now it's more, 'I want to make myself better and I want to be the best version of myself.' That's come around a ton and will continue to come around as NA products continue to proliferate the market."

The assumption that if you're sober you must be in recovery is something Moss has experienced as well. While that can be the case, it's not the only reason, she said. "So many people have different journeys to sobriety and what that looks like."

Moss has discovered that when some of her clients find out she puts herself in the damp camp ("I maybe had six drinks last year," she said) that almost puts them at ease.

"They think, 'She's not going to shame me,'" she said.

As far as what's next, Moss sees adaptogen-infused and hemp-based drinks as growing sectors, while Corcoran hopes NA beer on tap becomes more prevalent in Chicago bars.

With the prices of spirit-free beverages becoming more affordable, Kell predicts more bars will feature them.

"If I know the beverage industry at that point once everyone can play, everyone wants to get super-weird with it," he said. "It will be very interesting to see where they take it from there."