How do you say come in, get comfortable, stay awhile – hand someone a beautiful drink.
That was the idea behind our alcohol-free Girl Dinner co-hosted end of June with Team Spirits.
We wanted to create a fun space without alcohol being the social glue. Chill, pleasing to the eye and very much about enjoying what was in your glass — the indulgence was mostly indulging in the moment and who was sitting across from you.
The upstairs event space at Grape Witches feels less like a venue and more like someone's very stylish living room. We gathered around a square coffee table, sprawled across couches, with a Y2K playlist playing in the background and Legally Blonde projected on the wall. It was warm, chatty and completely unpretentious.
And then there was the food.
Prosciutto and grapes. Lumpfish caviar on potato chips with crème fraîche. Crudités with pink hummus. Pickles and marinated olives. Boccaccini tossed in pesto with cherry tomatoes. Shrimp cocktail. Baguette. All displayed on the tables posed for their stock photo shoot.
In other words: Girl Dinner.
One of my most anxious things about hosting is watching the first few minutes of a gathering unfold.
People who came with friends naturally settled in. Those who came alone were a little more tentative. But something interesting happened almost immediately: offering someone a beautifully served drink became a gateway to conversation.
What's in this?
This is so good.
Oh, I could have another of these
The drink gave us something to talk about before we knew each other. Then came the food, the room, the movie, the music — and quickly, each other.
Acquired Taste served a take on a French 75 made with JNPR alcohol-free gin, Prima Pavé Blanc de Blancs, lemon and butterfly pea syrup. We also poured NON5 Lemon Marmalade & Hibiscus sparkling into wine glasses. Team spirits, their canned cocktails.
The French 75 was a particular hit: bright, balanced, fun and not too sweet. Someone described the feeling as almost a placebo buzz — that little sense of occasion and excitement you get from holding a beautiful drink, sipping something complex and knowing you're out for the night.
But that's exactly what we were after.
Not an imitation of drinking alcohol. A beautiful drink that happens to be alcohol-free.
As a society, we've become pretty accustomed to alcohol being part of how we loosen up. We use it as permission to be more social, more talkative, more spontaneous, sometimes even more daring.
But what happens when you take that expectation away?
For us, the answer wasn't a room full of people sitting quietly with their sparkling water.
It was people leaning forward on the couches, interrupting stories to exclaim over a bite of food, holding up their glasses to be refilled mid-conversation, and eventually gathering almost entirely around the coffee table.
The shift happened organically. There wasn't one big moment where everyone suddenly became comfortable. The room simply became more connected.
My eight-year-old was also around for the beginning of the evening, essentially acting as my tiny co-host. Their complete willingness to chat, be silly and have fun may have broken down a few of those initial barriers too. Sometimes the best host is simply the person who doesn't care if the conversation is perfectly polished.
And maybe that's the point.
Alcohol-free beverages deserve the same attention we give everything else on the table.
The glassware. The garnish. The temperature. The food pairing. The story behind the producer. The feeling you get when something is poured for you and you realize it was chosen with care.
Because the joy of gathering has always been rooted in food and beverage. We've just gotten used to the beverage part meaning wine, beer or spirits with alcohol.
We're interested in expanding that vocabulary.
Girl Dinner was a small experiment in what that can look like: a room full of people, excellent food, a really good cocktail — and no alcohol required to make the evening feel special.
Everyone left with something different. Maybe a new favourite drink. Maybe a new friend. Maybe a little more confidence that going out doesn't have to mean drinking.
Or maybe they simply left feeling like they'd spent a few hours somewhere warm, welcoming and fun.
Honestly, that's enough.