Lyre's in Boston, MA

Dray is a 100% non-alcoholic bottle shop at 18 Union Park Street in Boston's South End, opened in late 2023 by founder Pat Dooling and reported at the time as the city's first dedicated alcohol-free retail store. Nothing in the shop contains meaningful alcohol: the range is built to mirror a conventional wine and spirits merchant, and Dray's own catalogue currently lists roughly 138 non-alcoholic beers, 83 non-alcoholic wines, 63 zero-proof spirits, 45 ready-to-drink cocktails and a further 19 mixers and accessories. Staff work as advisers rather than clerks, steering customers between categories, and the shop runs tastings and community events. It trades Tuesday to Sunday from noon to 8pm and is closed Mondays. A second Dray opened in Central Square, Cambridge.

Dray's second location is a 100% non-alcoholic bottle shop at 5 Columbia Street in Central Square, Cambridge, inside the Market Central complex, opened in January 2025 roughly a year after founder Pat Dooling's original South End store. It is styled like a high-end wine and spirits merchant, with the same catalogue behind it: roughly 138 non-alcoholic beers, 83 non-alcoholic wines, 63 zero-proof spirits, 45 ready-to-drink cocktails and 19 mixers and accessories, covering Seedlip, Lyre's, Ghia, Three Spirit, Kin Euphorics, Dr. Zero Zero and Martini among others. Nothing on the shelves contains meaningful alcohol. Staff advise by flavour and occasion rather than by brand, and the shop trades Tuesday to Sunday from noon to 8pm, closed Mondays.

Backbar is a craft cocktail bar established in 2011 at 7 Sanborn Court in Union Square, Somerville, found through an orange door in the alley between The Independent and Bronwyn. It seats only 39, takes no reservations, and has collected an unusual run of accolades for its size: Boston Magazine rated it the city's best bar in March 2020, Time Out included it among the 28 coolest bars in the world in August 2021, and Wine Enthusiast named it Best Overall Bar in Boston in November 2024. Its non-alcoholic list is a full themed menu that rotates rather than a token section; the current one is Studio Ghibli-themed and headed "Rated NA: Non Alcoholic!", with every alcohol-free drink priced at $11.

Brick & Mortar is a cocktail bar at 567 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square, Cambridge, entered through an unmarked door beside Central Kitchen and marked only by a small sign once you are inside. It is known for an adventurous cocktail list and for running craft cocktail classes for groups, and it keeps a standing Zero Proof Cocktails section on the printed menu rather than improvising alcohol-free drinks on request. Three zero-proof cocktails are listed at $15 each, matching the pricing and the build complexity of the full-strength list, and they use commercial non-alcoholic spirits — Landry London Dry, Lyre's Italian Orange, Spirit of Milano and non-alcoholic Lucano amaro — rather than juice-and-soda substitutes. It trades Monday through Saturday and is closed Sundays.

OAK Long Bar + Kitchen is the bar and restaurant inside the Fairmont Copley Plaza on St James Avenue, facing Copley Square, and it is open from 7am to midnight every day, which makes it one of the few full bars in Back Bay a person can walk into at any hour. Its drinks menu carries a section headed Spirit Free with three named builds. Honey Badger is lemon, grapefruit, honey and ginger beer at $15; Super Fresh is white cranberry, lemon and soda at $14; and Raspberry Fields is built on Lyre's Italian Spritz with raspberry, basil, agave and lemon at $15. The offering is modest rather than extensive, but it is named, printed and priced alongside the cocktails.