Dry January in Atlanta: Where to Drink Alcohol-Free

Cultured South Fermentation Co. is Georgia's first kombucha taproom, opened in May 2018 in the Lee + White warehouse district in the West End by Melanie Wade, who had been brewing Golda Kombucha since 2013. The taproom pours Golda on draught by the pint, flight, taste, growler and gelato float, and stocks water kefir and jun, the honey-fermented cousin of kombucha, alongside cold brew coffee and a cultured-foods counter of vegan cheeses, pickles and preserves. Readers should know the room is not fully alcohol-free: Cultured South also brews and serves Grandmother Hard Kombucha and kombucha cocktails, so the alcoholic and non-alcoholic taps sit on the same board and need to be asked about by name.

Close Company is the Atlanta bar from the team behind Death & Co, opened on 6 November 2025 on the plaza level of an office tower at 505 North Angier Avenue in the Old Fourth Ward. The group describes it as the unbuttoned, less formal sibling of the New York original — a bi-level room with a disco ball, weekend DJs and cocktails priced well below Death & Co's. The zero-proof list is treated as part of the menu rather than an appendix, and is priced in line with the rest of it. Named alcohol-free drinks include the Dangerous Rickey with non-alcoholic gin, celery cordial and garden herb tonic, the Chennai Cobbler built on N/A vermouth with mango and yogurt, the Parakeet, and a Phony Negroni.

Hop City Craft Beer & Wine is the Krog District (formerly Krog Street Market) outpost of the Atlanta beer-and-wine retailer founded by Kraig Torres in 2009. The location pairs a curated bottle shop with an adjacent full-service bar pouring dozens of rotating draft selections. For non-drinkers, the appeal is two-fold: the shop keeps a deep, dedicated non-alcoholic section, and the bar runs a dedicated N/A draft line that rotates between Untitled Art and Athletic Brewing. The retail NA shelf is one of the broadest in the city, spanning Athletic Brewing (Free Wave, Run Wild, Upside Dawn), Untitled Art, Guinness 0.0, Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher, Brooklyn Special Effects, Best Day, Ghia, and St. Agrestis Phony Negroni, with Sober Carpenter sold by the single. Sitting directly on the Eastside BeltLine trail, it's a practical NA stop whether you want a pour or a six-pack to go.

Lazy Betty is a one-Michelin-star tasting-menu restaurant from chef-partners Ron Hsu and Aaron Phillips, originally opened in 2019 in Candler Park and relocated in March 2024 to a larger Midtown space at 999 Peachtree Street. The kitchen serves a multi-course modern tasting menu, and the beverage program runs a full zero-proof track alongside its wine and spirits list. The menu carries a dedicated "Zero Proof" section with named N/A cocktails, non-alcoholic wines (Oddbird, Loosen Bros. "Dr. Lo"), and non-alcoholic beer from Athletic Brewing. Guests can have zero-proof cocktails coursed out and paired with each dish, the same way the wine pairing works. Named alcohol-free cocktails include the Celery Gimlet, Blueberry Mule, Strawberry Spritz, and "Spring Dreams Are Made Of These." Forbes called it one of Atlanta's best zero-proof cocktail menus.

Lyla Lila is a Southern European restaurant in Midtown Atlanta, on the ground floor of the Lilli Midtown tower. It opened December 6, 2019, from chef Craig Richards (formerly of St. Cecilia) and restaurateur Billy Streck; the name combines the founders' daughters' names. The kitchen turns out seasonal southern Italian and Spanish small plates, pasta, and seafood. For non-drinkers, the bar keeps a standing spirit-free cocktail list of roughly six rotating drinks (around $8–9) alongside the full bar. Current named zero-proof options include Cigarettes & Coffee (espresso, grapefruit, yuzu, tonic), Rings of Saturn (spiced oolong, orange, lime, pineapple, almond), and Tahitian Hut (grapefruit, lemon, vanilla, onda), plus Casamara Club builds. The restaurant has earned recognition in the MICHELIN Guide.

Southern Belle is Chef Joey Ward's New American restaurant in Atlanta's Poncey-Highland neighborhood, opened in fall 2019 two doors from the historic Plaza Theatre. Ward, a James Beard-recognized chef who spent years as executive chef at Gunshow, builds shareable, seasonal plates from locally sourced ingredients, paired with craft cocktails, biodynamic wines, and a notably deep zero-proof program. The restaurant is recommended in the MICHELIN Guide. Its bar keeps a standing "Zero Proof" cocktail section — historically 10 to 12 spirit-free drinks at any time, plus an NA pairing option for the kitchen's tasting fare — making it one of the city's most serious nonalcoholic destinations. Current zero-proof cocktails include Fugazi (botanical spirits, floral aperitivo, elderflower), Purple Rain (blueberry, ginger, pea flower, lemon), Secret Siesta (aperitif, agave spirit, grapefruit, habanero), and Amoreena (amaretto, pineapple, lemon). It connects via a passageway to Ward's tasting-menu spot, Georgia Boy.

Vesper is a James Bond-themed cocktail and tapas bar that opened in September 2020 in Atlanta's Glenwood Park, just off the BeltLine, from owners Damien McGee and Jon Tilley. The dimly lit, mid-century-inspired lounge — hunter-green walls, jewel-toned velvet seating — leans into Ian Fleming lore, from the namesake Vesper martini to a full "00 Proof" zero-proof cocktail section that the bar builds with the same care as its spirited list. Nearly every mocktail is anchored by Ritual Zero Proof non-alcoholic spirits, with a few using Lyre's. Named alcohol-free options include the Not So Stormy, Bonito, a zero-proof Old Fashioned, Slo Gin Fizz, Paloma and a "Nigroni." The kitchen serves American and Spanish-leaning tapas meant for sharing, indoors or al fresco. Open daily from 5pm.

Brooklyn Tea is a loose-leaf tearoom in Castleberry Hill, the second location of a specialty tea company founded in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 2017 by tea sommelier Alfonso Wright and his wife Jamila, an Atlanta native. The Atlanta shop opened in February 2022 and is run by Kerri-Ann Thomas, a Spelman graduate and long-time friend of the founders. It carries more than fifty loose-leaf teas served hot or iced, alongside coffee, vegan and non-vegan food, and the company's Notorious B.I.G. cookies. Masala chai lattes, the Cucumber Melon iced tea and the Cold Killer detox blend are the regular orders. No alcohol is served. The company's stated mission is to open tea shops in predominantly Black neighbourhoods where loose leaf has not been readily available.

Jagger Suite is a tenth-floor rooftop bar above the Moxy Atlanta Downtown at 329 Marietta Street, opened in early March 2026 by The Restaurant People. The room is styled on Studio 54 — mirrored surfaces, a twelve-foot disco unicorn, sightlines to Mercedes-Benz Stadium — and it trades until 2am, which makes it one of the later options downtown. The non-alcoholic drinks are grouped under a menu heading of their own, Free-Spirited, rather than buried in the list. Rooftop Retreat pairs Ritual's tequila alternative with pineapple, basil and coconut water; Flashback uses a whiskey alternative with ginger and lemon; and Off the Record is built on zero-proof gin with vanilla, pomegranate and citrus. All three are served with the same garnish and glassware as the full-proof list.

Kimball House is a bar and oyster restaurant in a converted 1890s rail depot beside the tracks in downtown Decatur, open since 2013. It is recommended in the Michelin Guide, holds the Guide's 2024 Exceptional Cocktails award for Georgia, and runs what is widely regarded as the deepest oyster programme in the metro. The zero-proof list is treated with the same seriousness as the absinthe and cocktail lists it is famous for. Tokyo Zero is the standout — ginger, yuzu, lime, pineapple and white shoyu, drawing on the same Japanese flavour vocabulary as the alcoholic menu — alongside a St. Agrestis Phony Negroni and a non-alcoholic Grapefruit Royale topped with Oddbird sparkling. Dinner is served Tuesday through Sunday from five.

Little Sparrow is Ford Fry's French bistro in the Westside Provisions District, opened in October 2023 in the former JCT Kitchen & Bar space and named for Edith Piaf. It is recommended in the Michelin Guide and was named one of Esquire's best new restaurants in America in 2024. The bar keeps three non-alcoholic cocktails on the standing menu rather than improvising them on request. No Regrets is the most ambitious of the three, described on the menu itself as peaty and complex, reminiscent of a fine Speyside malt; Triple Crown builds Wilfred's bitter orange aperitif into a ginger-forward highball; and Rose-Colored Glasses is a blood orange fizz. Steak frites, oysters and classic bistro cooking fill the plates.

Lucky Star is a Taiwanese cafe and cocktail bar in the lobby of the Star Metals complex on Howell Mill Road in West Midtown, opened in December 2024 by chef Jason Liang and John Chen of Michelin-starred Brush. It runs as a coffee shop and bakery by day and flips to a cocktail bar at night, with a kitchen serving Taiwanese food throughout. The bar is recommended in the Michelin Guide and is built around laboratory technique — clarification, precision dilution — applied identically whether or not there is alcohol in the glass. Named spirit-free drinks include Bee's Ginger on a non-alcoholic gin base with honey, lemon and ginger; Tomato + Tonic, which pairs clarified tomato with Fever-Tree; and Aztec January, layering passionfruit and lemon over a house-made mole syrup.

Mint Coffeehouse is a Middle Eastern-influenced cafe on Lawrenceville Highway in Tucker, opened on 15 August 2024 by the husband-and-wife team Ahmad and Marianna Alzoukani as the bricks-and-mortar home of their existing catering and mobile espresso business. Ahmad is Syrian, and the decor and part of the menu reflect that: Syrian-inspired fittings, and manaeesh flatbread with cheese and vegetables sold next to the toasts and pastries. Coffee is a Colombian blend used for both espresso and drip. The house drinks are the Mint Mocha Latte and an in-house chai latte, with matcha, cold brew and fruit smoothies alongside. No alcohol is served. Hours are daytime only, which is why this is a strong daytime alternative rather than a going-out room.

Anansi Cocktail Lounge is a Black-owned cocktail bar on East College Avenue in Avondale Estates, on the eastern edge of Decatur. It is a dark, deliberately intimate room — 21 and over, no outside drinks, no flash photography — that trades from six in the evening to as late as 2am at the weekend. Its non-alcoholic menu is not a handful of substitutions but a named list, the Ikenice Choice, built entirely on Lyre's non-alcoholic spirits. The standout is the alcohol-free espresso martini, frothy and bitter without the syrupy finish most versions carry, and there is an amaretto sour given texture with aquafaba. The bar's own site puts it simply: it has cocktails for those who do not consume alcohol.

Bar Margot is the cocktail lounge on the mezzanine of the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta in Midtown, a low-lit room that trades from mid-afternoon to late and has become a standing recommendation for spirit-free drinking in the district. Its zero-proof cocktails are built as direct translations of the spirits list rather than as a separate afterthought menu, each one mirroring a specific alcoholic drink on the same card. Named alcohol-free pours include the Lil' Coltraine, made with smoked guava and rosemary, and the Garden Party, a cucumber and hibiscus drink. The kitchen serves American and globally-inspired plates with a Southern accent, and the neighbouring Brasserie Margot handles full dining. Service is hotel-standard, which in practice means the non-alcoholic order arrives without comment.

Yeppa & Co. Beltline is an Italian bar and restaurant on Auburn Avenue in the Old Fourth Ward, directly on the BeltLine's Eastside Trail, from Pietro Gianni and Stephen Peterson of Storico Fresco and Forza Storico. The menu takes its cue from Rimini on the Adriatic coast, and the drinks list carries a zero-proof section that fits the aperitivo format properly rather than awkwardly. The house Spritz swaps prosecco and bitter liqueur for Lapo's non-alcoholic aperitif with soda, and Amore e Passione runs Floreale non-alcoholic aperitivo with passion fruit, lemon and soda. There is a large covered patio with fire-pit tables and outdoor seating alongside the trail, so the alcohol-free order works in the same setting as everyone else's.

Yeppa & Co. Buckhead is the Buckhead Village outpost of the Rimini-inspired Italian bar and trattoria from Pietro Gianni and Stephen Peterson of Y Hospitality, and it keeps longer hours than the BeltLine original — open from 11:30am seven days a week and to midnight on Friday and Saturday. The room is a Formula One-themed bar and dining space in the Buckhead Village District. The same zero-proof section runs here: a Spritz rebuilt on Lapo's non-alcoholic aperitif with soda and no prosecco, and Amore e Passione made with Floreale non-alcoholic aperitivo, passion fruit, lemon and soda. Because the kitchen opens at lunch, this is one of the more reliable places in Buckhead to get a properly-built alcohol-free aperitivo in the middle of the day.

Zephyr Southern Brasserie is the lobby-level restaurant and bar of Hotel Phoenix, the first major project delivered at the Centennial Yards development in downtown Atlanta. The cooking crosses French brasserie technique with Southern ingredients, and the drinks are run by mixologist Thandi Walton, whose rail-themed cocktail list is named for the site's railway history. Her non-alcoholic menu is titled Zero Judgement, and the named pour from it is Butterflies on the Rail — butterfly pea flower, lemon, blackberries and an egg white foam that gives it the texture of a proper sour. The restaurant serves from 6:30am to midnight seven days a week, and a separate 32-seat room, Bar Z, pours the same drinks list.