Dray (South End)

Dray was opened in the South End in late 2023 by Pat Dooling, who had stopped drinking and found that the non-alcoholic products he wanted were scattered across the internet rather than sold anywhere he could browse them. The Boston Globe covered the opening on November 23, 2023 as a bottle shop for the sober-curious, Boston.com followed on December 4, 2023 calling it Boston's first non-alcoholic bottle shop, and Edible Boston profiled the business in its Edible Food Find column on November 15, 2024. Dooling has been direct about the intent behind it, telling Boston.com that it had become something of a mission for him to eat away at the societal norm of drinking. The Union Park Street shop is deliberately merchandised like a high-end liquor store rather than a health-food aisle, on the theory that the shopping experience matters as much as the liquid.

The range is the deepest in the city and is organised the way a drinks merchant would organise it. Non-alcoholic beer is the largest category by count, followed by non-alcoholic wine covering still, sparkling and rose, then zero-proof spirits standing in for gin, whiskey, tequila, amaro and aperitivo, then ready-to-drink cocktails and functional seltzers, and finally mixers, bitters, tonics, glassware and accessories. Brands stocked include Seedlip, Lyre's, Ghia, Three Spirit, Kin Euphorics, Dr. Zero Zero, Martini and De Soi, and the assortment turns over as new producers appear. Because there is no alcohol on the premises at all, Dray also functions as a place where people who do not drink can browse without negotiating a liquor store, which is a large part of why it reads as a destination rather than a shop. Staff make recommendations by flavour and occasion rather than by brand, and the business runs tastings and events alongside retail. Hours are Tuesday to Sunday, noon to 8pm; the shop is closed on Mondays.