RSVP Discount Beverage

RSVP Discount Beverage on Forest Avenue in Deering Center is a Portland institution among people who care about what they drink — a large, unglamorous store with genuine depth in beer and wine and staff who know the stock. Over the last few years its non-alcoholic section has expanded from a token shelf into something worth making the trip for.

The range covers the categories that matter: alcohol-free beers in real variety rather than the two national brands most stores carry, mixers and tonics suitable for building drinks, and zero-proof bottles. For anyone drinking at home without alcohol — which is where the overwhelming majority of alcohol-free drinking actually happens — that breadth is worth more than any bar's mocktail list.

It is important to be accurate about what this is. RSVP is not a dedicated dry bottle shop like Ceremony in Norfolk or Point 5 in Richmond; it is a conventional beverage store with a good and growing alcohol-free section. Someone in early sobriety who would rather not walk past walls of spirits should know that before going, and the grade here reflects it honestly.

What makes it matter in Portland specifically is the gap it fills. Vena's Fizz House, the city's historic alcohol-free specialist, is now a weekday-hours shop in Westbrook, twenty minutes inland and closed at weekends. That leaves RSVP as the only place in Portland proper where you can buy a decent range of non-alcoholic drinks on a Sunday afternoon. It opens 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday, which is exactly when people actually shop. Forest Avenue is a short drive from the peninsula rather than a walk, so plan it as an errand rather than a stop on a night out.