By Jennifer Patterson
Dry A.F. Craft Beverage Shop celebrated its grand opening with a big crowd and eager shoppers on Friday, March 8, at 283 Main St. in Schoharie.
The new alcohol-free craft beverage store is located in the same building as owner Jennifer Barnett’s hair salon, Unicorn Alchemy, and will be open from 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday.
“The hours may change going forward, depending on what the community needs,” said Barnett, who has been a hairdresser for 24 years and opened her salon in 2019. “There’s no way that I can split my attention between the two businesses, so I’ll be offering hair services on Mondays and Tuesdays.”
A student of herbalism, Barnett originally wanted to incorporate apothecary in her salon, but the two ideas didn’t work well together.
Barnett came up with the idea for dry A.F. Craft Beverages a few years ago, when she realized that it was time to transition her business into something other than a salon.
Her new venture offers non-alcoholic beverages, including beer, seltzer, wine, liquors and herbal drinks, like regenerative oat water and sparkling mushroom teas.
Barnett said that in addition to offering mocktails, it’s important to have options that don’t mimic a favorite alcoholic beverage, because some people living sober can’t be reminded of the experience.
“For me, moving away from alcohol was a slow thing – it wasn’t something I had to do right away,” said Barnett, who lives in Schoharie with her life partner, Michael Thomas, and three rescue dogs. “I just wasn’t going to bars anymore and shifted from drinking hard alcohol to White Claws, but I’ve always had chronic headaches, and after a really bad neurological episode in 2021 that felt like a three-month hangover, I had no desire to go back to drinking.”
Barnett said that while she still enjoys going out with friends, she quickly realized how few alcohol-free options there are for sober people.
At many establishments, the only choice is a sugary soda, flat seltzer or water.
“I would absolutely love it if someone would just muddle a little lime for me in the bottom of a seltzer,” Barnett said with a laugh.
There are even fewer places in upstate New York catering to sober people looking for N/A alternatives.
In the Capital Region, the only non-alcoholic beverage center Barnett could think of was Empire Too in Albany, which sells both alcoholic and N/A drinks.
After giving a lot of thought to what her business should be, Barnett is focused on providing beverages that appeal to a broad range of people, right in the heart of Schoharie.
“When I found Schoharie, I just fell in love with it,” Barnett said. “It’s the most welcoming area, and as we hopefully expand in the future, Schoharie County will always be our first stop.”
For information about dry A.F. Craft Beverage Shop, go to https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557022892681 or @drya.f.craftbeverage on Instagram.
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