5 N/A Offerings For Dry January
Plus: 42 choices for New Year's dining, Polish deli reopens on South Side and farewell to Sunshine Cafe.
A lineup of classic cocktails from Equal Parts. Photo courtesy of Equal Parts.
Going alcohol-free for a month can feel like a daunting prospect anywhere, especially in a bar-saturated town like Milwaukee.
Despite its boozy reputation, however, Milwaukee offers plenty of options when it comes to zero-proof beverages — whether that means opting for a mocktail, sipping on a comforting tea or delving into the world of CBD and hemp-derived products.
And while non-alcoholic options are readily available at nearly every bar, brewery and restaurant in the city, here are five unique destinations and experiences for those looking to shake things up this Dry January.
On Jan. 6, N/A Day Dry January Beverage Festival will lend a strong start to the month with more than 30 different vendors offering a wide range of non-alcoholic beverages. A handful of local businesses will be in attendance, as well as larger brands, all providing unlimited samples to help you discover a new go-to beverage.
A new, hybrid cocktail bar is also slated to make its debut in early January, opening just in time for the first weekend of the new year. The concept, Equal Parts, will offer a single menu with both traditional and non-alcoholic versions of each cocktail.
For a laid-back bar setting without the presence of alcohol, head to HoneyBee Sage Apothecary & Herbal Beverage Lounge. The Bronzeville business, 1819 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., offers a selection of teas and non-alcoholic herbal drinks made with zero-proof spirits.
Looking for a buzz without the alcohol? Indeed Brewing Company recently introduced a line of gummies infused with hemp-derived THC and broad-spectrum CBD.
The gummies, called Two Good THC Goodies, are available for purchase inside the Walker’s Point taproom, 530 S. 2nd St.
Hemp-derived THC is also making its way into a growing number of Milwaukee establishments. See Urban Milwaukee’s previous coverage for more information.
New Restaurant Slated For High Turnover Southside Space
Sunshine Cafe, a breakfast and brunch spot in the Clarke Square neighborhood, is closed. But the building, 831 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr., may soon house a new restaurant.
Desiré Calderón opened Sunshine Cafe in November 2022, serving American-style dishes such as eggs, bacon, pancakes and breakfast sandwiches. The goal, she told Urban Milwaukee at the time, was to emulate the feel of a classic diner — similar to Silver Dollar Cafe, a previous occupant of the building.
Sunshine Cafe continued to operate throughout most of 2023, but abruptly went social media silent in August. Additionally, the business’s phone number has been disconnected and a recent trip to the address revealed that its signage has been removed from the building.
In its place, industry veteran Hermogenes Correa Miramontes is preparing to open Carnitas Mi Pueblo. Like its predecessor, the new restaurant would focus only on food, with no plans to serve alcohol.
N/A Beverage Festival Returns For Third Year
More than 50 zero-proof beverages will be available to sample at the upcoming N/A Day Dry January Beverage Festival, which returns for its third installment next month.
The festival, hosted by Milwaukee Record, will take place on Saturday, Jan. 6 from noon to 4 p.m. at The Cooperage, 822 S. Water St., featuring nearly 30 different vendors and unlimited samples.
Local favorites including Lakefront Brewery, Soul Brew Kombucha and Great Lakes Distillery will be in attendance, along with brands such as Athletic Brewing, Ghost Energy and Guinness, which have international reach.
The full lineup promises to encompass a wide variety of non-alcoholic beer and seltzer, kombucha, mocktails, N/A spirits, tonics, sparkling water, coffee, CBD and hemp-derived products and more. A complete list of vendors is available online.
Polish Deli Has New Owners
M&P Polish Deli saw a flurry of activity in the weeks before Christmas. Customers, most speaking in Polish, picked up packages of pierogi and fretted over the deli case — kielbasa or liver sausage? Better make it both.
The scene is typical for the 32-year-old deli, 1215 W. Lincoln Ave., which caters to the city’s large Polish population, as well as others looking for authentic Polish foods. But one thing is different this year: the deli has new owners.
“We’ve been coming here for 18 years,” said Przemyslaw Rybicki, who now leads the deli with his wife, Malgorzata Rostkowska.
The couple purchased the business, formerly known as A&J Polish Deli, after previous owners Adam Zbik and Jadwiga Rozak retired. At the time, the future of the deli was uncertain. But Rybicki couldn’t bear to see the business close for good.
42 Choices for Special New Year’s Dining
Bernie and Dennis Bondar will spend the first moments of 2024 knee-deep in oyster shells.
The pair, co-owners of Wolski’s Tavern, have made it an annual tradition to shuck over 100 fresh oysters for customers on New Year’s Day, whether guests are stopping by after a good night’s sleep or just rising from their bar stools after an all-nighter (Wolski’s doesn’t close on New Year’s Eve).
The shucking is likely to start between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., according to a representative of the tavern.
Seafood may be a step outside the norm for the 115-year-old dive bar, 1836 N. Pulaski St., but the novelty has proven to be popular. The new year is a time for transformation, after all.
Discourse To Debut New Cocktail Bar in January
After just over a year of operating its downtown cafe, Discourse will usher in 2024 with a brand-new concept. On Friday, Jan. 5, the coffee shop, 1020 N. Broadway, will begin moonlighting as Equal Parts, a cocktail bar offering both traditional and non-alcoholic versions of each beverage on its menu. By day, the coffee shop will continue as usual.
The concept is the result of more than a year of intensive study, exploration and experimentation. “Every component has been meticulously considered,” said operating partner Kat Doughty, whose career includes work at Morel and Shanghai. “We’re simply a group of drink makers obsessed with what liquid has been and what it can be.”
The opening menu, A Journey Through Time, will feature more than a dozen cocktails including classics like the Aviation, Margarita, Negroni and Espresso Martini, along with experimental offerings such as Jurassic, a mezcal old fashioned cocktail scented with geosmin (a chemical compound responsible for that post-rain smell) and The New Frontier, featuring brown butter-washed whiskey and house-spiced apple cider served hot with a flaming cinnamon stick.
Another experimental cocktail, the Interstellar, is especially intriguing, having borrowed its flavor notes from the supposed taste and smell of the Milky Way. A 2009 discovery revealed that the center of the universe contains plentiful ethyl formate, a chemical that tastes like raspberries and smells like rum. Equal Parts turned that concept into liquor form, producing a cocktail with rum, sweet white wine, pandan-infused red tea, raspberry and acidified pineapple.
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