The Daily Pour Hosts NYC’s First Zero Proof Festival, Attended by Over 1,000

On Sept. 27, over 1,000 attendees poured into The Altman Building in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood for The Daily Pour’s inaugural Drinks With Benefits, the city’s first zero-proof and functional beverage festival.

The leading non-alc festival, featuring more than 70 sponsors, marked a turning point for a category that’s grown faster than its wildest dreams over the past few years. From dealcoholized wine to adaptogenic cocktails, nonalcoholic options have dominated the conversation, picking up cosigns from industry veterans and up-and-comers. No longer is the zeitgeist confined to Dry January. Nowadays, zero-proof experts are venturing into the category by the hundreds — and Drinks With Benefits offered them a gathering place under the same roof.

Here’s a small taste of what guests had in store:

Over 70 nonalcoholic and functional beverage brands were served, including heavy-hitters like Giesen, Kin, Ghia, Opius and Society De La Rassi. A downstairs beer garden treated guests to well-known brands like Athletic Brewing and Tom Holland’s recently launched BERO. Across the way, a stacked roster of CBD- and THC-infused drinks including “Pretty Little Liars” star Sasha Pieterse Sheaffer’s Hippie Water served up sips.

Lucky guests even had the chance to sample upcoming releases. Actor Nico Tortorella, best known for his roles in “The Walking Dead” and “Younger,” arrived with his then-unreleased brand, a kratom-infused “brewski” dubbed DER. More than a few attendees stopped to take selfies.

Actor Nico Tortorella arrived with DER, a Kratom-infused, nonalcoholic “Brewski” launched at the end of September.

Musical performances from DJCCNY, Bellatrix, Mona Matsuoka, Donna Francesca, Dragonfly of Maku and Laporte lit up the dance floor all afternoon. For those in search of something on the quieter side, Sage + Sound set up a row of tents for an immersive meditation experience. To its right, a sober dating lounge presented by Surf Dating. Though many guests arrived in search of nonalcoholic drinks, the extracurricular opportunities ended up being a hit in their own right.

Equally popular were the food options. VIP ticket holders had access to a row of omakase pairings presented by award-winning local restaurants. Spring Cafe, Seatopia, The Butcher’s Daughter and Adoro Lei served meals alongside faux negronis and dealcoholized sparkling wine, while Cipriani built out its own cafe complete with fresh pasta and Bellini Zero by Cipriani.

One of the most unexpected highlights was the live podcasting station. Throughout the day, Samantha Feher, who became famous on Bravo’s “Summer House” and has her own podcast, “Caps Lock,” and Kathryn Sauser from “Soberfitgirl,” hosted a variety of guests, including the co-founder of The Maze, a new members-only sober club; Rob Long, co-founder of Surf Dating; Tawny Lara, co-founder of Parentheses and author of “Dry Humping”; and more.The shows managed to knock out six individual episodes, each diving deep into the personalities breathing fresh life into the nonalcoholic drinks world.

We can’t thank everyone enough for the fantastic turnout! For more information on the event and its stacked roster of musicians, restaurants and sponsors, be sure to check out the Drink With Benefits website. We’ll be back next year with even more to offer. Find the full list of beverage brands at this year’s Drink With Benefits below:

• Abstinence
• Alice
• All the Bitter
• Amaretto Adriatico
• Aplos
• Asahi
• Athletic
• Ayrloom
• Bark & Bitter
• Bero
• Best Day Brewing
• Cipriani
• Crodino
• Curious Elixirs
• Delmosa Portfolio
• DER
• Dr. Steinbock
• Fluére
• For Bitter For Worse
• Fre
• Free Spirits
• French Bloom
• Fresh Direct
• Giesen Wines
• Go Brewing
• Good Time Brewing
• Good Vines
• Gorgie
• Happy Boards
• Hightail
• Hippie Water
• Journee Junglee
• Just Enough Wines
• Kava Haven
• Kin
• Lagunitas
• Lifeway
• M.S. Walker
• Mad Flora
• Mariona
• Maschio
• Mingle Mocktails
• Mixology
• Mixology Bar
• Mocktail Club
• Mocktail Magazine
• Momentum Beer
• NA Beer Club
• NKD
• No More Cocktails
• Norie
• NY State Apple Cider
• Oddbird
• Ohho
• Opius
• Original Sin
• Parch
• Parentheses
• Per Se Cocktails
• Proof No More
• Riunite
• Roots Divino
• Sage + Sound
• Seaglass
• Seatopia
• Sentia
• Seraphim
• Society de la Rassi
• Sparkteez
• Spirited Away
• St Buena Vida
• St Viviana
• Studio TBD
• Stursi
• Surely
• Surf Dating
• The Alchemist Kitchen
• The Pathfinder
• The Zero Proof
• Three Spirits
• Tomonotomo
• Tomorrow Cellars
• Undone
• Union Beer
• Upstate Elevator Vineyard Brands
• WellStyle
• Wolffer
• Wynk
• Zero Proof Nation