Chris Marshall launched Sans Bar way before booze-free bars were cool—or even widely understood. We talk about turning one Austin pop-up into a whole movement, building community at every stop, and documenting the people who made NA history along the way. We’ve known each other for almost a decade, so expect plenty of detours down memory lane.

Instagram: @sans_barWebsite: www.thesansbar.com // www.sansbarinstitute.com

Welcome to The Detour, a Zero Proof Nation podcast. I’m your host, Laura Silverman, and it’s laundry day. So if you’re watching this, please excuse the mess.

Look, I know a lot about non-alcoholic drinks. I’ve judged national and international beverage competitions. I’ve helped plan industry events. I’ve talked to countless beverage founders, bottle shop owners, bar owners, and other brilliant people shaping this space. And I’ve tasted hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of drinks. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. I founded Zero Proof Nation in 2019, making it one of the longest-running global platforms dedicated to non-alk drinks and inclusive hospitality.

My map of non-alc bottle shops and bars has been used more than half a million times. So yes, somewhere along the way, I became a subject matter expert. Kind of by accident. But here’s the thing about expertise. The more you know, the more you realize just how much you don’t know.

And I sure as hell don’t know everything. That’s where the detour comes in. Join me as I take the scenic route or the long and winding road through the adult non-alc beverage industry, learning and re-earning my expertise from the people actually building it. We’ll talk to beverage founders, bottle shop and bar owners, Pop-up party throwers,cruise line directors, hotel buyers, formulators, ingredient suppliers, travel planners, distributors, dealcoholization experts, and probably a few people whose jobs I don’t even know exist yet.

One week we might untangle the vast and mildly terrifying world of beverage distribution. The next we might find out how the hell you remove alcohol from wine. And then we might hop across the globe to ask a bottle shop owner what’s flying off the shelves in their corner of the world. Expect curiosity. Expect rabbit holes. Expect beverage puns. Expect a maze, not a straight line. Because look, I know a lot, but there’s so much more knowledge to be tapped. Oh, hey, beverage pun.

I can’t wait to get this show on the road or more accurately off the main road. And in the meantime, tell me what you want to know. What are you curious about? What part of this strange sprawling industry should we explore together? Email me at laura@zeroproofnation.com. That’s L-A-U-R-A at zeroproofnation.com.

And until next time, take the detour. I’ll see you out there.