Talk to any restaurant, bar, or liquor store owner, and you’ll likely hear a common refrain: People just aren’t drinking as much as they used to. It’s an observation that bears out even beyond their anecdotal experience and individual balance sheets. Last August, Gallup released the results of its annual consumption habits survey, which found that the percentage of U.S. adults who say they consume alcohol had fallen to 54 percent, the lowest that number has been in the nearly 90 years that the company has conducted the survey.
Kristin Dennis noticed this trend in her own professional life. A longtime bartender at Frazer’s, Dennis saw firsthand the decline in alcohol sales at her own bar over the past few years, as guests increasingly asked for alcohol alternatives. That experience, coupled with her partner’s own decision to give up alcohol, led her to found Saint Heck, an alcohol-free spirits company that has been creating buzz in the cocktail world since its official release last fall.
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Already behind the bars at some of the top restaurants in town (Robin, Little Fox, Scout’s and Nor Ordinary Rabbit, to name a few) and in local retail outlets (for instance, AO & Co., The Wine & Cheese Place, Intoxicology, Spirit Wine & Craft, and Anchovy Book Co.), Saint Heck is gaining momentum beyond St. Louis, thanks to its online ordering platform, which launched April 2. Amid the buzz and activity, Dennis shared the story of Saint Heck, her hopes for its future, and some suggestions for incorporating it into your home bar.
What inspired you to start making alcohol-free spirits? About 10 years ago, one of my friends at Frazier’s decided to go sober. In solidarity, all of the other bartenders didn’t drink on shift. We all loved Fernet, and everybody does shots of it behind the bar, either with each other or customers. It’s this whole ritual of clinking glasses, saying cheers, and doing the shot. So after a week, it really sucked to not do that. I decided to make us a nonalcoholic Fernet, so we could all do it, and it was great. It provided me with the insight that having this ritual was meaningful, even without the alcohol.
How were you able to come up with such a concoction? Do you have a background that set you up for this? I’m actually very technical and nerdy. A lot of people who see me bartend don’t know this, but I actually spent 15 years in a career in organ and tissue donation. That’s why I moved here from Michigan in 2005. I worked for a company doing retrieval; if someone passed and had donated their eyes, I would surgically remove them, and then they would be transplanted and we’d restore people’s sight. It was amazing. From there, I worked as the chief operating officer for a space exploration company, so I have this technical background that makes this right up my alley.
You’d been playing around with the N/A Fernet recipe for a while, but it really gained traction last summer during a pop-up. Tell us about that. Last summer, the space company I was working for relocated, so I did this pop-up called Cherokee Beach. My partner had decided to go sober, and he said that we should try to make as many of the cocktails we served at the pop-up without alcohol as there were with alcohol. We wanted to make it accessible to everyone, and we didn’t want to compromise on quality or make crappy versions. I didn’t really have the ingredients to make complex nonalcoholic cocktails, so I pulled out my old notebook from 10 years ago and revived the Fernet recipe. The response to it was so positive that it got me thinking, People are really looking for this.
Why do you think people responded so positively to the N/A cocktails that you made at the pop-up and are excited about zero-proof spirits? When you don’t drink and want a cocktail, you usually just get handed a cup of sugar and juice. But just because you don’t drink doesn’t mean you don’t want to enjoy a good drink and the ritual of spending time with your friends and having a cocktail to go with that. Drinking culture really is constructed around being social, and if you suddenly don’t have access to the glue that binds that social construct of sitting around on a patio with friends, you can feel isolated and lonely. Removing those barriers to social access for people who are sober, sober-curious, or just not drinking that night is super important. I noticed this in my own life. My partner is a social butterfly, and I could see this through his eyes. We’d be sitting on a hot patio with friends, and they’d be having an ice-cold drink that looked so good. Sometimes you could find a good N/A cocktail, but most of the time, the market was still catching up to those who weren’t drinking alcohol.
Talk about Saint Heck: how you developed it, what you offer, and what the response has been like. During the Cherokee Beach pop-up, I just had the alcohol-free Fernet, which I call Fernot. However, the wheels were spinning over what I could do if I had other things to work with. After the pop-up, I started working on making sure the Fernot was dialed in and also iterating on two other recipes: an amaro and something made with sumac. I worked with the Cornell Food Venture Center to go through the FDA process, and then I wanted proof of concept, so I went to about 20 different restaurants and retailers and gathered their feedback on everything from what they thought to what customers’ responses were to how they were using them. It was sort of a pilot study. Now, we just went worldwide with our online store and have already shipped to Washington D.C. and Mississippi. It’s really something to see all of the ideas you had in your mind and be able to hold it in your hand. It’s so fulfilling.
What do you think the future is for N/A spirits in general? The projection for N/A spirits in 2028 is $4 billion, and consumption grew 108 percent from 2024-25. I’ve seen the hard numbers and I’ve seen it anecdotally behind the bar: People are asking for this. It’s the customer who is creating the pull in the market—it’s not being jammed down their throats, and I think it’s important to give people what they are asking for.
Recipe: Saint Heck Espresso Martini
Espresso martinis are having a moment, but there’s a way to get in on the fun without the alcohol courtesy of Saint Heck. Dennis has concocted an alcohol-free version of the popular after-dinner drink using Saint Heck’s Amaro Wierenga, a deliciously complex riff on the Italian digestivo featuring notes of black licorice, fig, cacao, umami, and sea salt that will give you all of the lift without the buzz. Add bitters if you want to make it low-proof, or leave them out for a wholly alcohol-free libation.
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces Amaro Wierenga
- 1 ounce chilled espresso or cold brew concentrate
- ½ ounce simple syrup
- 2 dashes Fee Toasted Almond Bitters (optional if you want to make the drink alcohol-free)
- 3 coffee beans
Directions:
- 1.) Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
- 2.) Shake and fine strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- 3.) Garnish with three coffee beans.
