Get a buzz without the booze with these top drinks for the sober-curious

The sober-curious movement has officially outgrown Dry January. For many of us, it’s no longer an experiment but a recalibration.It’s our own private (or sometimes collective, if we’re lucky) decision to question not just how much we drink, but what we’re actually chasing when we reach for a glass. After five months of ditching the alcohol myself, my bar for a “replacement” beverage was painfully high.

I wasn’t looking for numbness but the feeling I missed most — the mental exhale.I wanted my brain to quiet down without checking out entirely. Alcohol has long been the default shortcut to such a sensation, but it’s far from the only option. In its place, a new category of non-alcoholic drinks has emerged, designed not to mimic beer, wine, or even liquor, but to serve an evolved audience interested in a gentler, more intentional lift via botanicals and functional compounds. The goal isn’t escapism, nor should it be.

Rather, these new drinks are aimed at the opposite.It’s about presence.

More now than ever, people want to be calm, clear and still.The moment I took my first crisp, Salted Watermelon sip, I noticed a dramatic shift in the perception I had of hemp beverages up until that point.No weird aftertaste? Had I misread the label? Fifteen minutes in (I’m slow with a glass of water, okay), the tension in my shoulders had loosened and my thoughts felt clearer.Yes, clearer.

By the time I’d finished the can, I was about as relaxed yet alert and present as the horse who’d watched me savor my Cornbread moment. The feeling struck the exact balance I’d been missing since cutting alcohol out of my life: calm but not flat, lifted but not unruly.Nothing was sedating, I wasn’t out of control, and I didn’t feel like I was borrowing happiness from tomorrow.The flavor profile of these seltzers deserves its own outright shout-out.

It might be helpful to know how sensitive I am to artificial flavors — I just don’t do them.Turns out,...