RALEIGH, N.C. — Umbrella Dry Bar will officially become Raleigh’s first non-alcoholic cocktail bar this New Year’s Eve.
It’s a dream founder Meg Paradise had, and it is quickly coming to fruition.
“Almost all of our furniture is here and this is kinda the last piece,” said Paradise, owner of Umbrella Dry Bar. “It came to me in a dream, a lucid dream in 2021.”
What would she call a lively lounge without alcohol?
“What keeps you dry? Galoshes. A rain jacket. Those aren’t really great names for a bar. My last name is Paradise. Something with that? No. All those sound cheesy. Then, umbrella. Umbrella Dry Bar,” Paradise said.
Paradise, a former corporate employee for Whole Foods, first made Umbrella Dry Bar into a pop-up that she took all over Raleigh. Now, that pop-up has turned into a lounge, the first non-alcoholic cocktail bar in Raleigh.
“You have a beautiful space to be sitting gorgeous glassware, able to engage with your bartender, have great conversation, sexy lighting, very moody little spots and corners and places you can talk away,” Paradise said.
The bar will have everything your typical alcoholic bar has, without the prospect of getting drunk.
“There’s kind of two main styles, you have these right here that are going to be spirit alternatives. So like this one tastes like gin, this one tastes like tequila, this one tastes like bourbon, and then we have ones not necessarily designed to mimic anything, but you’d still use them as a base in a drink,” Paradise said.
She says guests attending Umbrella Dry Bar on New Year’s Eve will be able to party as much as anyone else.
“You can have this wild New Years’ Eve party, full of sparkle and shine, and all these things, to be able to do that without alcohol is a big statement,” Paradise said.
Paradise hasn’t had an alcoholic drink in two and a half years.
“Definitely drank and partied and like definitely through college drank a lot,” Paradise said.
She says she doesn’t see herself drinking alcohol ever again. She hopes Umbrella Dry Bar can provide that same opportunity for anyone looking for a break, or just a good time.
“We wanna make sure people feel really welcome in their journey as they’re taking a night off, or a year off, or nine months off, any amount of time of not drinking, where they can have a really beautiful space to have access and achieve that,” Paradise said.
Umbrella Dry Bar will also serve food.
They plan to compete with the alcoholic bars on holidays, such as Saint Patrick’s Day and more, by being creative, fun and welcoming.