‘Buffalo Sober’ or enjoying nightlife 100 percent?

WNY Craft: New feature is devoted to drinks both alcoholic and otherwise

Editor’s Note: We’re proud this month to welcome Scott Scanlon’s WNY Craft column to The Buffalo Hive. It will focus on the beer and even non-alcoholic beverages, as in the case of this column.

By Scott Scanlon
(Images above: Big Ditch NA Burner (L) and a “Pinata” NA cocktail at Breezy Burrito Bar. Photo credits at bottom of story)

You’re partway through a Dry January and dying for drink, what with the NFL playoffs fraying your nerves, a dearth of friendly get-togethers and crappy weather likely to linger past St. Patrick’s Day.

You consider two choices:

Go Buffalo Sober, which allows for “beer, wine and some of the lighter liquors, but definitely not all of them,” as explained by Kenny Trent (Steve Zahn), a  videographer in the latest “Anaconda” movie spinoff, trying to mend his ways after knocking over a wedding cake while sloshed on the job.

Or prove to yourself and others that you can enjoy life without alcohol, enjoying non-alcoholic beer, wine and cocktails as you go.

Andrew Krumm once leaned into the Buffalo Sober idea – often.

“I loved wine, and put that in quotes because I really loved it,” he said last week over coffee and an interview at Third Space Café and Entertainment in the Buffalo Theater District. “I loved beer. I also loved a nice cocktail bar. Or did I love the drunk feeling?”

Six years ago, Krumm chose sobriety and learned that “a fully present life” can offer just as much fun – and more – without all the fallout from drunkenness.

He looks to show others they can, too, whether for a night, the rest of the month or longer, when he hosts The World’s Largest Sober Dance Party from 7 to 11 p.m. Jan. 17, at Electric City, 433 Pearl St., in Buffalo.

Krumm promises the city’s largest selection of NA beverages, DJ Dave Sif spinning house music, flow dancing and a photo booth. Buy tickets, which run a hair over $22, at electriccity.com. Use promo code S16Party for a $5 discount.

A cash bar includes Green Eats Buffalo mocktails, Bean Bastard signature coffee, and a limited variety of alcoholic beverages for those who want to enjoy a special evening with sober and sober curious friends.

The party promises to be one of the most meaningful yet as the sober social scene continues to grow in the City of Good Neighbors.

“The pandemic changed a lot,” said Krumm, CEO of Sober One Six, an events company he founded three years ago to help those who want to feel welcome and stay sober as they enjoy the Buffalo bar and club scene.

“Five years ago, if you didn’t drink, people would say, ‘What’s wrong, why aren’t you drinking?’ Going out after Covid, it’s a completely different nightlife scenario,” he said. “People are not drinking as much, or at least as much late at night. People are a little bit more health conscious. I also think that a lot of us now are talking about it more openly, like, ‘Alcohol didn’t serve me. I wasn’t my best self on it, and I decided to put it down.’”

More alcoholic beverage makers around the world have come to recognize the shift, as sales in some drinking sectors slumped and 2025 marked the second straight year the number of craft breweries to close outnumbered new ones that opened.

During those years, Athletic Brewing Company hit the top of the growing U.S. nonalcoholic beer market. In Western New York, Big Ditch, Ellicottville, Flying Bison (now Hamburg Brewing), Southern Tier and the Pearl Street family of breweries were among those to introduce new NA brews.

A transition

Krumm, 33, grew up in Clarence and graduated in 2014 from SUNY Buffalo State University, with a degree in media and communications.

A commuter, he landed a bank job in mortgage and loan default collections while at Buff State, one that continued until recently.

He came out as gay at age 23, after graduating from college.

“Buffalo Sober” party weekends soon began to follow stressful, redundant workweeks. Ultimately, the revelry bled into work nights.

By late 2019, family members and friends expressed concerns about Krumm’s blackouts, forgetting conversations from nights out and other behavior. He decided to give alcohol a rest after his best friend told him, “You get to the point where you’re a shell of yourself” while drinking.

How did things get so out of hand?

“Everyone was like, ‘You are so fun,” Krumm recalled. “You’re the life of the party. We have such a good time with you.’ So I was like, ‘alcohol equals fun,’ until you start waking up to the fact that it could be a little bit of fun in moderation, but I don’t have the off switch.”

As Krumm took a real stab at sobriety, he said last week, “I had to really think, ‘What’s going to work for me where I can feel like I’m not excluded from an experience?’”

Krumm stopped drinking on Jan. 14, 2020.

As he mulled his new life, the reality TV fan, with a strong affection for comedian Nikki Glaser, learned on her Sirius XM radio show about the book,“Quit Drinking Without Willpower,” by Allen Carr.

“It rewires your brain to view what you thought about alcohol,” Krumm said. “It debunks everything that we all kind of tell ourselves, like you need drinking. Drinking gives you courage. It reduces stress and gives you that feeling of, ‘I can go talk to that person now that I’ve had a few drinks.’”

That struck a chord, as did an episode of “Vanderpump Rules” on Bravo, in which Lala – a drinker who’d forged a similar path – decided to get sober and lavished praise on her fellow reality show cast members for offering her a fizzy club soda that allowed her to fit in during a house party.

“It was a lot of reflecting,” he said. “What do I like about going out? I started thinking I like dressing up, getting ready to go out. I like walking in and sitting at the bar in a nice, warm atmosphere. I like talking to a bartender and feeling like I’m out. I’m ordering, we’re laughing. I like friends, like connection, and then I like dancing …

“Obviously, alcohol is not serving me,” he concluded, “and that’s where it kind of led me to like, ‘OK, how is this going to work to keep all of that, but just eliminate the alcohol part?”

Growing opportunities

A new identity emerged, one that drew an eclectic and growing mix of like-minded thinkers.

He started a group chat group with 40 members that dished about their favorites among a small number of NA beers and wines.He also took on a new moniker, Mister Mocktail, and changed his Instagram account name.

“There weren’t a lot of spirits out at the time,” he said, “but within the last five, six years it’s skyrocketed” to the point where Buffalo watering holes with NA drinks probably outnumber those without them.

Today, Krumm’s @mister_mocktail and @soberonesix Instagram accounts boast more than 10,000 followers.

They teamed up for their first event, a drag show, on Valentine’s Day 2023.

Sober Socials, comedy shows, pop artist-themed dance parties and more drag shows have followed. Slumber parties and Sober Karaoke were recently added to the mix. Mister Mocktail also is open to other ideas.

Some events take place in the afternoon, but mostly during evenings.

“Most of the time, we stop it at 11 o’clock,” Krumm said, “because there’s no reason for me specifically, and many of the people I know, to be out past 11 or 12.”

Booze is usually available at Sober One Six events hosted at bars and clubs. Participants are welcome to drink it they choose (but not the Sober Dance Party). During social gatherings, holding a beverage in your hand bridges a communication divide, Krumm said.

“The marketing, the promotion and all that focuses on the theme of the event, and then the non-alcoholic options, and other options are there if you want them. It really brings a lot of cool people together,” he said. “The messaging before our events is always, ‘Be your authentic self. Come as you are. Sober One Six is not anti-alcohol. It’s giving people options so that they can make decisions for themselves.”

Since he chose sobriety, Krumm has been surprised and delighted to learn several people he assumed to be drinkers have chosen his path, for a variety of reasons. They include most of the Sober Dance Party entertainers.

“I’ve had drinkers come up during events and say to me, ‘Hey, I drink, but it’s really cool that there are different options available.”

Sober One Six gigs

Find a calendar of upcoming events on the Sober One Six website, soberonesix.com. Regular and upcoming events include:

Sober One Sing Stage Karaoke: 6 to 9 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at Third Space Café and Entertainment, 777 Main St.; free to attend.

Sober Socials: Third Wednesday of every month at various times and locations. The next one runs from 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 21 is at Casa Azul, 191 Allen St., Buffalo. Free.

Pop-ups: The Sober Dance Party is the biggest so far, but comedy and drag shows, themed gatherings – often centered around favorite popular music – and other special events take place at least once a month; a male burlesque show is planned for Valentine’s Day at Electric City.

Mister Mocktail’s five sober friendly stops

Andy Krumm recommends the following stops during Dry January and year round.

Third Space Café and Entertainment
777 Main St.; try the specialty lattes and Athletic NA Hazy IPA

Breezy Burrito Bar
100 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo; breezyburritobar.com
Try a Mockarita or Pinata.

Marble + Rye
112 Genesee St.; In-house shrubs are a nice addition to the Eye Opener spicy margarita and other mocktails.

Waxlight Bar a Vin
27 Chandler St., waxlightbaravin.com
House-made juices and mocktails include Limeade, Passionfruit & Black Tea, Cranberry & Ginger, and Paper Dart

Big Ditch Brewing
55 E. Huron St., and 1 East Ave., Lockport; bigditchbrewing.com
Its NA Burner last year became the first nonalcoholic canned beer made in Buffalo during this century’s craft brewery revival.

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Top photos:

(Left) Big Ditch Brewing Company debuted its first non-alcoholic beer in November 2024; Photo by Scott Scanlon.

(Right) The Breezy Burrito Bar pinata is made with pineapple juice, lime, agave nectar and spicy ginger beer. Photo by Trever Kearns for Mister Mocktail.