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Austin's Dry January gets a boost from surgeon general’s alcohol warning

Valentina Weatherspoon, bar manager of Sans Bar, makes an alcohol-free cocktail for a customer. Sans Bar, located on Congress Avenue, offers alcohol-free cocktails and beer options.
Renee Dominguez
/
KUT News
Valentina Weatherspoon, bar manager of Sans Bar, makes an alcohol-free cocktail for a customer. Sans Bar, located on Congress Avenue, offers alcohol-free cocktails and beer options.

It’s Dry January — the month when people sporting New Year’s resolutions and holiday hangovers abstain from alcohol for a few, subdued weeks.

That might mean it’s a slow month for many of Austin’s drinking establishments. Data from the restaurant payment software company Toast shows that sales tend to take a dip in January, as does data from the National Restaurant Association.

But there’s one Austin bar where the opposite is true: Sans Bar, an alcohol-free establishment on Congress Avenue that has all the trappings of a trendy downtown bar.

“This is the busy season,” said Sans Bar owner Chris Marshall. “I mean, we’re just like gyms, right? January through mid-March, there is an abundance of people coming in.”

This year, there’s a little something extra fueling some of those New Year’s resolutions to drink less: a new advisory from the outgoing U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy about the cancer risks associated with alcohol. The report emphasized that even moderate drinking increases the risks for several cancers, including breast, liver and colorectal cancers — with risk increasing with the amount of alcohol consumed.

A menu from Sans Bar which offers alcohol-free cocktails and beer options.
Renee Dominguez
/
KUT News
A menu from Sans Bar which offers alcohol-free cocktails and beer options.

A local doctor weighs in

Murthy’s report raises the alarm on a growing body of research showing that alcohol can cause cancer when it breaks down into a carcinogenic compound called acetaldehyde. It can also alter hormone levels and make it easier for the body to absorb other carcinogens, like those found in tobacco smoke.

Although much of the information presented in the report was already well-established in the scientific community, it was poorly understood by the public. Less than half of Americans are aware that alcohol consumption increases cancer risk, according to an American Institute for Cancer Research survey cited by the surgeon general.

“It’s not something new necessarily, but it’s forcing us to think about it in the sense of counseling patients maybe a little bit more aggressively about the risk,” said Dr. Tina Philip, a family physician in Round Rock.

Philip’s adult patients have come ready with questions about Murthy’s advisory — and in some cases, resistance to the idea that they should change their habits, she said.

“[It’s] a little bit of, ‘Do I need to be worried about this?’” she said. “‘Is this just kind of an over the top warning, or is this something that is a legitimate risk that I need to be concerned about in my life?’”

Philip said it can be difficult to counsel patients on just how high their personal risk is, because other factors are also at play.

Take breast cancer, for instance. One study cited by the surgeon general shows that women who have just one drink a day have a 10% relative risk of developing breast cancer compared to women who do not drink. That risk jumps up to 32% for women who have two drinks a day. But family history of the disease, compounded with lifestyle factors like alcohol consumption, could translate to a higher risk.

It’s hard to quantify, Philip said. But she wants to arm patients with the facts so that they can weigh the risks for themselves.

“You never want someone to say, ‘Well, I had no idea that this would increase my risk,’ you know?” she said.

Reactions are divided by generation

Austin-based Dr. Maria Monge primarily treats teens and young adults. She said Murthy’s message has quickly filtered down to her patients, who have seen the information on social media channels.

“Sure enough, in my office, in the last couple of weeks, the link between alcohol consumption and cancer — which has probably not come up but a couple of times a year in the past — [has come up] multiple times in the past couple of weeks,” Monge said.

For Monge, the new report provides an added tool to talk about alcohol risks with adolescents before they start drinking — although Monge said many of her Generation Z patients are already choosing to abstain from alcohol.

“It’s definitely a trend,” she said.

That trend extends beyond Dr. Monge’s office. A 2023 Gallup poll found that fewer young adults aged 18 to 34 are drinking: only 62% said they ever drink alcohol, compared to 72% from 20 years ago.

But for older adults, alcohol use has seen a slight uptick over the past two decades. Monge said it may be difficult for this cohort to accept the surgeon general’s new public health messaging — including his recommendation that information about cancer risk be added to the warning label on alcohol bottles, similar to the warning labels currently on cigarette boxes.

“Instead of a very select part of the population that's being targeted on the messaging for alcohol, it would be all of the population, and that's where I think people bristle, because they do have to face the reality that this risk does apply to them,” she said.

Patrons enjoy alcohol-free drinks at Sans Ba on Congress Avenue.
Renee Dominguez
/
KUT News
Patrons enjoy alcohol-free drinks at Sans Bar on Congress Avenue.

Getting “sober-curious”

Marshall, the owner of Sans Bar, said his goal is to help people let go of that resistance by showing them that an enjoyable social space is possible without alcohol — without giving up the pleasure of sipping from a fancy coupe glass or a frosty copper mug.

“I think what I've created is a space that feels right for people who are professionals — they went through college, they had their wilder days, and now they're just looking for a place to belong,” he said. “They're looking for a place to do trivia and sing sober karaoke. They're looking for a space that affirms their decision to remove alcohol from their lives.”

Dry January, he said, is the perfect time for “sober-curious” people to dip a toe in the water. Aside from Sans Bar, bars and restaurants around town are featuring mocktail specials this month, and some have made mocktails permanent menu fixtures.

“I love that Sans Bar exists, but what I've really been encouraged by is the growth in nonalcoholic options on menus across Austin,” Marshall said. “It's very rare that people would come into a Sans Bar, but it's more likely that they're going to go to dinner with their friends.”

However, a trip to Sans Bar has a specific advantage: you might get to see Marshall take the stage for sober karaoke.

His go-to song? Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman.” It’s how he likes to set the tone for the evening.

“Usually it’s like, ‘OK, so this is not about talent, obviously … this is about having fun,” Marshall said. “People relax when they realize, ‘Oh, I can just have a normal bar experience here.’”

Olivia Aldridge is KUT's health care reporter. Got a tip? Email her at oaldridge@kut.org. Follow her on X @ojaldridge.
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