Shall We Ban Minors From Drinking Non-Alcohol Drinks?

"But, but, but, it simulates alcohol, so it has to be banned!

If Alcohol = Cigarettes, then No Proof Drinks = Vaping
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The Cozy Taberna is by far the best restaurant in Salem, Oregon—our home. It serves up beautifully rendered Spanish-inspired tapas. It also has a really great and innovative bar program.

Kathy and I snuck out for a meal at Cozy the other day while young Henry was enjoying a sleepover at a friend’s. Kathy, always the experimental one among us, ordered the following drink before our food arrived:

Bit O’ Orange
-Freshly Pressed Orange Juice, House Blended Clover Honey Syrup, Freshly Pressed Lime Juice, Grapefruit Bitters, Club Soda ($8)

This was a lovely drink. It also happened to be non-alcoholic—one of four different custom “zero proof” cocktails they have created at Cozy. If the Bit O’ Orange were canned and sold in the grocery store, I’d probably buy it. The drink was delicious, had just enough fruity sweetness, great acidity and fiz and real complexity.

But, here’s what I’m wondering: Should a 15-year-old be able to buy and drink this zero-proof “cocktail” if it were in a can?

It contains no alcohol. Neither does Sprite, Prime, or Poppi Soda.

Recently, the Journal JAMA Pediatrics published an opinion piece arguing that there ought to be laws forbidding non-alcohol, zero-proof. It made the case this way: