The Open Road is a Must Stop for Non-Alcoholic Beverages

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The Open Road is a Must-Stop for Non-Alcoholic Products

Although The Open Road is not a large store by any means, for those who want to seek out non-alcoholic drinks, this one has everything we'd want and then some.

They have shelves upon shelves of non-alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic wine, non-alcoholic spirits, mocktails, infused waters and other beverages, a cooler for select bottles to enjoy right away, a modest selection of CBD and hemp infused drinks (don't worry, they'll check that you meant to grab that at checkout!), and so much more.

In fact, as newcomers to non-alcoholic and dealcoholized products, despite the small footprint, the selection here was a bit dizzying- we will need several visits here even to try a decent cross-section of their products.

Arguably, the non-alcoholic beer selection had the most variety, and is likely a reflection on how beer producers embraced the market more than others. Spirits were a close second, with mocktails coming next, and non-alcoholic wine being perhaps the least stocked product in the store (again, a reflection of the industry at large- but more on that later).

But if you are new to non-alcoholic products and feel a bit overwhelmed here, don't worry- the staff are a highlight of the visit just as much as the products!

The Best Part About The Open Road? The Staff

Although we absolutely loved picking up new products at The Open Road, it was the staff that was the highlight of our visit.

The reason for this is simple- when it comes to exploring non-alcoholic drinks of this nature, we were completely new to the subject and the team at The Open Road went above and beyond to help everyone to ensure they found the right products for them.

This included explanations of how the products were made, what flavors you could expect, and, of course, how each may differ from their traditional, alcohol-forward counterparts. The team was not shy in breaking down the differences in dealcoholized wines, for example, sharing how some wines may taste light or even watery due to the absence of alcohol (which contributes the feeling of body) and how some producers sweeten the wine with sugar to compensate (sweetness also contributes to body).

• One trick we found out here was to add a couple of drops of bitters to your wine as it helps increase the perceived body when drinking. We have not tried this one yet, but we're eager to try it when we open our next bottle.

Going beyond explanations, many of the products available to buy at The Open Road also were available to sample; however, this one was primarily in the faux-spirit side of the offerings as other products, like dealcoholized wine, may spoil quickly after opening- alcohol is a preservative after all.

Suffice it to say, after speaking with the staff here and getting help finding products we may enjoy, we ended up buying more products to take home- something you'll never hear us complain about in the slightest!

So no matter the reason you are looking for beverages without alcohol, be it for something like Dry January, a detox, or simply because you don't want to drink, don't overlook The Open Road in Garfield!

The Open Road is located at 5401 Penn Ave in Garfield.