It is the driest watering hole in Brooklyn.
Mockingbird opened its doors as the borough's only liquor-free cocktail bar during the dryness of January. The owner said he was driving the crowd out at the door a month later.
“We had to drive people away on drug bingo night. We were stuffed on Valentine's Day,” co-owner Coulton Bent said he would be billing the post at a hotspot on the park's slopes as a “zero-proof cocktail bar.”
“Our soft opening was insane. They lined up outside the door,” the 30-year-old Brooklyn Heights resident added.
Evan Clark, 28, co-owner and resident of Prospect Park, said programming was a major draw for the bar. He is scheduled to kickstart the city's first “Sole Trivia Night” on Tuesday.
“So what we're really trying to make is an adult-focused lounge/cocktail bar area. You can spend a few hours with friends somewhere and you don't have to order food,” he said.
After Vento stopped drinking in January 2024, both software engineers have created plans to open up a daily software engineer drinking on Seventh Avenue. That was when he noticed a prominent lack of a high-class alcohol venue in the Big Apple.
“I love going to the cocktail bar, but when I gave up on drinking, I wasn't satisfied with my options,” Vento said. “We started experimenting in the kitchen, and we are really obsessed with cocktail books and reading obscure reddit threads.
“There's not much information there. You really have to look for it,” Vento added.
The result was a wall-to-wall booth, bar seating, grazing snack plates, grazing snack plates ranging from $6 beer to $13 to 15 cocktails, and a candlelight lounge with drinks.
Signature cocktails include Fireside Todi (Free Spirit Bourbon, Rabsan Suchon, Black Milk, Clove, Anise, Cinnamon), Doctor's Order (Antido Tote Deep Red Aberithiff, Kemon, Lime, Raspberry, Egg White, Cream, Club Soda), and Embers Design (Rich Rum, Guyfard Parityff, Pinman, Pinmun Dalaram, Pindam, Pindam, Kaifurm Smoke).
“Mockingbird has one of the city's most extensive NA selections with over 12 beers, wines and cider, with local vendors like Montauk, Momentum Brewing and Original Sin,” the owner said.
“If you're going to a really nice cocktail bar, it's experiential and that's something you won't forget,” Clark said of the seasonal menu he makes at Vento. “It goes beyond the flavor of a drink.”
Clark said the bar's regular crowd included Longsawber people, local parents and a generational who hates alcohol.
“We wanted to create that space for people in their mid-20s and early 30s. I want to do something else,” Clark said.
“But it was a very broad range. [of patrons]He added.
The grand opening of NA BAR is under threat of closures of several beloved Brooklyn Taverns, rising costs and at risk of closures. Even fewer customers -But Vento claims that while some bars find it difficult to spend alcohol on customers, Mockingbirds answering on another call.
“There are a lot of people out there who are there. “We're seeing people coming in who are really trying to reduce consumption and change their relationship with alcohol.
“It's the same [challenge] As a traditional bar you're trying to put your name out there — it deals with sales and revenue,” Vento added.
“But in this case, I think what sets us apart is offering options to people who otherwise wouldn't have the option.”
