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Darryl Collins owns a zero-proof bottle shop called Hopscotch in Baltimore, Md., selling over 200 options of nonalcoholic spirits, beer, wine and canned cocktails. He opened the shop in August 2023 to get in on the booming market for adult nonalcoholic beverages.

These are drinks with less than 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), marketed towards adults who want to cut back on drinking, avoid hangovers, or prevent other ill health effects from alcohol. “Every day people are buying bottles of [non-alcoholic] wine – that is our top seller,” says Collins, “Outside of that, it's going to be what we call a ready-to-drink canned beverage, like canned cocktails.



” This emerging beverage category grew steadily in the past few years and received a major boost during the pandemic; it’s now worth upwards of $500 million a year in the U.S., according to the industry trade group Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association.

Since these beverages contain virtually no alcohol, they can largely be sold to anyone, anywhere; they’re stocked on grocery and convenience store shelves around the country, and purchasable online. But Collins doesn’t sell to anybody under 18 years old at this store, and he checks ID’s to enforce that rule. “When there’s no minimum age, can a nine-year old come into your store and buy a non-alcoholic Corona? For me, I don’t want that perception,” Collins says.

Collins set his own age limit, and he’s free to set it however he wants because in Maryland .

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