Welcome to Dry Variety! London Ontario’s first online bottle shop for non-alcoholic beverages, and more. My name is Amber and it’s nice to meet you. 

A fairly common question I am asked is how Dry Variety came to be? Well, let's just say that the past few years have been tremendously stressful (which is relatable for most, I know).  And I admit, my wine and alcohol consumption increased. I suppose it was a way for me to disassociate and cope with the way things were. With the roller coaster of pandemic lockdowns, forced closures of my full time self employed gig, and other personal traumas, “happy hour” became a regular thing and I really didn’t like the way I felt. 

I love to sit and relax with a drink and (now that I think about it) it was probably one of the only times I seemed to pause and take a break for myself.  I wanted to find a way to enjoy that ritual and continue “wine time” without the alcohol; and sparkling water just wasn’t doing the trick.   

I started to notice some influencers and celebrities on Instagram posting about being “sober curious” and “mindful drinking”. They were sharing names of brands they liked, and so my search began…who knew there was an entire world of non-alc options out there that were actually really good??!!

The niche was growing in other parts of the world but these options are just being introduced in Canada. I started to dive in and search them out. I wanted to find them, try them and then of course share my discoveries with everyone!  

I started to question why are we so conditioned to take booze to a party or a social event?? I believe in part it’s because we don’t have good options and alternatives, and so the development of Dry Variety began.

My goal is to expand and provide you (my friends) with better, healthier non-alc options. Of course my love for food, wine, cocktails, and connection are the fuel for this venture, so we will see how things unfold!  

I still indulge in a traditional cocktail from time to time, and there is no judgement as to whether you consume alcohol or abstain completely.  I just think it’s nice to have choices when it comes to sophisticated non-alc beverage options and that no matter what your reason is for choosing to skip the booze we can all share a decent drink together. 

I’m still learning the tricks to mixing and building some of these cocktails but I promise to share my experiences with you as my bartending skills expand and my research continues. 

I hope you enjoy shopping at Dry Variety and I look forward to serving you some great drinks! 

Cheers! The future is bright my friends. 

Amber