Pueblo’s only dry bar expecting to see new customers this Dry January

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – With the start of the new year, many are choosing to participate in "Dry January." Starting today until the end of the month, some will stop drinking alcohol, or cut down on their intake.

Megan Phelan has been sober for 9 years. Last year after she moved to Pueblo from Denver, Phelan found out about "The Ethos" through a friend – the only completely dry bar in Pueblo.

"Everybody here is incredibly awesome. I'm so glad that I made this. I the first time that I spoke to anyone, I said, this is going to be my Cheers," said Phelan.

The Ethos is known as a creative community space. When the owners bought the building, it already came with the bar. Co-owner Emily Gradisar said they decided to turn that space into something unique.

"We decided to start a sober bar, none of us wanted to run a bar that had anything to do with alcohol. And, so we we we had this, and it turned out to be an amazing idea. And it's, you know, the kind of the keystone of the business now," said Gradisar.

Phelan says she enjoys going to the bar because she's always meeting new people.

"All night you can have good conversations with people and nobody's falling over," said Phelan.

Gradisar said each year during Dry January, they tend to see new customers. They also understand that many of their customers are recovering alcoholics, which is why they're very careful with the drinks they prepare.

"Last year we saw a nice little surge and then the nice part was, a lot of those folks kept coming back all through the year and are now regulars," said Gradisar. "Our beverages, which don't have any, nonalcoholic spirits in them at all and are built from the ground up. Those ones are for sometimes people who are in recovery, don't want anything that reminds them of drinks that they used to drink. And so we have those very clearly delineated."

This year, The Ethos is doing something different for Dry January – they're offering non-alcoholic take-home kits so people can make the drinks at home.