New bars arrive often in the Denver area, but it’s not often one makes such a splash.

When Awake opened its doors in May, it created a buzz because of the one thing it doesn’t serve: Alcohol.

Serving nonalcoholic beer, wine and spirits, as well as a coffee menu, the place in Jefferson Park was quickly billed as Colorado’s first “sober bar.” It also houses a bottle shop offering alcohol-free products sourced from around the country.

Awake comes from owners Billy and Christy Wynne, who both quit drinking several years ago. They noticed they weren’t alone.

“We observed this movement of people who were embracing alcohol-free living,” Billy Wynne said. “It was the beginning of the sober curious movement.”

Around the same time, big and small companies were introducing “different and exciting” zero-proof products, Wynne said. Heineken released a popular nonalcoholic beer and the options for wine were growing. Wynne also heard about alcohol-free bars in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Austin, Texas.

“We didn’t see anything like it near us, or certainly in Colorado,” he said. “So that seemed like the natural next step.”

It might not seem a natural step considering the couple has no experience in running a bar. Billy Wynne runs a health consulting firm and his wife, Christy, is an integrative medicine physician assistant and sobriety coach.

But they felt called to “contribute to this societal shift.”

Awake has seemingly awakened something. The establishment, which offers live music and other entertainment, has been a hit since opening. For Wynne, community is more important than popularity.

Comments from patrons are proof that Awake is building “a safe place,” Wynne said.

“One thing we’ve learned is that the community of people who don’t drink is much bigger and more interested in socializing than we previously thought,” he said. “A lot of them didn’t have a place they felt comfortable going to.”

While Awake is the first of its kind in the state, the sober movement has quietly been brewing in Colorado Springs. Since opening downtown in 2015, Ohana Kava Bar has described itself as a sober bar. When a second location followed in 2019, owner Matthew Clark wrote online that his Island-themed bar “provides an atmospheric nightlife experience to help folks stay sober but social.”

Unlike Awake or others like it, Ohana doesn’t serve products imitating alcoholic drinks. Along with kombucha and loose-leaf tea, the menu includes types of kava, a drink made from a root in the South Pacific that “creates a sense of wellbeing, euphoria and increases social ability,” according to Ohana’s website. It’s a fitting alternative for nighttime bar-hoppers, as kava is traditionally enjoyed in the evening with friends and family.

As of December, a new series of “sober social” events has launched in Colorado Springs, hosted by Stephan Black, a local Realtor and owner of Samich Shop inside CO.A.T.I.

“So many things are centered around alcohol,” he said. “I wanted to create an environment for people who wanted to go out, but not necessarily drink.

Black, who is 36 and has a background in managing nightclubs, stopped drinking a few years ago.

“I got to a point in my life where I was like, I don’t wanna go out and drink,” he said. “I think, for people in my age group, you want to start enjoying your time more and remembering your time.”

He held the first sober social event at CO.A.T.I., which is offering some drinks for those taking a break from alcohol during “dry January,” and says locations will rotate in the future. Black has stumbled upon other options in Colorado Springs, such as asking bartenders at bars such as Icons to make an alcohol-free drink. Menus at Jax Seafood and 1350 Distilling list some mocktails.

“With more people seeking that out, there might be a need for sober bars here in Colorado Springs,” he said. “I could see that happening.”