Probably my only Dry January letter
An interview with a new app that's kind of like non-alc startups' Letterboxd.
Good morning everyone.
Dry January isn’t a topic I’ve really touched upon in the letter this year. I think it’s partially because there are so many other writers who have gone deep on the subject (Dan and Andrea have done a really good job), and partially because a lot of the coverage feels like clickbait or shopping roundups. I have some friends who are participating — some have given up after a few weeks, some have discovered the joys of psychedelics, and some are quietly sticking with it.
Last night, I saw that Barstool’s Brianna LaPaglia post a video about Dry January. LaPaglia became known for her hard partying, and a big part of her podcast at Barstool, Plan Bri, is recapping out of control nights, blackouts, and pushing Barstool-backed alcohol brands like Pirate Water. Now, Ms. LaPaglia is having an exciting few months for a few reasons (one being that she’s now dating country superstar Zach Bryan) but her Dry January dedication is one that I find most engaging because her whole brand is… getting fucked up. In the video that now has over 400k views, she says, “My drinking habits before were like… at minimum three times a week. And I’m talking about getting fucked up three times a week… I partied my ass off from 13 to 22, I feel retired.” The comments are a filled with women empathizing with LaPaglia and sharing their own stories. I think I liked this video because I realize that a lot of people on TikTok are approaching Dry January as a reset vs. a countdown to when they can drink again.
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A mutual friend of mine co-founded an app called Delightful, an app to discover, rate and review zero-proof products (basically CPG Twitter’s Letterboxd) and find bars and restaurants that offer real non-alcoholic options (this part is launching in a few weeks). I’m going to LA in a few weeks, and my trip is mostly made up of back-to-back drink meetings. Which is fine. But I’ve spent a lot of time looking at cocktail menus of places I’m taking meetings in hopes that they have some normal looking NA drinks, which makes the launch of Delightful even more enticing to me — that pre-drink research a habit I think a lot of my friends have before going out in recent years. I spoke to the founders, Prashanth Selvam and Deryn Russell, about the launch of Delightful and what their plans are going forward:
There are a lot of apps. Why did you two think Delightful should exist?
There's been an explosion of non-alcoholic products in the last few years. While this is a very welcome change, the sheer volume of options combined with the many reasons people choose to drink NA beverages can make it difficult for someone to find exactly what's right for them.
When considering what to try in this ever-expanding category, we found the process involved a lot of googling, reading "Top 10" lists, and exploring (highly informative) Facebook and Reddit groups. But all this info, although helpful, simply got lost in the scroll of whatever else was posted/published the next day. We wanted to build a lasting resource & community that catered to the specific individual tastes and considerations people bring to the NA category and help them navigate all of these options in an intuitive and engaging way.
Delightful helps with the process of discovering and exploring great non-alcoholic options, enabling you to quickly look up something you see in-store, as well as keep track of favorites, all with a great UI/UX (a massive thank you to Deena Edwards for making Delightful look so, well, delightful). For us, it’s not about limiting yourself when you decide not to drink (whether it's for a night, a month, or a lifetime), but rather expanding to and navigating a HUGE amount of options most people don’t even realize exist.
Obviously the NA category is exploding, from existing alcohol brands launching NA versions to businesses like Boisson becoming specialty marketplaces for NA options. Do you have any concern that this is a trend? What predictions do you have for the category?