В Гудзоне открылся первый в штате магазин безалкогольных напитков Hudson Dry

Ryan Curran has spent most of his career ensuring that hospitality is delivered properly—a refined skill of balancing warmth and precision. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, he held key positions at Manhattan’s Eleven Madison Park and Big Night Restaurant Group in San Francisco, then returned to teach hospitality management at his alma mater. After relocating to Hudson, he oversaw special projects at provisions shop Talbott & Arding. “I love the industry,” he says. “But I don’t want to be managing dining rooms anymore.” Another item was in the rear-view mirror for Curran, too: drinking alcohol. That opened his next opportunity: establishing Hudson Dry, the Valley’s first zero-proof bottle shop, located on Warren Street in Hudson. He’s put together a carefully curated roster of offerings that are meant to delight, surprise, and inspire whether you are sober, sober-curious, or even not-at-all-sober. “I, in no way, want to shun people for drinking,” Curran says. “I want the opposite. I want to flip the script and have this be an inclusive place. Anyone is welcome, whatever your relationship with alcohol.” The goal is to have customers come in “and just enjoy delicious things.” Curran put in some serious legwork to track down the delicious. He spent more than two years sourcing and tasting—sampling close to a thousand products—before deciding what would make the cut. “Some were just an immediate no,” he says. “Beautiful packaging and branding—and then it’s just not good. I don’t want someone’s experience with non-alcoholic wine to be bad.” Fortunately, he found plenty to be excited about: bottles from Sylva, a new brand from the founder of Seedlip (one of the original non-alcoholic spirits pioneers) that focuses on botanical flavors of British native trees. “It drinks like whiskey,” Curran says. He’s also bringing in Tanqueray Zero, which doesn’t seem like it should be a major achievement, but somehow, despite the U.S. being the largest worldwide consumer of Tanqueray gin, it isn’t distributed here. “That’s one of those products that will change people’s minds” about non-alcoholic spirits, he says. “It drinks just like a gin and tonic.” “Anyone is welcome, whatever your relationship with alcohol.” He’s stocking the full range of no-proof beverages at Hudson Dry, including spirits, wine, ciders, and beers made without alcohol, or which have had the alcohol removed after production. Domaine Montrose, one notable non-alcoholic rosé wine, is made with estate-grown grapes in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, before 100 percent of its alcohol is removed. And—mon dieu!—it drinks exactly like a French rosé, with that recognizable fruit-skin funk on the back end. “The goal is to showcase exceptional alternatives,” he says. And to create an experience of discovery. “I want this to feel like a high-end wine and liquor store—where it just so happens that there’s no booze.” The shop is sited in a 19th-century building that Curran has carefully restored. Hundreds of the original bricks were removed, and Hudson Dry enthusiasts can get one engraved and displayed in the store for a $400 membership that includes discounts, early access to special tastings, and unlimited Kold-Draft ice, the perfectly square cubes that cocktail cognoscenti adore. “I want people to swing by after working late, or on their way to dinner,” he says. In other words, creating that warm welcome. For Curran, the proof is in the hospitality, after all. Related: Folio Adds Dining to the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Experience