Non-alcoholic cocktails may be all the rage right now, but they’re still only as good as the bartender making them.
Luckily for residents of West Texas, they can turn to Finn Walter, a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist and the head chef and owner of The Nicolett in Lubbock, Texas. After training and working at restaurants around the world, Walter returned to his hometown of Lubbock to open The Nicolett in 2020, offering a globally inspired take on local West Texas culinary traditions. But Walter is also at the forefront of the adult non-alcoholic beverage movement, having recently introduced a new menu of handcrafted zero-proof libations at the restaurant that utilize some of the best known non-alcoholic spirits on the market, including Ghia, Seedlip and Spiritless.
In this interview with BevNET’s Martin Caballero, Walter discusses how zero-proof cocktails fit into West Texas drinking culture, shares his thoughts on some of the brands making an impact on the nascent space, and looks ahead to the future of the non-alcoholic cocktail movement.