As “Dry January” came to a close last month, supporters of Detroit native and entrepreneur Karlyta Williams gathered to celebrate the grand opening of Mockery Zero proof — billed as the city’s first non-alcoholic bottle shop and cocktail lounge.
Located at 7400 W. McNichols Rd. in Detroit’s Bagley neighborhood, Mockery Zero Proof first opened to the public on “Small Business Saturday” in November. On January 30, Williams celebrated its grand opening with partners, family, friends, and community members to conclude her “Dry January” event series. In those two months, Williams said she has hosted more than 500 customers.
From the podium, Williams shared that Mockery isn’t just about beverages; it’s a lifestyle.
“It doesn’t matter what brings you to the ‘X’ that marks the spot,” she said. “At Mockery you can look to your left and to your right and find someone who will support you no matter where you are on your journey.”
Hosted by Taqee Vernon, program manager at the Live6 Alliance Community Development Organization, the event featured guest speakers and a moving speech from the woman of the hour.
Vernon noted numerous liquor stores on McNichols. “It’s always easy to find something to harm you,” she said. “It’s rare to find something that doesn’t hurt you back.”
Mockery Zero Proof promises just that, featuring dozens of meticulously crafted non-alcoholic alternatives with the complexity and zest of traditional cocktails, minus the hangover.
Williams said she explored a non-alcoholic lifestyle during the coronavirus pandemic when she, like many others, grappled with the dramatic life change in less than healthy ways. She used the time to reexamine herself and her life. “You don’t have to drink every day to acknowledge that you want to have some kind of change in your life,” she said.
Williams then spent three years as a non-alcohol bartender crafting zero-proof cocktails and studying her craft. She began to envision a place where people could gather, which would be about more than drinks, but a place where one could be “present.”
She wasn’t alone in that vision. Live6 also believed in the concept and supported Williams with funding, choosing her as one of the first businesses to anchor their new mixed-use development, The Enclave.
During the grand opening, Deputy Mayor Melia Howard acknowledged the partnership saying that the space “continues the narrative that it’s not just downtown where things are happening.”
Howard added, “Detroit is full of dreamers, doers, and changemakers.”
Jacquise Purifoy, a Detroit a business consultant who is on an alcohol-free journey, echoed the sentiment and emphasized the importance of the new neighborhood staple.
“As a person who drank a fifth of gin every day for two years straight, there was never a place to go to help with my sobriety, but there was always somewhere to go to help me get further and further in the hole, if you will,” she said.
She added, “I’m grateful to have a place like Mockery right in my neighborhood where I can go and get zero-proof libations that I can enjoy without putting poison in my body.”
Purifoy, who went to high school with Williams, adds, “It’s such a special time to be able to celebrate Karlyta as embarks on this entrepreneurship venture and as she offers Mockery as a safe space in the city of Detroit.”
