Express News | San Antonio dry bar Hash Vegan Eats provides an alcohol-free haven

“Hash Vegan Eats resembled just about any other restaurant and bar in San Antonio on a recent rainy Monday evening. A couple of tables in the cozy, dimly lit space played host to diners enjoying vegan pozole and tacos while sipping elaborately crafted cocktails. A small crowd clustered, drinks in hand, on sofas and chairs around a projection screen showing an episode of the vampire spoof "What We Do in the Shadows."

Behind the bar, Jaselin Holstein navigated an array of tap handles, a cooler full of bottles and cans and a wall loaded with ornate bottles full of dark and mysterious elixirs to satisfy those customers' orders.

There was only one thing missing: alcohol.

Hash Vegan Eats is a sober space. Those bar taps poured kombucha. The cooler was stocked with sparkling teas and alcohol-free beers. And the cocktails — you can order a margarita, martini or mimosa — are all made with several types of nonalcoholic "spirits."

Brothers Rogelio and Michael Sanchez opened Hash — an acronym for Heal and Spread Healing — on South Flores Street near the Mission District in 2020. The two say they spent most of their 20s in a self-destructive tailspin fueled by drugs and alcohol while working in the restaurant and bar industry. They have been sober a little over nine years.

"In this industry surrounded with cocaine and alcohol, it really just destroyed our lives, drug us through the dirt, in and out of jail and stuff," Rogelio Sanchez said. "Right before the pandemic, me and my brother were bartending as sober people. It allowed us to be able to fund this project. But we did it because there is no space for people in the industry to get away from the drugs and alcohol."

Chef Jesse Kuykendall, who leads the kitchen at the restaurant Ocho in the Hotel Havana and owns the Mexican street food concept Milpa, counts themself among Hash's loyal supporters.

Kuykendall knows the struggle with alcohol just as well as the Sanchez brothers. The three of them could often be found closing out bars together, and all shared one last beer with each other before swearing off alcohol in 2013. Before that, Kuykendall received multiple DWI citations. These days, Kuykendall goes a year or two at a time sober but will occasionally have stretches of drinking to try new products and keep their palate up to date.

For Kuykendall — most in the industry know them as "Chef Kirk" — a spot to kick back with an alcohol-free beverage while still feeling like you're enjoying a fun night out at the bar with friends is something the city could use more of. Kuykendall said they routinely see cooks struggle with drugs and alcohol, both on and off the clock, which takes a toll on both their health and productivity.

"You start being short fused, not being focused. You're wired on Red Bulls all day and have to knock back a couple shots at a bar before bed just to get to sleep," Kuykendall said. "I think the industry really needs to go big on having more alcohol-free environments like Hash as an alternative to that."

It's not just hospitality industry professionals who've found a safe and sober home at Hash.

Recently, Coby Alexander stood over a pair of tables covered in maps and bags of dice leading a campaign of adventurers in a Dungeons & Dragons gaming session. Alexander leads a popular Meetup group called Dungeons of Drunks that meets weekly in bars around San Antonio. When the Sanchez brothers decided to organize a game night of their own, they connected with Alexander. Three months ago, they launched a splinter group called Dungeons & Vibes, where there's no quaffing of ale in celebration of slain orcs and goblins.

"There was immediate interest from the rest of my group, and then people who are customers (at Hash) started to come up and watch. Now some of them are regulars as well," Alexander said. "It's a lot less chaotic without the alcohol, but the creativity is still there."

While Hash is one of few vegan restaurants in San Antonio and has a loyal following of regular customers, the bar accounts for about half of the business's income. And the Sanchez brothers would like to see that grow in an effort to normalize the idea of a bar sans booze being an option for anyone seeking a night out on the town.

"Whatever you focus your energy on, you'll be successful, whether it's positive or destructive," Michael Sanchez said. "Doing something like this, the goal is to leave the world a more positive place."

Link: https://www.expressnews.com/food/bars-drinks/article/South-Side-bar-alcohol-free-17390479.php