Teachers Launch Booze-Free Cocktail Business

Justin and Lori Discoe are a team on many levels. Married for 24 years, they both teach at the Technology Center at Spaulding High School in Rochester. Lori is also a scientific illustrator and Justin creates industrial designs, and now they are building a business together.

In 2020, the couple launched Discoe Beverages, making canned non-alcoholic cocktails. Marketed under  NA’BZR (a cheeky nod to being a non-alcoholic boozer), Discoe offers two flavors of GinFizz, cranberry and lemon.

Lori, who is president, says it is important that the drinks are produced with natural flavors. NA’BZR cocktails are made from botanical extracts and infused with L-Theanine, a non-protein amino acid found in tea that is associated with reducing stress
and anxiety.

“Our aha! moment came after going home for a funeral in California at the beginning of the pandemic, and [Justin] saw his friends doing passion projects. He has always been interested in distilling. I am a botanical nerd. We wanted to do a creative project that served a good [purpose]. We challenged ourselves to formulate a non-alcoholic cocktail,” Lori says.

Justin, vice president, grew up watching his grandfather, Winkie, distill homemade applejack each year and was excited to open a distillery. When he started researching the idea, he noticed that non-alcoholic cocktails were just taking off in a rapidly growing ready-to-drink cocktail market.

“We both have a family history of alcoholism,” Justin says of the attraction of creating a non-alcoholic cocktail. “It’s about finding a way to extend your evening” but still give the experience of having a cocktail.

Lori adds that’s where botanicals come in, as they provide the warmth one gets from a cocktail while amino acids provide relaxation.

Their tag line is, “Get fizzy not fuzzy.”

Discoe Beverages is not their first entrepreneurial venture. Lori started a design boutique in 2000, and Justin launched a toy manufacturing business that was eventually sold to Wham-O.

The couple launched NA’BZR in August 2021, and their beverages are now sold in 28 stores in NH and 25 in Maine. They hope to expand to other states, NH state liquor stores and Whole Foods.

For more information, visit Nabzr.com.