"When he opened the farm-to-table brasserie in 2024, Bart Hutchins, Butterworth's chef and one of its partners, was determined to resist what he sees as the new puritanism of wellness and sobriety culture. Hutchins finds non-alcoholic mocktails annoying on principle. I did this edict, where I was like, I'm not stocking that stuff,' he said. If you want to drink a glass of juice, just ask for a glass of juice; I'm not gonna pretend it's a cocktail."
"A Gallup poll in August found that the share of Americans of any political stripe who say they consume alcohol is at its lowest in nearly 90 years though by only one percentage point. More strikingly, Republicans are the group, of the many demographic cohorts measured, that has turned most aggressively to sobriety. Gallup, which has asked Americans about their alcohol use since the 1930s, found in 2023 that 65% of Republicans said they drink alcohol about the same as Democrats and independents."
Butterworth's is an eclectically decorated Washington DC restaurant frequented by MAGA elite, with a nameplate declaring a table the official nook of Raheem Kassam and Steve Bannon often sighted. The signature dish is bone-marrow escargot, and the menu includes Carolina gold rice. Chef and partner Bart Hutchins opened the farm-to-table brasserie in 2024 and refused to stock non-alcoholic mocktails, insisting patrons order juice if they do not want alcohol. A growing number of Republican staffers, pundits, and politicians who patronize the restaurant are non-drinkers and have undermined that policy. National Gallup data show overall alcohol consumption at its lowest in nearly 90 years, and Republicans declined from 65% in 2023 to 46% in 2025.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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