Methodology
How we count: the numbers behind Dry Rabbit's data
Every number we publish about alcohol-free drinking comes from venues’ own menus as we read them, through a saved query anyone on our team can run again and get the same answer. Here’s what we count and the rules each number follows.
Where the data comes from
Dry Rabbit reads venues’ own menus and lists the alcohol-free drinks they name. A place is in the guide only when we’ve read its menu (how we score). To find places, we sweep each area with Google’s place search and read the menu or website of every restaurant, bar and café it returns, including the ones with no alcohol-free drinks, so we know how many places we looked at, not only how many we list.
The rules every number follows
- “Among the venues we track.” Every number says what it’s out of, and how many places that is.
- No city-wide number from fewer than 30 places.
- Neighborhoods are compared by share, not count, out of every venue we screened there, including those with no alcohol-free drinks, so a big neighborhood doesn’t win by size.
- A neighborhood needs at least 10 screened venues, and we only compare it once our search has fully covered it. Neighborhoods are official boundaries (Boston’s neighborhoods; other cities and towns as a whole), assigned by each venue’s map pin, never by what a place calls its location. Smaller ones are listed as “not enough data,” never as zero.
- Ties are equal shares. Two areas are tied only when their shares are the same. Each share is shown with how many venues it comes from, so a small sample reads as one.
- Trends need three comparable points. We don’t call a change a trend from two.
- Real and simulated data are never mixed. Our AI-simulated panel is labeled as such and never shares a chart with real counts.
- No one can pay to change a number.
The saved queries
Share of bars and restaurants with a house alcohol-free cocktail
Bars and restaurants in the guide (not shops) whose own menu, as we last read it, names at least one alcohol-free cocktail the menu labels as such, over all bars and restaurants in the guide.
Query na-cocktail-share, version 1 · city-wide · at least 30 places
Share of places with a drink labeled 0.0%
Places in the guide with at least one drink their menu labels 0.0% ABV, over all places in the guide.
Query strict-zero-share, version 1 · city-wide · at least 30 places
Share of places that are a Rabbit's Choice
Places in the guide that meet the Rabbit's Choice rules (lib/rabbits-choice.ts) on the day the query runs, over all places in the guide.
Query rabbits-choice-share, version 1 · city-wide · at least 30 places
Average price of an alcohol-free cocktail
The mean listed price of house alcohol-free cocktails with a single price, across bars and restaurants in the guide. Each place counts once per drink; drinks without a price, and prices over $40 (a pitcher or a pairing), are left out.
Query avg-mocktail-price, version 1 · city-wide · at least 30 places
Most-listed alcohol-free beer brands
Alcohol-free beer brands (lib/na-brands.ts) by how many places in the guide list them: by name, by one of their product lines' names (Athletic's Run Wild), or in a drink's listed ingredients. Equal counts are ties.
Query most-listed-na-beer, version 2 · city-wide · at least 30 places
The Boston Mocktail Index: the median alcohol-free cocktail, by distance from Boston Common
The median listed price of house alcohol-free cocktails at bars and restaurants in the guide, city-wide and in rings of straight-line distance from Boston Common (under 1 mile, 1 to 3, 3 to 6, 6 to 10, 10 or more). Menu prices as we last read them, not what people pay; single-drink prices from $3 to $20 only. A ring with fewer than 10 prices is not enough data. Near the Common is a place, not a cause: downtown has more cocktail bars.
Query mocktail-index, version 1 · city-wide · at least 30 places
The spritz premium: what an alcohol-free spritz costs over the median alcohol-free cocktail
The median listed price of house alcohol-free cocktails named a spritz, minus the median of all house alcohol-free cocktails, at bars and restaurants in the guide (single-drink prices from $3 to $20). Needs at least 30 places with priced alcohol-free cocktails and 10 with a priced spritz.
Query spritz-premium, version 1 · city-wide · at least 30 places
Neighborhoods by share of screened venues with an alcohol-free cocktail
Per official unit (Boston's neighborhoods, other towns whole; assigned by pin), guide venues with a labeled alcohol-free cocktail over every venue the pipeline screened there, including those with none. Only units the census has fully swept with at least 10 screened venues. Equal shares are ties; each area's count shows how small its sample is.
Query neighborhood-na-cocktail-share, version 2 · by neighborhood · at least 10 screened venues per neighborhood
Limits
We can only count what menus say. A drink a bartender will make on request but that isn’t on the menu doesn’t count, and a menu we couldn’t read isn’t in the numbers. Our coverage is one metro area for now, so our numbers describe that area, never the country.