For readers and venues
How we score alcohol-free menus
Every place on Dry Rabbit gets a score from 1 to 5 for its alcohol-free menu, and the best earn Rabbit’s Choice. Both come from the venue’s own menu, read the same way for every place. Here’s how it works, for anyone choosing where to go and for owners who’d like a higher score.
What the score measures
The alcohol-free drinks on the menu: how many are named, the range, house alcohol-free cocktails, and prices. Not the food, the room or the service. It’s separate from the Google rating on a card, which is for the place overall, and from the stars members give drinks. Nobody can pay for a score, and a promotion never changes one.
The points
| What the menu shows | Points |
|---|---|
| Named alcohol-free drinks: 6 or more / 4 or 5 / 2 or 3 / 1 | 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 |
| Kinds of drink (cocktails, beer, wine, spirits, functional): 3 or more / 2 | 2 / 1 |
| House alcohol-free cocktails (not shops) | 1 |
| At least three drinks with prices | 1 |
| An all-alcohol-free bar or shop | 3 |
| An alcohol-free pairing with a tasting menu | 3 |
Everyday drinks such as “Mocktails”, “Coke” and “Iced tea” don’t count as named drinks, and neither do drinks the menu doesn’t label alcohol-free.
From points to 1–5
| Score | What it takes |
|---|---|
| 5 | A Rabbit’s Choice with 8 points or more |
| 4 | A Rabbit’s Choice |
| 3 | 5 points or more, or a strong menu we can’t yet count for Rabbit’s Choice (found online, or not read lately) |
| 2 | 3 or 4 points |
| 1 | A drink or two, or only everyday ones |
How a place earns Rabbit’s Choice
Rabbit’s Choice marks places whose alcohol-free list is worth going out for, not one token mocktail. A place needs 7 points or more, from a menu read on the venue’s own site in the last 120 days (not one we only found online), that names at least three real alcohol-free drinks. Bottle shops need eight products. A place built around not drinking, or one with its own alcohol-free pairing, needs two.
A place drops out on its own when its menu goes stale or loses drinks, and comes back once a fresh read of its menu finds them again. Visitors who spot the drinks show up in the reasons on a place’s page, but they never decide whether it qualifies.
Good for mixed groups
A full bar and a real alcohol-free list, so everyone orders something good. We mark a bar or restaurant whose own menu, as we last read it, names at least three real alcohol-free drinks, across at least two kinds or with house alcohol-free cocktails. Places built around not drinking are great for everyone, but they aren’t a full bar, so they don’t get this mark.
Check before you go
When there’s a sign a place may have closed or dropped its drinks, its page says “Check before you go” and when the drinks were last confirmed: Google lists it as closed, our last read of its menu didn’t find them, a visitor said recently they’re gone, or nobody has confirmed them in over 6 months. The place stays in the guide. If two visitors say the drinks are gone, it comes off until we read the menu again.
How to raise your score
If you run a bar, restaurant or shop, the score reads your own menu, so the fixes are on the menu too.
- Name your drinks. “Seasonal mocktail” doesn’t count; “Garden Spritz” does. Six or more named drinks earn the most.
- List prices. Three priced drinks earn a point.
- Give alcohol-free drinks their own section, labeled alcohol-free, zero-proof or N/A, so they’re easy to tell apart from the cocktails.
- Offer range. House alcohol-free cocktails plus an N/A beer or wine covers two kinds.
- Keep the menu page current and on your own site. We reread menus about every 60 days, and one we can’t confirm for 120 days loses Rabbit’s Choice until we can.
- Claim your listing. It’s free. You can send menu changes, add photos and see how many people look you up.
Once you’re listed, your page links to a free venue kit with a website badge, a share image and a table-tent QR code. More for venues is on For venues.