The Inclusive Bar — corporate events
Corporate events · across Northern Ireland
A night nobody has to apologise for.
A properly stocked alcohol-free bar for your Christmas party, awards night or client dinner — running alongside the one you already have.
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The bit most parties get wrong
Everyone at your party wants the same night out. Some of them just aren’t drinking.
The one driving everyone home. The one up at six. The one who simply fancies something else tonight and would rather not be asked about it. Together they’re about a third of your room — and at most events they spend it holding a lime and soda, being quietly managed rather than properly looked after. It is not a fringe problem, and it is not only the corporates noticing: a third of pub visits and nearly half of restaurant visits are now completely alcohol-free, and three quarters of adults say they want venues that cater for it properly.
The Inclusive Bar fixes that without changing your party. Award-winning alcohol-free beer, wine and sparkling, and cocktails built on real spirit alternatives — chosen and vouched for by The Sober Irish, poured by your venue, and priced however you want to run it. Nobody is asked to give anything up. Nobody is served an afterthought.
Why it makes for a better night — for everyone
The ones not drinking
Stop being catered for by exception. A drink they’d actually choose, in the same glassware as everyone else.
The ones who are
Notice nothing except a better bar — and 45% of adults now alternate through the night anyway, most of them to keep the night going longer.
You, organising it
No separate order, no apology, nobody at your table asking whether there’s anything else — and no guessing at the numbers, because the list is there for whoever wants it.
The night itself
Keeps more of the room in it, for longer — and everyone goes home with the story from the night rather than about it.
Two ways to run it
The alcohol-free bar — alongside
Your bar runs as normal, with a proper alcohol-free list beside it. This is what most people book, and it changes the night for the most people.
Fully alcohol-free
The whole evening. Suits a daytime conference, an early awards night, a team with a long drive home, or a company that fancies doing it differently this year.
And three ways to pay
On the company, guests pay at the bar, or a welcome drink for everyone and a bar after — which is the one most companies land on.
What’s on the list
Your venue chooses what suits the room and the season — a selection from the range, rather than all of it at once.
- Beer — a choice of Snorkelers Sea Salt IPA and Surfers Summer Ale from Insel Brauerei on the Baltic island of Rügen, both World Beer Awards winners, alongside Hidenseer Weizen and Nirvana’s Bavarian Helles and Cloudy Lemon. Exclusive to The Sober Irish on the island of Ireland — you won’t find them on another supplier’s list.
- Wine & sparkling — a choice of alcohol-free sparkling, white and red that hold up on a table, including Linnet’s Wing, our own sparkling blush, launching very soon.
- Alcohol-free cocktails — built on real aperitifs and spirit alternatives, so they taste like a drink rather than a fruit cup. Proper glassware, made to order.
- And the rest — soft drinks and water, chilled and served properly. The final list is built around your night, your numbers and what your people actually drink.
Where it can happen
A venue with its own bar
We work with venues across Northern Ireland with function rooms and private dining at every size — from a twenty-head board dinner to a hundred-and-fifty-head party. The venue takes the booking and runs the night; we build the list and make the introduction.
An office, a warehouse, a marquee
No bar? Our partners bring the bar, the kit and the people. Liquid Minds and Coastal Pour — based in Belfast and on the north coast, and both will travel.
Somewhere in mind that isn’t on our list yet?
Tell us where you want to be and we’ll go and ask. We’re adding venues every week, and an enquiry from a real booking is the most persuasive thing we can walk in with. If your favourite room isn’t on the list, that’s usually a conversation away rather than a no. Put it in the form below.
Who’s behind it
“I spent a career asking uncomfortable questions. Then I turned the same sceptical eye on alcohol-free — and found a category that badly needed one.”
The Sober Irish is not a brewery. We curate and champion the best alcohol-free drinks in Europe, we import them, and we put our name on the ones we’d order ourselves. We also build the Atlas — the guide to great times, alcohol-free — so we know which venues do this properly and which ones don’t.
Jim Fitzpatrick is an award-winning investigative journalist and broadcaster, formerly the BBC’s Economics and Business Editor for Ireland. He presents Trading Up and has hosted conferences and awards for the Institute of Directors NI, Belfast Chamber, Derry Chamber, Sysco Ireland and Belfast City Airport — so he has sat through a great many corporate events from the front of the room. He judges alcohol-free drinks internationally, including at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.
Which is the whole point: the list is chosen by someone whose job was never to take the first answer. Nobody is going to fob your guests off with a lime and soda.
Tell us about your event
The date, the room and rough numbers is plenty to start. We’ll come back with a list, a venue and a price — and there’s no fee to us either way. December dates go early, so the sooner you tell us, the more rooms we can put in front of you.
Rather just talk? orders@thesoberirish.com · WhatsApp 07707 736072
That’s with us. We’ll be in touch.
Thanks — we’ll come back to you shortly with a list, a venue and a price. If it’s urgent, WhatsApp 07707 736072 and you’ll get us faster.
While you’re here — the Atlas knows every alcohol-free pour in Belfast. Have a look →