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“Why aren’t you drinking?” If you’re sober, you’ve probably heard that question, which can be irritating at best and excruciating at worst.
“It’s the only substance where it’s normal to say, ‘Why not?’” says Olivia Sears. “If somebody’s quitting smoking or trying to stop doing a drug, you wouldn’t egg them on. It’s so interesting that [questioning why someone doesn’t drink alcohol] is so normalized.”
Olivia Sears and her wife, Sarah Sears, are seeking to change that with BuzzCutt, an app they are creating to help people locate N/A drinks at bars and restaurants. Working with software developer Approachable Geek, they want to offer a nationwide resource for the sober and sober curious—starting in summer 2023, the app’s planned launch date.
The final march to BuzzCutt’s unveiling begins with a fundraiser at Victoria Bar on Jan. 28, which will feature DJ Jess the Ripper and N/A brands Athletic, Jøyus and Wilderton. Looking toward the event and beyond, the Searses spoke with WW about the artistry and philosophy behind the app, as well as their hopes for alleviating the stigma that surrounds the decision to drink in moderation or not at all.
WW: What’s the mission behind BuzzCutt?
Sarah Sears: I’m about two years sober, and a lot of the background with the app is a very personal-driven mission. Essentially, when you don’t have a drink in your hand or you have a water or you have a soda water, questions begin to arise from other people who are drinking. And, as a sober person, those can be really traumatizing questions.
If you’re just able to go to a bar or a restaurant and say, “I’ll take your N/A Athletic,” that’s it. It removes essentially all of the things I was just talking about…the questions that aren’t anyone’s business.
Olivia Sears: Access points are what we talk about all the time. Sarah’s from Ohio, and we went to visit her family. We went to [a small-town] liquor store—and in the back of the liquor store, there were three shelves of N/A beer. But how would anyone know they were there?
How will BuzzCutt work? Will you put in a ZIP code and it shows you bars and restaurants with N/A beers in the area?
Olivia Sears: Exactly. We’re basically cataloging all of the different N/A brands. Thankfully, Sarah is a creative director, so we’ve been able to do all of the design in house. It’s just a matter of a developer coding it and making it an app. So from March to May-June will be the developers going in and basically making it something usable.
Sarah, can you talk about the design of BuzzCutt and the principles behind it?
Sarah Sears: We have these stickers that we’ve been putting throughout the city, handing out to people who are interested, and we have this icon that’s a literal buzzing bee [cut in half]. And it has this kind of secret-society vibe to it.
You’re like, “I don’t really know why that bee’s cut in half,” unless you do know. There’s this layer of intrigue that we’re trying to work into the brand through different iconography and illustration—this idea that we’re creating this secret-but-we-don’t-want-it-to-be-secret society.
I think historically, there’s this idea that you’re a rebel if you do things that are bad for you. But now, it’s kind of the opposite. That is another big sentiment of how I’ve gotten back to a place of who I was. And I think there’s this really kind of fun element of this reverse psychology that’s like, “Rebel for good.”
GO: The BuzzCutt Bazaar Fundraiser will be held at Victoria Bar, 4835 N Albina Ave., victoriapdx.com. Noon-5 pm Saturday, Jan. 28. Reserve a spot at eventbrite.com/e/buzzcutt-bazaar-fundraiser-tickets-490342917867. Free.