Three years ago, two women sat in a cohort talking about launching businesses in the growing non-alcoholic space.
One of them was me.
The other was Cimcie Nichols, founder of Hatchet Granny.
It was the fall of 2023. I was getting ready to launch 3-21 No Kiddin’. Cimcie was building something of her own.
Fast-forward three years.
I'm now operating 3-21 No Kiddin’ from our second—and much bigger—home in Naugatuck, Connecticut.
And Cimcie just launched her second Hatchet Granny product: Heartbreak Healer Lavender Citrus Botanical Soda.
That's a pretty cool full-circle moment.
More Than a Drink on a Shelf
One of the things I love about owning a non-alcoholic bottle shop is that I get to decide whose products earn space on our shelves.
And sometimes, I know the person behind the bottle.
Cimcie and I stayed in touch after that cohort. I've watched her continue building Hatchet Granny, and it's a privilege to now sell her products at 3-21 No Kiddin’.
There is a lot of conversation these days about the growth of the non-alcoholic beverage industry, sober-curious movement, functional beverages and emerging CPG brands.
But behind those industry terms are actual people.
People taking risks.
People creating things.
People getting knocked around by life and deciding to build something anyway.
That's the part of this movement I don't want us to lose.
Heartbreak Really Is Part of the Story
Heartbreak Healer wasn't dreamed up in some giant corporate beverage conference room.
Cimcie's story is personal.
As she has shared publicly—and as I've come to understand it through her content and our conversations—Heartbreak Healer grew out of an incredibly difficult period in her life that culminated in divorce.
She surrounded herself with plants, sound and community and began experimenting with botanicals. What started as part of her own process of rebuilding eventually became Heartbreak Healer.
That's one reason the name has always made sense to me.
Sometimes creating something new is part of figuring out who the hell you are on the other side of something hard.
Okay... But Who the Hell Is Hatchet Granny?
This part is even better.
The name Hatchet Granny reaches back to Carrie A. Nation, one of the most notorious figures of the American temperance movement.
Nation became famous—or infamous, depending on whom you ask—for marching into saloons around the turn of the 20th century and smashing them up with a hatchet.
Yes.
An actual hatchet.
More than a century later, Hatchet Granny takes some of that rebellious energy and points it toward something very different: challenging old assumptions about alcohol, drinking culture and what having a good time is supposed to look like.
And you can probably understand why that resonates around here.
At 3-21 No Kiddin’, we've built an entire adult third space around a similar question:
What if alcohol doesn't have to be the price of admission for connection, celebration and play?
And Now There's a Purple Can 💜
This summer, Hatchet Granny took another step.
The original Heartbreak Healer had been made by hand for years. Now that botanical creativity has made its way into a ready-to-drink can with Heartbreak Healer Lavender Citrus Botanical Soda.
It's a 12-ounce non-alcoholic botanical soda featuring eight botanicals plus reishi, with lavender, citrus, floral and herbal notes.
And because apparently the universe understands branding, the can is gloriously purple.
So naturally, we're celebrating it at 3-21 No Kiddin’. 💜
Three Years Later
This is the part that matters most to me.
In fall 2023, Cimcie and I were two women in a cohort talking about what we hoped to build in the non-alcoholic space.
Three years later, 3-21 No Kiddin’ is in its second home. Hatchet Granny has launched its second product. And both Hatchet Granny products are now sitting on our shelves in Naugatuck.
That's not overnight success.
That's tenacity.
That's commitment.
And that's what this growing alcohol-free movement actually looks like when you get underneath all the market reports and trend pieces.
It's people.
Founders.
Creators.
Customers willing to try something different.
And communities willing to support the people doing the building.
Some of what makes 3-21 No Kiddin’ unique isn't something I created by myself.
It's the people I've met along the way who trusted me with what they created.
Cimcie is one of those people.
And I'm damn grateful she's part of our shelves—and our story.
Come sip something with a story. 💜
SHOP HATCHET GRANNY 🪓💜
Shop Heartbreak Healer and the new Lavender Citrus Botanical Soda from 3-21 No Kiddin’.