alcohol

Kansas City bartenders have started offering new and enticing cocktails that combine interesting flavors with no alcohol content. Here are some great restaurants and bars where you'll find drinks for the mocktail-enthusiastic and sober-curious.

Kansas City's Doug Frost is one of only four people in the world to hold the title of both master sommelier and master of wine. Frost joined Up To Date armed with hand-selected wines which he brought to pair with a four-course meal at Earl's Premier.

The garnishes in these mixed drinks are bigger, and the flavors are bolder — they might even be 'fat-washed' or clarified with Hidden Valley Ranch. Whether they include alcohol or are making mocktails, bars and bartenders are becoming more creative than ever.

Wild Child will open in Shawnee, Kansas, this month with a focus on nonalcoholic drinks. The business will join the list of bars, restaurants, and liquor stores across the metro shifting more of their attention to a new type of consumer.

Service industry workers will no longer need liquor licenses from Kansas City, Missouri, to work at restaurants or bars. The cards, which cost $42 and a trip to the Regulated Industries Division, were largely seen as unnecessary.

Former members of Kansas City addiction treatment groups for teenagers allege the programs isolated them from friends and family and pushed them into unsafe behavior. Plus: a "foster care bill of rights" is moving through the Kansas Legislature.

When teenagers and young adults in Missouri and Kansas struggle with addiction and alcohol abuse, some turn to outpatient groups based on the idea that substance abuse treatment has to be fun and feel good for it to stick — but former clients say the programs pushed them into reckless behavior.

Situated in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood, The Easy Inn is more than a cozy dive — it's the center of a community. The fact that it's decorated like "grandma's basement" is only a plus.

Doug Frost, a Master Sommelier and Master of Wine, returns with his recommendations for holiday reds, whites and sparkling wines — including one pick from right here in Missouri.

Thirty-four-year-old Tanner first tried opioids as a teenager. Since then, he says doctors have helped him by prescribing medications that reduce cravings.

Bourbon Balls are traditionally a southern delicacy, but Lisa Fitch of Bootleg Bourbon Balls is on a mission to make them a Kansas City delicacy, too.

Kansas City is home to a bevy of talented bartenders, entrepreneurs and restaurant owners with a flair for the festive.