All in moderation: ‘Temperance lounge’ Patera offers sober libations, bites and live music
Patera started as a kitchen project between co-owners Annie McGuinness and Darold Miller, who also happen to be engaged. They were making sourdough, custards, kombucha and more. McGuinness especially loved experimenting with fermentation.
“I had started getting into wanting to have a drink at night that wasn’t alcohol and wasn’t some of the package stuff out there on the market,” McGuinness said.
On Oct. 30, Patera opened its doors to the public.
“We call it Spokane first temperance lounge,” McGuinness said. “And temperance does not mean 100% sobriety necessarily. It kind of depends on what definition you take of it, but temperance has been around for centuries, and for the most part, means moderation.”
McGuinness brought up the example of tempering a sword, going back and forth with hot and cold.
“I invite people to think about what in their life is making them less present and less connected,” McGuinness said. “And so, for some people, it’s the phones, it’s TV, it’s drinking, it’s smoking, it’s shopping. Some people are super social, because they find that once they’re not around people, they start to think about things.
“So, we all have these kind of activities and behaviors that we choose to do to not be present and connected. And so yeah, we call it a temperance lounge, not a sober bar, for that reason.”
A sunflower mural painted by Desmond Boston adorns the storefront, and the colors inside the lounge match – green benches and yellow walls. The grand opening featured tattoo artists, music, a vendor market and a yoga sound bath. McGuinness said hundreds showed up for the grand opening, with a line out the door, and the business has been steady since.
Patera is the brick-and-mortar business, but they started Loving Libations two years ago. McGuinness has been sober since September 2022, after a difficult relationship with alcohol, which culminated in a car accident in which she broke most of her spine and had to have major spinal fusion surgery.
“I quit drinking, and about that time I had friends who were musicians, but also either quitting drinking or slowing down their drinking, and were getting frustrated that playing in their bands or playing their music usually happens in bars around people intoxicated, not paying attention to their music,” McGuinness said.
From this, Loving Libations was born, and McGuinness was receiving requests for her drinks for event venues, vendor markets and shows. The response was overwhelmingly positive, which she attributes to the way she makes her drinks.
“My background is in biology and chemistry,” McGuinness said. “I am a bit of a plant nerd, and all of my drinks are chosen for flavors, but also for chemical components that do very specific things for your body. So every one of my drinks has kind of an ailment in mind.”
Patera also serves coffee (they get their beans from Peaceful Valley Coffee Co.), as well as vegan sandwiches, soups, pastries and other desserts. They will have live music every Friday, but expect to expand beyond that.
Before starting Loving Libations, McGuinness was working as a certified nursing assistant for palliative care.
“Honestly, it was very depressing for me, and I spent most of my days feeling like I was running out of time in my own life to do what I wanted to do, and what I was meant to do,” McGuinness said. “So, that also had a big push for me to get my life together, to be sober and be more present.”