The Mad Dash for Mocktails

As low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages soar in popularity, established beverage makers and startups alike are looking to capitalize on the trend. Microdosed mushrooms and hemp in a can, anyone?

It’s not uncommon these days to be socializing in a group where someone isn’t drinking. With the rise of Dry January, Sober October, and an increased health awareness of how alcohol can affect our bodies – from sabotaging our sleep to weakening heart muscles if we drink excessively– the scales of whether to drink or not to drink seem to be tipping in favor of not tippling.

The proof? Just earlier this year, Athletic Brewing Company, which only sells non-alcoholic beer, became the No. 1 brand by sales in U.S. grocery stores. It now has 19% of the NA beer market and is driving 32% of the category growth. Whole Foods Market sells more of it than any other beer. Conferences, once a bastion for boozy cocktail hours, are now being sponsored by the brew. At the same time, zero-proof spirits that mimic the tastes of tequila and gin along with bespoke ready-to-drink mocktail options are lining liquor store shelves and menus of fine-dining establishments.

“By all accounts this category is expected to continue to grow,” says Kathy Kelley, a professor of horticultural marketing and business management at Penn State who studies alcoholic beverage trends. “The amount of energy being put into creating NA products is more than a flash in the pan.” 

A myriad of factors is driving what is often called the sober curious movement. Top reasons include desires to be healthier, to save money, and to try something new. What’s more, younger generations – who once comprised the target market for alcohol manufacturers – are drinking less. When dining out, for example, 14% of consumers have non-alcoholic drinks, but 24% of consumers ages 21-34 do, according to Nielsen IQ. In addition, 45% of Gen Z who are 21 and older say they never consume alcohol, compared to 32% of Gen X. As one member of Gen Z put it, “Any time I drink I absolutely regret it the next day – not even the hangover – it’s just feeling not rested all day.”

Alcohol, long viewed as a social lubricant, is now frequently seen as a social liability. An underlying factor, beverage-trend watchers say, is that Gen Z grew up in the age of social media, when concerns about having incriminating photos or videos of being drunk posted aren’t part of a dystopian future but can be the present reality. Too, younger generations have also seen a variety of celebrities introduce their own non-alcoholic or low-alcohol brands such as singer Katy Perry’s De Soi line of aperitifs and actress Blake Lively’s Betty Buzz, a complement to her Betty Booze line of sparkling cocktails.

With hundreds of non-alcoholic drinks on the market, Brianda Gonzalez became determined to sift through it all to find quality sips that stood out – drinks that not only tasted great but also had an elevated brand appeal that would better facilitate a behavioral change. Her father, a former bartender, had just been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and cut out alcohol to improve his immune system. Yet he still found he wanted to continue the ritual of unwinding at the end of a day, only now with a glass of low-alcohol wine or an alcohol-free mixed drink, which preserved the alchemy of ritual and romance associated with booze-laden options.

This quest for something that seems familiar but somehow isn’t (especially when it comes to the after-effects) is at the heart of this burgeoning market, giving temperate tipplers choices beyond soda water, juices, and soft drinks. “When I started looking for products for [my dad], I realized there was an opportunity to reduce friction for consumers and make non-alc drinks more accessible,” says Gonzalez, who previously worked in tech marketing.

In July 2022, she unveiled The New Bar, an online platform that helps consumers discover what type of non-alcoholic beverages they may like by educating consumers about the wide variety of NA options. She also opened a retail shop in Venice, Calif., to provide space for tastings and community gatherings. In the past two years, The New Bar has opened two other brick-and-mortar locations, inked partnerships with Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals, and has set its sights on bringing NA options to stadiums and beyond. “The goal is really to bring more great drinks to people wherever fun is being had,” Gonzalez says. 

One of the most critical parts of getting the mocktail marketplace right will be beverage makers’ ability to deepen their understanding of consumers, notes Boston Consulting Group. That’s because of an interesting cross-buying trend; 94% of non-alcoholic beverage buyers also purchase beer, wine, and spirits with alcohol.

The logic may confuse older generations who would likely be buying only the real thing, but purchasing both is completely routine for Neil Crampton. The 31-year-old drinks alcoholic beer regularly but has been trying to cut back a bit to improve his health. His solution? Buying both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer. “Sometimes I just want the taste of a beer, but not the buzz,” he says, adding that it’s often during the week when he sips on NA options or alternates between the non-alcoholic and alcoholic types.

There’s a term for what Crampton and others are doing: zebra striping. “This is when somebody goes from drinking one alcoholic beverage and then consumes a non-alcoholic one and goes back and forth in a single occasion,” Kelley says. 

For Veronica Tandy, 42, who stopped drinking a year ago, the zero-proof varieties have been a game changer. She’s no longer relegated to sipping seltzer water with lime or feeling like the odd woman out during a champagne toast. She’s also dipping her toe into trying other alcohol replacement drinks, such as one called Brez, which bills itself as “microdosed mushrooms and hemp in a can.”

“My friends joke that I’m on trend with 20-year-olds,” she says. “But it really is fun to try out new products and find what I like.” Her current NA beverages of choice include Suntory All-Free beer and Lietz non-alcoholic sparkling rosé.

Kelley says the rise of “functional” beverages, which are non-alcoholic drinks that contain wellness ingredients such as cannabidiol (CBD), ginseng, and vitamin B and tout health benefits, could start to claim a larger space in the beverage industry. And while regular alcohol will likely always have a place in society, non-alcoholic and functional drinks give consumers more of a choice to decide how they want to imbibe. After all, who wouldn’t want more options?

Sidebar: Bottoms Up?

We break down the various terms.

ABV: Alcohol by volume, an often-used measurement of alcohol content

Alcohol-free: 0% ABV. Available in beer, wine, and spirits

No-alcohol: Having less than 0.05% ABV. Available in beer, wine, and spirits

Low-alcohol beer: 2-4% ABV

Low-alcohol wine: Having 11% ABV or less

Low-alcohol spirits: Having 10-30% ABV

Source: Kathy Kelley, Penn State