The rise of non-alcoholic drinks

In early 2024, the traditional Bavarian breweryBrauereibrewery Augustiner did what would once have been unthinkable: it launch sth.etw. herausbringenlaunched a non-alcoholic beer. Even the brewery’s managers have been surprised by its success — it’s selling so fast that vendorVerkäufer(in)vendors can’t keep their shelfRegalshelves stockedbestückt, befülltstocked. Non-alcoholic beer is isotonic, refreshing and suitable for daytime drinking. As one Munich pub owner told journalists, there comes a point when an apple spritzerApfelschorleapple spritzer just doesn’t cut it (US ifml.)es bringencut it.

At Weihenstephan, also in Bavaria, non-alcoholic beer now makes up ten per cent of the company’s production volume, and the trend is growing across Germany, the world’s fourth-largest beer consumer, after Czechia[wg. Aussprache]Czechia, Austria and Poland.

There are still more drinkers than “teetotallerAbstinenzler(in), Antialkoholiker(in)teetotallers”, people who never drink alcohol. A Gallup surveyUmfragesurvey from July 2023, for example, found that 38 per cent of American adults completely abstain from sth.sich etw. enthalten; hier: auf den Konsum von etw. verzichtenabstain from alcohol. However, more and more people are choosing to drink less alcohol.

According to Nastya Timofeeva of the beverageGetränk(e)beverage data-analytics company IWSR: “The no-alcohol category, as a whole, is gaining popularity ... with participation rates doubling since April 2023 — and much of this increase is being driven by millennials.” Globally, the non-alcoholic market is expected to grow by 11 per cent by 2029. While some are giving up alcohol, others, known as “sober curiousweitgehend auf Alkohol verzichtendsober curious”, are simply cutting back. The no- and low-alcohol market even has its own acronym: NOLO.

A sign of greater willingness to drink less alcohol is Dry January, which began in 2013 but really take offhier: in Gang kommentook off in 2018. Started by the campaign group Alcohol Change UK to promote well-being and healthier drinking choices, Dry January is becoming increasingly popular. And it’s a trend with economic benefits: in 2021, the alcohol prevention NGO Movendi estimated the global cost of alcohol consumption at 2.6 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product)BIP (Bruttoinlandsprodukt)GDP, mostly from productivity losses.

We are at the beginning of a shift in consumer behaviour

A pandemic trend

Professor Colleen Myles, of Texas State University, suggests that the growth of this trend comes from the pandemic. Alcohol sales rose notably during the pandemic, but so did sales of non-alcoholic drinks. Myles told CNN: “Maybe people decided to try out different things because there was this weirdbizarrweird global disruptionStörung; hier: tiefgreifende Änderung der Lebensumständedisruption going on.”

Luke Boase launched his UK-based alcohol-free beer company, Lucky Saint, in 2018. Things took off during the pandemic, when major supermarkets began selling the brandMarkebrand. “We are at the beginning of a fundamental shiftWandelshift in consumer behaviour,” Boase told consumer website The Buyer. Lucky Saint is growing fast and is now sold in more than 5,000 pubs across the UK. The company has recently opened its own pub, under the same name, in London.

Grown-up drinks

Stuart Elkington, who runs Britain’s largest NOLO drinks website, called Dry Drinker, believes that the recent success of this segment comes from the growing availability of better products. “There have been advanceshier: Verbesserungenadvances in brewing technology, and yeastHefeyeasts have been identified that work best for brewing alcohol-free,” he explained to the  journalist Sophie Farrah. Now, there are “complex, satisfying drinks for grown-ups that make alcohol content irrelevant”.