Are we entering an alcohol-free era?
The stats would certainly suggest so. Because while alcohol consumption continues to drop, sales of non-alcoholic drinks are on the up and up.
But it wasn’t always like this. Oh no. Not so long ago the notion of not drinking alcohol was considered taboo.
Was the abstainer a recovering alcoholic? Were they pregnant? Or were they just a little bit boring?
How times have changed.
Now, not drinking alcohol has transcended acceptable and moved into the mainstream. And some might even say it’s in fashion, or as the TikTok generation would say, “very demure, very mindful”.
And with the rise of the alcohol-free trend comes the rise of the non-alcoholic drinks industry, which it’s safe to say, is booming.
Non-alcoholic business is booming
The global non-alcoholic drinks market is now valued at a whopping $1.46tn and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6% over the next five years (Grand View Research).
In short, the non-alcoholic beverage industry has blasted through the reputational barriers it faced in the past, kissing goodbye to the stigma and bathing in overwhelming popularity.
And it’s not just non-alcoholic brands like CleanCo, Three Spirit and Curious Elixirs, bringing alcohol-free drinks to the market. Big-name alcohol brands are also getting in on the act, with Heineken, Erdinger Alkoholfrei and Peroni just a few launching non-alcoholic offerings to cash in on the craze.
Even celebs want a slice of the lucrative action, with big names like Tom Holland, Katy Perry, Lewis Hamilton and Kylie Minogue, launching their own non-alcohol brands and showing the world that alcohol-free is the place to be.
In fact, it’s such big business in celebrity circles that Punch’s Hannah Walhout asked the question, “are you even famous if you don’t have an N/A drink line?”
And while others, such as Anne Hathaway, Chrissy Teigen, Daniel Radcliffe and Jennifer Lopez, don’t have their own non-alcoholic ranges, they’re still joining the alcohol-free movement and extolling its virtues. Plus, let’s be honest, it might just be a matter of time before they launch their own versions – watch this starry space.
So what’s next for this seemingly unstoppable trend?
The sky’s now the limit for this trend. In fact, in time, it may not be referred to as a trend and could just be the way of things. We might even do away with the term teetotal.
