TEETOTALLING TREND

February is a popular month to take a break from alcohol. You may be feeling the effects of an over-indulgent festive season – and it also helps that it’s the shortest month of the year. Febfast is a campaign run by Youth Support + Advocacy Service (YSAS), where people take a break from alcohol (or something else of their choice) in support of disadvantaged young people across the country. If you’re participating this year, and you’re looking for non-alcoholic drinks to quench your thirst, there’s a growing number of options available. If gin is your usual tipple of choice, Australia’s first booze-free gin – ALTD Spirits – is worth a taste. It’s a sugar-free delight with a blend of Australian botanicals. If beer is more your style, last year Heineken launched its alcohol-free lager, Heineken 0.0, in Australia – and Carlton also launched their first non-alcoholic beer, Carlton Zero. German pilsner Holsten 0.0% is growing in popularity in Australia, too. According to the Euromonitor International Alcoholic Drinks in Australia report, sales of non-alcoholic drinks have risen 57 per cent in the past five years, and Euromonitor predicts brewing of non-alcohol beers will increase from the 2003 figure of two million litres to 12 million litres by 2022. “Alcoholic drinks in Australia continued to feel the impact of growing health consciousness,” Euromonitor notes. “Consumption of alcohol has largely been in decline since 2008.”