The growing no - and lowalcohol drinks sector
Les boissons sans alcool ou presque ont le vent en poupe
Aller dans un bar sans boire d’alcool, c’est possible. Mais c’est encore mieux lorsque l’établissement propose autre chose qu’une eau gazeuse ou un soda. Les cocktails sans-alcool sont en plein essor. De nombreux bars proposent désormais des créations élaborées et originales qui offrent un large choix à une clientèle de plus en plus demandeuse . Rencontre avec Heidi Dillon, directrice d’une entreprise spécialisée dans la promotion du sans-alcool à New York.
On any given weeknight, you might find Heidi Dillon hopping around Manhattan or San Francisco, ducking into bars and settling in at one of them for two-plus hours, grilling the bartender on various products and cocktails.
2. But there’s a caveat. She doesn’t barhop for the buzz. With her background in health- and wellness-minded marketing and branding, Ms.
Dillon has landed on the forefront of the growing no- and low-alcohol drinks sector. The category is finding its place within the alcoholic drinks industry as global spirits producers recognize the heightened interest in wellness from consumers across a broad range of age and gender.
3. Ms. Dillon is the managing director at Distill Ventures, a company that supports founders and helps them grow their brands in the alcohol industry. She was recruited in 2018 specifically to develop Distill Ventures’ no- and lowalcohol
portfolio, and she is now uniquely positioned in a growing segment of what has long been a male-dominated space.
4. But the landscape is shifting. “Around 70 percent of people drink alcohol-free drinks occasionally and spirited drinks occasionally,” Ms. Dillon said. “It’s broadening the opportunities for retailers, bartenders and distributors because it’s a lot of the same folks they’re already serving. People are drinking less — and there is a whole younger generation that drinks significantly less — and looking for more.”
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5. That means more flavor, more creative substitutes for their favorite spirit and just more options in general, she said, all in the name of staying clear-eyed, sharp-minded and hangover-free.
6. Unless you’ve been living inside a bourbon distillery, it’s hard to miss the evidence that no-alcohol cocktails are no longer a niche option, reserved for designated drivers and people who are sober. High-end restaurants and craft cocktail bars alike have added booze-free cocktails to their menus, and shops and bars dedicated exclusively to abstainers are buzzy (if you will) destinations in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver and elsewhere.
Sober all year long
7. Dry January and Sober October, communal exercises in forgoing alcohol as a cleanse, of sorts, have grow in popularity. According to a 2022 survey released by Morning Consult, a market research firm, 19 percent of Americans reported that they were participating in Dry January, up from 13 percent in 2021. Among millennials, it’s 27 percent.
8. There are now enough devotees that it’s spurred a whole lifestyle. A trade group, the Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association, was founded in 2021 and currently has 110 members. The rapid growth is because of a number of factors, like millennial awareness of physical health and mental well-being, the broader clean-living trend and the growing availability of legal marijuana, which some are choosing over alcohol.
9. According to IWSR, a firm that provides analysis of the drinks market, global retail sales of no- and low-alcohol products are valued at over $11 billion, up from $8 billion in 2018. As the category continues to expand, nonalcoholic products are driving the increase, and are expected to make up 90 percent of the growth of that subset.
10. “It’s a misnomer that nonalcohol drinks are for sober folks,” said Ms. Dillon, a single mother of two young daughters based in Santa Cruz, Calif. “We’ve had to prove that’s not what it’s really about. This is about choice.” There’s an increasing number of products, but finite space on shelves at bars and stores, so part of Ms. Dillon’s work is to figure out how spirit-free products fit into that wider landscape.
11. She’s quick to note that zero-proof cocktails have broader demographic appeal than one might assume. At this health-conscious moment, alcohol-free drinks are bigger than the cocktail trend du jour. Vegan food, after all, also once a niche market, was a $26.16 billion industry in 2021.
12. “The drinks industry has a constant mix of tradition and modernity, but I think the tradition side often wins out. A tremendous number of the biggest brands in the world talk about heritage that stretches back 100 years,” said Frank Lampen, a co-founder and chief execu
tive of Distill Ventures, an independent company funded by Diageo, the global beverage company that produces brands including Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff.
13. To lead the nonalcohol division of the company, Mr. Lampen sought someone who could bring a different perspective to the role, someone who had the experience to help connect not just new products, but also a whole new category, to a broad cross-section of consumers. In the spirits industry — whiskey in particular — innovation is often a matter of tinkering with the barrel type or char level, or incorporating different grains into a recipe for distillation. Nonalcoholic drinks require a different tactic.
14. “It’s about developing new flavor profiles and drawing inspiration from the spirits counterparts, but taking it to the next level with input from the culinary realm and other areas,” Ms. Dillon said, noting that creators of no- and low-alcohol brands are not bound to the familiar flavors of traditional spirits, so they look beyond drinks for inspiration. “You’re looking at bitterness and length and mouthfeel, but how do you achieve and balance all that without the alcohol?”
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